9 day driving holiday in May - choices
Discussion
I'm pleased your on a driving holiday and not a "road trip" 
Do you want to do a lot of driving or a little and mix with some sight seeing?
By a lot I mean 5-6hrs per day? I tend to have a long run 8-10hrs to get where I'm going followed by a day off.
Do you want to do a lot of driving or a little and mix with some sight seeing?
By a lot I mean 5-6hrs per day? I tend to have a long run 8-10hrs to get where I'm going followed by a day off.
Edited by DocArbathnot on Tuesday 2nd April 08:26
Something I still want to do is drive around Spain using the Paradors. Get the ferry across and see where it takes me.
http://www.parador.es/en/portal.do
http://www.parador.es/en/portal.do
Having done both (Europe and Scotland), I'd say you'd get much better value for money in the likes of Germany and other Europe.
Splitting the driving holiday in to a few days where you do a lot of driving and the other days where you go sightseeing can really make a difference and can take you well in to the likes of Germany and France etc.
If you've got 9 days to play with then I think not going any further south than the Alps would mean you can work it so that you are not doing too much driving on any particular day.
Germany is one of my favourite places to drive.
If I had 9 days then one possible route that I would do is spend two days getting to Munich and then on to Salzburg and then spend the rest of the tour working westwards along the northern side of the Alps. Gradually working into France and an easy day drive back towards the Ferry.
(Just an idea)
Splitting the driving holiday in to a few days where you do a lot of driving and the other days where you go sightseeing can really make a difference and can take you well in to the likes of Germany and France etc.
If you've got 9 days to play with then I think not going any further south than the Alps would mean you can work it so that you are not doing too much driving on any particular day.
Germany is one of my favourite places to drive.
If I had 9 days then one possible route that I would do is spend two days getting to Munich and then on to Salzburg and then spend the rest of the tour working westwards along the northern side of the Alps. Gradually working into France and an easy day drive back towards the Ferry.
(Just an idea)
Thanks for all the replies.
We are quite happy doing a lot of driving as long as there are good sights on the way.
Two years ago we did a similar holiday in the Z3 and drove through Belgium, stopping at Ghent, and then through France, (Beaune, Montpellier and Millau) then stopped for a week in the Dordogne before driving back to the UK.
It was about 2000 miles, but we had more time.
On the driving days we were doing between 4-5 hours in the car.
This time we roughly planned to get the tunnel to France, and stop at Epernay for a night, then head to Lake Constance, quick visit to Neuschwanstien Castle, Munich for the BMW museum, Stuttgart for the Porsche museum, Cologne (or Bonn), then Brugge and home.
This will be just over 1600 miles.
Will 9 days be enough? Are there any key places that we will be near to that we won't want to miss out on?
We are quite happy doing a lot of driving as long as there are good sights on the way.
Two years ago we did a similar holiday in the Z3 and drove through Belgium, stopping at Ghent, and then through France, (Beaune, Montpellier and Millau) then stopped for a week in the Dordogne before driving back to the UK.
It was about 2000 miles, but we had more time.
On the driving days we were doing between 4-5 hours in the car.
This time we roughly planned to get the tunnel to France, and stop at Epernay for a night, then head to Lake Constance, quick visit to Neuschwanstien Castle, Munich for the BMW museum, Stuttgart for the Porsche museum, Cologne (or Bonn), then Brugge and home.
This will be just over 1600 miles.
Will 9 days be enough? Are there any key places that we will be near to that we won't want to miss out on?
Ilikebeaver said:
Thanks for all the replies.
This time we roughly planned to get the tunnel to France, and stop at Epernay for a night, then head to Lake Constance, quick visit to Neuschwanstien Castle, Munich for the BMW museum, Stuttgart for the Porsche museum, Cologne (or Bonn), then Brugge and home.
This will be just over 1600 miles.
Will 9 days be enough? Are there any key places that we will be near to that we won't want to miss out on?
