20 November – 17 December 2009 (27 days)
Trip distance: 2776 miles (excluding Home to/from Dover)
Trip cost: €1141 (c. £1026 ) – €41 or £37 per day

Summary

Hmmm.  Not one of our better trip to date, but most of that is probably due to WHEN we went rather than WHERE.  We knew going out of season was always a challenge, and so we called this trip “Budapest and Back” and just seeing what we fell into on the way.  It is a shame that in late November and early December most of the smaller and nicer towns and villages along our route (with exceptions!) were closed down and not really atmospheric and some of our “must see” sights were also closed.  Most seem to gear up for the summer holidays and some for also the ski season which is mainly post-Christmas.  So the time we went was fairly poor and, in fairness, to be expected.

Most campsites were closed, most “paid aires” were closed, and thus we wild/free camped most nights which suited us fine.  It meant we could and did stop where we wanted rather than where the campsites were.  We did actually stop in places that we’d not describe as picturesque or great and on previous trips we’d have found somewhere nicer!  But as it was dark before 5pm convenience was the order of the day, so as long as it was safe and convenient we took it.

Even so we recommend the BordAtlas books which contain lost of Aires information for Germany and the rest of Europe

Hungary and SE Austria were the only problems where we had to plan where we’d change water/waste – but apart from that we had enough options – most free – to keep us going.

On this trip, German is the most common language – even in Hungary I had French people trying to speak to me in German (thinking I was I guess) – so best I could do was respond in French!  Think that confused them a bit!  That said, our German has improved a little and we can get by, but it isn’t our strongest.

We like Germany and its history is most interesting.  It is a very clearly a very western country but maintains its own identity fairly well.  Austria does feel like Germanys sister, and Hungary indeed like a very close cousin.

Hungary was our first taste of “Eastern Europe” and to be fair we entered it a little nervous with concerns over security, safety, and generally how things would be.  In truth – we needn’t have worried at all.  We do have concerns for Hungary in that since communism has gone it has been trying to become more westernised – and it does appear to be doing this at a fairly budget level – but apart from the cost their identity is being eroded.  More than once we stopped and could not see a single thing that identified it uniquely – we could have been in pretty much any mainland Europe country.  Contrary to our guidebook we would say we found Hungary to be entirely safe; very clean; the driving wasn’t that bad (it was better than the Belgiums!); and we didn’t get any hassle or grief from anyone.  Our only complaints would be the condition of some A/B type roads and the lack of “tourist friendly” signage, parking and picnic areas which other countries seem to provide.  Their motorways were smoother than some autobahns in Germany and Austria!

This trip has opened up our eyes to the start of Eastern Europe and we will explore Hungary and its neighbours again, and in our view Hungary and especially Budapest are worth visiting.

Towards the end of the trip we did find the cold weather particularly bitter – feeling different from the cold we get when snow-boarding.  Wearing up to 5 layers and 2 lots of gloves when going out was getting a bit tedious!

We WOULD recommend this trip to anyone considering it – though we would suggest you completed it between April and October when most things would still be open – else you may not get the best possible experiences.

How was the van?

This trip was probably the biggest challenge to the van as the latter half of the trip the temperature seldom got above zero.  This means of course that frozen pipes etc are cause for concern.  Previously we had made modifications to the van to cope with snowboarding but in the main then we were on hook-up, whereas this trip we only had 2 nights on hook-up with the rest wild.  This meant everything was heavily used in all conditions and apart from a fuse blowing – fault free.

Our insulated cab-curtain was essential, and the automatic 12v tank heater kept the fresh water defrosted.  The gas heating was on pretty much all the time, and if you know us, you’ll know the van was very snug indeed when we were in it!  We did leave the heating on overnight and with the van unattended on a low setting to ensure no problems.  This meant the gas was gobbled quickly and we probably used 40 litres in total – so without refillable LPG we’d have been a little stuck! 

With the 12v tank heater, the main heating fan, lights, TV (24 series 5!) then the batteries (2x100AH) did take a hammering.  Driving seemed to keep them topped up enough but we did feel they needed a boost at the first campsite as they seemed to not quite get a full charge from just driving.  Considering they hadn’t been on hookup for perhaps 2-3 months they were doing pretty well!

