Who's done a European road trip?
Discussion
I like the idea of doing one this year. I'd only have a week off available to me due to other holiday plans unless I took some off unpaid.
So what route did you do? What kind of costs were evolved - accommodation, tolls?
I'm set in the South East of England, so it won't take me long to get across the channel. But where to go then?
If I incorporate the Ring, I'm thinking to do that on the way back just in case the worst happens on that last lap before leaving! I don't know how this married up on a map though.
So what route did you do? What kind of costs were evolved - accommodation, tolls?
I'm set in the South East of England, so it won't take me long to get across the channel. But where to go then?
If I incorporate the Ring, I'm thinking to do that on the way back just in case the worst happens on that last lap before leaving! I don't know how this married up on a map though.
Edited by Gingerbread Man on Sunday 22 January 22:32
Consider buying a map of Europe and looking at it!
Where do you want to go? What do you want to see or do? You could go to the 'Ring, explore the Eiffel region, spend a day in Cochem and drive the road that runs along the Mosel all the way to Trier.
Drive back into France and stop the night at Riems and visit the old Grand Prix buildings.
All this is simple to organise these days if you're armed with a lap top, some internet and a sat-nav.
Book yourself an early-ish ferry, say 6.00am, Dover - Dunkirk, job's a good-un!
ETA You could do a trip like the one outlined above using just 4 or 5 nights away. Cost of hotels depends on what sort of standard suits you. Fuel is similsr price to UK. Easy enough to keep off French toll roads. Driving in Germany / France etc is a joy compared to the UK. Once you've tried it, you'll wonder why you've not done it before. We went into Europe twice last year from North West England. Went as far as Switzerland on the first road-trip (last year) and drove some of the high alpine passes. 7 nights away, 2273 miles there and back.
Where do you want to go? What do you want to see or do? You could go to the 'Ring, explore the Eiffel region, spend a day in Cochem and drive the road that runs along the Mosel all the way to Trier.
Drive back into France and stop the night at Riems and visit the old Grand Prix buildings.
All this is simple to organise these days if you're armed with a lap top, some internet and a sat-nav.
Book yourself an early-ish ferry, say 6.00am, Dover - Dunkirk, job's a good-un!
ETA You could do a trip like the one outlined above using just 4 or 5 nights away. Cost of hotels depends on what sort of standard suits you. Fuel is similsr price to UK. Easy enough to keep off French toll roads. Driving in Germany / France etc is a joy compared to the UK. Once you've tried it, you'll wonder why you've not done it before. We went into Europe twice last year from North West England. Went as far as Switzerland on the first road-trip (last year) and drove some of the high alpine passes. 7 nights away, 2273 miles there and back.
Edited by blackburn on Sunday 22 January 22:47
I'm looking on Google maps and searching about the net for good roads to take in. But off the top of my head I don't know the roads to include, so I thought I'd start this thread to start. Look for ideas, proven routes that I can plot myself out a plan.
So far I've had a quick look at a few websites of 'the best European roads' and Petrolhead Nirvana's rough routes for ideas.
I like the idea of including Reims for the old F1 circuit. The rings not a 'need to'.
I'll be doing this in a Caterham, so I'm sure that I'll be ruined by the end of it being in the car for so long, but if anyone decides to join me, so that it ends up happening, they have more refined cars to talk of.
So far I've had a quick look at a few websites of 'the best European roads' and Petrolhead Nirvana's rough routes for ideas.
I like the idea of including Reims for the old F1 circuit. The rings not a 'need to'.
I'll be doing this in a Caterham, so I'm sure that I'll be ruined by the end of it being in the car for so long, but if anyone decides to join me, so that it ends up happening, they have more refined cars to talk of.
blackburn said:
Consider buying a map of Europe and looking at it!
This.The last time myself & mrs k went to Verona, I just spent an hour or two poring over a European map in a pub with a pint, making notes on a couple of sheets of A4.
Our previous trip to the Italian lakes was the "quick" route: autoroute to Reims, then Strasbourg, Basle, Lugano, then A4 to Verona. I wanted our next trip to be different.
1. Calais to Nancy through Belgium and Lux
2. Nancy to Langenfeld through the Vosges, through Freiburg, and past Lake Constance
3. Langenfeld to Garda through the Dolomites
The journey down was - for me - the best part (apart from strolling around the Palazzo Te in Mantova, and hiring a motor launch on Lake Garda)
my road trip in 2008
south wales to le mans ..4 days at the classic
down to millau...night in hotel
onto cannes ....night in hotel
drive the ooast road ..then down to tuscany 4 days rest
up to lake maggiorre .... 3 days rest...blast an alpine pass
back to macon through mt blanc tunnel
back to tours ...last night in france
blast up to ferry ..overnight
car tvr chimeara..
miles ...3700
days ...17
fuel costs .....arghhhh.....i don't want to know ...lol
tolls ... never added up ....guess 300
memories ...priceless !
south wales to le mans ..4 days at the classic
down to millau...night in hotel
onto cannes ....night in hotel
drive the ooast road ..then down to tuscany 4 days rest
up to lake maggiorre .... 3 days rest...blast an alpine pass
back to macon through mt blanc tunnel
back to tours ...last night in france
blast up to ferry ..overnight
car tvr chimeara..
miles ...3700
days ...17
fuel costs .....arghhhh.....i don't want to know ...lol
tolls ... never added up ....guess 300
memories ...priceless !
Yes but as has been said earlier, the best road trips are the unplanned ones , my wife and I drove our Chimaera to Lake Garda and back without a map or any real route to take and we had a brill time! Just go for it!
