Motorhome Tour Cost – 3 Months in France
Rather than our usual tour for several months, in 2018 we decided on a short, for us, trip of just three months. The main reason was our pampered pooch Charlie. His health was failing, so while we initially planned to take him to the beaches of Croatia (he loved a beach), the temperatures across Europe meant we changed our plans. We fitted the tour around Charlie so we only did short drives, finding places to stay where he could wander around freely outside and keep cool in the shade etc. This meant that we drove a lot less, and stayed in more campsites than we usually would.
Our overnight stops
We set off on the 23rd of April and worked our way across France slowly, staying in places for a few days. Jay had a date with Zermatt in Switzerland at the beginning of July to run a half marathon up the foothills of the Matterhorn. So, as the temperature rose, we headed for the Alps to keep cool and so Jay could do some running at altitude. Sadly a couple of months into our tour Charlie deteriorated rapidly and we had to take him to a vets in France to have him put to sleep to end his suffering.
Just over a week later Jay kept his date with the mountains of Switzerland and did himself proud. After seven nights in Switzerland, we made our way back to France to watch a stage of the Tour de France. Finally we made a quick, for us, trip back up to catch the ferry at Dunkirk on the 23rd July. On the way back we nipped through Luxembourg for some cheap fuel and stopped one night in Belgium.
How much did the motorhome tour cost?
The total cost for three months in Zagan, our motorhome, was £3282.83, which breaks down to £36.08 per night. There is a full breakdown of the costs below.
These figures includes the cost of the ferry, a couple of one off costs – a new wheel bearing for Zagan and having Charlie put to sleep. They don’t include vehicle tax, MOT, vehicle insurance, breakdown cover, personal travel insurance or depreciation of the motorhome.
Zagan, our 2001 Hymer B544 with a 2.8JTD engine supped diesel 485 litres of diesel at 24MPG over 4010km (2490 miles). We also used 82 litres of LPG, but very little of that was on heating as it was hot most of the time.
Over 40% of the total cost for the trip was paying for food and drink, either from the supermarket or eating out. Diesel was our next biggest cost, followed by motorhome repairs – these were bumped up by the wheel bearing replacement.
I know lots of you like to see the numbers in detail to help with you own tour planning – so here they are. Hopefully they are pretty self explanatory, but feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.
Cheers Julie
We obviously live a fairly similar motorhome lifestyle. Our expenses when traveling here in Canada, or the U.S. are probably a little lower on average, and while in Mexico they are quite a lot lower. I take it you’ve got booze in the grocery category? We separate ours, even if it means we cringe while looking at the expense here in highly taxed Canada.
Don’t worry, the booze is tracked separately – but I merge it in on the published figures to save our blushes! 😂
Lol… we figured as much!
Thanks for posting the numbers it really is helpful to us thinking of doing the same thing…… I know they aren’t my numbers :-)
Thanks for posting the costs, very interesting and useful to us as we hope to do a tour soon. Simon
Sorry to hear about your travel companion! Charlie was very much a participating star in all your previous grand tours! He will be missed!
We have not been touring outside Ireland and are concentrating on the “wild Atlantic Way”.
Cheers
Thanks Paddy, one day we’ll get the van over to Ireland, any tips appreciated, cheers, Jay
Great -very helpful information.I’ve also used your tour list pdf ( it’s a pity it’s not write enable so that I could customise it( I’m useless at spreadsheets) How did you get the foreign currency fee to be so low?
Hi Mary. We use our caxton fx prepaid credit card for getting cash (euros) as it doesn’t charge any fees. Although the rate is sometimes a bit worse than other places, it gives us peace of mind that we can take out small amounts frequently and not be carrying large amounts of cash. For all other transactions and other currencies we use our Halifax Clarity Credit card. This also has no fees but does charge interest on cash withdrawals. The fees that are showing are from Swiss Franc cash withdrawals, as we were only there a short time we didn’t take much out so low fees. Hope that helps. Ju x
Today, having lurked on your travel blog site for well over a year now, I have bought my very own 1999 model B544…and it’s your fault! I wanted to stop by and offer a huge “Thank you” to you both for the content of your blog, which has been both an inspiration and a valuable source of information over the last eighteen months. I have searched your site and blog posts when faced with, pretty much, any question that has popped into my head…and rarely have I come away without the answer, and often a video explaining it, too.
