My 4500km European Honeymoon featuring (a lot of) car stuff.
Discussion
Howdy,
Just got back yesterday to New Zealand after our 6 week European honeymoon road trip.
My (now) wife and I have been planning on going on a proper European roadtrip and we spent many months coming up with an itinerary to make the most of the time we had available.
I will just rattle off a few places to keep you reading...
Monaco GP
Maranello
San Bernadino Pass
Schlumpf Car Museum
Nurburgring (featuring Rent4Ring)
The Autobahn
I will start off with the public transport section of the trip...
We flew into London initially...
and after a few day made our way by train to Liverpool...
then to Wales to see family and friends for a few days each.
After Wales we took the Eurostar to Paris for a couple of days...
then the TGV to Marseille...
where we picked up our brand new leased Citroen DS3 Diesel...
I chose a DS3 diesel for a few reasons:
a) It was a good deal
b) I have always been into french hot hatches (have formally had a Renault Sport Clio 172)
c) I wanted something smallish to make city driving in Italy and France easier
d) It is a bit different and quirky compared to most of its peers
After driving around for a VERY long time looking for a petrol station (all the ones in Marseille were with shut or were not where the GPS said they were...) we managed to fill up and began our trip.
First stop - Nice. 22/05/2014
We chose to go to Nice for a very good reason. The reason was because it is very close to Monaco. The reason it was important to be close to Monaco? My wife had purchased me tickets to the Grand Prix as a wedding gift! Sorry guys but she is quite clearly now taken ;P
We stayed in an AirBnB apartment in the hills above Nice. I found the roads from Marseille to Nice to be pretty straightforward. We kept to the twisty coastal roads which of course were much slower but provided some nice views and a good warmup for the drive ahead.
Monaco 24/05/2014 - 25/05/2014
We were attending the GP on both the Saturday and Sunday and took the train both days. The train was super easy and as long of you turned up early was not too busy.
We had seats in the 'K' stand which turned out to be excellent. After purchasing some Merc F1 merchandise (I would have purchased some Martini Williams Shirts had they been for sale) we took to our seats to watch some Renault 3.5, GP2, Porsche Supercup racing and the F1 qualy. The F1 cars we the quietest of the lot!
Anyway, the race on Sunday was great and the atmosphere was great in the stands. Still undecided in the Nico qualy incident but was good to see him take the win.
By the way, Sunday 25th May (race day) was my 31st birthday. Not a bad way to spend it huh?!?
Genoa 26/05/2014
After Monaco we decided to make our way around the coast to Genoa (Genova as the locals call it). We knew the place was not particularly attractive to tourists and judging by the number of scam artists trying to take your money in town we were glad we didnt stay long. We ended up staying in Nervi which is a few kms from the city in a little Hotel by the water. Proper little Italian town. Lovely.
Cinque Terre 28/05/2014
After Genoa we made our way over some fabulous Italian roads to Monterosso to a Hotel in the middle of town. Parking was tight and there was just one spot left at the Hotel. The Hotel owner also played valet which made things easier. Cinque Terre = awesome and a must do for all.
Siena/Florence 30/05/2014
We took the Autostrada most of the way to Siena. The way the bridges and the tunnels are put together are just amazing and being able to cruise at 130kph was a delight. This is compared to our maximum 100kph motorway speeds in New Zealand... The DS3 was doing incredible fuel economy and I was getting about 4L/100km at 130kph.
Siena and Florence were nice too...
Maranello 05/06/2014
I am not a Ferrari person. I am however an Alfa Romeo person and have a 75 Twinspark which I use for road and track. When I looked at the map to see the quickest way to Switzerland from Siena I noticed 3 things.
a) its quite a long way
b) most of the roads look nice a squiggly
c) Maranello is on the way
After some minor convincing of the missus we booked in at the Maranello Village Hotel which is the Ferrari themed one. What a weird place. Nice and clean and well appointed but you couldn't help wondering if they made it a bit too big because there was nobody there. It was dead. Did the job for us anyway.
