Vanlife: Our Favourite Van-Friendly Towns in Europe
/Where to call home.
Travelling by van is not without it's challenges. Finding the right place to park and base your van home is crucial. While we often favoured driving along the coast and staying in smaller towns, there were some cities that held massive appeal.
For a town to be deemed "van-friendly...
- The roads needed to be suitable for driving a van, which is not always the case in European towns with narrow cobblestone lanes.
- Parking needed to be easily accessible and preferrably free. There's little room for parking costs in a Vanlife budget.
- We ruled out anywhere with bad traffic.
- There must be overall appeal. The ability to park your home in the city centre doesn't amount to much if the city itself is not desirable.
Our Top 5 Van-Friendly Towns in Europe:
1.) Budapest, Hungary
Parking is freely available in the city and when you are ready to settle in for the night, park overnight for free next to the Szechenyi Baths.
2.) Ada Bojana, Montenegro
A magical spot right on the water. We paid a small fee to stay in the campground so we could have access to power, wifi and showers.
3.) Scilla, Italy
Our favourite beachside spot in all of Italy. The free showers on the beach are the icing on the cake.
4.) Punta Sabbioni, Italy
The gateway to Venice. You can pay for secure camping and facilities near the ferry terminal and utilise a multiday ferry pass to access the islands.
5.) Ljubljana, Slovenia
Stay in the Tivoli Park overnight, then when you are ready to leave, get up early and make the drive to Lake Bled.
Find your own sweet van-friendly spots in Europe, by using our 6 tips for Wild-Camping.
