This is a very short recap of our 10-day Europe road trip on a camper van with our 6 month old boy. The whole experience was fantastic and this post won’t do it justice… but it is better than nothing.

DAY 1:

We landed in Munich after a surprisingly easy flight from LAX, with Lucas having slept in the bassinet for a good chunk of it. We picked up the van we had rented with Indiecampers and got a rather lengthy briefing on how to operate it. Although it was getting late, we figured it was worth driving to our first destination (under 2 hours): Salzburg, where we grabbed dinner with part of Sara’s family (who happened to be on their own Eurotrip).

DAY 2:

After a good night of sleep, we strolled around the altstadt (old town) and the river for a couple of hours. Then we jumped back into the van and drove the beautiful road to Hallstatt (a bit over 1 hour). We parked at the campground on the south side of the town, and waited in the van for the rain to subside, while feeding baby boy… precisely one of the reasons why we had chosen to travel this way 🙂

Eventually, we decided to power through and enjoy the charm of Hallstatt despite the weather. Cobblestone streets, colorful buildings, little churches, deep blue lake,swans, green mountains… Hallstatt really feels right out of a fairytale.

We ate a traditional Austrian lunch, walked around a bit more, and since we couldn’t do any of the outdoor activities (boat rental, gondola), we figured we might as well keep driving. We made it to the border town of Villach (2 and a half hours), which was a very pleasant surprise: walkable and lively late at night, like you would expect from a better-known European town.

DAY 3:

The sun was shining strong, so we didn’t waste any time getting going to our next destination, over in Slovenia: Bled (45 minutes). We parked at the large lot at the entrance of town and walked down to the lake… it was a sight to behold. The water was a shiny turquoise hue, and the church on the little island, the castle on the cliff, the wooden boats, it all added to the magical scenery.

We walked counterclockwise on the shore, and then up to Cafe Belvedere, where we relished on the views and on the local specialty: Bled cream cake. Walking back, we were so hot and drenched in sweat that there was only one option: skinny dipping!

Back on the van, we felt really good. We had adjusted to the time difference quickly, baby Lucas was not minding the long drives, and we were being able to check out the different spots efficiently but without rushing. So we pushed on towards Italy, driving through the Julian Alps (4 hours). The highlights of this leg were the 50 hairpin bend road (insane drive on the big, manual transmission van), and a short hike to stretch our legs at the Great Soca Gorge. We rolled into the parking by Lake Misurina late at night, exhausted but happy.