This Summer 2022, we have planned to go explore Europe. In the summer of 2021, we made preparations by camping across the Netherlands, namely in Kemphaan, Hemels, and Geithoorn.  After long hours of research, I prepared a two-week itinerary for our camping trip that covers Germany, Switzerland, and France. The trip is 15 days long and will cover more than 2000 kilometers. We chose to use our car as a mode of transportation so it'll be convenient to move around. Below is the infographic I prepared for our trip.

We brought our essential camping gear, a week worth of clothes, and a few snacks for the road. We didn't bring much food for we decided to shop in the supermarkets and surprise ourselves with what meals we can come up with within each place. We refuel three times, all in Germany because they have cheaper fuel rates. 

We allowed ourselves to enjoy each place by having ample time per location. As from previous camping experiences, it takes an hour to set up our tent, and another hour to pack it up. We opted to stay at least four days and three nights at each campground so as not to tire ourselves too much. 

Cochem

Our first stop is Cochem, the famous town along the Mosel river. From Zandvoort to Cochem, it was a 6-hour drive of almost 400km. We had two stops along Germany, to refuel and to get some snacks. We stayed at Mosel Camping Cochem for three days and two nights. The Mosel region was fascinating as it is nestled between the mountains and the Mosel river. Our journey through the mountains was interesting for we never see the same view as in the Netherlands (the Netherlands is pure flat land). 

We wandered across the Mosel Promenade on our way to Cochem Altstad, where you can see Cochem castle. Just like any small European town, the town of Cochem is very charming, straight out of those fairytale books I read when I was young. We wanted to ride the Cochem sasselbahn, a pulley that starts at the bottom of the town that heads towards an awesome viewpoint where you can see a nice view of the castle and the town. Unfortunately, we weren't able to ride it because it was closing soon when we got there. We opted to ride the train tour that travels all across town and tells us a small history of the town of Cochem.

I saw some vineyards slopes in the mountain, and I was interested to try the Mosel wine. I was able to try their local Reisling, which was a bit sweet and dry. I liked it so I bought a wine to add to my sweet wine collection. As we say goodbye to Cochem and head out to another town, we dropped by the Burg Eltz castle, which is nearby Cochem. We spent a good 4 hours on our trek up to the castle and going back to the car. It was a very draining trek because we were also in the middle of the heat wave that time. But the view of the Burg Eltz was amazing. I didn't mind the trek, only if the weather was a bit cooler and not scorching us to death.

Legoland Germany

This is one of the activities we have planned for our kid. Legoland Village has a campground for pitchers and caravans. We camped for four days which includes two days of entry to the park. Our family is more of a theme park enthusiast/thrill-seeker when it comes to traveling.  

The campground is located beside the Legoland village, where the vacation houses were. The Legoland Village has separate attractions for kids apart from the ones you can see inside the theme park. Legoland Village is interesting because it has several sections with different themes, like the Ninjago Apartments, Pirate Hotel, Pipowagen (that is similar to glamping in concept), and other villas with themes from different Lego pieces.

The theme park itself is smaller in comparison to Disneyland. But they have this big area where they built mini cities around Europe out of Lego. It was a fascinating site. Our kid had loads of fun in the park. He is at the age where he is daring to try the scary-looking rides. 

Switzerland

We visited Zermatt during the winter before the pandemic so we can experience snow. Now, we wanted to explore the Swiss Alps during the summer when it is all lush and green, perfect weather for camping in the rolling hills. We decided to explore Interlaken. We camped at Camping Lazy Rancho, on the outskirts of Interlaken town for six days. The good thing about camping in the region is that they provide a travel card for the duration of your stay, meaning you get to travel for free in the whole Interlaken area. Kids travel free until 12 years of age. 

Our first day was unfortunately rainy so we decided to explore the town of Interlaken. It was still pretty despite the weather. The river that connects Lake Thun and Lake Brienz flows across the town center of Interlaken. The blue water was a marvelous sight despite the rain. Our campsite was stunning for we were always greeted by the pretty Swiss Alps and people paragliding and jumping off the mountains. 

Jungfrau region is a place we also explored. Since it is not included in our travel card, we purchased a 3 days pass which was a good deal for all the places we wanted to see. On the first day of using our pass, we headed straight to Jungfraujoch, the Top of Europe since the weather was sunny. After being exhausted at the top, we dropped by Kleine Scheidegg to admire the Swiss Alps and continued our journey to explore Murren.

On the second day of using our pass, we explored Schynige Platte, which was the area we decided to give hiking a try. They say that the amateur trail can be found in this place as there is a kid's trail. We tried the kid's trail first to warm up my son for hiking, then made a detour to check the mountain peaks. It was exhausting, good thing that the weather was perfect, sunny but still cool. As the sun begins to set, we headed to Harder Klum to admire the town as the sun sets. 