Thank you.
Take care, Jonathan.
Thanks Jonathan, really kind of you to take the time to write that. Have fun in your beautiful B544! Cheers, Jay
Hi. My wife and I are travelling from NZ to Europe in April 2019 to undertake a 12 week tour of France, Spain & Portugal. We have ordered a new motorhome (Chausson) which we will pick up in the UK on the day we arrive. I was intrigued by the amount of LPG used on your 3 month trip. It seemed a lot to me, so wondered if in your experience this is usual for a trip of this length, or whether you have an appliance that specifically uses a lot of LPG. Our van usually has just one 6.5kg bottle, so we are adding fittings for a French 13KG bottle in the garage, so that we have extra capacity. Interested to hear your comments.
Hi Frank. We generally stay off hook-up, so use LPG for water and air heating, cooking and running the fridge, although we didn’t use much for air heating as it’s been a hot summer, even up in the Alps. The blog stats might be a bit off, as we’ve come back with full tanks, so may have used a few litres less than we bought. From memory we get through 30l in between (very roughly) 10 days (at -10 high in the Alps in winter) to over 3 months (in summer, when staying on campsites most of the time and using hook-up). You’re probably already aware that you can’t refill your French or UK bottle in Spain or Portugal, which is why we have a GasIT self-refillable LPG system. Instead of the French bottle, you could look at getting a ‘Safefill’ one, which doesn’t need ‘installing’, but would permit you to refill it yourself at LPG stations in Iberia. Another alternative would be to get a Spanish bottle/pigtail/regulator and make whatever changes are needed in your gas locker to fit it. Or just eke out the gas. :-) Cheers, Jay
Jason.
Our motorhome will have diesel water heating and diesel air heating, so an LPG saving there. As we are just travelling in Europe for 12 weeks, I investigated Gaslow etc but too expensive for our time frame. My plan is to buy a full 13kg as we leave France and carry/use that through Spain & Portugal. By that stage we should have a handle on our usage and maybe I will need 2 bottles. Thanks for your feedback.
Sounds like you’ll be fine Frank, have a great time! Jay
I was just thinking what a great illustration of the savings to be made installing the GAS-it system. 82 litres or thereabouts, for £54. I bought one wee 6kg tank and it was £26! Not sure what the kg to litres conversion would be but I would guess that you used more than 2 and a half 6kg tanks-worth (at my price) of lpg.
Next job on our B544 “Chuck” (also your fault lol) will be a GAS-it system, prompty followed by solar before our mini France adventure next April for our “big birthdays”.
I wonder how many other readers of your blog bought a B544 based on your experiences in Dave and Zagan? Maybe we need to have an “Our Tour Rally” lol
Hi, we have been following your blog for a few months, initially to get some info on motor homing in Norway. However your tips and posts on all aspects of continental motor homing have been very helpful!
But now a tip from us – we are now approaching 70 – , you will always look back on Charlie with affectionate memories but he has taught you the pleasure of owning a dog. We have always had a spaniel ( or two) in our lives, and suffered grief and upset when we lost “Pebbles” a while ago. But we are now over all that with a new spaniel “Tasha” , who is our fifth. So as you are such a dog loving couple go and get another so we as readers of your blog can enjoy your adventures with a new companion.
On a different note I love the fully detailed expenditure report, but am wanting to know how many presents did you get for £ 5.20.
Keep on blogging – I have never read a “blog” before – and happy travels!!
Tim
Hi Tim
Thanks for getting in touch and your kind words.
We’re holding off getting another dog for a little while, as we try to get used to a very different way of life without one. We desperately miss Charlie and know no dog could ever replace him, but we could easily open our lives to another pooch. However we know the commitment and responsibility that comes with being a pooch parent, and we’re not ready for another 10 to 15 years of that just yet.
With regards to the £5.20 presents? It would depend where we were. If we were on the road it would be cards and stamps to post them home. If we were at home and it was Christmas, that would be five or six presents – we have a £1 limit in our family as we’re all adults, so it’s just something fun.
Ju x
Sorry to hear about Charlie