I had read some good (and bad) things about the Ferrari Museum so we made our way there in the morning. We were both pleasantly surprised. The cars on display were top notch and while of course the written history of some of the cars and drivers were very much written with rose tinted glasses it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours. I didn't touch anything in the gift shop... the most over the top pricing I have ever seen in my life.
After the museum we went exploring. At a roundabout we saw the best looking Lancia Delta Intergrale Evo I have every seen. In yellow with all the late model bits and a big set of WRC style wheels. The aggressive angle of the rear wing gave my the impression that it was driven properly.
I managed to get a photo of the factory front with the gate open and stumbled through the bushes to get some rubbish snaps of Fiorano.
All in all an interesting place but somewhere I am unlikely to visit again.
Lake Como 03/06/2014
The next logical stop north on the trip was Lake Como. After leaving Maranello on some nice country roads we ended up taking the Autostrada for 60% of the way due to time restrictions (and tiredness!)
We stayed in town right by the lake and had a bit of a walk around before sampling some of the local cuisine and some lovely Prosecco.
Switzerland 04/06/2014
The border between Italy and Switzerland in Como was quite weird. The Italian side was pretty ratty and dirty but the moment you cross that simple bit of pavement the world changes. For one thing I was glad to get rid of the bloody motorbikes and scooters!
The weather turned a little cold and wet and we turned off the motorway because I wanted to sample some of the local passes.
We drove through some lovely scenery before stumbling upon the San Bernadino pass. Epic road and the snow just made it an immense driving experience. The little turbo diesel wheel-spun out of every hairpin with vigor but once up to 2000m you could feel power dropping slowly but surely.
We were staying with some friends in Wila which is not far from Zurich. During our stay we visited Schwagalp and took the cable car to the top of Santis.
In Zurich we stumbled upon a couple of Focus RS's in an underground carpark which were clearly well sorted and used in local hillclimbs etc.
Our friends in Wila mentioned the Schlumpf Car Museum back in France and thought it may be a good thing to take a look at before heading into Germany. I looked it up and thoroughly agreed with their suggestion. With a freshly filled take of Totals finest diesel we made our way west...
Schlumpf Museum 06/06/2014
Wow.
Just wow. I will let some photos below explain everything.
The place just goes on and on. Well worth a visit.
Kempten & the castles 06/06/2014
After the museum we turned around and went back through Switzerland before cutting briefly through Austria and into Germany. 4 Countries in one day, a new record for me!.
My wife has some family friends in Kempten so we stayed with them and spend lots of time looking at various old towns and castles. It really is an incredibly good looking part of the world.
Berlin 09/06/2014
We drove the 600+ kms to Berlin at a quick pace. The DS3 is supposed to only do 180kph flat out but I nudged 200 after a particularly long session of foot to the floor action. The autobahns are so efficient and relaxing that doing big mileage was just so easy. The DS3 liked to move around in the winds but overall was a very stable high speed sled.
Autobahn essentials:
Berlin was an impressive place. Bloody hot everyday which made the walking tours somewhat hard work but the history of the place is second to none. Very enjoyable.
Wurzburg 12/06/2014
Wurzburg was our next stop after Berlin. My wife again had friends there so we stayed with them and spent time visiting local towns and comparing the DS3 to their new Golf TDI. After a blast of the autobahn it was a no contest in the Golfs favour. Lovely car.
Nurburgring 13/06/2014
I had wanted to drive on the Nurburgring since I was 5 years old after watching some group C racing on TV. One of my must do's on this trip was to go there and run some laps. I had booked us into the Hotel An der Nordschleife and when we arrived at 9pm the carpark was full of all sorts of fantastic machinery.
I had decided some time ago that using the DS3 was a stupid idea for obvious reasons. I had contacted Rent4Ring and dealt with Dale who sorted me out with a RHD Suzuki Swift Stage 2 for a half day 6 lap rental. We turned up at 7:30am on the 14th, had the briefing and got strapped into the car. The weather was a bit iffy and the track was wet but the benefit was that it was very quiet for my first few laps.
