Europe Campervan Trip: Exploring Poland, Slovakia & Hungary – Euro Trip Pt 12

Join us as we take our campervan on an epic adventure through Central Europe! We took the ferry from Sweden to Poland and explored the beautiful cities of Gdansk, Lodz, and Krakow. We were blown away by the incredible food in Poland!

Our journey continued as we traveled through Slovakia, where we visited the historic town of Banská Stiavnica, before finishing our trip in Hungary with a relaxing stay on Lake Balaton.

This video is packed with our travel experiences, beautiful views, delicious food, and useful tips for a campervan trip through Europe. Whether you’re planning a Central Europe itinerary, looking for central Europe travel inspiration, or considering a campervan trip through Europe, this video is for you!

We’re heading to Croatia next, so be sure to subscribe to follow our full journey!

Welcome to ‘SevenGrandVan’!

We’re Jack, Laura and Frank, and we have moved into our DIY self converted campervan (Citroen Relay) to embrace full time vanlife. After a three month adventure in 2024 to France, Spain and Portugal, we realised that we needed to see more of the world, and vanlife was the perfect way to do it.

And so began our year long plan to make it happen. We quit our long term, corporate jobs and went through the process of renting our house so we could begin our dream of motorhome travel in Europe.

We finally packed up our belongings, moved into our van, and began our road trip in March 2025. We began in Scotland, and then made our way to Europe and Scandinavia.

Subscribe to follow our journey as we hit the road, and leave us like or comment if you enjoy our vlogs! We’ll be sharing our recommendations for dog friendly travel, the best places for van life in Europe, leisurely walks, beautiful scenery, delicious food, running, cycling and charming towns and cities to explore.

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @SevenGrandVan for daily updates and behind the scenes content.

