Book Review: Camperstop Europe 2013
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for this review. I did not receive any payment and was not required to write a positive review.
One of the best things about travelling with a motorhome in Europe is the number of free or low cost motorhome aires — or stopovers — that are available in most European countries.
To simplify the process of finding these stopovers, most motorhomers choose to carry stopover guides for the countries they are visiting.
We’ve owned and reviewed lots of these in the past, but one downside is that they usually only apply to one country. Camperstop Europe 2013 is the latest edition of a Dutch guide that’s available in English and covers motorhome stopovers in no fewer than 15 European countries:
- United Kingdom
- The Netherlands
- Belgium
- Luxembourg
- France
- Spain
- Portugal
- Denmark
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Austria
- Italy
- Slovenia
- Croatia
- Greece
In total, the 2013 edition of Camperstop Europe includes 7420 motorhome stopovers, complete with GPS coordinates and a total of 5075 pictures. Impressively, most of these stopovers are inspected annually by 50 teams of inspectors, who roam the highways of Europe each summer.
Coverage is excellent in France, Spain, Germany and Italy, but is a bit thinner in Croatia and Slovenia, where you are more likely to need to use campsites from time to time, especially if you’re away from the coast. However, both countries do have some proper motorhome stopovers that are worth seeking out. Most of the UK entries are car parks, of one sort or another, but they are useful and I counted five that we’ve used in the past.
Stopover details
The format of Camperstop is logical and easy to use. The first section of the book contains maps showing the location of each stopover, alongside an index telling you what type of stopover it is, and which page the full details are on.
In keeping with other similar guides, a graphical key is used to describe which facilities — such as electric hookup and chemical toilet disposal — are available at each stopover, and the number of spaces and costs are also listed. Some countries have more free stopovers than others, and charging is increasingly the norm — but stopovers remain much cheaper than most UK campsites, and are often in better locations.
For people who would like to automate the process of finding stopovers, you can download all of the stopover coordinates as POI files for your sat nav from the Camperstop website. These cost €3 for each country, which I think is pretty reasonable.
When’s the next ferry?
With a copy of Camperstop Europe in your glovebox, you can safely take off for a European motorhome holiday without much planning, and be fairly sure that you will find somewhere appropriate to stop and service your motorhome when you need to.
Frankly, I’m a little bit in love with my copy of Camperstop. Browsing through this guide, I spotted several stopovers that we’ve used on our previous travels, and all I want to do now is hit the road again. Highly recommended.
Camperstop Europe 2013 is available directly from the Camperstop website or on Amazon
- Title: Camperstop Europe 2013
- Publisher: Facile media; English Edition edition (14 Feb 2013)
- ISBN: 978-9076080314
- Paperback: 860 pages