Adria Alpina Rio Grande caravan

With a kitchen at the front, a lounge in the centre, underfloor heating and superb lighting design, this top-weight, top-size tourer is stunningly different

Words: Val Chapman  Photography: Richard Chapman

The Adria Alpina Rio Grande

Back in 2011, Adria brought its first front-kitchen caravan to the UK. It grabbed attention for a few years – then disappeared. Perhaps the British market wasn’t ready for such a radically different layout.

These early models – there were two layouts – were under the Astella range name. The present-day Astellas are built specifically for the continental seasonal siting market and don’t appear on the main UK market.

Enter the new addition to Adria’s flagship tourer range, Alpina. 

The layout

In addition to its head-turning front kitchen, the Alpina Rio Grande makes a bold layout statement in terms of its lounge – that’s in the centre of the caravan. Sofas face each other; one L-shaped, the other very much like a conventional house sofa.

When you turn the lounge into a dining room, the table sits in the centre. A sliding door separates the lounge from the bed (1.96m by 1.54m, which is almost the size of a domestic king-size bed), and the en suite shower room beyond it. 

The Rio Grande looks and feels like a boutique apartment. So, what’s its target customer?

Definitely buyers who want a super-spacious tourer. Those seeking the superb body and furniture build quality for which Adria is renowned. Those who are not daunted by towing something weighing a mighty 2,000kg, on a single axle. And those looking for a tourer with a unique layout.  So how well would a front kitchen perform in terms of space and practicality, we wondered?

The kitchen

Our review, at Barnsdale Leisure, in Pontefract (Adria’s largest UK retailer), obviously didn’t constitute a meal-making exercise, so we had to simulate culinary practices to assess its efficiency.

We set ourselves an imaginary task: making a dinner dish comprising of stir-fry vegetables and  perhaps beef strips, tossed in a wok and served with tagliatelle.

Would there be enough kitchen surface space to chop peppers, baby corns, onions, garlic, celery, fresh ginger, a chilli or two? The answer is most certainly yes. With the wooden chopping board that covers the sink in place, the total kitchen surface is a mighty 1.84m. The surface is 58cm deep, running to 76cm in the area next to the fridge.

In front of the inline three-burner hob, the surface measures 29cm by 58cm; that’s a really important area – enough space for cutting up food before putting it into pans on the hob. And Adria supplies a white plastic drainer that fits over the hob; perfect for making the best use of space as you work. 

It’s possible for two people to work in this kitchen, one in front of the hob and one to the right of the sink. Not many caravans can offer that flexibility. A shelf runs across the whole width, and along the wall towards the fridge; ideal for the items that you use regularly.

We love this kitchen, not just for its huge amount of surface, but for the position of the hob and sink and the surface areas around them; truly ergonomic.

The storage

Would it measure up well in terms of storage, we wondered.

On the left side of the kitchen is a floor-to-ceiling cabinet that holds a surprise: the top sector can be  used as a wardrobe, ideal for coats as you come in through the door. Above the wardrobe sector is a shelf. And below, two drawers, one inside the other, pull out on runners – and below that is a third drawer.

Towards the centre of the kitchen are two drawers and a drop-down-front cabinet, 66cm wide. To  the right of the oven and grill, a 13cm-wide unit slides out to reveal three metal basket drawers. In addition, there’s a 40cm-wide cabinet under the 140-litre Thetford fridge/freezer.

All of the drawers have catches concealed within curved, chrome-edge tops. This kitchen is every inch flagship status. We love it.  

As we progress along the Rio Grande the big storage story continues, with six lockers, beautifully styled, concave in shape, above the seating area. Fitments for mugs and plates are within two of them. Another two have shelves. 

There’s storage space under the seating, although it’s compromised by the water tank and battery box. But that doesn’t matter, because there’s a vast amount of space under the bed.

The wardrobe forward of the bed is 54cm wide, and the one aft of the bed is 27cm wide. This one  has two drawers beneath it. The area beneath the forward wardrobe is occupied by the Alde heating unit.

The lounge

When you want to convert the lounge into a bedroom, you pull out a slatted base from under the offside sofa. The resulting bed measures 2.17m by 1.12m. The nearside sofa could also be used as a bed but it’s child-size, at 58cm wide and 1.6m long.

This is a stunning lounge, with headrests in the corners of the offside sofa and plenty of comfortable seating space.

The washroom

The shower room is a beautiful, luxurious environment, with an oval, backlit mirror, a large oval basin, a panel radiator in the shower cubicle, and a rail across the shower cubicle for towels.

Cabinet space is enormous. There’s a 64cm-wide wall cabinet containing three shelves, and three lower cabinets each providing two shelf spaces. The mirror in the shower has concealed lights running both above and below it. 

Lighting

Lighting is a stunning feature throughout the Rio Grande. Spotlights run on three tracks on the ceiling; you can move the lights along the tracks as well as change the direction of focus.

More spotlights – two above the bed, and four in the lounge – also provide lighting flexibility; you can take any of these lights off and put them on the tracks if you wish, to provide more ceiling illumination.

Lighting runs beneath the seat edges, under the edge of the bed, above the lockers and under the kitchen shelf. And, while you are noticing this lighting feature, you’ll see the almost-concealed extractor fan built into the shelf above the hob.

Summary

Lots of features add up to making the Rio Grande a luxurious caravan stacked with both minor and major features. 

Major features include underfloor heating. Minor ones include an integrated step, and apertures at pillow-height leading into the bases of each wardrobe; one has two USB ports, the other a mains socket. The pillow ends of the bed can be raised, rather like a sun lounger, to convert the bed into a daytime relaxing retreat. 

Robust, solid doors close off the bedroom and the shower room. There’s exterior access to the area under the bed. And something unique: an exterior locker under the offside of the kitchen that is heated; part of the finned radiator structure that takes Alde heating around the caravan comes into this locker, which measures a generous 63cm deep, 63cm wide and 86cm high.

The general air of luxury in the Rio Grande is outstanding. Elements that create its lovely ambience include the long voile curtain in the bedroom, the enormous rooflight above the kitchen, the underfloor heating – and the sheer size of the caravan. 

An extractor fan above the hob, a heated exterior locker, and enormous kitchen surface and storage space also enhance this superb caravan.

Unique in layout and sophisticated in style, the new Rio Grande is surely set to find many fans.