For a lot of people, travelling abroad this summer would have been out of the question. Substantial restrictions, ever-changing quarantine rules and the chances of falling ill in an unfamiliar country have seen countless Brits cancel their exotic holidays in favour of a safer staycation. Many would say that in times like these, my boyfriend and I were stupid to jump in our campervan and head off to Western Europe for the best part of three months. However, it was the best decision we have ever made.
Back in March and after over a year of planning, it looked as though our road trip wouldn’t be happening. We kept our fingers crossed throughout the rest of lockdown and finally, we were told some good news – Spain had re-opened their borders! After careful consideration of the dangers of travelling in the current climate, we decided to live a little and set off less than a week later.
Our noble steed was my boyfriend’s prized possession – his 1999 Volkswagen T4. I can’t say I had much of a part to play in its renovation, so he should take all the credit for how amazing it turned out. Despite the T4 being a relatively small van, we had everything we needed for the journey, including ample storage for clothes and a comfy double bed.
We left our hometown on the 7th of July, catching the ferry to Calais from Dover the next morning. After a lot of stress, nervousness and excitement experienced in the days before, we were ecstatic to finally be starting our adventure.
France
We spent the first week of our trip exploring Northern France, visiting the historic D-Day beaches and learning a great deal about the history of the area. It was utterly surreal to stand where the soldiers would have stood more than 50 years ago, and the whole experience was very humbling. There is an abundance of sights to see on the battlefields tour, and we could’ve easily spent a month in Northern France alone! Highlights for me included walking along the coastline of Dunkirk and exploring the city of Dieppe where many soldiers sadly lost their lives in 1942.
We then decided to chase the warm weather down to the South of France. Alongside the beautiful beaches (we went to a lot of beaches) and gorgeous sunshine, we particularly enjoyed visiting the city of La Rochelle. If you want to see some of the best traditional French architecture, La Rochelle is the place to go. Made only more appealing by the stunning weather, we loved everything about the city – the culture, the sights and of course, the shops, bars and restaurants.
Having never been to a ski resort before, I was excited to venture into the Pyrenees before crossing the border into Spain a few days later. Seeing as we were there in July, there was obviously no snow. However, the views were still incredible! We spent an afternoon by Lac d’Estaing (highly recommend) and the next day in the resort town of Cauterets where Ben went mountain biking while I spent the afternoon sampling the local coffee.
Although I enjoyed my time in France, I definitely preferred some of the other countries we visited during the trip. I’m not sure whether this was because food and drink were on the pricier side, or whether we were just too eager to get to our favourite place, Spain. However, vanlife in France was easy: there were lots of supermarkets, most of which had pay-as-you-go washing machines to do laundry, and many lovely places to park up for the night.
Spain
We knew before we had even left the UK that Spain would be one of our favourite places on the trip, and we were not wrong. Having spent many weeks in the country together over the last three summers, it would be fair to say that Spain has a special place in our hearts.
After saying goodbye to France, we drove to Ainsa, a town located in the Aragon region of Northern Spain. We spent the best part of a week there exploring the area, swimming in the stunning lakes and sampling the local cuisine. Renting a Kayak on one of Ainsa’s largest lakes was one of the highlights of the whole trip for me – it was simply incredible!
Due to concerns about the safety of our van, we didn’t visit many large cities on this trip. Madrid was not somewhere originally on our to-do list, however, the city ended up being one of our favourite spots. We stayed with a family member and had the best time visiting the attractions and trying some delicious churros.
We spent the next fortnight relaxing in our favourite Spanish town, Estepona. Ben’s family own an apartment there and were kind enough to let us use it to chill out and re-set before the next leg of our trip to Portugal. If anyone is ever in the area, we recommend Mr Wok’s Buffet for affordable and tasty food and a trip to the Port for a late-night drink.
Here are some other notable places we visited on the Spanish leg of our road trip:
- Tarifa, Andalusia
- Torrox, Andalusia
- Cartagena, Murcia
- Les Tres Cales, Catalonia
Portugal
Neither my boyfriend nor I had been to Portugal before, and it didn’t disappoint. We spontaneously took a week out of our time in Spain to travel the Algarve, hopping from beach to beach and truly living our best lives.
Some of the beaches we visited were a little hard to get to, particularly a beach in Odemira where you needed to abseil down the side of a cliff face to reach the sandy shores below. That evening was one to remember; we spent our time watching the sunset from the top of the cliff and making friends with some of the other travellers parked nearby.
I was excited to visit Lisbon, but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed by the city. Despite the grand architecture and vibrant colours of the buildings, we felt a little bit uncomfortable being hassled in the streets by the locals. We would revisit Lisbon, but probably a different suburb as we weren’t that impressed by the city centre (we did enjoy our day out at the nearby Ikea though!)
I would go back to the Algarve in a heartbeat, and will hopefully go back to continue vanlife there one day. However, beware! If you are driving in Portugal, try to avoid toll roads as much as possible as they can be costly, particularly if you are on a small budget.
Italy
Italy was definitely the underdog of the whole trip for me. Everything about the country was simply fantastic – the food, the views, the culture and of course, the weather.
Having visited Venice in the North previously, this time we travelled the South cost, hitting as many beaches and famous landmarks as possible. I particularly enjoyed the city of Genoa, with its grand marina and friendly locals. In days following, we posed for photos in front of the leaning tower of Pisa, swam in Lake Garda (although we actually preferred the neighbouring lake, Lago di Ledro) and relaxed in some natural hot springs.
If I could go back to any of the countries we visited, I would 100% pick Italy. It was good for vanlife as the food was cheap and the price of petrol was reasonable, but aside from these things, we just had a great time.
France, Spain, Portugal and Italy were the four countries we spent the most time in. We also stopped by in Monaco, Switzerland (Zurich is a must-see), Lichtenstein and Germany, driving through Belgium and The Netherlands on our way back to the ferry.
So that’s it! Ten countries visited in ten weeks, driving almost 10,000 miles in our campervan. The coronavirus ended up not affecting our holiday as much as we thought it would – the only difficult thing was getting used to wearing our facemasks! All of our parking spots were generally relatively quiet due to the reduced amount of tourists, and we felt safe everywhere we went.
However, I feel that our safety from the coronavirus was largely down to the fact that we used our own transport, apart from the odd taxi. There were no planes, no hotels and not even a campsite (we chose to wild camp to save money). Therefore, our contact with others was limited to the supermarket shop and the few popular tourist attractions we visited.
Would I recommend this type of holiday to anyone else? Absolutely! The experience is second to none, and I can safely say I have seen some of the most beautiful places in the world.
Written by Jessica Goddard
All images by Jessica Goddard