Camping

[telperion]

I plan on visiting Rome, Florence, Paris, and Amsterdam this summer. What do my camping options look like for these cities, and would it be very much cheaper than staying in hostels?

[Jules80]

camp grounds are, generally speaking, cheaper. however, they tend to be outside of cities. i couldn't tell you if they would be accessible by train or not (i assume you are plannign to travel by train as you posted a question about rail passes earlier) or even buses. you also have to factor in the additional expense of bus/metro/train to get to and from the camp ground every day. you might find the hassel and the fact that you have to pay for public transit not worth the few euros it might save you. like i said, i've never really looked into the option (a few came up when i was searching for hostels and they were cheaper and far away) but i think a more central hostel might be a better option. also depends on what you like... if you're up for a party scene you might prefer to be more central where you don't have to worry about the last bus out. unless of course you are driving... but i personally would not want to drive anywhere in france or italy... its insane! particularly when avoiding scooters in rome and florence! insane!

sorry for the rambly post...

jules

[me]

telperion said:

I plan on visiting Rome, Florence, Paris, and Amsterdam this summer.

i would advise against camping:

1. camping gear is bulky & heavy. not something you want to carry with you on a trip.

2. campsites are mostly outside of town, any savings you'd have from a lower campsite fee than hostel fee would be lost, probably more than lost, in transportation fees to get between campsites & the city you're there to see.

3. from what i've read, campsites in Europe forbid campfires. you can't cook or warm-up food, as you can in hostels.

4. travel between campsites & the city takes time as well as money. vacation time is valuable, you don't want to waste it.

5. hostels have other international travelers as well as locals. campsites mostly have local who are there to camp, not sightsee.

- d

Edit: i was typing this when Jules posted above. hadn't seen what she typed before i posted this.

[stanncie]

all of the above might be true, but it's not the whole picture

I stayed in a campsite in venice and it was perfectly fine. Some campsites have a few bungalows with beds and everything and if you can get these it's a great deal. This particulary campsite was in mestre. There was a bus that ran frequently right in front of the campsite directly to venice. The ride was 15 minutes only so it wasn't that bad. This was a good deal for us since all of the bad points mentioned above were covered. If you don't mind a few bugs and not having your own bathroom nearby it's not that bad.

[me]

Samantha,

what was the food situation at that campsite in mestre?

and, who was there, aside from your group?

- d

[stanncie]

food? hmm well there was no kitchen available if that's what you are asking. The only facilities was bathrooms, showers, a small convenience store and a washing machine. MOst people there were actually elderly people camping and such , we did see one pair of tourists staying. There were only two people in my group. It really wasn't an issue, since we only used it to sleep. We would go out in the morning and come back in the last bus back from venice which was around midnight.