Europe 2025, Part Three: Monday 16th June - Friday 20th June

Monday 16th June

I think we may have all slept pretty badly as the weather wasn’t great overnight, really wet and windy. It’s just before 8am, I need to poop but also can’t be bothered to leave my bed yet.

Today we’re going to head towards Hallstatt, with a Mammut stop on the way. We’ve had breakfast at the van, we’re just sipping our coffees whilst we wait for our washing to be done.

We’ve just left the Donaupark campsite in

Klosterneuburg and we’re making our way to a Mammut store in the Westfield Shopping Centre. Lee introduced me to this brand last year in Switzerland and I’m obsessed, not a cheap obsession so I have to choose items wisely.

Yess, I got a long vest in the sale for running/walks. Lee got some shorts and two tops I believe. Whilst we were in Mammut we lost Angel to the LEGO store where she was building us as LEGO people.

We’re making our way towards Hallstatt, we have a few things that we can’t tumble dry soooo they’re blocking my view back here a little haha, but yay for clean clothes. We should arrive in just over 3hrs.

It’s a beautiful scenic drive! Weather is a lot different to yesterday’s 30C heat but it’ll get hot again from tomorrow woo.

We’ve got just over an hour left on the drive, so I’m doing an eye mask over on the back seat, feeling very cosy. I always put them on the wrong way, but does it really matter?

Almost at the campsite, 30 mins to go, we’ll arrive at 530pm so fingers crossed there is a pitch left as that’s fairly late to arrive at a campsite.

Such a beautiful drive, so many mountains & forests surrounding us.

We have just pitched up at Camping Temel, the view is insane! We sat outside for a bit but it’s a little chilly so we’ve moved back into the van to warm up a bit.

My vans and sandals ended up getting soaking wet last night so I’ll be in flip flops until they dry. Apparently parking at Hallstatt is very busy so we were advised to get there early, so we will head off by 9am tomorrow, fingers crossed we get a space!

Time for wine & Uno Flip!

Tuesday 17th June

We’re up and heading towards Hallstatt! It’s 830am so we’re hopeful for a parking space! I collected our bread rolls bright and early so we’ll have those once we’ve arrived and secured a space!

The road we needed was closed off due to a landslide (eek) so we’re going a different way and should be there in about 15 minutes.

Woo it’s 915, there is parking! We’re just looking for one high enough now as we’ve got bars on the roof. We’ve parked in the furthest one, about a 35 min walk to Hallstatt but we’re in! Lee’s taken off the roof bars, so we’re gonna drive to the parking spot nearer.

Wow. HALLSTATT you are BEAUTIFUL.

I love it here! It is VERY busy so be warned if you visit. Also if you do drive here, arrive by 930am as the car parks nearby get full by 10.

We went up the cable car, wandered the skyline and then sat down for a drink with an epic view.

We got the cable car back down, then wandered around to find a lunch spot. We liked the look of the menu at the Heritage Hotel, it wasn’t full of tourists either and was away from the square - highly recommend.

I went for the asparagus risotto which was super tasty! I tried the local beer and me and Lee got some apple strudel for dessert.

We’re now driving towards Zel am See to find a campsite for the night, we’re about 50 mins away.

We’ve arrived at Camping Bad Neunbrunne, we had a couple of beers in the restaurant after setting up the van. The self service system was very confusing, but we enjoyed our drinks. Now we’re having huel for dinner, watched an episode of The Big Door Prize and tomorrow we’ll head towards Innsbruck! Very excited for that!

Wednesday 18th June

Morning! It’s 630am, I can’t be bothered to get up yet but the toilet needs me. I’ll lie here a little longer…Angel just came down to do a little journaling whilst I blog. We had some tasty rolls for breakfast, I went for a croissant with jam - yummm. We’re just packing up the van ready to leave to head to our next spot.

We had some lovely neighbours at the campsite, Allan & Sheila, so friendly! They were just at the start of their trip, visiting the places that they often ski so they could see it in a different season. I shared my blog with them as they’re heading to Switzerland and as we went last year I had a few campsites they might want to check out. If you’re reading, hiya!

We just did a little photo stop at Zell am See.

Now we a 54 minute drive towards the Grossglockner pass!