My wife agreed to come with my for at least one lap but I couldn't get her out after that so we enjoyed a great time flinging the little swift around the track together. The handling of the Swift was amazing and I really believe that if your first time at this track you don't need anything else. Mega fun and my life To Do list had another thing ticked off! I ended up doing 8 laps in total and would have done more it it was not for my time running out and the track filling up fast.
Giving the car back 16/06/2014
We had to return the DS3 to Citroen at Frankfurt Airport with 4555kms on the clock. When we picked up the car it had only done 5.
We got a train back to London and then flew that night back to Auckland. I am currently suffering immense jetlag and am not looking forward to returning to work on Monday. I think you will agree though that we have plenty of incredible memories to hold onto to keep us going until next time.
Cheerio
Rob
Just got back yesterday to New Zealand after our 6 week European honeymoon road trip.
My (now) wife and I have been planning on going on a proper European roadtrip and we spent many months coming up with an itinerary to make the most of the time we had available.
I will just rattle off a few places to keep you reading...
Monaco GP
Maranello
San Bernadino Pass
Schlumpf Car Museum
Nurburgring (featuring Rent4Ring)
The Autobahn
I will start off with the public transport section of the trip...
We flew into London initially...
and after a few day made our way by train to Liverpool...
then to Wales to see family and friends for a few days each.
After Wales we took the Eurostar to Paris for a couple of days...
then the TGV to Marseille...
where we picked up our brand new leased Citroen DS3 Diesel...
I chose a DS3 diesel for a few reasons:
a) It was a good deal
b) I have always been into french hot hatches (have formally had a Renault Sport Clio 172)
c) I wanted something smallish to make city driving in Italy and France easier
d) It is a bit different and quirky compared to most of its peers
After driving around for a VERY long time looking for a petrol station (all the ones in Marseille were with shut or were not where the GPS said they were...) we managed to fill up and began our trip.
First stop - Nice. 22/05/2014
We chose to go to Nice for a very good reason. The reason was because it is very close to Monaco. The reason it was important to be close to Monaco? My wife had purchased me tickets to the Grand Prix as a wedding gift! Sorry guys but she is quite clearly now taken ;P
We stayed in an AirBnB apartment in the hills above Nice. I found the roads from Marseille to Nice to be pretty straightforward. We kept to the twisty coastal roads which of course were much slower but provided some nice views and a good warmup for the drive ahead.
Monaco 24/05/2014 - 25/05/2014
We were attending the GP on both the Saturday and Sunday and took the train both days. The train was super easy and as long of you turned up early was not too busy.
We had seats in the 'K' stand which turned out to be excellent. After purchasing some Merc F1 merchandise (I would have purchased some Martini Williams Shirts had they been for sale) we took to our seats to watch some Renault 3.5, GP2, Porsche Supercup racing and the F1 qualy. The F1 cars we the quietest of the lot!
Anyway, the race on Sunday was great and the atmosphere was great in the stands. Still undecided in the Nico qualy incident but was good to see him take the win.
By the way, Sunday 25th May (race day) was my 31st birthday. Not a bad way to spend it huh?!?
Genoa 26/05/2014
After Monaco we decided to make our way around the coast to Genoa (Genova as the locals call it). We knew the place was not particularly attractive to tourists and judging by the number of scam artists trying to take your money in town we were glad we didnt stay long. We ended up staying in Nervi which is a few kms from the city in a little Hotel by the water. Proper little Italian town. Lovely.
Cinque Terre 28/05/2014
After Genoa we made our way over some fabulous Italian roads to Monterosso to a Hotel in the middle of town. Parking was tight and there was just one spot left at the Hotel. The Hotel owner also played valet which made things easier. Cinque Terre = awesome and a must do for all.
Siena/Florence 30/05/2014
We took the Autostrada most of the way to Siena. The way the bridges and the tunnels are put together are just amazing and being able to cruise at 130kph was a delight. This is compared to our maximum 100kph motorway speeds in New Zealand... The DS3 was doing incredible fuel economy and I was getting about 4L/100km at 130kph.
Siena and Florence were nice too...
