VanRoute

Campervan and motorhome trip planner for Europe — plan your whole road trip in one sentence with VanRoute AI

Tell us where you're heading — we'll plan the whole trip in under a minute, with scenic detours and the good stops in between.

⌘to plan

free — your first trip needs no account · ready in ~40 seconds

Need a starting point?
Atlantic · 7d

Sample route · what you'll get

Biarritz → Lisbon

Basque coast to Lisbon · 7 days

loading map…
1,228 km · 8 stopsplan one like this
the field method

How it works

01
step 01

Describe it

Where from, where to, how long, who's coming. One sentence, in your own words.

02
step 02

See the shape

In seconds: the road on a map, nights on real campsites and aires, each day's distance and drive time.

03
step 03

Shape it

One more day, a second night by the lake, a loop instead of one way, four hours' driving at most. Each change redraws in about two seconds.

04
step 04

Fill in the days

Stops are picked from real places along each day's road, and written up in about ten seconds.

Then refine it in plain words, export it to GPX or Google Maps, and share it with your crew.

Route sketches work for trips in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK, with more countries on the way. Elsewhere in Europe the planner writes the trip straight away, and you refine it after.

your vehicle

Planned for the van you actually drive.

A pop-top and a 7.5-tonne motorhome can want the same trip and still need different roads and different places to sleep. Tell the planner which one you drive, in one tap under the plan button, and it plans for that vehicle. No account, and no tape measure: pick the closest of five shapes, or say you're not sure.

Before the check existed, we took the 13 trips travellers had saved, routed the way a car is routed, and ran them against OpenStreetMap's limits. Trips that used a road the vehicle shouldn't take:
  • VW California, roof down · 2.0 m tall, 3 t1 of 13
  • Grand California · 2.75 m tall, 3.5 t8 of 13
  • Coachbuilt · 3.2 m tall, 7 m long9 of 13
  • Large motorhome · 4 m tall, 7.5 t12 of 13

Thirteen trips is a small sample. The spread is the point: the bigger the vehicle, the more a car's route gets wrong.

Nights that take you
A site whose own limits refuse your size, or that turns motorhomes away, is passed over for one that takes you, and a bed we couldn't check against the map is marked “not checked”. Each night also lists up to four other places to sleep nearby that you fit, each with its reason: built for motorhomes, free, right where the day ends, by a beach or a viewpoint.
Every day's road
Checked against the height, width, length and weight limits mapped in OpenStreetMap. A bridge, lane or limit your vehicle won't pass is named on that day and pinned on the map.
A way round, when there is one
Shown beside the warning, dashed on the map, with how much longer it is. Your own route is never changed for you.
Towing, added up
Car and caravan together: the lengths and weights added, the height and width of whichever is bigger. Roads that ban caravans or trailers are flagged whatever your size.
Nothing called safe
A day we couldn't check is marked “road not checked”. A day with nothing found gets no tick, because the map doesn't hold every sign, and the signs on the road have the last word.
feature · n° 002

The road trip planner built for Europe.

Portugal · Spain · France · Italy · Germany · Sweden · Norway · Scotland

Why most road trip planners fail in Europe

The big planners — Roadtrippers, Furkot, Wanderlog — were built around the American road trip. They assume one country, one set of rules, one driving culture, predictable fuel stops, and motels every fifty miles. Cross from France into Italy and a planner like that has nothing to say about the ZTL zones that will fine you €100 for driving through Florence's old town, or the fact that your 3.5-tonne van isn't allowed on most of Switzerland's secondary roads at the weekend.

Europe rewards travelers who know the local rules. Wild camping is fully legal in Sweden under allemansrätten but will get you a fine in France unless you're in an official aire. Germany's Stellplätze are a parallel infrastructure most non-Germans never discover. Spain's areas de autocaravanas range from free municipal stops to €25 resort-style sites within a few kilometers of each other. Portugal changed its motorhome laws in 2021, and most blog posts you'll find online are still wrong about it.

So VanRoute AI starts from the map, not from a chatbot's memory. In France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK, the road, the nights and the stops all come from real data before any AI writes a word: more than 46,000 campsites, aires and Stellplätze from OpenStreetMap, and over 600,000 named places to stop — castles, viewpoints, waterfalls, beaches, wineries, museums. The AI's only job is to choose among them and describe them. A stop on your trip is somewhere you can actually drive to, and a night ends somewhere a van is allowed to stay.

See the trip before it's written

Most planners hand you a finished itinerary and a chat box. Ask for one more night in Annecy and you wait while everything is rewritten, then check nothing else moved. Here you see the shape first: the line on the map, where each night falls, how long each day drives. Add a day, stay longer by the lake, turn it into a loop, cap the driving at four hours — each change redraws in about two seconds, and undo is one tap. Only when the shape is right are the days written, around the shape you chose.

Tell it who's coming — a four-year-old, the dog, a surfboard — and what you're after, and the stops are chosen with them in mind. What it can't find along your road, it says, rather than inventing a place to fill the gap.