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We’re back in the van traveling through central Europe after the loss of our sweet dog Frank. We visit beautiful Gdansk in Crackkow. Try out a beer ferata. Spend a weekend at Lake Balaton and get our first tattoos. Welcome to Seven Grand P. We’re getting back on the road. Yes. Just on the coach, very super fast coach up to London Hammersmith. Yeah. Be flying from Heathrow later on tonight and then getting back to the van. to continue to be continued. We flew home for a couple of weeks after losing Frank so we could spend time with our amazing family and friends. Now we’re heading back to our van to continue our journey. So, we made it back to the van last night just before well about 11 and she’s all good. Surfboards are still there and the bikes are still on the back and the battery wasn’t flat. Time to get back on the road. So, we’ve just been back to the animal hospital to pick up Frank’s ashes. Um, weird feelings, but uh yeah, so we’re going to get on the road now and we’re going to head down to Malmo and we’re going to be catching the ferry tomorrow morning over to Poland. Nothing says Sweden like an IKEA lunch. Salmon, mashed potato, mixed beans, dill sauce. Let’s check it. This is going to be a long ferry. 8 hours. Over 8 hours. 8 hours from Malmo to I don’t know the name of the place in Poland. Swinowski. I don’t know how you say that. We’ve got some learning to do. Swinki. What are you doing? I am making ferry baguettes. Fairy rolls. Fairy rolls. Yeah. We’ve got one for lunch, ham and cheese. And then for dinner, tuna. forever. Right. Do you want a roll or do you want the last bit if I get? I’ll take a roll, please, sir. Okay. Which one? Brown or white? Uh, ooh, I’m going to go brown. Okay, there’s our boat. How do you feel about leaving Sweden and Norway behind? Don’t know. Looking forward to somewhere new. Yeah, fresh start. Up, up, and away. So, it’s 10 a.m. Ferry’s scheduled to leave at 11:00 a.m. We were still washing up, doing jobs, and then next thing you know, everyone’s getting on. It’s always the way. You can’t time it right, can you? Can’t deal with this efficiency. But the snacks are top priority. Yeah. Snacks for this journey. It’s a long thing. So, I was just having a look around the ferry shop and I came across this Swedish Fica mug and I couldn’t resist as it is our favorite thing to do. It’s even got the princess cake. Princess cake, which I’ve tried. Cinnamon rolls, cinnamon buns, uh, where else? Mazarins. Yeah. And then coffee and a few other ones we haven’t tried. But it actually says here what fica is. FA is a Swedish word that means taking a break for coffee and a bite to eat. But really, it’s much more than that. Cheers. Sailing into Poland. I just spotted two dogs. Oh, yeah. Go down there. You feel like we’re sliding out of the boat. Hello to Poland. Hello Poland. Another new country we’ve never been to before. Happy days. Let’s see what it’s got to offer. We’ve just pulled up at our parking spot first night in Poland and we’ve managed to find a little I think this is a river actually, isn’t it? A river spot which is um yeah, there’s lots of other campers here. It’s free. It’s a wild camping spot. And it’s quite a good vibe, actually. Look at this. There we go. Little morning dip. All done. That was hard. It didn’t get very deep, did it? Deep. But we’d committed. So we went for the uh the knee deep plunge. We did it. Eh, I did it. You don’t really care. No, but that is an achievement for you. Yeah. Well done. Result. Mhm. Right. So Trusty Park for nights found us this spot which is like a camping park near a sports center just outside of Gdansk. Um, I think it was £30 for the night, but it’s got services and stuff, so good place, safe place to go and explore. We’re going to get the I don’t know what the tra I think it’s like the tram. Is it a tram? Tram into the center and go and have a look around. It’s warm, but not hot, is it? Bit overcast. Early 20s. Early 20s. Yeah. So, yeah, let’s uh go and see what Gdansk’s about. return a 24-hour ticket for the tram. What was that? £8 £8 something for both of us. Yeah, two tickets. Yeah, that should do us tomorrow morning as well. Then result these stairs just to get a ticket. Yeah. The largest pendulum regulated clock. [Music] That’s pretty cool. I didn’t actually know how clocks worked and now I totally get it. These stairs are taken out of me. Four days of traveling. And then how many stairs? We do not know. How many stairs? Bells. Bells. Big bell ends. How’s bells? How’s bells? Follow me. Cool. The view’s going to be good. Look at this for a view, though. Wow. Epic. So, that was the one we were supposed to go up. Oh, well, got a good view of it. Yeah. This is the Golden Gate. And yeah, it’s basically the city gate. And surprise surprise, there’s scaffolding and boarding on it. That always happens to us everywhere we go. Comment if that happens to you, too, please. This is called Long Street and it’s lined with old merchants houses which are all like really pretty pastel colors. It’s actually so pretty, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s nice. Where from? Are you nervous? I don’t feel nervous. No, actually the cross. I’m When I make it, it’s not going to be like right away. No, no, no, no, no. We’re going to make it very gentle. Also, it’s like in a dentist. It is a bit more comfy. We’re going to go with the one is going here. No, no, it wasn’t too bad. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being someone chopping your arm off, how painful? Um, a six. Oh, that’s quite harsh. Is it? Yeah. One down, one to go. Yeah. Right, tell us what we’ve just done. First tattoos. Let’s see. Frank’s paw print. Frank’s paw print. Real paw print. And a croissant. Had to be a cross on, didn’t I? Matching. Yeah. I got mine. You show. Yeah. On my arm. There he is. And I got one down there. E, brother. That looks like good pizza. It does, doesn’t it? Yum. Slowly fish holiday vibes. Like holiday. Yeah. Amphibious taxis. Whoa. Whoa. [Music] This is so nice. LJ, where are we? We’re at St. Mary’s Church. What’s special about it? It’s the biggest brick church in the world. That’s a lot. Actually, now you say it, when you think about it, you don’t really see many churches. made of bricks. Do you? No, not really. I don’t think. Should we go inside and have a look? Yeah. It’s like very light and bright for a church. Normally they’re dark, aren’t they? A lot of windows. Wow. This is the uh the town hall that we were supposed to be climbing out of earlier. We climbed the wrong one. Some kind of clock church museum. Yeah. But I think whichever place you go up here, you’re probably going to get a nice view of the old town. Still good views, wasn’t it? Yeah. The old crane. Historic crane. Vive. You’re a vibe. You’re a vibe. This looks like our kind of restaurant. Cheese. We’re at the World War II Museum now. Yeah. So, be really good. Yeah. So, let’s go have a look. And how much did it cost us? £13 for two tickets. [Music] This was our park up last night. A lovely little spot listed as a home stay on park for night. Super quiet. We had a great sleep, didn’t we? Oh, it was so peaceful. And then just a half an hour cycle to Lods this morning. First cycle in Poland. Look at this cake. Coffee and cake in lots. It’s a peanut based cake, isn’t it? Yeah. She said it’s got peanuts in them. Looks good. Two iced coffees. We cycled in this morning. It was 10k from our park up, which is someone’s garden. Yeah. Let’s go. Spotless. We’re back from our cycle into Lots. Um, very nice little city, just one sort of big main street. And yeah, the cycle in was lovely. Um, yeah, just a really nice little place to go and visit for the morning whilst we’re here. So, we’re just going to pack the bikes away. Um, get all cleared up and hit the road heading for Crackoff. Um yeah, we have a tour booked um for Ashwitz uh first thing tomorrow, so we need to get there. So, we’re ready for that tomorrow morning. Hi. Good morning. Morning. So, we are parked in a hotel car park for last night. It’s only €8, I think, in total for a 24-hour stay. Nice and safe cuz we’re actually just arriving at Wow, the queue at the um Alfreds um museum um where we’re going to be spending the morning. We’ve got the guided tour booked uh through Get Your Guide. Um and yeah, we’re going to see see what that’s like. So, we’re back from the Ashvitz tour. We are. We started it at 7:20 a.m. early. Too early. So, it’s now like Well, we got back before 11:00 a.m. Yeah. But hungry. We’re very hungry. Yeah. But it was definitely 100% recommended to do it. Yeah. Worthwhile doing. Like our guide was so informative and thorough, wasn’t she? Yeah. Given all the information. And if you drive here on your own, as in you’re not on like a guided tour. Oh, yes. You can get the free shuttle bus at least. Yeah. She said we could get the free shuttle bus. So that worked really well to go between the two cuz Outritz one and Outrits 2 B canal were separate sites. So you can’t walk between to get to do the tour. Um but yeah, very very worthwhile doing. And now now we’re hungry. So Jack’s bought some Polish traditional perogi dumplings. Yeah, they’ve got um sauerkraut, mushrooms, and I think you said mushroom and cabbage. Yeah. Yeah. And so he’s fried them up. And I I’ve had a bit of butter toss through with mine. Do you want to try live on camera? Okay. Do you want to Okay, you go first. Right. We’re quite soft. Interesting. Yeah. Are they cooked? Yeah, they’re hot. Oh, it’s nice. It’s nice. Okay. Hey. Oh, what are we about to do? About to play paddle. How many times have we played paddle before? Zero. But there’s a pedal court just there. We managed to book an hour’s slot for quarter of an hour’s time. Yep. We’re going to attempt to play. Could be interesting. Yeah. Hopefully fun, though. Where are we? We’re at the uh Crackoff Salt Mines, which we’ve heard a lot about from people who have been on city breaks here, especially my mate Terry. Yeah. And we’re very much looking forward to it. We’ve got an evening