Maranello 05/06/2014
I am not a Ferrari person. I am however an Alfa Romeo person and have a 75 Twinspark which I use for road and track. When I looked at the map to see the quickest way to Switzerland from Siena I noticed 3 things.
a) its quite a long way
b) most of the roads look nice a squiggly
c) Maranello is on the way
After some minor convincing of the missus we booked in at the Maranello Village Hotel which is the Ferrari themed one. What a weird place. Nice and clean and well appointed but you couldn't help wondering if they made it a bit too big because there was nobody there. It was dead. Did the job for us anyway.
I had read some good (and bad) things about the Ferrari Museum so we made our way there in the morning. We were both pleasantly surprised. The cars on display were top notch and while of course the written history of some of the cars and drivers were very much written with rose tinted glasses it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours. I didn't touch anything in the gift shop... the most over the top pricing I have ever seen in my life.
After the museum we went exploring. At a roundabout we saw the best looking Lancia Delta Intergrale Evo I have every seen. In yellow with all the late model bits and a big set of WRC style wheels. The aggressive angle of the rear wing gave my the impression that it was driven properly.
I managed to get a photo of the factory front with the gate open and stumbled through the bushes to get some rubbish snaps of Fiorano.
All in all an interesting place but somewhere I am unlikely to visit again.
Lake Como 03/06/2014
The next logical stop north on the trip was Lake Como. After leaving Maranello on some nice country roads we ended up taking the Autostrada for 60% of the way due to time restrictions (and tiredness!)
We stayed in town right by the lake and had a bit of a walk around before sampling some of the local cuisine and some lovely Prosecco.
Switzerland 04/06/2014
The border between Italy and Switzerland in Como was quite weird. The Italian side was pretty ratty and dirty but the moment you cross that simple bit of pavement the world changes. For one thing I was glad to get rid of the bloody motorbikes and scooters!
The weather turned a little cold and wet and we turned off the motorway because I wanted to sample some of the local passes.
We drove through some lovely scenery before stumbling upon the San Bernadino pass. Epic road and the snow just made it an immense driving experience. The little turbo diesel wheel-spun out of every hairpin with vigor but once up to 2000m you could feel power dropping slowly but surely.
We were staying with some friends in Wila which is not far from Zurich. During our stay we visited Schwagalp and took the cable car to the top of Santis.
In Zurich we stumbled upon a couple of Focus RS's in an underground carpark which were clearly well sorted and used in local hillclimbs etc.
Our friends in Wila mentioned the Schlumpf Car Museum back in France and thought it may be a good thing to take a look at before heading into Germany. I looked it up and thoroughly agreed with their suggestion. With a freshly filled take of Totals finest diesel we made our way west...
Schlumpf Museum 06/06/2014
Wow.
Just wow. I will let some photos below explain everything.
The place just goes on and on. Well worth a visit.
Kempten & the castles 06/06/2014
After the museum we turned around and went back through Switzerland before cutting briefly through Austria and into Germany. 4 Countries in one day, a new record for me!.
My wife has some family friends in Kempten so we stayed with them and spend lots of time looking at various old towns and castles. It really is an incredibly good looking part of the world.
Berlin 09/06/2014
We drove the 600+ kms to Berlin at a quick pace. The DS3 is supposed to only do 180kph flat out but I nudged 200 after a particularly long session of foot to the floor action. The autobahns are so efficient and relaxing that doing big mileage was just so easy. The DS3 liked to move around in the winds but overall was a very stable high speed sled.
Autobahn essentials:
Berlin was an impressive place. Bloody hot everyday which made the walking tours somewhat hard work but the history of the place is second to none. Very enjoyable.
Wurzburg 12/06/2014
Wurzburg was our next stop after Berlin. My wife again had friends there so we stayed with them and spent time visiting local towns and comparing the DS3 to their new Golf TDI. After a blast of the autobahn it was a no contest in the Golfs favour. Lovely car.
Nurburgring 13/06/2014
I had wanted to drive on the Nurburgring since I was 5 years old after watching some group C racing on TV. One of my must do's on this trip was to go there and run some laps. I had booked us into the Hotel An der Nordschleife and when we arrived at 9pm the carpark was full of all sorts of fantastic machinery.