The poor van has around 32,000 miles now (20,000 since we left on our tour!) and is probably in need of a wash and a new set of tyres – the original tyres weren’t quite up to European winter standards and we did need snow-chains to get us up a slippery snowy hill.  That said the interior is pretty much pristine which is still astounding considering the use its had.

Overall, we’d say the trip as it was had some good peeks, but would probably only score 6.5/10.  However, at a warmer time of year when things were open it has potential to be 8.5-9.

CLICK HERE FOR WEEK 1

We recommend the BordAtlas books which contain all of the German aires

Well after two good weeks, week 3 didn’t start so well…..

Overnight the weather turned and we temperature dropped further and snow started to come.  This is fine within reason, but considering we’re on 30,000 mile old summer tyres we are rightly concerned about the weather conditions as apart from getting stuck we don’t want to have an accident!  Leaving Sankt Gilgen we headed on some excellent roads towards Hallstatt which looked lovely in our guidebook next to a lake.  But we fell foul of the bitter icy wind, a bit of snow, and the fact it was deserted and all the exciting things such as the salt mine were closed.  The restaurants were all empty, streets dull and full of icy-tumbleweed so we decided to head off.  We found Liezen which is probably the furthest you can sensibly go without a motorway vignette if heading towards Graz.  Liezen sadly is a 1960s/70s featureless town with an area resembling any out-of-town retail park.  There was some indoor rock climbing but nothing else worth mentioning.

This raised some concerns that if they continue may really show us the worst of Austria – as whist the mountain views are spectacular – we’ve seen enough deserted towns and closed attractions for the trip.  Clearly the best time is the summer months or indeed the post-Christmas ski season.  So at the moment we’re not doing Austria much justice.  The big cities are all fine and open but typically we get our best experiences from the smaller random finds.

We therefore decided to speed up and head to Graz on the motorways and get into Hungary before the weather gets worst and enjoy what we can and not dwell on empty towns.  We bought a motorway vignette from a petrol station – €7.50 for 10 days and set off.  (En-route to Graz we had to pay another €7.50 tunnel toll)

About 20 minutes into our journey the weather improved and the sun was shining and the snow vanished!  Phew!  Though when we stopped we noticed we had no habitation power.  Oh bugger.  Can’t blame the builders for this as I changed the wiring when upgrading the batteries…  It came down to a blown fuse which was on the main battery feed.  It either blew because the batteries were needing charging more than normal or just fatigue…  I hope the latter as it was a 30A fuse which ought to have been sufficient.  Needless to say I carry a multi-meter and a load of spares so this was quickly fixed.

We managed to park in fairly central Graz for free. Disappointingly though the city is best described as average.  Maybe we’re spoilt, but even so it is not a touch on Salzburg or Innsbruck let alone cities elsewhere.  The east-side of the river didn’t even justify the walk – it was like the “poor end of town”, and the castle and cave system were, well, not overly inspiring.  The west-side was nice to see – but…

Deciding we needed to sort ourselves out before entering Hungary (which incidentally is the first country on our entire tour Ryan hasn’t been to before – the joys of previous international jobs) we decided to head for a campsite.  Wow!  We thought it wise as our tanks were low and the batteries would benefit from a long charge, and thus we ended up in a little town called Bairisch Kölldorf.  The campsite itself was rather surprisingly plush with a decent and busy bar and restaurant and also excellent facilities including a decent bath!  All well and good till the lights tripped when we were in the bath reminding us we were camping!!  We tasted the delights of the busy restaurant and Mels veggie dish was especially superb.

Checking TomTom we discovered our random route to a random place in Hungary actually went via Slovinia which was another surprise!  The entire route was on back roads in various states of repair and the villages all looked traditional but were quiet.  Between borders there was literally a single sign, deserted small shack, and the only way we really know we’ve crossed borders is all our mobile phones keep bleeping saying they are in a new country!

First heading towards Zalaegerszeg which wasn’t anything special, though it did have a big our of town shopping centre including a 24hr Tesco, and also a big water-park and spa (probably closed) we bought our motorway pass from a petrol station and knew we were safe.  (Hungary use an electronic number-plate reader so you do need one if you venture onto a motorway – £10 for 10 days).  We then carried on to the spa town of Hévíz which again was nice enough and we enjoyed some Christmas festivities including an authentic Hungarian band dressed as Santas playing “Oh when the saints go marching in….”.  Hévíz has a large and “famous” spa lake (2nd biggest in world) and large thermal spas which gave the town an eerie mist in the evening.  The spa was closed to we decided to stay the night and check it out in the morning.

