canisters in Europe?

I expect that you will find MRS canisters there, and likely other brands. In Iceland a couple years ago, all I could find was MSR. In France you'll probably find those goofy Gaz canisters, but hopefully the other ones as well.

I am assuming your stove has the American/British screw type valve. I have not bought in Switzerland but in France and Italy they hardly sell the screw type. They sell pierceable butane camping gaz and the French press on bayonet fitting valved cylinders. It is not the blend that is your biggest problem it is compatibility of the fittings. I know there are adaptors you can buy to use either cylinder with your stove. Otherwise in France meths is relatively available. Alcool de Bruler.
In Italy we were driven to buy a cheap stove that fitted the canisters available.

Are the 16.4oz Coleman style pure propane tanks readily available in Europe?

Bailey

Thanks, I hope to find some, as I don't want to have to buy a stove….I am looking into it online.

Hi Katharina, I have no doubt you can get Coleman canisters in Switzerland for example if you are in Zurich you could get them from http://www.spatz.ch/cgi-local/shop.pl/page=main.htm

a very interesting store

Hi Katherina

As OP said, don't worry about the exact blend. As long as there is some propane in the blend.

Switzerland – a land of many tracks and many walkers. Very walker friendly, and shopping is fairly easy.

The (blue) French CampingGaz Twist-Clik canisters look similar to the screw-thread ones, and are usually readily available, even in small towns in the local General Store. They are however incompatible with the Giga stoves unless you manage to buy an adapter. You can buy French stoves which, while not as light as the Giga stoves, do work fine.

The French Bleuet puncture canister is also widely available, but I think they are a bit dangerous as they cannot be resealed and I have had one leak in my pack.

The screw-thread canister is often available in big gear shops in large centres, especially if they are selling other MSR gear. I don't think I saw many in small towns however.

I don't remember seeing the Coleman green LPG cylinder anywhere, but maybe in the big gear shops.

White gas can be very hard to find, although you could buy petrol from a garage. Ugh. Alcohol – variable.

Cheers