Camping in the Alps

Right then,

The dreary days here have set me off dreaming of next year. At our Wertstoffhof a few weeks ago in the flea market I pick
ed up a tent for free which when I got it home turned out to be a
 five person tent with large porch. Now I'd like to complete the camping set and go next spring perhaps in
 the Austrian Alps somewhere.

Has anyone here done the camping thing? We've done lots of day trips into the Alps as we are mountain fans and I am no stranger to camping having camped hundreds of times in the Arabian desert in my 4x4 but here its obviously a lot less freer than there. What do people use here for stoves - gas stoves? How spacious are the camp sites here or Austria - they seem to be a bit crowded.

We' dmost likely set up camp then go to a restaurant in the evening for dinner. We'd only likely use the stove to make tea or coffee next morning.

Advice gratefully received.

Camping in Germany, Austria or even Italy provides for a broad variety of classes from basic to extra-deluxe. One of our favourite BASIC campgrounds is on the shore of Lago Maggiore in Italy, called Lido di Monvalle (English web site). One section is basically a field where you can pitch tents or park small campers. Another section provides spaces for more substantial campers, while the third section has little permanent trailer cottages you can rent out which have private shower/bath and a kitchenette. There's a bar, a restaurant and a snack shop so you don't have to cook at all if you don't want to. A few motel-like rooms are also available over the restaurant. Our motorcycle club goes down for Easter weekend every year and we take over about half of the campground. The public showers and toilets are a bit primitive but the restaurant has decent toilets.

My in-laws, however, prefer a more up-scale campground, so they go to Zillertal in Austria with their large luxurious camper-trailer. This place has all sorts of facilities like swimming pool, tennis courts, sauna, wellness centre and also several eateries including a Western Saloon and Beach Cafe. It is also open in winter for nearby skiing, though I doubt folks pitch tents in January.

In high season reservations are a MUST and the places are all quite crowded. If you go just before or after high season then you're more likely to have a more peaceful time, but the weather will play a role. The spacing between tent campsites depends on the season and can be quite rediculous at some places that try to crowd in as many folks as possible. The more expensive places obviously give more elbow room, and are less likely to have large groups of teenagers partying into all hours of the night.

For cooking, I've seen everything from mini disposable BBQs to elaborate propane gas grills. One of our club members showed up one year with his Saeco automatic coffee/expresso machine Most campgrounds can provide water and electrical hookups.

Let me know if you have more questions. I just gave these two as an example of basic and luxurious, although there's everything in between, too.

Wow thanks for that writeup. Do you own a "Campingführer" guidebook to the best sites?

No, we haven't gone out and bought any camping guides, although ADAC (German auto club) has a pretty good one. We beg and borrow from friends, or simply ask for recommendations from friends and family. You can also borrow guides from your local library. When I took my in-laws to Canada, I got a bunch of German guidebooks about Canada for them to read up a little on where we were going. The public library in Reutlingen has a good selection and I assume that Munich would have even more, being a much larger centre. Unfortunately I'm now quite far from major cities, and the public library in Schwäbisch Hall is quite small. (I miss the days when I could just go to the Reutlingen library and get English books to read.) Oh, well... but it doesn't really matter if the guidebook is a year or two old since most places nowadays also have an internet presence for double-checking and getting more updated info.

ADAC also has a neat free online camping guide where you can use a map to check out a region. It doesn't have Lido di Monvalle on it - perhaps that campsite is too small or doesn't come up to standard? Don't know but it does have the Zillertal campground on it. Heh...heh... just noticed that on the map there's a campground just to the north of Zillertal called "Camping Hell". I wonder if they have postcards?

I'm interested in somewhat similar info. but more along the lines of backpacking. Does anyone know what the rules are about pitching a tent in the mountains? It seems that no one does it or somehow in the two summers I've spent in the mountains I've never actually seen a tent pitched anywhere. Must people only stay in huts or what?

Thanks.

I'm not sure how it exactly works, but farmers sometimes give folks permission to pitch a tent or park a camper overnight. Sorry I can't help since I haven't truly gone backpacking for a very long time, and even then I mostly stayed in youth hostels. Google gave me quite a few hits when I quickly looked up "backpacking Germany" so you might find more info there.