The Best Apps for Touring Europe in a Motorhome

When you are touring Europe in a motorhome, half the challenge is simply knowing where you can stop: where to fill up with water, empty the tanks, park for the night or find a proper campsite. We came across an app recently that does exactly that, and it seemed worth sharing, along with a few others that earn their place on your phone.

CaraMaps

CaraMaps is a community app and website built specifically for motorhome and campervan travellers. It maps over 100,000 places across Europe: service areas (aires), overnight parking and wild-camping spots, campsites, water and waste points and points of interest, all with reviews, photos and ratings from a community of more than a million users. If you are heading somewhere new, you can see exactly what other travellers found before you arrive.

A few things make it genuinely useful on the road:

• A place to stop, anywhere. Whether you want a free aire for the night or a full-service campsite, you can filter the map to what you need and see what is nearby.
• A GPS built for your vehicle. The Premium navigation routes by your motorhome's height, weight and length, so you avoid low bridges and roads that are not suitable for a larger vehicle. Handy for first-time owners in particular.
• Trip planning. Itinerary tools and activity suggestions help you turn a rough idea into a proper route.
• Honest reviews. Real feedback from other camping-caristes, so you are not guessing about a spot's condition or whether it is still open.

The app is free on iOS and Android in seven languages. Premium costs €24.99 a year and adds the dedicated motorhome GPS, offline maps for when you have no signal, an ad-free experience and partner discounts. CaraMaps has also recently added Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so the navigation can show on your van's built-in screen rather than just your phone.

Find it at caramaps.com.

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Other Apps Worth Having

CaraMaps is a great starting point, but it is not the only tool out there. A few others deserve a place on your phone:

• Park4Night. Probably the best known of the lot. A huge community-driven map of places to stop, from free aires and quiet rural spots to car parks and small private sites, each with photos, services listed and traveller reviews. Free to use, with a park4night+ tier that adds offline maps and trip planning.
• Campercontact. A database of 60,000+ motorhome stopovers and campsites across Europe, with reviews and photos from over a million campers, and you can book some stays directly in the app. The free version covers search and reviews, while the PRO+ tier adds offline access, a travel planner and a large set of filters.
• ACSI. Best known for its CampingCard scheme, which gives discounted off-season rates at thousands of campsites across Europe. The ACSI apps also list and review sites, so they are useful both for finding a campsite and for saving money outside the peak months.

It is worth having two or three of these rather than relying on a single one. Each has slightly different coverage and a slightly different community, so when one comes up short in an area, another usually fills the gap.

Touring Europe is the reason most of our clients buy a motorhome in France in the first place, so anything that makes those early trips easier is worth passing on. For more on life on the road, see our guide to driving a motorhome in France.