Lake Constance = yes. This time we roughly planned to get the tunnel to France, and stop at Epernay for a night, then head to Lake Constance, quick visit to Neuschwanstien Castle, Munich for the BMW museum, Stuttgart for the Porsche museum, Cologne (or Bonn), then Brugge and home.
This will be just over 1600 miles.
Will 9 days be enough? Are there any key places that we will be near to that we won't want to miss out on?
Very picturesque.
Neuschwanstein Castle = yes!
Amazing scenery in the area. Make sure to also take a trip up to the top of Tegelberg via the cable car. Stunning at the top.
Munich = yes!
One of my top 5 cities of the world.
Suggestion if you can make it en-route - A trip in to the Black Forrest maybe?
The roads there are just fantastic.
Cheib said:
I'd go further south....France, Switzerland, Italy......better weather and get the mountain passes in. Scotland at that time of year could be stunning or wet....I'd rather go for the weather especially in a soft top.
The high passes may not be open in early May so check before you go if you head further south. We did this a few years ago ...
UK -- > Ostend
Ostend --> head north to Holland. Stayed in town called Hilversham which is a short train ride to Amsterdam.
Back through Germany, staying at places like Koln
Head back into Belgium (Mastrikt, Bruges etc)
Back to Ostend
We only travelled for a week and didn't drive too far each day. With more time we could have seen more, maybe even headed to Switzerland. I'd also recommend Luxemburg if you head that direction - beautiful city / country. Very friendly.
May time though, you might want to sticking to a southern europe trip to guarantee better weather.
UK -- > Ostend
Ostend --> head north to Holland. Stayed in town called Hilversham which is a short train ride to Amsterdam.
Back through Germany, staying at places like Koln
Head back into Belgium (Mastrikt, Bruges etc)
Back to Ostend
We only travelled for a week and didn't drive too far each day. With more time we could have seen more, maybe even headed to Switzerland. I'd also recommend Luxemburg if you head that direction - beautiful city / country. Very friendly.
May time though, you might want to sticking to a southern europe trip to guarantee better weather.
jmorgan said:
Something I still want to do is drive around Spain using the Paradors. Get the ferry across and see where it takes me.
http://www.parador.es/en/portal.do
Me too - May would be a perfect time of the year to do it, too.http://www.parador.es/en/portal.do
So we did it! And we have just arrived back home.
Ended up doing a 8 day trip through France, Germany, Austria and Belgium.
I am not very good at photography or writing up, so here is just a breif description of our route:
Saturday: Cross the channel using the Euro Tunnel and stop 1 night in Rheims.
Stayed in a very nice hotel call Hotel Del La Paix right in the centre.
Sunday: Drive through France and arrive for two nights in Lindau Island.
Stayed in the Hotel Bayerischer Hof right on the lake. It was fantastic and ha a lovely outdoor heated pool.
Lindau Island was a beautiful place to be. Very Bavarian. The food was fab and plenty to do and see. We took a boat ride on Lake Constance.
Tuesday: Drive through Austrian Alps & Bavaria stopping off at a few castles on the way to Munich.
Stayed for 2 nights at the Hilton which was very luxurious and had a lovely spa which we made full use off.
Munich city was great for night life. Highlight was dinner and drinks at the Hofbrauhaus.
Visited BMW Welt and did the factory tour and museum.
Thursday: Drive to Stuttgart with a stop at Ausberg on the way for a bite to eat and to stretch the legs.
Stayed 1 night at the Graf Zeppelin hotel. Once again a really fantastic spa.
Visited Porsche museum. Wasn't that impressed, but I'm not remotely a Porsche fan.
Friday: Drive to Koblenz. Stopped off on the way for more castles. Got to the hotel we had prebooked and it wasn.'t very nice, so quickly left and booked last minute into a hotel in Bonn.
