Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 
 
 
 
 
 
pointypatrol
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Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 10.01.2016  ·  #1
Hey guys and girls haven't been on in a while.

I have the ferry booked for end of July into August and am thinking of heading down to Lake Garda around Gardaland theme park for a full week then a couple of weeks touring back up to Cherbourg using aires.

Think it might be best to book into a site near Gardaland for the week as would like hook up to run a couple of electric fans as believe it could be quite warm.

Has anybody been and if so can you recommend any reasonably priced municipal type sites as not wanting to spent a fortune on the site.

Cheers Gary
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 10.01.2016  ·  #2
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 10.01.2016  ·  #3
Gary

We spent over 5 weeks in Italy last year most of it round Lake Garda leaving on route home on 4th July. There are several Aires along the east side of the lake between Riva in the north and Sirmione half way along the southern side. Virtually all of them are basically car parks some with no facilities and all basic. They cost anything from €10 to €20 per day. By far the best we found are two in Pescheria (I think they are run by the same people). One is about 5 minutes walk from the town, the other is 5 minutes drive. Both have free EHU, water, black and grey dump and slot machine showers €1 each. They work on a cash only payment to a machine with the charge based on a 'carpark type' ticket at the entrance. In 2015 the charge was €5 for up to 5 hours or €15 per day. The one closest to the town is N45.43979, E10.68468. There is sufficient space for about 150 MH. There is a railway line behind it but we did not find it intrusive. The other Aire is not so convenient and is right next to the motorway so can be noisy.

There are no municipal sites as such. We would recommend a site in Riva, Camping Villa Speranza, they have a website but it is along way from Gardaland and traffic is very slow along the lake side. Site is small, would only hold bout 20 caravans/MH. It is located on the Tombole end of Riva about 10 minutes walk from a supermarket, 5 minutes walk to the beach and 30 minutes walk to the town centre/ ferry terminal. It cost €25 per night but that was not in high season. Note that virtually all Italians are on holiday for the whole of August so Lake Garda will be busy and more expensive than when we were there.

If you want more info just ask.

A tip, if you are buying fuel a lot a garages in Italy charge a premium if you get the attendant to fill for you. Premium can be up to €0.20 per litre. It is more expensive anyway than France, Austria or Germany.
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 10.01.2016  ·  #4
when we were looking camping piantelle (I think) had the best reviews. don't know if it's near where you are looking to stay though
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 10.01.2016  ·  #5
Quote by kabundi

Gary

We spent over 5 weeks in Italy last year most of it round Lake Garda leaving on route home on 4th July. There are several Aires along the east side of the lake between Riva in the north and Sirmione half way along the southern side. Virtually all of them are basically car parks some with no facilities and all basic. They cost anything from €10 to €20 per day. By far the best we found are two in Pescheria (I think they are run by the same people). One is about 5 minutes walk from the town, the other is 5 minutes drive. Both have free EHU, water, black and grey dump and slot machine showers €1 each. They work on a cash only payment to a machine with the charge based on a 'carpark type' ticket at the entrance. In 2015 the charge was €5 for up to 5 hours or €15 per day. The one closest to the town is N45.43979, E10.68468. There is sufficient space for about 150 MH. There is a railway line behind it but we did not find it intrusive. The other Aire is not so convenient and is right next to the motorway so can be noisy.

There are no municipal sites as such. We would recommend a site in Riva, Camping Villa Speranza, they have a website but it is along way from Gardaland and traffic is very slow along the lake side. Site is small, would only hold bout 20 caravans/MH. It is located on the Tombole end of Riva about 10 minutes walk from a supermarket, 5 minutes walk to the beach and 30 minutes walk to the town centre/ ferry terminal. It cost €25 per night but that was not in high season. Note that virtually all Italians are on holiday for the whole of August so Lake Garda will be busy and more expensive than when we were there.

If you want more info just ask.

