Camping: Getting Intimate With Europe At Little Cost

Ah, my wife and I thought, this is the way to see Europe.

We were staying along the shore of pristine Lake Annecy in the French Alps, enjoying a bottle of Rhone wine while our children played in a field of freshly mown hay. Beyond, on the far shore, an ancient castle loomed. And above it all soared the limestone peaks of the Haute Savoie.

There were no crowds of tourists here, not another American to be found. Even the most seasoned of European travelers, we told ourselves proudly, would have a hard time finding this spot.

How had we found it, and how could we afford it? The answer is simple. We were camping.

Camping is a budget-travel tradition among Europeans. But beyond backpacking college students, few Americans consider it when touring the Continent.

Our nights on Lake Annecy were the most idyllic of our trip. There were others that made us long for the comfort of a dry room and a soft bed. But even during our worst periods - enduring three days of 40 mph winds in a dumpy campground in Provence, trying to sleep through a fourth straight night of rain in Switzerland - we felt like camping had some unique advantages as a way of seeing Europe.

Chief among them, of course, is cost - camping made possible the trip of a lifetime, one we could not otherwise have afforded, particularly with the children. We found it easy to keep our budget below $100 a day, including food, gas, accommodations and admission fees to our daily round of castles, museums and gardens.

But camping did more than stretch our money.

Besides a cheap alternative to hotels, we got wonderful places for our children to play after a day of sightseeing. We got a more intimate look at the landscape than we would have from a hotel room. We met people from all over Europe. And, along the way, we developed a sense of independence and self-sufficiency that made us feel like more than tourists. We felt like adventurers.

We chose the last week of May and the first two weeks of June for our trip - the final weeks of the "off-season," when prices are cheaper and crowds thinner than the peak summer travel period.

The first week was spent in London and Paris, staying in budget hotels that were plain, but clean and well located. They cost about $80 per night.

It was a great week, but we quickly learned our most important lesson about touring Europe with children. Heed these words: Sightseeing is not a substitute for playtime.

After a day touring some of the world's great museums, cathedrals and monuments, my wife and I would collapse exhausted in our beds. But our children - Aaron, 12, and Audrey, 9 - would be flying off the walls, driving us, and undoubtedly our neighbors, crazy.

They needed time to play, room to run.

That's just what they got after we picked up a rental car on our way out of Paris and set off to camp our way through Germany, France and Switzerland.

Aaron and Audrey played soccer in the lush grass of a campground in the town of Lapallise, in central France. They ran themselves silly playing tag in Interlaken, Switzerland. They built castles on the banks of Mosel River in Cochem, Germany. They caught frogs in a small lake in Buzancy, a farm village in northern France.

While the kids played, Denise and I cooked - long, lazy dinners produced in courses with a camp stove and single pan. It was a time to talk, drink wine, soak up the scenery and relax.

Our meals seemed more satisfying for their simplicity, although my wife produced some amazingly sophisticated dishes, like green beans cooked in a powdered cream of asparagus soup, with bits of ham left over from lunch.

We purchased almost all our food in supermarkets and it turned out to be a daily adventure. A European supermarket is a gourmet experience by American standards. We tried to go shopping for our day's needs each morning, when the smell of warm bread fills the air and the shelves are bursting with fresh flowers, produce and fish.

Many of our meals featured common camp fare such as beans and weenies, macaroni or spaghetti. But we always made a point of buying regional specialties to spice up our lunches and dinners - olives in Provence, smoked sausage and Emmentaler cheese in Switzerland, Camembert in Northern France.

But we weren't foolish enough to visit Paris, Provence, the Black Forest and Mosel Valley without sampling the cuisines for which they are justifiably famous.

Every four or five days, we went out to eat at moderately priced but highly recommended local restaurants, dining heartily on the money we saved by camping and preparing most of our own meals.

Meeting folks

Before we left on our trip, we vowed to make an effort to meet people along the way. Real people, not just waiters, tour guides and hotel clerks, who are trained to cater to tourists.

Camping made that unavoidable. When you share restroom and shower facilities and spend your evenings outdoors, the need to socialize overcomes any language barrier.

Our rudimentary foreign language skills, supplemented by body language, went a long way. It also created a lot of good will among the Europeans we met, who seemed to appreciate our effort to speak their language, no matter how badly we butchered it.

It also led to some humorous moments.

In Annecy, needing a pair of pliers to open a gas canister for our stove, I approached a friendly looking group camping near us. "Avez vous un, um, ah, plee-airs," I said, pathetically overpronouncing the words while mimicking the motion of opening a cap.

"That would be a pliers, I believe," came the reply, in the most beautiful British accent I had ever heard. The group, it turned out, was from Yorkshire and very friendly. We spoke to them often and drank in their lovely Dales accents as pleasurably as the wines we had with dinner.

They were among a memorable cast of characters we met at campgrounds along the way. A spry little man who had survived the Allied bombing of Dresden during World War II told us about paddling his kayak up the Mosel River.

In Cochem, a family from Denmark who spoke perfect English befriended us. In Arles, a Dutch couple gave us advice on seeing the French Riviera. In Buzancy, a local farmer who ran the campground became suddenly effusive when he found we were American. "Ah, vous etes Americain! Tres bien!" he said. For this was during the 50th anniversary of D-Day, and across England and France Americans were being treated with a special affection.

And the animals

We met more than people. Each campground seemed to have its resident pets, much to the delight of our children.

In Interlaken, a pair of ducks became their constant companions, joining them for handouts at dinner and arriving at daybreak to peck on the side of our tent, impatiently awaiting breakfast.

A scruffy but charming Airedale engaged the kids in a game of tag on the beach at our campground on Lake Annecy. And an endless procession of geese all along the way brought their goslings by to be admired and fed.

Most Americans come away from a sojourn in Europe with a lifetime's worth of memories of the Tower of London, the Louvre, the Cathedral at Chartre, the castles of the Rhine. And we did, too.

But it will be those chance encounters we had while camping that we'll remember most.

--------- IF YOU GO ---------

TIPS ON CAMPING IN EUROPE

The first rule of camping in Europe may seem too obvious: Always remember that you're in Europe!

That way, when you're sore from sleeping on the ground, wet from running to the bathroom in the rain and cranky from being awakened at dawn by a cacophany of birdsong, you can say "Hey, I'm in Europe," and a wave of cultural bliss will wash away at least some of your discomfort.

Here's some advice:

-- What to expect: While many European campgrounds are located in urban areas, most preserve at least a semblance of pastoral charm. The best campgrounds can be extremely scenic and well-manicured. But be prepared for others, particularly in Southern Europe, that have all the charm of an overcrowded trailer park.

-- Amenities: Almost all organized campgrounds offer bathrooms and showers, but the water isn't always hot. Laundry facilities, swimming pools, mini-golf courses, restaurants and camp stores also are common. The more stars the campground has in its rating, the more elaborate the facilities. But some amenities, chiefly picnic tables and grills, are nonexistent.

-- Essentials: You can get by with only a tent and a sleeping bag. In many campgrounds, the grass is lush enough to provide a tolerable bed, but sleeping pads could help you avoid some discomfort. In parts of Scandinavia, particularly Norway and Sweden, many campgrounds offer small huts.

-- Getting there: There are campgrounds within walking distance of many train stations. Buses often provide access to campgrounds as well. Check with local tourist information offices.

But by far the best way to camp in Europe is with a rental car. It can take you to the most scenic and least accessible campgrounds.

-- Cost: Most campgrounds charge fees per person, per tent and per car. It cost my family of four as little as $10 a night in some places, and as much as $35 a night in others.

- Todd Hegert