Cycling the Eurovelo 15? Here are my some of the campsites we stayed at!
Like cycling? Like camping? Why not camp on the Eurovelo 15?
For those of you who don’t know, the Eurovelo 15 is a cycling route that spans 1300ish kilometres from Andermatt, Switzerland to Hoek van Holland, The Netherlands, following the Rhine River. The route is from source to sea, and it’s the perfect beginners cycling tour, though advanced cyclists enjoy it too! I mean, great food, great wine, great scenery! What else could you want?!
YOU MAY LIKE: A Complete Guide to the Eurovelo 15
Chances are if you’ve stumbled upon this page, you’re interested in camping on the Eurovelo 15. We chose to do a mix of staying in hotels and camping. I’ll be honest, as beginner cyclists, after spending an average of 9 hours on a bike and arriving just as it was getting dark, the LAST thing we wanted to do was set up camp and cook. If there are two or more people, sometimes staying in a hotel is worth it- most of our hotels were just 15-20 euros more than a campsite, which was totally worth it after a long day.
That being said, camping (when we were full of energy) was amazing! Something about doing the Euro Velo 15 while carrying your food, stove, and camp gear was really awesome.
Do I need to book campsites ahead?
Short answer- nope! It’s hard to say where you’re going to end up every day, ESPECIALLY if this is your first cycling trip. We had to make many adjustments to our itinerary depending on how tired we were/ how long of a day we had planned/ weather, so I think it’s best to turn up! There were few campsites with actual plots that could run out; most campsites were open fields or amongst caravans, so they wouldn’t really be able to run out of space!
Rhine Cycle Route Camping and Campsites
I’ve put an asterisk in front of the campsites we actually stayed at. There are obviously loads more campsites along the route, these are the ones I found online near the places we were going to stop, but if you’re cycling, you can just take out your phone and do a quick search online for what’s around 🙂
Camping in Switzerland
Chur Camping
*Camp Au Chur, www.camping-chur.ch
Reasonably priced for Switzerland!!! Small convenience store that sells staple foods. Clean bathrooms!
Camping Obere Au
A little bit outside of Chur. Camping Chur is better at the first site, as it’s relatively close to town. If you want to get away from the town, however, this site’s for you!
Lake Constance Campsites
Camping Fischerhaus
Camping Seehorn
Camping Ruderbaum
Camping Luxburg
Badi Steckborn
Koblenz Camping
Rhein-Camping Waldshut
Camping in Austria (Camping Lake Constance)
The beginning of Lake Constance is actually in Austria, and we camped here.
*Salzmann Camping
Cheap compared to Switzerland. The reception has a nice bar and cafe where you can buy bretzel, bread, and coffee in the morning. There’s a restaurant on site as well that is cheap and delicious. I recommend their pizza! IT IS HUGE! This campsite is a two-minute walk from the lake’s beach and is so beautiful. Highly recommend this one.
Camping in France
Strasbourg Campsites
Camping de Strasbourg (right in city)
We actually found some very affordable places to stay in Strasbourg. I’d recommend going for a guest house to avoid bicycle theft.
Camping Before Karlsruhe/Lauterbourg
*Camping Municipal des Mouettes
This was a very lovely little find. There’s a small lake (VERY refreshing) and a little hut that sells ice cream, beer, and hamburgers. The hamburgers run out quickly so make sure you have food when you arrive at the site, just in case.
I’d recommend stopping here, as the campsite in Karlsruhe is a little far away from the path. If it’s a good cycling day, though, go for it! The extra mileage never hurt!
Camping in Germany
Camping Worms
Freyzeit Campsite
Camping Near Manheim
Camping Blaue Adria
Bingen Camping
*Wohnmobilpark Bingen
Primarily a caravan park, but also has a lawn area for tents. The bathrooms were very nice and had hot water. There’s a beer garden on the premises. It’s right next to the water.
Camping After Neuwied
*Camping Rheineck
This campsite is REALLY lovely! Try to get a mini-hotel if you can- it’s a super cosy little cabin! We had steak, salmon, and pasta while watching a movie and made a little date night out of it. The site is a little off of the Rhine, but it’s in a beautiful woodsy spot! Highly recommend!!!
(After this, we stayed in hotels/b&bs because we found some REALLY great deals)
Camping Near Dusseldorf
Freizeitdomizil Entenfangsee Camping (in between Dusseldorf and Duisburg)
Campground Lörick (past Dusseldorf)
Campingplatz Süd (a bit far out of town)
Camping in the Netherlands
Arnhem Camping
Camping Warnsborn
Oosterbeeks Rijnoever
Gorinchem Camping
*De Mosterdpot
This campsite was really lovely! It’s right next to the water and sooo beautiful! There are spiders in the bathroom, but it’s such a lovely site that it’s worth it. There’s also a dog that is owned by the campsite owners. He likes to play fetch and is VERY cute.
Camping in Hoek van Holland
Vakantiepark Kijkduin
Camping Hoek Van Holland
Camping Jagtveld
Find any other great campsites along the Rhine? Email me to let me know and I’ll add it to this post!