To our surprise, the spa (which looked superb) was still closed in the morning!  It appears that it is having some maintenance, so the best we could do is view it from the outside.  After our views we went to Keszthely on the edge of Lake Balaton which was an okay place with a lovely palace.  As we like lakes we thought we’d go on a tour of the southern shores of the lake (the biggest in Europe?) and follow the closest possible road to the lake with a view to find somewhere nice to stay.  Unbelievably, almost the entire shoreline has been built on – so we saw the lake for only a minute or two on the entire coast!  We did stop and get out at Siófok but out attempts to get to the shore were thwarted by hotels and other establishments (closed) preventing even a decent view!  Such a shame – we suggest unless you are going to a southern coast town for a reason – head north.  (In hindsight even our guide says the southern side is dead out of season and wall-to-wall buildings).  Thus our attempts to find somewhere nice to wild-camp (no aires and all campsites closed) were met with failure – and for the first time on this trip we struggled.   Eventually we stopped in Balatonkenese in a small area next to their church for the night planning to escape to Budapest in the morning.

The day started early, and badly, when a lorry seemed to park next to us and get stuck – so at some ungodly hour (7:30am!) he made a racket getting out.  So we got up early and headed to an Aire listed in one of our books (Bordatlas 2009) which is fairly central to the centre of Budapest.  However, after driving though the centre of Budapest on some naff roads we found it wasn’t there.  We checked the GPS and we were right; but then checked the 2010 edition and realised they made a mistake!  So instead we headed to the only campsite we knew was open according to ACSI2009.  On going through the city again we got to the site and found it closed, or if it was open it was dire!  Opting to go back to the 2010 GPS coordinates, through Budapest to the other side of the city (again) we found it and got in and paid.  Then to be told that water and electric were “kaput” so in effect paying for nothing next to the noisy airport.  Great – cue us both in a crap mood!  It was close enough to a train station for a 20-min ride into the city so we managed to get a few hours sightseeing in before we got drenched through and frozen sending us back to our van to warm up.  Not great – however the large central parts of Budapest looked great and reminded us of London with loads to see.  Our initial viewings of both Buda and Pest were good though and encouraged us to come back the following day. 

In the morning we left early and parked in a space we eyed up the previous day – one of the few places we saw without a maximum duration of 3 hours. It was safe enough next to the Danube with the Parliament building only 100m away (try doing that in London!).  In the end we actually stayed there the night.  Contrary to our guide book, we found central Budapest roads quite good and the traffic okay – it is the outer roads away from the centre that are more mental.

Unfortunately the statue garden was closed, and the spa wasn’t really appealing in this weather, but we must have walked 20 miles and know we didn’t see everything.  We were very impressed.  The Secret Police (Moving house of terror) museum was brilliant and worth a tour.  Very moving and humbling showing what the Hungarian people had to put up with.  You could spend 1/2 day there with ease.  City park was great, again a days visit if it were summer!  The entrance (Heros square) was breathtaking.  The view from the Fishermans Bastion over the city was superb and countless other monuments are well worth a walk – thats something between you and your guide book.  Near the liberty bridge there is the authentic city market which is unique, and on our way from the bridge we found a Christmas market – best in Hungary by far – where we had a supper of authentic food and mulled wine with some live classical music.  Budapest seems to us to be a cross between Berlin and London with a touch or Rome, and contrary to our guidebook consider it very safe, clean, and quite brilliant and an absolutely must-see for anyone – even on a city-break.

Thats what we love about travel – the worst day of the trip can be followed with the best day of the trip so far!

Waking up to another dry day we left Budapest knowing some sights will be saved for a future visit.  We headed north to follow the Danube river via the arty cobbled town of Szentendre and the town of Esztergom on the Slovak border.  The Basilica in Esztergom is built in the grounds of an old castle rampart and dominates the skyline and really is impressive.  The town itself is worth a visit and via the newly rebuilt bridge Slovakia is only a short walk away.  With knackered legs we continued to Mosonmagyaróvár a spa town near the Austrian border with a view to settle down for the night an explore the spa at the start of week 4.