A tip, if you are buying fuel a lot a garages in Italy charge a premium if you get the attendant to fill for you. Premium can be up to €0.20 per litre. It is more expensive anyway than France, Austria or Germany.



Hi and thanks for your advice can you tell me what route you took and what toll costs etc are likely to be?

Gary
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 11.01.2016  ·  #6
Gary

Which ferry route have you booked?
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 11.01.2016  ·  #7
Gary

Also are you 3500kg and under or are you over 3500kg?
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 11.01.2016  ·  #8
Quote by kabundi

Gary

Which ferry route have you booked?


Hi

I have booked to go Dublin Cherbourg
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 11.01.2016  ·  #9
our tolls came in around 100 sterling last year, camper van under 2 tonnes


We used the gotthard pass to get to como, you seem to be going the other way, but if you happen to go that way Beaune is a beautiful French town to stop off at, if it suits your schedule.
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 11.01.2016  ·  #10
Gary

We sailed into Cherbourg, then headed straight across France to Nancy, then to Basel, onto Swiss toll road through Goddard tunnel then to Milan and then Garda. We avoided all tolls in France but took the toll road through Switzerland (only practical way to go) and stayed on the Italian toll road all the way to
Peschiera.

The route we took across France

Cherbourg N13 to Caen, N158 to Argentan, D926/N12 to Dreux/Versailles, then A86 around south of Paris to A4 for a few miles then onto N4, N4/A31 to Nancy, N57 to Remiremont, N66 to south of Thann, then A36 to Mulhouse, A35 to Basel.

If you put route Cherbourg/Basel into AA route planner you will get a similar route. It is close to 580 miles from Cherbourg to Basel so you will need a stop. There is a free Aire with EHU, water and dump at Richardmenil, close to the N57, just south of Nancy about 430 miles from Cherbourg. If interested I can dig up the map coordinates. It is fine for an overnight only.

The toll in Switzerland depends on your weight. If you are over 3500kg (PHGV) then you need to take the original of your V5 , and ensure that it shows the weight on the V5. In this case the Swiss toll is SFR 3.25 per day. Stop and fill in the form and buy it at the border. I bought 10 days which you can use any 10 days within the year. I believe you can buy less days with a minimum fee I think of SFR25. It is less than 200 miles from Basel to Como in Italy and all motorway, a few steep places down to 3rd gear but doable in 4 to 5 hours driving.

If you are 3500kg or less then you need an annual vignette for Switzerland at SFR40, again you buy at the border. Credit cards are accepted, certainly at Basel.

The tolls in Italy are cheap and it is not worth going on the back roads. It is about 120 miles from Como to Peschiera or under 3 hours at a toll cost of €15. It will take twice that time on the back roads.

Hope this helps, any other queries just ask.
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 11.01.2016  ·  #11
Hi pointy patrol. In 2014 we went Calais to Luxembourg (free aire- nice place for visit), then freidrichshafen ( Zeppelin museum with full scale replica is awesome), then through Austria via Arlberg tunnel. Turned right then into Italy to Merano with detour to cycle stelvio pass. Drove then down to garda. Great route with no tolls (except entry permit to Austria) and cheapest diesel in Europe in Luxembourg. Stayed at campsite in Lazize which was the most expensive site in 20+ years of touring Europe), then used aire at sirmione which was more enjoyable. Beautiful area and great for road cycling. We are going same route this year to visit Matterhorn area on Italian side.
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Re: Cheap campsites or good aires Lake Garda Italy

 ·  Posted: 11.01.2016  ·  #12
Ref what people are saying about the tolls in France and Switzerland.

in France we bought the beeper thingy, similar to our southern easypass, which saves a lot of hassle at the tolls, just shake it in front of the windscreen and bob's your uncle, away you go.(I think it legally should be attached to the screen)

similarly in Switzerland, we had bought the vignette before we went to save stopping and trying to communicate over there.

hope this helps.
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