From Budapest to Dresden

So after nearly three weeks in one place, we’ve just travelled through four different countries in only two days!

We need to get to Poland, and had originally planned to drive from Budapest through Slovakia to get there. However that would have entailed crossing the Carpathian/Tatras mountains but, with the recent snow falls that we’ve had, we weren’t going to risk that in the van. Instead, we’ve opted to drive through Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to Dresden in Germany, stopping in Bratislava along the way – some 450 miles.

We left Budapest early yesterday, leaving one other van at the site which was occupied by four lads from Berlin, and a couple of hours into the journey they whizzed past us on the motorway. Our camperstop in Bratislava was a freebie car park overlooking the Danube, and we were surprised to see the van belonging to the four Berlin lads parked there, so we were now neighbours again!

As it was mid-afternoon, we had enough time to cross the river and explore. It’s a charming city, nice and compact and so easy to wander round in a couple of hours.

Our camperstop overlooking the Danube
The Danube
Man at work
One of the squares
A cracking bike stand
Sentry sculpture
Another sculpture – unusual as it’s silver coloured
The main square
With Napoleon
Another street in the old town
There were loads of trams
The wrestler escaped the Nazis…
… but his parents weren’t so lucky
The castle overlooking the old town
Another pretty square

Driving through four countries in continental Europe might sound straightforward, but it’s certainly not the case when it comes to road tolls for a vehicle like ours which has a Maximum Gross Weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes. If you’d like to know more, then I’ve added a Road Tolls page to the Van Life section.

A Slovakian OBU…
… and a Czech one

We’ll be staying here in Dresden for three or four nights, and from here it should be a simple drive into Poland.

Mike

4 thoughts on “From Budapest to Dresden”

  1. When I visited Dresden about 15 years ago, it was quite a sad place. Still rubble and re building, including the cathedral. We’re off to Crete tomorrow. Noticed your warm jacket – it was shorts again here this afternoon!!!

    • Hopefully you’ll see, when I post some photos, that Dresden is now completely different – I’m really impressed. We’re just about to go on a walking tour to find out all about the place.

  2. The OBU sounds a right palaver as you say..I think k we might need an omissions so text for when we go to France but not sure how we go about it..it’ll be our first time abroad in her

    • As far as I’m aware, the French emissions zones are only Paris, Lille, Lyon and Grenoble, so steer clear of those and you’ll be OK. In Germany it’s much more widespread (look up umwelt zones) and you’ll need a sticker to go into most cities. I’d have thought that a MOT testing station would be able to do an emissions test and give you a certificate.

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