slot, so yeah, it should be really nice to see. Whoa. Mind your head. Off your head. No rain or snow on the ground, but sometimes wind. That’s cuz water’s here. Yes. Well, old mate. If you wish, you can lick it. Of course, please don’t again color because of iron corrosion. Jack’s going to try the salty water. chips. Wa! Oh my goodness. Wow. I did not expect that. Holy guacamole. That must be about 95 m down. Wa! Did you expect that? brings them down to give the most in this mine. Wow. Huge. Oh, what have you thought of the salt mine tour? It was interesting. Yeah. So, it was good actually. I enjoyed the big chapel that you would have seen. The big chapel. That really took me by surprise. I did not expect that. And the guide was funny. Yeah, he did make us laugh. [Music] Where are we? Well, we’ve made it to Crackkow and yeah, we’ve got a good little parking spot which is paid, but it’s literally only what was it? A five, just over a fiverr for 24 hours. So, we’ve got it for the day and the night, which is perfect. Um, and the first stop here is going to be the Jewish quarter. And it’s a beautiful day. Stop one. This mural commemorates this house where the Bozac family lived. And um they supplied like materials for the uprising during World War II to make like um weapons and things like that. So I think that’s why they want to be remembered. Stop two, the old synagogue. Any facts about this place, Al? It’s a restored synagogue dating back to the 15th century. Oh, 15th century synagogue. We’re at the square in the Jewish quarter which is famous for the street food and traditional Polish delicacy of Zaki Kangi. I’m not sure how you say that, but it’s basically like an openf faced baguette. Are you excited to try it? Yes. Can’t wait. This is the name of the square that we’re in. Plac Novi. Let’s see. That’s a big thing. Oh my god. Cheese and probably like mushrooms and cheese. That’s the uh traditional standard topping, isn’t it? Yeah. We opted for no sauce, but you could have a variety of sauces. Yeah. Like ketchup, mayonnaise, mayonnaise, garlic, thousand island. Yeah. We might have regrets. We might, but let’s see. Going to try and take a bite. Yeah. Great crunch on it. Good. Nice. Yes. Then also this was 15 zlotties which £36p. That’s massive. We’re going up to the castle. that sky. Oh, the van would get under this height barrier. Few people here. What a beauty. What a beauty. Sent. Yeah. Okay. OJ. We’ve stopped resting our feet in the square with a little drink. Cheers. Cheers. What have you got? We’ve got a donut. Raspberry donut. I think this is a traditional food. Is it? I don’t know. Take a bite. And we’re about to try traditional Peronis. The real deal. The real deal. I have gone for cottage cheese and potato. Nice. And LJ’s gone for spinach and feta cheese. I’m actually looking forward to this. And I And they all come with um caramelized onions. And I’ve ordered some sour cream on the side. And look at everyone’s food around us. It looks great. Buzzing. These look good. I’m going to try some now. I’m going to just cut cut into it. It’s good. Proper fresh. about it. Oh, that was so good. Just got back to our parking. Perfect little location. People out in and out all the time. And 5. We could stay as well, but we’re £5. Sorry. Yeah. Five quid. We could stay here. It’d be a bit noisy, but if you were spending like the evening out, be all right, wouldn’t it? We’re old and tired. It’s now 400 p.m. Our feet need a rest. We have made it to Slovakia. And the border was very underwhelming. We didn’t even know we crossed. No. But we’ve made it and that’s what matters. So, on to the next leg. OJ, [Laughter] you just woken up. What are we going to do today? We’re going to attempt our first ever via ferata. Via Ferrata. No, seriously, we are. Yeah, but the Slovakia mountains do not joke. It’s 3° outside. She’s got the heating on. It’s freezing. Oh, and our waist wart’s full. Unbelievable. So, we’ve been and rented the equipment from a hotel in the town. Yeah. €13 per person plus €100 deposit for each bit of kit. So, should have been a €200 deposit. Although, we only had 100, but they let us let it slide. But yeah, so we’re parked up on this layby. There’s quite a few other cars here and the vaferata is in amongst the trees and you can see over there. I don’t know if it’ll pick it up on camera, but there’s people should be good. Looking forward to it. Excited. Yeah, we got to work out how to put these harnesses on. It’s like go eight. Go eight but without any help. You don’t get help at go eight. True. All right, let’s go. Hi. I’ve just had a disaster. Well, two disasters. I’ve climbed up past Jack where Jack is very almost to the top. There was a big gap between the rungs and I panicked. Then I made Jack reverse all the way down so I can get back down. Anyway, I set him back up so he can do one. I think he’s got it. He’s got longer legs than me. Come on, babe. There are lines all the way up this mountain. You see there’s a bridge above my head. online it said suitable for beginners, but