The Grossglockner pass is insanely beautiful, it’s about €40 but totally worth it!

After the scenic drive which took over an hour I believe, we went to the Krimml falls. Wow.

After a little stop there we started making our way to a campsite near Innsbruck, we’re 20 mins away! Yay!! We’re hoping to go for a fancy meal tonight, I’ll keep you posted.

Uh oh, first campsite we pulled up to - fully booked. We’ve got a 30 minute drive to the next one, fingers crossed! This one was ideal as it had a direct bus into Innsbruck. Second campsite fail, it’s currently a building site! Onto the third.

Phew, third time lucky (Camping Hall in Tirol). This is the first time the entire trip we’ve not had space at our first choice but we have a little gravel park up spot so that’ll do for a night! We wandered into the town for some food (SECCO Bistro) and drinks as we hadn’t eaten since about 9am…so these aperol spritz have gone to my head, oops.

We made a little bit more of a plan on where we’ll head next so I’ll keep you updated!

Thursday 19th June

Lee made us all coffees for our journey before leaving the campsite for the Swarovski museum in Kristallwelten. We grabbed some goodies from a bakery on route (our weakness) and arrived at about 930. It was pretty cool actually! Have a look…

Then I got really excited creating my own candy floss in a vending machine lol.

After exploring the grounds we had lunch in the restaurant which was pretty amazing.

Now we’re making our way to a campsite in Bregenz! We’re about 1hr40mins hrs away so we’ve started our next audiobook - Louis Theroux!

Uh oh, first campsite full - it’s Corpus Christi day so everyone’s on vacation, heading towards the next one which is 20 mins away - fingers crossed! It’s 3:42pm so it’s early enough to sort a back up hotel as a last resort.

All the campsites Angel called are fully booked so we’re going to stay in a hotel which is about a 1.5hrs drive away. We’ll stay for two nights so we don’t need this faff again. What a nightmare, how dare they have holidays 🤣. This is the first time we’ve encountered this issue, but it seems we keep clashing with their bank holidays here.

Farewell Austria, off to Germany we go!

We’ve arrived at our hotel! (Sonnenhof Kurhotel) The room is amazing, we’ve got a balcony each! Nice suite!

We sipped some Riesling and ate the sandwiches that Angel kindly made us. Then we headed down to the bar for beers and aperol spritz to plan the next few days. Were myself and Angel tipsy?

Ja.

We finished the evening giggling and watching an episode of The Big Door Prize. Do we need to rewatch that episode because me and Angel just laughed throughout?

Probably.

Friday 20th June

The hotel is really nice, however a train going past at 4am did wake me up, it’s 6am and I’ve been trying to get back to sleep since so decided to give up…shower time!

That was a lovely shower, now I’m sipping coffee and doing my make up on the balcony whilst I wait for Lee and Angel to arise. It is 730am and we said we’d set off around 9/10 but my body thought it’d be great to stay awake so here I am, pretty happy to be fair!

Wooo off we go to explore! We’re in Bad Waldsee, Germany - did I say? Popping to a bakery for breakfast before the Erwin Hymer museum.

We had a wander around Bad Waldsee, it’s super cute! Treated myself to a cheese pretzel for breakfast 🥨. We stopped into a shop to buy some Riesling, now we’re on our way to the Erwin Hymer museum.

Great museum! Interesting to see the vans over the years. We had lunch in the restaurant, thinking we’d have a light lunch, so I ordered a salad…UK need to up their salad game because THIS is a salad.

Afterwards we went to the show home to step into the hymers, some are absolutely ridiculous and huge! Not designed for UK roads sadly haha.

We’re now off to a Mammut flagship store, and I’m very excited!!

Oh my gaaaaad. Absolutely huge store and outlet! I bought some running shorts & a tee. I did at one point have ten items but figured I should try and control myself.

Happy happy happy. Mammmmmmmutttttt.

We’re now heading back to the hotel, had a drink on rhe balcony & scoped out some restaurants Angel found. We decided on Vietnamese and it was epic.

We’re back at the hotel now for our last night. We’re just having showers and will have a little wine night cap. Tomorrow we’re going to visit Ravensburg and make our way to a (booked) campsite in Freiburg im Breisgau.

See you in part four! x