Our third week has been interesting with a couple of downs as well as some ups, and has shown us a lot of Hungary that has left us wanting to revisit more in-season when everything is actually open.  I think the fact we only saw 2 other camper-vans in the entire of Hungary suggest others knew this already! 

CLICK HERE FOR WEEK 4

We recommend the BordAtlas books which contain all of the German aires

After a couple of nice days we awoke in Mosonmagyaróvár to a colder and damper day.  After exploring the town and finding the spa it appeared to be mainly outdoors and thus a bit chilly.  After checking emails and finding there was a weather warning in Eastern Europe we actually felt the temperature had dropped a few degrees.  We decided to skip a chilly spa (which would be great in the summer) and head to Vienna to an aire we had in our books to fill our almost-empty water and take a well needed shower.  Sadly the aires water supply was turned off for winter!  We then fell back to a plan-B campsite (£23!!) which we found okay but reception was closed and it looked a bit of a mud bath.  We filled our tanks anyway then Mel mentioned why bother staying and paying £23 for a parking-space on mud when we could wild camp now we had full water.  Not sure I’m proud of her savvy thinking or embarrassed at her cheek.  Either way we legged it and parked just down the road (with 2 other vans) and took a very efficient tram into Vienna.

It was unfortunately a bit chilly and drizzly but not enough to get drenched, so we were able to explore the city quite easily.  Most of the sites are inside the “ring-road” whereas the outskirts are really quite densely packed.  (Recommend park on outskirts!).  Vienna even in the wet is hugely impressive.  Even aside from the key buildings, virtually every building and every turning shows up some fantastic views and architecture.  Parliament was impressive as was the town-hall next to it with a market in the grounds.  The museum quarter was “wow” with yet another market, and really everywhere you looked there were magnificent buildings with statues atop.

The shopping streets were full of designer brands and posh-shops and the Stephansdom just appeared like a ghostly apparition in the dark and dominated the skyline – brilliant tiled roof – but sides/tower were being repaired.  The Hofburg was fantastic – one of the largest collections of superb buildings that you can just wander round, though we never made it inside the art museums.  Enough of Vienna – suffice to say we will definitely make another visit and explore further – preferably in the summer when we can enjoy the gardens (such as Belvederegarten) and the Danube that just weren’t tempting in the wet (yep – same river as Budapest bizarrely enough!) 

In the morning we decided to save the missed inner-city sights for a future visit and instead went to Schonbrunn Palace and gardens a few km from where we were staying.  We parked free round the back and entered through the gardens that were quite amazing and full of semi-tame red squirrels. If you go take some nuts and they will eat from your hand!  The grounds have a zoo, maze (closed end Oct) and loads of sculptures and garden features.  On a summers day it would be easy to wallow a day away.  As it was bitterly icy however we opted for a scenic drive meandering along the Danube river where we were blessed with some stunning views and amazing little villages.  We stopped and had lunch at Dürnstein which is worth a visit, yet deserted on our visit!  We then continued the pleasant drive to Mauthausen where there is WW2 concentration camp.  We arrived only a few hours before closing time so opted to spend the night with some Austrian wine, watch the snow settle, and visit in the morning. 

The route we’ve using heading back in Austria is a lot more beautiful than the route we took in which is rather pleasing!

In the morning with a bitter wind and a layer of snow on the ground we headed to Mauthausen concentration camp. We’d only heard of it after reading Motorhomeandaway blog and we’re glad we did.  When we were there there were only 5 or 6 other people there so pretty much had the camp to ourselves and took an “audio tour”.  Considering we were freezing and wearing all our winter gear it brings home what the inmates actually went through.  Unfortunately the memorial gardens were pretty much closed for winter.  Incredibly sad and very sobering and well worth a visit.

Leaving Mauthausen we headed out of Austria back into Bavarian Germany to a campsite in order to fill up and do our final washing before coming home.  We eyed a small campsite in a small country village called Rohrbach which also had a spa.  So after settling in we went for a spa which was a cross between a spa and a swimming pool – but bizarrely everyone had to move at the sound of the “ding-dong” – and everyone (bar us) did (until we knew).  Weird.  Then venturing into town for a feast we found a really authentic restaurant and afterwards the owner gave us some complimentary Bavarian “shots” which were a cross between vodka, gin and Benolyn cough mixture!  We slept well.