I can’t lie, this sent me into a panic. If there were clear rungs all the way, if there was maybe one more rung, I would have done that. But there we go. All right, so I think it’s fair to say we are not climbers or viaatas. It was quite funny in hindsight. Oh, it was quite scary. Oh, on the reviews it says suitable for for beginners, children to age 70 plus. Like we’re thinking, yeah, we’ve got decent level fitness. Like beginners, fine. We, you know, we know the concept, but we did the route, didn’t we? It’s number two. It said AB. So A is the like easiest route and it was like two, three rungs and then just like gripping hold for dear life. Luckily, it wasn’t very high. Anyway, I think that’s RV Ferrarata careers, Dan. Yeah, it won’t be a new hobby for me. What do you think about driving in Slovakia? I would say it’s great. Yeah, some of the roads like through the villages and towns are a bit rough. What about the people overtaking? Oh, some of the overtaking sketchy as hell. We just had someone literally come around the bend on the other side of the road. Yeah. And uh in the town overtaking in front of a overtaking a lorry and there was a motorbike in front of him. Oh god. Lori driver was giving him all the hand signals. Yeah. Sketchy. But the scenery in Slovakia. Well, at least in the park we’re in is just We are actually in a national park now. But it is pretty pretty beautiful. We got something to tell you. Keep it back in charge. A we saw this Tesco extra here and we got to go and have a look. Wa. It’s not a Tesco. They’ve even got a meal deal. The bakery selection is absolutely next level. My particular favorite find is a jalapeno cheese roll. Oh my god. But you’ve got sweet, you got savory. Oh, where are we? We’re in Vanska Stadika. Excellent pronunciation. It’s very pretty. It’s very nice. Busy. Yeah. But very pretty. Yeah. Oh, look at that. Going in. Cute. Yeah. Going to the castle. [Music] Hello. [Music] This is controller. Is it? It must be the road. Here we go. On our way into Hungary, the Danube River. This is the second longest river in Europe. I can’t remember what number one was. No, that is the fact. But 31 today. What did it say tomorrow? 35. 33 then 35 Sunday. So, we’re heading to a lake. Hopefully, there’s space for us. 2-hour drive to what was the lake called? Lake Balaton, which my mom informed me yesterday is sometimes referred to as the Hungarian Sea because it’s so massive. We’re We haven’t actually said, but we’re making a beline for Croatia in a roundabout way, aren’t we? Yeah. We’re sort of just taking a couple of days in each place. Really? Yeah, I think so. Cuz we want to get to the beaches and the sea and have a bit of a chill, don’t we? Something a bit different. But we’ve made it to Lake Balaton. Balaton just south of uh Budapest. Yeah. And managed to drive all the way through the center of Budapest this morning. Yeah. Took a wrong turn. The roads are pretty rubbish as well, aren’t they? Yeah. But we found this Well, Laura found this site on Parkite and it’s just like it’s part it’s like basically the back garden of a hotel. Yeah, it is. Um but the lake’s just there. So, we’ve been in this morning for a paddle board. A swim. might as lunch time actually by the time we did that. Yeah. And um we’re going to stay here for the weekend, aren’t we? Yeah. I think he said it’s 20 I say €28. €28. Yeah. Which is about 24 British pounds. Um which I think pretty good. Got services. You’ve got a nice pitch. Nice view. Yeah. And there is a shower and a toilet if you need it, but we’ll probably use our own. Yeah. But location wise, spot on for a chill. for chill. But the water’s really shallow. Like basically as far as you can go out. It’s just like We should go out and see how far it is to actually go to the like out of our depth. I’m not taking the phone. No. What is she doing? Oh my god, that’s scary. So, we’ve had a really good day. It’s been so hot, hasn’t it? 35. Yeah, I think almost. Um, biking. Yeah, we did a little run, didn’t we? It was flipping hot this morning, even thirsting. And then we just spent the day like chilling out in and out of the lake. The water’s so warm, isn’t it? Um, and now, yeah, we’re just making our dinner. Steak salad and bean salad. Bean salad. Yeah. And the sun is setting. Yeah. A good day. Have all lovely chubbling. Morning cycle. Lovely. Is it lake? Is it lake? It’s less busy, but it’s not the same. Still beautiful though. Very beautiful. Of course, we could not resist pizza. So, there’s the van. There’s the gate. There’s the lake. And there’s the pizza place. The perfect home for the weekend. All right. Rate my pizza. I would rate this an 8.7. And what makes it an 8.7? I think it’s because of the doughy crust but thin base. Like real lovely doughy crust. Yeah. And tasty. The We’ve gone margarita. It’s a tasty tom to tomato sauce. Not too much cheese, but just enough. And the basil and olive oil to finish it off. So good. Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to like and subscribe. And we’ll see you in Croatia.