Finding your way (motorhome sat nav) and places to stay (mostly for free)!

Whether you're a wee campervan conversion or an absolutely enormous motorhome, you'll want the tools to navigate around unsealed roads and low bridges and you'll definitely want to find places to stay - maybe even for free (if you're like us)?

There's now plenty of options but here's our favourite motorhome and camper sat navs and other tools for the UK and Europe.

Navigation apps

First of all, why is your motorhome or camper sat nav so important? Well, unfortunately it's not as straight forward as simply popping your destination into Google Maps and setting off. Not if you still want an undamaged roof, awning or habitation when you get there anyway! To that end, you will likely want a navigation tool that knows how high, long and heavy your vehicle is to avoid serious damage, injury and/or time spent backtracking for hours in an unknown country (ouch). There are plenty of low bridges and barriers around that we never took any notice of as a car owner. Embarrassingly, it was just the other day that we got too close to (scratched) a street sign. Daft but easily done!

There are tons of pricey, fully integrated sat nav options out there but we didn't want to spend lots of money when we were starting out so here's some of the more budget-friendly apps we considered.

Sygic for Motorhomes (around €55/£65 per yr):

This is our top pick as it's what we started with almost two years ago and it's what we continue to use now.

Specifically, the version that is optimised for caravans and motorhomes (it's past life was all trucks). It's worth knowing that we use it on mobile via this brilliant, budget friendly little dash-mounted mobile phone holder as we didn't want something else altogether just for sat nav. Works brilliantly for us.

The Sygic interface may take a few gos to get used to but, importantly, you can quickly enter in the dimensions and weight of your vehicle and this app will guide you safely to wherever you want to go.

The main reasons we love Sygic (which we've fondly named 'Cedric' or 'Cedders'):

• We can set top speeds to get realistic travel and arrival times. This is important for us in our 31 year old Lucky Duke and it's slooooooooow so we won't ever get anywhere at the speed Google Maps tells us we will. It's helped us plan a much more realistic trip through France and Spain this year.

• It continuously tells us how far to the nearest rest stops and petrol stations are which is helpful in easing the mind if you're trying to decide when next to fill up or you know you need to stop for a break or for the doggo to have a breather/wander/pee.

• Warning signals for permanent speed cameras (as you might expect).

• It tells you which lanes to use on the multiple lane motorways (where you have an exit etc coming up) - game-changer for us! It generally does it nice and early too. Wish Google Maps was as helpful.

• You can download maps for use offline if you're concerned about losing wifi or 4G/5G data. We ensure that we have plenty of data when we travel (more on that soon) so but have the maps downloaded just in case.

There are free options out there but, for us, it was worth paying the subscription and we're loving it after some 4000kms of travel in the UK and Europe. Note that this can now be integrated with Android Auto for a little extra cash but we haven't yet upgraded to that version as we're content with our set up for now. Who knows what the future holds though! Note that the version we have doesn't offer live traffic updates but we just work around it (as below).

Google Maps (free):

We do still use it but mostly to test our other navigation app. look at the traffic en route and check other options or, on the rare occassion our Sygic app says or does something odd. Or if we're cycling, running or walking, of course! Still a must-have tool, as we all know!

Having said that, we wouldn't dream of taking the risk of using this (or similar) alone as it simply won't take into account dangerous low bridges, weight restrictions or our correct average/top speeds.

A few other options (worth considering):

There are plenty out there and more all the time but you might want also consider the other major players which can cater for your motorhome dimensions (which we also took a look at) such as Co-pilot, and OSMAnd. Or, if you're ok with it, those that can't be configured for your vans dimensions such as Waze (takes some odd routes at times though) and Maps.me.

Finding places to stop or stay.....

So, you've got your route all planned out but where are you staying? The great thing is that, with self-contained van, in particular, the sky is your limit and it's no longer necessary to pre-book if you're not travelling in peak season (or possibly even if you are). In fact, in some countries (be careful to check), it's no longer necessary to stay on any official site with many opting to be 'off grid' instead. We do a mix of both which many do!