On the third day of using our pass, we stopped by the town of Wengen. The town was small and very cozy. We headed our way to Mannlichen using the cable car from Wengen. Mannlichen is a good stop for families for there is a big playground and restaurant on the plateau. You can hike down towards the town of Grindelwald or you can take the cable car.  In the afternoon, we headed towards Grindelwald First to see the attractions and exciting activities.  We were too late for the attractions at that time because everything closed at 5PM. We were so busy exploring the place that when we decided to do some activities, the lines were already too long until the cutoff for the day.

Switzerland is an expensive place to travel, we accepted that fact even before we arrived. But there are a lot of ways where you can save money. We used the water fountains for our water the whole trip. Switzerland's tap water is refreshingly good as it came from the Alps. You can bring sandwiches and snacks to fuel your adventure as the restaurants in the mountain peaks tend to run at an average of 20 euros, and even their instant ramen costs more than 10 euros.

Colmar

I wanted to explore Alsace, and it is conveniently located near Switzerland, so I have included it in our list. We decided to explore the town of Colmar so we can see the La Petite Venise canal bridges. We stayed at Camping de L'Il for three days. 

Our itinerary at Colmar is very simple. We will walk around Colmar's Old Town,  have lunch at Marche Couvert and make our way to La Petite Venice. The whole town is charming, it's like stepping out as Belle in the fairytale story, Beauty and the Beast. Unfortunately, there was a heat wave so we were literally melting and sweating profusely while walking around town. A lot of ice creams and iced coffee were consumed that day.

We decided to visit Musee du Jouet because my son wanted to do something that he will enjoy. The toy stores are nice, but this museum is a lot better choice. Musee du Jouet is a children's museum with a lot of old-school toys. It has three floors full of historical toys for children. The whole family enjoyed playing different types of board games, arcade games, and even Sega. 

After Colmar, I initially planned to drop by Paris for our last leg of the trip. We decided to change plans last minute and headed to Valkenburg aan Geul on our way home. We stayed at Hotel La Casa for one night to refresh and rest a bit before we headed back home. We weren't able to explore the town of Valkenburg because it was raining hard that day. Also, we decided to drop by Roermond Outlet Village to do some retail shopping. 

Our Europe summer camping trip was a tiring one but we had loads of fun. This article has not been your typical travel guide with lots of details but I hope I was able to convey how remarkable the places we went to were. It was exciting to see different towns and confuse ourselves as we switched from different languages. We may not have been able to follow our itinerary to the dot, but it served as a guide for us to have an amazing summer camping experience!

Which cities in Europe should we visit next?

Summer vacation calls for activities for our hyper children. Six weeks of vacation is a bit long, and we need additional stimulation and activities for our kids this summer. 

1. Museum Hopping (with a Museumkaart)

If you cannot file for a long vacation or you are filling up the afternoons with activities, Museums are your go-to. The Netherlands have an abundance of museums and activities for that matter, notable ones if I may say.

Note that it is a good thing to purchase a Museumkaart, so you can save a lot of money. Admission fees for most of the museums are usually free if you have a subscription/Museumkaart. If you plan to visit 4-5 museums a year, it is practical to get a Museumkaart for the cost will offset the fees to visit to 4-5 museums. 

2. Attraction Park / Theme Park

Weekends or a day or two of vacation leave can be spent on Attraction Parks/Theme Parks. There are different attraction parks you can explore in the Netherlands as well as its neighbouring countries.

Efteling would be one of the most famous in the Netherlands. It has been claimed to be fairytale-like. There are also other theme parks that cater to certain age group of children. For example, the Sprookjeswonderland in Enkhuizen is catered to younger children and Walibi and Toverland is for the older age group. Nevertheless, you won't have any problems for entertainment as in general children loves these places. 

3. Camping by the beach, forest or lake

This is one of the reasons that moving to Europe was a good idea. Long gone are the days where you are holed up in hotels in big cities for vacation (which is typical in Asia). Here in Europe, there is an abundance of camping grounds and parks where you can explore different cities and their respective nature reserves. 

Camping is mostly for the whole immersive experience. Some people may not prefer it, for their idea of a vacation is to have convenience and not to have any more stress. I mainly view camping as practicing some life skills and immersion with nature. I never imagined myself enjoying camping (partly because hotels are too expensive and restrictive). It makes sense now to have a Eurotrip (Europe roadtrip) for it is convenient to visit different countries for the duration of your trip.

Do you have other suggestions for activities for this kids summer vacation?

A tired parent would love to read it in the comments below! 

I will share another camping experience with you last 2021. Per my last camping blogpost, we were taking it slow and trying out camping in different sites in the Netherlands before our camping tour to Switzerland for summer. As I was researching camping places (which is different from vacation parks), I leaned towards camping sites that are within arms reach to attractions. Our yearly Efteling visit was crossed out as an option this year for we were there last summer, so Kasthuevel campsites were out of the options.

I have Billybird Park saved on my list in Google for amusement parks to see in the Netherlands. There was a new camping site opened just beside the park, Camping Hemels. I found out that you get free entrance to the park once you booked a slot in the campsite.

CAMPING HEMELS

Camping Hemels is located in a small town in the south of Netherlands. The campsite is located adjacent the park, which is convenient if you have a kid. What is even more exciting is that they have access to a lake, which was shared with the park. 

