4×4 Adventure Camp @ Bad Kissingen

Every year the world’s biggest (really?) Adventure & 4×4 fair takes place in Bad Kissingen in Germany. It was our first time we went there and we were quite curious what we will experience.

Bad to the bone

There is the fair with a big number of exhibitors but there is also the camp area for visitors! Most of the people come with their own car – from Defenders to huge trucks, from new to old, from expensive to self-made – the variety is endless. The Camp Area is chaotic and getting packed, but that’s part of the fun.

The homepage said that we should not arrive before midday the day before the fair starts. So when we came there on Wednesday at lunchtime, we expected a nearly empty place. How wrong we were!!

The camp area looked already full, and we were anxious to find a spot. We learned that people had already arrived a week or more before the fair. But we also learned what full means. Cars didn’t stop arriving until 10 pm and were driving in circles to find a spot. Of course, the next morning, more and more cars arrived. The place was getting really packed now, and everywhere somebody tried to squeeze in. More and more fields on the outskirts of Bad Kissingen were turned into camp areas and at the end about 3000! cars in all dimensions gathered there.

Like all the others, we walked through the camp area to look at all the 4×4 cars, campers, trucks,… often talking to the owners and exchanging knowledge or experiences. We met a lot of nice people, all with the same spirit of travelling freely through the world.

view from our rooftop

In the evening, barbecues started everywhere and campfires were lit. Soon, nice smell of BBQ covered the whole area. People were sitting outside, often together with friends they knew, or friends they had just made. Thankfully the weather was good and outdoor life was in full swing everywhere.