Drove to Bonn and arrived at the Kameha Grand Hotel. It was fantastic! Amazing hotel right on the Rhien with roof top infinity pool overlooking the river. A nice touch was that they upgraded us to a luxury room.
Saturday: Drove to Ghent an stayed one night at Hotel Harmony (as recommended by a pistonheader).
Had some lovely food in the city and explored.
Paddled in roof top pool.
Sunday (today): head for tunnel and home.
It was a great trip. So much to see and do. There was plenty more we could have done.
Koblenz would have been a perfect location for a visit to the Ring, but it just so happened to be closed on the day we had planned to be there.
It was our 1st time in Germany and loved all of it.
The people are so helpful and friendly, and service everywhere was top notch.
I would certainly recommend our route and the hotels we stayed at to anyone wanting to do something similar.
It was the perfect mix of driving and sight seeing and to do the cities on induvidual weekend breaks would have involved flights and been more costly.
We decided to book top 4 & 5 star hotels and it was well worth it.
There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that at the end of a 4 hour journey that you will arrive in a luxurious settings, and be able to have a swim and a sauna to unwind before heading out for dinner.
We were able to wake each morning having felt fully refreshed and well looked after.
A few pictures (not in order) : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152786...
Ended up doing a 8 day trip through France, Germany, Austria and Belgium.
I am not very good at photography or writing up, so here is just a breif description of our route:
Saturday: Cross the channel using the Euro Tunnel and stop 1 night in Rheims.
Stayed in a very nice hotel call Hotel Del La Paix right in the centre.
Sunday: Drive through France and arrive for two nights in Lindau Island.
Stayed in the Hotel Bayerischer Hof right on the lake. It was fantastic and ha a lovely outdoor heated pool.
Lindau Island was a beautiful place to be. Very Bavarian. The food was fab and plenty to do and see. We took a boat ride on Lake Constance.
Tuesday: Drive through Austrian Alps & Bavaria stopping off at a few castles on the way to Munich.
Stayed for 2 nights at the Hilton which was very luxurious and had a lovely spa which we made full use off.
Munich city was great for night life. Highlight was dinner and drinks at the Hofbrauhaus.
Visited BMW Welt and did the factory tour and museum.
Thursday: Drive to Stuttgart with a stop at Ausberg on the way for a bite to eat and to stretch the legs.
Stayed 1 night at the Graf Zeppelin hotel. Once again a really fantastic spa.
Visited Porsche museum. Wasn't that impressed, but I'm not remotely a Porsche fan.
Friday: Drive to Koblenz. Stopped off on the way for more castles. Got to the hotel we had prebooked and it wasn.'t very nice, so quickly left and booked last minute into a hotel in Bonn.
Drove to Bonn and arrived at the Kameha Grand Hotel. It was fantastic! Amazing hotel right on the Rhien with roof top infinity pool overlooking the river. A nice touch was that they upgraded us to a luxury room.
Saturday: Drove to Ghent an stayed one night at Hotel Harmony (as recommended by a pistonheader).
Had some lovely food in the city and explored.
Paddled in roof top pool.
Sunday (today): head for tunnel and home.
It was a great trip. So much to see and do. There was plenty more we could have done.
Koblenz would have been a perfect location for a visit to the Ring, but it just so happened to be closed on the day we had planned to be there.
It was our 1st time in Germany and loved all of it.
The people are so helpful and friendly, and service everywhere was top notch.
I would certainly recommend our route and the hotels we stayed at to anyone wanting to do something similar.
It was the perfect mix of driving and sight seeing and to do the cities on induvidual weekend breaks would have involved flights and been more costly.
We decided to book top 4 & 5 star hotels and it was well worth it.
There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that at the end of a 4 hour journey that you will arrive in a luxurious settings, and be able to have a swim and a sauna to unwind before heading out for dinner.
We were able to wake each morning having felt fully refreshed and well looked after.
A few pictures (not in order) : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152786...
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