The campsite is divided into sections, for the caravans and pitchers and for the glamping tents. If you must know, glamping means camping out without the worry of bringing your camping equipement, as it has been provided at the site. It is not similar to a hotel/house but you have a cozy room inside a big tent, which has been all arranged for you. Bathrooms are still shared and communal. 

One more striking advantage of Camping Hemels is that during the summertime, the restaurant/bar in the site holds themed nights for its guests. They have campfires/BBQs by the lake, DJ party, paddle boarding by the lake and other activities which makes the stay more pleasant, if ever you got bored of all the rides/entertainment in the park.

As for me, it was perfect. My husband can work by the lake with a beer on hand, while mommy and the kid enjoys the park, and vice versa. It is a win-win situation for everyone. It is a bang for your buck because you get entrance to the park included in your stay.

The only con I think is that our pitch tent was squeezed in between caravans, I guess we were the only small family camper who pitches their own tent, as most of the guests there were seasonal caravan people. But I really didn't mind because our neighbor that time were too kind. Our neighbouring caravan did not mind conversing in English and even introduced us to the mouthwatering Bosche bollen, which is by the way the renowned dessert of the region we were staying at. They drove to get it at the famous town in the city, brought it back and shared with us. Isn't that the sweetest?

BILLYBIRD PARK HEMELRIJK

Billybird Park has a lot of locations across Netherlands, one of them is in Volkel, just beside the Lake Hemelrijk (hence the name). The location is massive, yet the attractions were pretty basic. 

The park is divided into three parts, the attractions/rides, the indoor playground and the waterpark. The waterpark is a massive inflatable area which you pay a separate entrance fee. It requires one to have a swim diploma before entering the waterpark. The indoor playground is a big two level ball pit. It conveniently has a small cafe for parents to sit on and have coffee while watching their kid play. 

The attractions/rides were basic, the typical ones you will see at a playground.  One unique thing about the park is that most of the rides were mechanical and manually driven. It was really a delight because you won't worry of electrical machinery breaking and you have control of the speed. The downside is that the driver (aka the parent) gets more tired than the kid, especially when the kid wants to go more rounds on the ride. Let me share a video below of us having fun at Hemelrijk.

Overall, we had fun during our camping trip to Camping Hemels and Billybird Park Hemelrijk. I am loving the idea of nature and camping especially after moving here in Europe. The pandemic is sure opening up creative ideas for us to explore the Netherlands while being safe with social distancing and stuff. 

What do you love about camping? 

Share it in the comments below!

Summer.

It is the most anticipated season of the year. School is out and so is the sun. Summertime is usually where people have big plans and go on long vacation. Since Daxton is going to school now, we can only have a long vacation during the summer as well.

Everything is slowly opening up now that most people are getting their vaccine shots. We initially planned to go roadtrip/camping around Europe, visiting Switzerland in the summer. Camping is a safe choice for a vacation since you will be out in nature and you’ll interact with less people.

We visited Decathlon and shopped for camping essentials. We bought our cooking and sleeping gears, keeping it to the bare essentials. But before we plan our weeklong roadtrip to Switzerland, we must first test out our camping gear nearby, just to make sure we are making the right decision.

Armed with our newly bought gear from Decathlon NL, we headed to Kemphaan for a weekend camping trip.

Natuurcamping de Kemphaan

 It is a simple campsite with complete facilities nestled in Stadslandgoed de Kemphaan. It is open for leisure campers as well as seasonal campers. Among all the campsites in Almere, Natuurcamping de Kemphaan is the the most affordable for less than €30/night.

We wanted to give camping a try first before we book a weeklong camping somewhere far. That is why I decided to book a campsite near Almere. Since it is our first time out, we settled on somewhere near. In case we forgot something, we can easily drive back home to get it and make a note for next time.

The campsite has different accommodation options like pitching a tent, place for a campervan and small lodges. We rented a place where we can pitch a tent but has access to electricity just like what the campervans use.

The toilet and shower facilities are clean and good. There are almost 8 toilets and separate shower areas for men and women. The reception will provide you shower coins that you can use for hot water in the shower. They also have sinks for washing hands and washing dishes which has hot water as well. They also provide the soaps for the sinks that anyone can use. There are chemical toilet disposal for campervans and an option for washing and drying clothes for seasonal campers.

What is nice, during the weekend, a food truck comes in that sells typical Dutch snacks like sausages, sandwiches and fries. There is a Saturday food market beside the campsite where you can buy produce and meat from small businesses around Almere. 

Overall, our stay was quite pleasant. We were allowed to pitch tent facing the playground. Daxton liked it because he can just run outside and play with the other kids. One good thing also is that the grass is well maintained. I have not seen any poop on the grass from the pets. The toilets and shower were always clean, which made camping outdoors comfortable. It is a very quiet and tranquil place to camp.

Here is a video of what went down during our camping weekend at Natuur Camping de Kemphaan:

I think we will push through our weeklong camping trip. I bet it’ll be fun and we’ll have crazy stories. 

What are your plans this Summer?

Let me know in the comments below!