Hi Anya,
This looks fantastic! I love your blog by the way. I actually read the Three Passes post (that’s how I found you), as we are planning on doing it in May. Great information on that post.
That post lead me to this post. This looks like a great cycling route. We are avid cycle tourers. We just got back from a quickie cycling tour over Christmas in Laos. To be honest, Europe is where I hope we hit next, and I had never even heard of the Eurovelo!
Quick question, are you able to camp along the entire route?
Thanks!
You’ll have so much fun on the three passes! I’m so glad you found the post helpful. I’ve heard cycling in Laos is wonderful (but hot!), but I didn’t know I even liked cycling when I lived in Singapore. If only!!! You can definitely camp every night whilst on the route, but you will have to cycle away from the route some days. It can add on another 10 kilometres (one way) to the end of your day, but it’s totally possible! Camping was one of my favourite parts of the Eurovelo (though on long days I just wanted to plop down on a bed!).
Hi Anya
Thank you for this blog, we (my wife and I) are planning our holiday for Aug 2022 and are taking on board what you have said. We don’t cycle much, so are just aiming at cycling 40-60km days, so we can take it slow…
That sounds like a great distance to cover per day! I hope you have the best time!
Very nice post.
I am student in the netherlands planning to bike along the rhine for the summer. I would like to mostly sleep on campsites. I am on a student budget, and it is kind of hard to figure out how expensive is gonna be a night on average camping. can you give me any idea of much should the budget be for camping with a small tent for a night?
I would budget about 20 euros per night. Switzerland is more like 30. We had two people, so it might be less expensive in some areas, but for the most part I’d budget 20/ day for sleeping!
Hi Anya, I’m going in 2021. I’m one of the older ones however I will be camping in Switzerland due to the high prices in hotels. After Switzerland I intend to mix with hotels/ hostels. How did you locate the cheaper hotels, was it just a chance. When you say they are dearer can you give an average price.
Enjoyed reading your comments, so informative.
Hi Angus! Sorry for the late reply! I use booking.com and search for the cheapest hotels! You can also look at nearby campsites and look for cabins or glamping experiences, which tend to be cheaper than hotels but much more luxurious than camping! 🙂 Feel free to email me at anya@unexpectedoccurrence.com and I can help find good hotels for your locations 🙂
I’m cycling from Almaty to Istanbul next spring and I just wanted to say thank you so much for this post!! As well as all the other posts on this site that I’m using as guides for my route. Immensely helpful!
That sounds amazing! I’m so glad that this was helpful. Good luck on your adventure!
Thank you so much for this fantastic information!
My husband and I are planning to do the Eurovelo 15 with our 2 kids (ages 13 and 14) in summer 2022. We are not sure if we want to camp or stay in hostels/hotels. I can’t find good information about average hotel costs. What would you estimate the average camping cost per night for 4 people and the average hostel cost for 4? TIA!
Hmm, for two, we spent around $25 per campsite and around $40 per night in hotel! We really liked being flexible – on longer days, we would often stay in hotels and that was really nice because we didn’t have to set up camp! However, with 4 people, I think camping would be more affordable if you have a big family tent!
I love your blog! I’m planning on going to Europe with my partner for a 2 month trip from Munich to Spain in Fall. We thought about camping but were worried about bringing all the extra gear on the bike. What would you recommend? And if we do book hostels/small inns, do you recommend reserving them ahead of time? Or just when we roll into town? Many thanks!
Camping certainly adds quite a lot to your packing list! We ended up doing a pretty even mix of camping and staying in inns. We waited to book our campsites and inns. That way, we could see how we were feeling! We typically started riding, and by 2pmish, would check in with each other to see how much we wanted to ride. We’d then keep riding and book a hotel at around 4, when we could project where we wanted to stop!
Hi Anya
Great blog.
How did you find access to electricity on the campsites for charging phone’s etc?
We’re considering doing the ev15 on ebikes but are wondering would we have any challenges charging the battery on a campsite. Do many of the sites reserved for small tents have access to electricity points?
Many thanks
Hi Vincent!
We found that campsites had hookups for trailers (where there were standard outlets) or there would be outlets in the bathrooms. I recommend carrying a few portable battery packs in case a campsite doesn’t have an outlet.
As for charging your bikes, I’d recommend booking larger campsites or calling ahead of time to ask if there’s a place to charge your ebikes. I don’t see it being a problem!
Love this post, super informative. I am wondering whether you could recommend some camp sites for Dordrecht and Geldermalsen in Amsterdam?
I don’t have any recommendations but hoping someone else helps you! Please keep me updated and I can add the campsites to the list 🙂
Hi
Firstly thanks for all the great info.
My Wife and I are doing the route in July/August 23 over 3 weeks. We plan to camp and also make use of the cheaper accommodation.
Any recommendations for cheapish accommodation would be greatly appreciated too.
Thanks again
Malc and Clare