Start with a country, a region, or just two cities and a number of days. The planner does the rest.

field guides · n° 003

Know the rules before you roll.

all field guides →

by vehicle · n° 004

Plan for what you drive.

  • Motorhome route planner

    Planned around your motorhome's height, length and weight, with nights at aires, Stellplätze and campsites it fits.

  • Caravan route planner

    Car and caravan measured as one outfit, with nights on sites that take touring caravans.

  • RV trip planner

    Coming from North America? Planned for European roads, vehicle sizes and overnight rules.

Countries covered

Hover a suggestion above to draw the route, or tap a pin to explore

index · n° 008

Frequently asked questions.

11 things travellers ask before they leave

01How does VanRoute AI plan my road trip?
You describe the trip in one sentence. Within seconds you see its shape: the road on a map, nights on real campsites and aires, and each day's distance and drive time. Change what you like — days, nights, loop or one way, a daily driving limit, places in or out — and it redraws in about two seconds, with undo. When it looks right, the planner picks each day's stops from real places along that road and writes them up in about ten seconds. Route sketches cover France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK today; elsewhere in Europe the trip is written straight away.
02Is VanRoute AI free to use?
Yes — your first trip is completely free, no account needed. Seeing and shaping the route doesn't use it up; writing the trip does, and you can still fine-tune it afterwards with the AI copilot. Create a free account to keep planning, and to save, share and export your routes.
03What countries does VanRoute AI cover?
Europe, from Portugal to Norway and Scotland to Greece. In France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK, stops and nights come from mapped places and you see the route sketch first; more countries follow as we load their map data. Elsewhere in Europe the planner writes the trip directly. Trips outside Europe aren't planned yet. Our field guides cover each country's rules on overnight parking, tolls and low-emission zones.
04Can I export my trip to GPS or Google Maps?
Yes. Signed-in users can download their trip as a GPX file (for Garmin, Maps.me, etc.) or open the full route directly in Google Maps.
05Do I need an account?
Not for your first trip — plan it without signing up. A free account lets you keep planning, save trips, share routes with a link, export to GPX, and personalise your recommendations.
06Does VanRoute AI know the wild camping rules for each country?
Nights are planned on places a van may stay: campsites, aires and Stellplätze from OpenStreetMap, free ones first when you ask for free. The rules themselves — Sweden's allemansrätten, France's aires, Portugal's 2021 motorhome law — are in our country field guides, worth a read before you cross a border.
07Can I adjust my route after it's generated?
Yes, before and after. Before the days are written, shape the route sketch directly: days, nights at any stop, loop or one way, a daily driving limit, places in or out, with undo. Once the trip is written, use the refine box in plain words — add stops, shorten a day, change the focus — and the planner rebuilds around it.
08Is VanRoute AI useful for motorhomes and larger vehicles?
Yes — it plans for the vehicle you drive. Pick yours in one tap under the plan button, from a pop-top camper to an A-class, or say you're not sure; no account needed. Nights go to sites whose own limits fit it: a tents-only field or a car park that bans motorhomes is passed over for one that takes you. Ask for campsites or aires and, in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK, each night goes to that kind whenever one your vehicle fits is mapped nearby; when none is, it gets the best other bed and the trip shows that ask as not fully met. Each night also lists up to four other places to sleep nearby that your vehicle fits, each with its reason — built for motorhomes, free or its fee, right where the day ends, near a beach or a viewpoint, water or power on site. Our guides cover the weight limits, tolls and low-emission zones that change with your size.
09Does it check low bridges, narrow roads and weight limits?
Yes, once it knows what you drive. Each day's road is checked against the height, width, length and weight limits mapped in OpenStreetMap, and a bridge, lane or limit your vehicle won't pass is named on that day and pinned on the map. Where a route your vehicle fits can be found, it's shown beside the warning, dashed on the map with how much longer it is; your own route is never changed for you. A day we couldn't check is marked “road not checked”. A day with nothing found gets no mark at all, because the map doesn't hold every sign: nothing is ever called safe, and the signs on the road have the last word. VanRoute plans the trip rather than navigating it, so give your sat nav your dimensions too.
10Can I plan a trip towing a caravan or trailer?
Yes. Add what's on the towbar — a touring caravan, a trailer tent, a bike trailer, or just that you're towing — and the whole outfit is planned for: lengths and weights added together, the height and width of whichever is bigger. Roads that ban caravans or trailers are flagged whatever your size. Campsites come ahead of motorhome aires, and a site that takes motorhomes but says no to touring caravans is passed over.
11How do I know the places it suggests are real?
Look for the mark. A stop matched to a place of the same name in OpenStreetMap says “on OpenStreetMap”, with its phone number and website when the map has them. One where something real is at that spot but the name didn't match says “location checked”. Anything unmarked is the AI's suggestion, and each day says so. In France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK, stops are picked from mapped places in the first place. A night's bed always says which it is: “on OpenStreetMap” when it's a mapped site we checked against your vehicle, “AI suggestion, not checked” when we couldn't match it to one.

— end of index —