Travelling through the alps with a campervan and our dog

Four people, one dog and 3.500 kilometres in 14 days

Camping holiday through the alps with four people and your beloved dog in a Bulli? Sounds plausible having a mobile home – but with a Camper? No problem! The compact campervans from roadsurfer have much more space than one might think.

Author: Ronny Rzepus

Travelling through the alps with a campervan: Let the great journey begin

For us as hobby photographers, it’s always important to be at the right place at the right time to capture the best possible light. Actually, this was always a success with our roadsurfer as we were flexible when the weather didn’t allow us to run through our program. The feeling of freedom and to simply drive wherever we want to be means more than holiday for us!

We rented our campervan in Munich, quickly loaded our luggage and off we go. The good news: We definitely had enough space for four suitcases and three bags. So, Austria here we come!

First stop with the campervan: Hallstatt

With the roadsurfer spots app, we quickly found a calm and cost-friendly overnight place less than a 15 minutes walk away from Hallstatt. We parked and then went to the cozy market town on the shore of Lake Hallstatt with best weather. After we had explored everything during the day, we walked back to our camper and enjoyed cheese-leek soup for dinner – everything freshly prepared in the kitchen of our Bulli. Afterwards, we quickly moved up the pop-up roof and folded down the bed – good night.

Hallstatter beer with a perfect view

The next morning, we get up early to make some photos – being directly on the right spot makes everything a lot easier. After having lunch with the best view and a cold Hallstatter beer, we decided to stay another night.

 

Since the next morning was very cloudy, we didn’t stress ourselves to be at the next destination by sunrise. We drove approximately one hour up in the heights to the Loser Panorama street. Below in the valley was everything green but up in the mountains, we still had snow. Afterwards, we made breakfast in our Bulli with a beautiful panorama view before we headed to Slovenia.

Next stop: Lake Bled

In the evening, we arrived in Bled – our first time on a paid campsite – to recharge the camera batteries, refill our water and freshen up ourselves. Unfortunately, it rained the whole evening as well as the whole night. So we made ourselves comfortable in the Bulli with pasta, wine and “Games of Thrones”. Unfortunately, the bad weather continues the next morning but that didn’t stop us from taking beautiful pictures – even during rain.

Absolutely recommendable: Travelling through Slovenia with the Bulli

After one to two hours, the sun came out and we speeded up again. We were very impressed by our roadtrip through Slovenia: The roads meandered through high green mountains with many waterfalls and turquoise-blue rivers. Due to the rain the day before, the clouds of fog were pulling through the valley, which made us feel as if we were in the Amazon. We didn’t expect that at all!

Hello South Tyrol!

Still thinking about Slovenia, we drove with our Bulli over to Italy. After a 4 hours drive we arrived at the Pragser Wildsee in the evening. Here we also spent the night directly on a parking lot put. After taking a few pictures, the way led us to the Karersee. The water is surrounded by a mountain range and forests that mirror in the morning when the water is still calm. A great spot for all photographers!

Barbecue in the evening!

Not far away from the lake we found a very nice camping site with our own thermal bath and a view of the Dolomites. After two hours of relaxation and the impressive look from the outdoor pool, we gathered enough energy and started our barbecue.

The next day, we drove on to the Seiser Alm. In the morning we went up to Europe’s largest mountain pasture in about 20 minutes by wonderful weather. We spent half the day there and our dog was strung out after so much freewheel.

With the campervan through the Alps – Switzerland should not be missing

So off to Switzerland. The first spot was the viaduct in Filisur where we found a very inexpensive but beautiful camping site – even with a pool. The next day we walked to a viaduct in less than 10 minutes.

Right afterwards we drove over the Julierpass to the Malojapass. The drive was more than pleasant with our roadsurfer. We were surprised how much power the Bulli has.

Great station wagon: waterfall and sandy beach

We haven’t had enough from the beautiful weather – so we were always following the sun with our camper. On to Ticino, also called “small Italy” in Switzerland. The most beautiful thing on the whole road trip is for us the Mediterranean flair, the Italian mentality, the language and of course the Italian food. During our drive through all the small villages we discovered a lake with a waterfall and a sandy beach. We used this to freshen up before we went on to Lavertezzo. Once there we had spaghetti with wine which we prepared in our own roadsurfer kitchen.

The early bird catches the worm – so we woke up early and got more out of the day. After exploring Lavertezzo in the morning, we drove on through the small villages surrounded by huge mountains to Lauterbrunnen. A small town in the valley surrounded by steep rock walls where the glacier water plunges 300 meters into the depth. Here we stayed overnight on a camping site near a pasture. The next morning, awakened by cow bells, we explored the city.

On to the Plansee

In the afternoon, we headed north to Plansee. On our way, we stopped at the Rosenlaui glacier. Since the trip was a little dragging, we took a rest and slept a night a bit away from our route. Arriving at Plansee, we spent our last day very relaxed with lots of sun and cold drinks.

Bye Bye, roadsurfer Alex

After an approximately 1,5 hours drive to Munich we sadly said Goodbye to our beloved roadsurfer called Alex. Travelling through the Alps with a dog and a Bulli – 14 days full of experiences and a lot of fun. This was more than a holiday – We say thank you to our super friendly roadsurfer team and already dream of our next adventure!