What a motorhome week costs: a calculation you can check

To the question of what a week in a motorhome costs, there are two useless answers: "it depends" and a round number with no provenance. This calculation does it differently. It lays every assumption open so you can substitute your own values, and it uses real national prices for the fuel instead of guesses.

The assumptions

• Route: southern Germany to Lake Garda and back, including local driving, together around 1,400 kilometres
• Vehicle: low-profile under 3.5 tonnes, 3 metres tall, consumption 12 litres of diesel per 100 kilometres
• Duration: 7 nights, two people
• Fuel prices: the European Commission’s national averages of 20 July 2026, that is €2.158 in Germany, €1.931 in Austria and €2.038 in Italy per litre of diesel

Not included are food, restaurant visits, entrance fees and the fixed costs of the vehicle such as insurance, tax and depreciation. You carry those at home too.

The calculation

Fuel prices: European Commission Weekly Oil Bulletin, as of 20 July 2026. Tolls: 2026 tariff year; vignette and Brenner toll according to the ASFINAG tariffs (asfinag.at), Italian distance toll as a range of €0.09 to €0.18 per kilometre in class B, the tariff band the planner also estimates with (basis: tariffs on autostrade.it). Overnight stays and gas, electricity and disposal are rough assumptions without a surveyed source.

Where the range comes from

Two items are not fixed numbers, and for different reasons. The Italian distance toll varies by section: flat country costs noticeably less per kilometre than a mountain stretch with tunnels and viaducts. For a motorhome there is the added fact that from 1.30 metres of height above the front axle it falls into class B, so it never pays the car tariff. More in the article tolls with a motorhome.

The overnight stays are a rough assumption, not a surveyed figure: €20 to €35 per night for two people, a mix of stopovers and campsites. A simple stopover without electricity sits at the lower end, a Lake Garda campsite in high season well above it.

A reference point for campsites is the ADAC’s PiNCAMP price analysis 2026: in Italy a night there costs on average around €39 in the off-season and €63 in high season, calculated for two adults and one child including the pitch. The planner and the route pages calculate with these average prices, which is why overnight stays come out higher there than in this table.

The items that get forgotten

• Electricity at the site. Often not in the price, but by kilowatt hour or as a daily flat rate.
• Tourist tax. Per person per night, common in holiday regions and included in no site listing.
• Water and waste servicing. As a rough assumption, one or two euros per go at a service station, due every two to three days.
• Gas. An 11-kilo bottle lasts several weeks in summer use, considerably less in winter.
• The drive to the site. Small detours add up. At 12 litres per 100 kilometres, every 20-kilometre detour costs around five euros.

How to get your own number

The formula for the biggest item is simple: kilometres ÷ 100 × consumption × price per litre. The price per litre is not a single value but the blend of the countries you drive through, weighted by the distance in each. Drive eight hundred kilometres through Italy and two hundred through Austria, and you are calculating mostly with Italian prices.

That is exactly what the planner takes off your hands: fuel costs and tolls are calculated from your route, your consumption and the current national prices, including the refuelling stops where you need to fill up at the latest. Fixed amounts and estimated ranges stay separate, so you can see which part of the total is certain.