Driving to Italy this July

You can drive again if you wish - campsites in both those two countries are open

The borders are fully open, too. We crossed the German/Swiss and Swiss/French borders last week without any controls. In fact, we could drive straight through without even stopping. To the best of my knowledge the same applies to Italy, too.

Long way with two young "are we there yet" children. 

Train 'em young. We took our two to Australia and drove over 5000km across the continent with them when they were 5 and 6. Now they do similar trips with their children.

Yes, all a big adventure for kids and horizon expanding. Just need to avoid going too far each day. Not a problem breaking the journey in a. camper. They’ll have great fun and remember it always.

If abroad this year, worth keeping a close eye on local CV developments. I suspect Italy is super sensitive to any new outbreaks and could react very quickly and robustly to any threat. You probably don’t want to get caught up in that!

Hi Nick,  have you set off yet?  We’re planning to travel to Italy at the end of July (family of 5 with teenage children/adults) and I’m watching the changing restrictions closely.  After thinking it wasn’t going to be possible, I’m now more optimistic. We’re booked into a site just North of Rome and after swapping emails with the site, I know they are keen for us to visit.  

My planned route is to go Eurotunnel, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and then into Italy. I drove through France to northern Italy last summer and we returned through Switzerland and Germany so I fancy going a different way this time.  We’re also stopping in NL for a week on the way back.

Please can you let us all know if you encounter any unusual, COVID related obstacles on your way?

MAM

At the moment its not possible for UK residents to stop overnight in Austria without a certificate to prove you are Covid19 free. This may change in the future of course. It’s possible to transit through Austria with out a stop and without certs but you’d have to plan for that and prove you’re stoping outside Austria.  We normally travel to Italy via Austria but I’ve  decided to travel via the St Gottard tunnel later this month. If you decide to go through Austria the Fern Pass is easy with a caravan and there are a number of German campsites in the Fussen area you could stay overnight. I suggest you use the Brenner Pass into Italy unless you particularly want to avoid Austrian Motorways. The Austrian motorway vignette is less than 10E for 10 days and you will only need one for your car. Campsites on the Italian side of the Brenner Pass are not so plentiful  until you get towards Lake Garda and as soon as we get into August they will be VERY busy. 

Once you’re in Italy there are no restrictions in the Veneto region but Lombardy may have different rules since the pandemic was more concentrated there. Enjoy Rome, it’s an amazing city but then most towns and cities in Italy have lots of charisma.

Hi Dave,

We've planned a route through Austria that takes us past Innsbruck and down the autoroute/Brenner pass.  I've pre-paid the vignette and Brenner toll and I have an Italian campsite booking to prove I'm just passing through if I need it.  I estimate about 2 to 3 hours to get through Austria.  I'm not sure we're actually going to get into Rome.  It was on the plan when we booked the trip last November but we're planning on staying away from densely populated areas.

I can understand your concerns about densely populated areas. The number of visitors to Italian cities is significantly down (even in Rome and Venice) but its the use of public transport to get into the cities that would be a problem in my view.

From your picture on the forum you look to have a long caravan? Sites in Italy have a reputation for having smallish pitches but the sites on the north Adriatic coast tend to have larger pitches. We’re going back to Camping Capalonga at the end July and they have lots  of decent sized pitches. If you fancy a beach holiday with plenty of space and plenty of cycling opportunities then its a great site for that. From 1st August most people in Italy will holiday for the whole of the month and hence the sites will be busy. However, many German families have decided to holiday in their own country this year and Italian sites that are normally fully booked in August are likely to have free pitches.

Enjoy your holiday, it sound as though you’ve done plenty of pre-planning. Your estimated time for transiting Austria is realistic, the motorway over the Brenner is very quiet at the moment.

Hi Dave,

As part of our planning, we've booked out Italian site through the caravan club, which is supposed to have pitches of 200 square metres.  I'll believe it when I see it but that's what the CAMC site says.