Road Tripping Italy & Monaco – Where to camp

What a trip, what a journey! My husband and I got to spend two weeks travelling through parts of southern Europe. We rented a car in Switzerland and slept in our tent on campsites. We had such a great time together experiencing all these different places. Here we are sharing with you our highlights of the trip as well as the route we took:

I had to make two blog posts out of our travels because there was so much information. Click here for part 2.

Here you can see our route. It definitely looks pretty crazy (at least for me as a Swiss person) but if you split up the 22 hour drive over two weeks it actually isn’t bad at all! So here are our stops in detail:

• Baden (CH)

• Alba (IT)

• Ventimiglia (IT)

• Nice (F)

• Monaco

• Camogli (IT)

• Levanto / Cinque Terre (IT)

• Pisa (IT)

• Florenz (IT)

• Rome (IT)

• Pavia (IT)

• Baden (CH)

Alba

Alba, Italy was our first stop on day 1. It was really helpful for us, since that split the long drive on the way to Ventimiglia. Alba is a cute little town in the Italian area called Piemont. The town itself isn’t very big but pretty clean and with nice houses. I felt like the people who (used to) live there were probably on the wealthier side compared to the rest of Italy.

We definitely recommend the drive through Piemont as you can see the amazing landscape! The rolling hills, the vineyards and the old buildings are simply stunning. So much that I pulled over several times, just to take photos of it!

Camping: We stayed at a campsite called “Camping-Alba-Village”. They offered us a lot of room so we could park the car right next to the tent. The bathrooms were alright for Italian standards. There was no supermarket in the camping. To get to the town center, you can either take the bus or walk for 35 minutes.

Vinery in Alba

Piemont

On the second day we drove to Ventimiglia, Italy and ended up staying there for several nights. There is a big (on of the biggest) Italian street market on Fridays, which we ended up visiting. The part in the streets is mostly clothes and knick-knacks. Then next to it you can find a building with the food market, which is definitely worth a visit. Ventimiglia also has a cute old town on a hill. We enjoyed strolling through there.

Camping: “Campeggio Vallecrosia” was our next campsite. It is right next to the beach which is a big plus. To go to Ventimiglia it is a 40 minute walk (at the camping reception they say it’s a 10 minute walk). There is a bus as well but it wasn’t on time at all. The space in the camping was tiny and didn’t really offer us any shade.

The reason why we stayed it Ventimiglia for several nights was because we took the train to go to Nice and Monaco from there. We spent one day in each city, but you could probably take even longer! We explored both towns on foot and would recommend that to you.

Nice: We really loved the city even though it was raining on the day we were there. It is quite big with a big shopping street. There are lots of young people and it’s very lively. The beach is beautiful and so are the buildings. Just the vibe of the city by itself was worth the visit!

Nice

Nice

Building in Nice. Everything on the wall is painted.

Monaco: This country and city is just a whole different experience. Even though it is right by Italy and France it is very different from it as you can definitely feel that the “higher class” of people like to spend time there. We walked through the city, explored the shopping area, the harbour, the Japanese garden and the Monte Carlo Casino. Into the inner area of the casino you can only go if you wear closed shoes and you don’t show up in beach clothes.

Monte Carlo Casino

Inside Monte Carlo Casino

Harbor

After Monaco we were ready to move on. Our next destination was Levanto which is next to Cinque Terre. On the way over we stopped by Camogli, one of the sweetest Italian towns I have ever seen. I loved that it wasn’t touristy at all and I almost liked it better than any of the five towns in Cinque Terre for that reason. We spent about 2 hours there.

Camogli

On day 7 of our trip we went on a boat tour to see Cinque Terre. Why didn’t you go by car, you’re asking? Cinque Terre exists out of five little villages and is located in the mountains. There is a big connecting road high above the villages. If you want to see one of them, you drive down a super narrow, windy road and try to find a parking spot at the end. Since you’re there you might want to see a second village. Well guess what? You will drive all the way up to the connecting road and down another narrow, windy road…. You see. In my opinion going by boat, train or hiking are the best options. Personally I liked Riomaggiore the best of all five. If you are doing the boat tour you will get the chance to go to Portovenere. It is not part of the five villages but very pretty, definitely worth a visit.

Camping: Camping in Cinque Terre is tricky. That’s why we camped in Levanto. “Camping Aquadolce” is probably the best place there and you can definitely feel that. Make sure you reserve a place early on! The camping is pretty nice and so are the bathrooms. From the campsite it only takes you 6 minutes to the ferry dock. That ferry takes you straight to all the places you want to see.

Monterosso

Riomaggiore

Corniglia

Portovenere