After completing our chores in the morning we drove up to Zwiesel in the Bavarian national park, and the drive there was glorious.  The town was nice enough but the landscape was just beautiful.  A perfect base for walks and cycling – though not at this time of year!  After lunch we headed to Nuremberg (Nürnberg) and parked in one of their many free aires.  A brisk and fresh walk into the town along the river we visited their famous Christmas market which was incredibly big.  It lacked the festive feel of, say, Budapest or Landau markets but it was massive.  Guess we are just marketted out now!!  First impressions were very positive as we headed back to the van for the evening.

We were blessed with sunshine in the morning as we cycled into the city centre – but the temperature was still freezing!  Nuremberg surprised us and we would add it to our “must see” towns.  The old walled town has a great castle Kaieserburg, lovely shopping streets, and loads of character almost everywhere.  The post WW2 bombing buildings can be a bit plain but overall a very nice place to be.  We had a look around their toy museum which was fun enough – and proved we’re not *that* old as none of my childhood toys had yet made an entrance!

After fully exploring we headed off to Wurzberg for the night ready to explore in the morning.  Fairly early we headed into the town which was 80% destroyed by us during WW2.  The guidebook (wrongly in our opinion) compares the rebuild to Dresden which we love.  However, apart from a nice square and a few interesting sights its not really worth making an effort to visit.  Towards the end of our short tour the snow came down thick and fast, settled quickly, and was as slippery as, well, ice.

We decided to head off ASAP to the motorway and get “out of dodge” but the road out was on a hill.  Cue lots of wheel-spinning and under-steer with the traction control not even making an effort to help!  Great.  On the hill we slid into a garage forecourt so decided to fill up with diesel anyway and perhaps get another 60kg over the front wheels.  This made little difference and we then got stuck about 200m away on the slight hill.  Cars came past wheel spinning and one got stuck just beyond us.  Even thought the snow wasn’t deep we put the snow-chains on for some extra grip.  Just as we were finishing an articulated lorry was coming past us and got stuck and started wheel-spinning and sliding towards the curb where we were!!!!  Fortunately the chains worked and we got out of there as quickly as physics would allow so he didn’t hit us and for the next 3-4 miles climbed up to the top of the hill until the road started to clear and we saw a gritter. Chains off and away we went… (Tip:  If you have snow chains and expect to use them, store them inside as handling wet metal chains that are below freezing isn’t fun!)

As the winter weather seems to be chasing us we decided that was enough for us and would head home in safety before we pushed our luck too far and save the delights of another wine route and Frankfurt for another warmer visit. 

We’d been tipped of a delightful town in Holland where they hold (another!) Christmas market but uniquely inside caves.  As this was a convenient distance we set TomTom to go there and run away from the snow though it did appear to chase us down the motorway.  The tip proved good (thanks Barry & Hazel) and the small town of Valkenberg was bustling and in the festive spirit.  The cave market was definitely  worth a visit and we settled down for our last meal of this trip in one of the many restaurants.  I had a glorious meat fest casserole and the only complaint was the waitress was very rude (to everyone – not us).

Finally no more snow fell overnight so we were able to head to the ferry – though in Belgium the snow came again and unbelievably the motorway was not treated so it became a crawl with just tyre marks barely showing.  But we eventually made it to Calais calling an end to trip 6 and our last nights in the van for 2009.  We now have the first few months of 2010 for more serious planning…..  Till then…..

• Review, Costs and Summary
• Week 1 – Home to Baden-Baden
• Week 2 – Baden Baden to Sankt Gilgen
• Week 3 – Sankt Gilgen to Mosonmagyaróvár
• Week 4 – Mosonmagyaróvár to Home

We’re in Budapest and today has been a bit of a mare! Await the diary for
details.
Suffice to say, we’re fine but its freezing, wet, and we got drenched. And
we’re staying in a naff place too! So hopefully that will cheer some of you
up who think its a constant jolly
Hope to go back in to the city tomorrow and make up for today – it appears
to be a lovely place with loads to see.
R&M