I had decided some time ago that using the DS3 was a stupid idea for obvious reasons. I had contacted Rent4Ring and dealt with Dale who sorted me out with a RHD Suzuki Swift Stage 2 for a half day 6 lap rental. We turned up at 7:30am on the 14th, had the briefing and got strapped into the car. The weather was a bit iffy and the track was wet but the benefit was that it was very quiet for my first few laps.
My wife agreed to come with my for at least one lap but I couldn't get her out after that so we enjoyed a great time flinging the little swift around the track together. The handling of the Swift was amazing and I really believe that if your first time at this track you don't need anything else. Mega fun and my life To Do list had another thing ticked off! I ended up doing 8 laps in total and would have done more it it was not for my time running out and the track filling up fast.
Giving the car back 16/06/2014
We had to return the DS3 to Citroen at Frankfurt Airport with 4555kms on the clock. When we picked up the car it had only done 5.
We got a train back to London and then flew that night back to Auckland. I am currently suffering immense jetlag and am not looking forward to returning to work on Monday. I think you will agree though that we have plenty of incredible memories to hold onto to keep us going until next time.
Cheerio
Rob
Edited by ParabolikaRob on Thursday 26th June 10:27
Edited by ParabolikaRob on Tuesday 27th January 21:30
What a fantastic trip 
I stayed in the black forest last year, I didn't even realise there was a really good car museum nearby. I did visit château de haut-koenigsbourg though which has an excellent little road upto it and some fantastic views. You shouldn't go stealing grapes off the vines around it however, oh no
I stayed in the black forest last year, I didn't even realise there was a really good car museum nearby. I did visit château de haut-koenigsbourg though which has an excellent little road upto it and some fantastic views. You shouldn't go stealing grapes off the vines around it however, oh no
KTF said:
I am confused. You live in NZ but you bought (leased) a DS3 for a 6 week trip? Or was it rented just for the trip?
It has export plates on it but a LHD DS3 isnt going to be so useful in RHD NZ?
Hi, It has export plates on it but a LHD DS3 isnt going to be so useful in RHD NZ?
We did a short term lease through Citroen DriveEurope. Basically we owned it for the period we drove it and they buy it back when we return it. Easier and cheaper than renting and full insurance with no excess is included. And you can choose your car and spec. Peugeot do this too and have been for many years.
Cheers.
I'm very jealous that you have visited many of my 'dream places' I would love to visit myself. The Alps and the regions around them through France, Austria, Southern Germany, etc look amazing to me. I sometimes wish I'd grown up around there as the buildings and landscapes are stunning. I like the photo of the gardens overlooking the beautiful looking city with the lovely green hills in the distance and the blue river flowing onwards. 
Amazing. Very jealous and I wish you two a lot of happiness.
Also your wife is pretty and she likes cars so you've definitely made the right choice there!
Amazing. Very jealous and I wish you two a lot of happiness.
Also your wife is pretty and she likes cars so you've definitely made the right choice there!
RyanTank said:
awesome write up and looks like an excellent trip.
One thing that you haven't explained is the story behind the blue wing, with what I assume to be your name/signature on it?
Ah yes! Sorry about that!One thing that you haven't explained is the story behind the blue wing, with what I assume to be your name/signature on it?
After returning the swift to rent4ring I was told it was customary for all of their customers to sign their name on one of the recently damaged and replaced car panels sitting around the shop. I got to sign a freshly bent and replaced blue swift front guard : )
, but the swift is clearly grey, I was left wondering What an amazing trip! And lucky fella that you have a wife who likes travelling in cars (if only mine did!). We took a couple of weeks in the south island in March, visiting my family in Christchurch. I always nick my mum's car for a day or three to hoon around the island. Sadly it's a Honda Integra and although it gets us there and back pretty efficiently it can't really be called a hooning car! Best roads ever in the South Island. In fact we stopped for the night in Punakaiki and met with a party of four porsche owners who were on a mega hoon for a few weeks, taking in the whole of the south island including four race tracks! Oh my! And it's on your doorstep fella. Get yourself out in that Alfa and do some SI roads! (or borrow a TVR and really make some noise!)
JM
JM
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