Here's a quick summary of what we consider to be essential tools or memberships for travel in the UK and Europe (particularly France and Spain).

Park4Night

An app that many campervanners, including us, now see as essential. This user-led app will show you places to stay almost anywhere you are, many of which are free or off-grid. This does come with the health warning that the apps content is really only as good as the information added so we'd recommend reading the recent reviews of a place as things change and you want something that is being regularly (or recently) used to ensure that you feel safe enough to sleep at night.

Pros: Easy to use, tons of options just about anywhere, many free stays, the options to see others recent experiences.

Cons: It relies on others honesty and accurate reviews (which can be subjective), we'd like to see more campsites included on it.

Searchforsites

Another, similar app but we find the interface a little clunky and prefer Park4Night so rarely use it. Many do though and it's free so definitely worth downloading to ensure you have plenty of options wherever you are.

ACSI Camping Card

This paid-for subscription is totally invaluable for us, even though we try to stay off-grid as much as possible. It gives MUCH cheaper access to European campsites and motorhome-only sites off-season (usually outside school and other major holidays). Great for dog owners as your dog (and your EHU) are almost always free at ACSI sites compared to what you'd pay if you drove up and checked in.

For us, the ACSI membership, at around £25 annually for the digital CampingCard (app based) is an absolute necessity, unless you have no interest in saving money but who does that apply to?! Just one thing to know (a warning) is that the site is a little messy and you definitely need the paid-for CampingCard and the associated app as, confusingly, there's two separate apps.

We saved €17 every single night that we stayed in a fabulous four star campsite on the gorgeous Catalan coastline.

France Passion

This membership is a complete JOY! A wonderful, very reasonably priced (at around £25/€30 annually) paid-for membership based organisation which allows self-contained vans (and only self-contained as there's generally no services at all) to stay for free on the properties of small businesses around France. Most of these businesses are agriculture based so will include vineyards and small farms or holdings but could include fish farms/ponds, duck farms or even the odd snail farm!

There are some very sensible golden rules which are really important to understand as these are not campsites and shouldn't be treated as such. You can't book, normally can't or shouldn't call ahead (although sometimes it's best to check the dog is ok) and you must be completely self-contained and courteous. In exchange, you will undoubtedly want to consider tasting or buying the food from the kind hosts and, if your experiences is anything like ours, you will not regret that!

We have had several wonderful stays on vineyards in Chablis and Champagne to name a couple and we met some lovely people - passionate and completely expert in what they do. We always buy something and we always respect the rules to ensure that this fantastic organisation continues.

Imagine waking up to the sun rising over the vineyard shared with noone else - unreal!

It's not a 'con' as such but it's worth knowing that this is still rather paper-based in that you're best to sign up well before you head-off (and you can do so from the UK) as you'll be sent a physical sticker for your vehicle, a card and a book which lists all of the owners/hosts for the current year. It's lovely to sit and plan your next stay over a wine from the vineyard you're staying in. Trust me!

Aires (and other similar council provided spots)

Neither an app, a business or a membership-based organisation but, simply, areas in France, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere which are set up by local councils for 'camping-cars' (motorhomes) or anyone self-contained. Some are free, others are pay on arrival (almost always digital). Many have barriers and most have services of some description - some of which includes paid-for EHU. They exist in the countryside and in cities and they are an amazing resource for those of us that love to travel overland in our self-contained vehicles. There's often no sanitary facilities (but most have MH/van services) so best not to expect somewhere to do your dishes or use the loo.

Are you set up to stay off grid?

If you're a newbie or thinking about a motorhome, and this all sounds good to you (and it really is, we say), you may need a solar set up so that you can stay off-grid without worrying about running down your leisure and/or car battery!

We have a fairly simple, mid-range, set up from Renogy which includes a 200w portable solar panel, a charge controller and a 'Powerstation 500' so we can stay off grid for several days at a time without worrying about the leisure battery and continue working on our laptops without any issues at all (provided there's data signal or wifi, of course)!

The world really is there to be explored and there are so many tools out there to help but hopefully this has been helpful for you in considering some of those.

Now go and enjoy it out there... We haven't looked back and can't wait for more!

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