Gingerbread Man said:
Granted, but it was to attract people who could share theirs. So are you one of thousands of people?
I got my ultimate road trip from this thread:
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...
Looks fantastic!! might give you some ideas!
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...
Looks fantastic!! might give you some ideas!
Yep - although we did abridge it somewhat at the last minute due to cost. Original plan was:
Durham - Folkestone - Calais - Bruges - Luxembourg - Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber - Munich - Strasbourg - Calais - Folkestone, with a night spent each way in Folkestone (the Holiday Inn is perfectly adequate), 1 night in Bruges, 1 in Strasbourg and Luxembourg and 2 nights in both Munich and Rothenburg.
We ended up missing out on Germany and going from Lux back into France and touring Normandy and Brittany instead for 4 nights in all. My thoughts:
- It was expensive - hotels, tolls, parking and eating out all add up. Thankfully my missus has a fuel card so the gas was free and the tunnel is only a £100 or so if you book it in plenty of time so for us getting there was cheap. If you turn up early they'll also usually let you go on an earlier train which is a bonus.
- You can cover a lot of ground quickly, especially in France. You can do 85-90 all day long and the autoroutes are an absolute delight in the main, lightly trafficked, few HGVs and good road manners. My regret was not stretching out a bit further south.
- Dutch drivers are crazy.
- The Frenchies make impressive progress considering for the most part you see very mundane Peugeots and Renaults. The UK's obession with A4s and 320ds in resale grey is completely absent.
- A good sat nav (we used the iphone TomTom W Europe) is a god send.
- You will slightly despair at how crap Britain is when you get back. We left the beautiful Brittany countryside with its neat rustic vilages, billiard table smooth roads and tasty croque monsieurs behind only to arrive in Folkestone on a Sunday night and for our sins ended up in a Mcdonalds full of swearing, spitting pasty fat chavs with tattoos. The next day it took us longer to get to the M25 than it had taken for us to cross the width of France. C'est la vie...
This year's plan is Calais-Geneva in one hop and then tour round Nice, Monaco, the Italian Lakes, over the Alps, Bavaria and back into France.
Durham - Folkestone - Calais - Bruges - Luxembourg - Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber - Munich - Strasbourg - Calais - Folkestone, with a night spent each way in Folkestone (the Holiday Inn is perfectly adequate), 1 night in Bruges, 1 in Strasbourg and Luxembourg and 2 nights in both Munich and Rothenburg.
We ended up missing out on Germany and going from Lux back into France and touring Normandy and Brittany instead for 4 nights in all. My thoughts:
- It was expensive - hotels, tolls, parking and eating out all add up. Thankfully my missus has a fuel card so the gas was free and the tunnel is only a £100 or so if you book it in plenty of time so for us getting there was cheap. If you turn up early they'll also usually let you go on an earlier train which is a bonus.
- You can cover a lot of ground quickly, especially in France. You can do 85-90 all day long and the autoroutes are an absolute delight in the main, lightly trafficked, few HGVs and good road manners. My regret was not stretching out a bit further south.
- Dutch drivers are crazy.
- The Frenchies make impressive progress considering for the most part you see very mundane Peugeots and Renaults. The UK's obession with A4s and 320ds in resale grey is completely absent.
- A good sat nav (we used the iphone TomTom W Europe) is a god send.
- You will slightly despair at how crap Britain is when you get back. We left the beautiful Brittany countryside with its neat rustic vilages, billiard table smooth roads and tasty croque monsieurs behind only to arrive in Folkestone on a Sunday night and for our sins ended up in a Mcdonalds full of swearing, spitting pasty fat chavs with tattoos. The next day it took us longer to get to the M25 than it had taken for us to cross the width of France. C'est la vie...
This year's plan is Calais-Geneva in one hop and then tour round Nice, Monaco, the Italian Lakes, over the Alps, Bavaria and back into France.
bennyboydurham said:
- You can cover a lot of ground quickly, especially in France. You can do 85-90 all day long and the autoroutes are an absolute delight in the main, lightly trafficked, few HGVs and good road manners.
Indeed. The Autobahns are similarly good, but with no looking out for Polizei on the unrestricted bits.bennyboydurham said:
- Dutch drivers are crazy
The Flemish are worse!!bennyboydurham said:
- The Frenchies make impressive progress considering for the most part you see very mundane Peugeots and Renaults. The UK's obession with A4s and 320ds in resale grey is completely absent.
I doubt that many people think that A4s and 3 Series are any faster in the real world than typical French cars -they just have the right 'badge'.bennyboydurham said:
- A good sat nav (we used the iphone TomTom W Europe) is a god send.
But totally unnecessary if you have a Michelin atlas.bennyboydurham said:
- You will slightly despair at how crap Britain is when you get back.... for our sins ended up in a Mcdonalds full of swearing, spitting pasty fat chavs with tattoos.
You might have found similar in the non-touristy bits of France. -I once found the fat people in France. They were all in the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet in Thonen-les-bains.
MC Bodge said:
I doubt that many people think that A4s and 3 Series are any faster in the real world than typical French cars -they just have the right 'badge'.
Agreed, but in the Z4 we were left for dead by a peasant in a diesel Citroen Visa, which was humiliating and definitely NOT faster in the real world than a 320d! MC Bodge said:
But totally unnecessary if you have a Michelin atlas.
Not if my wife is navigating, it isn't.MC Bodge said:
I once found the fat people in France. They were all in the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet in Thonen-les-bains.
Agreed. An unfair comparison. 
A few friends and I did the home to Rome 2 years ago in a £50 BMW, it was good fun, but it will cost you a small fortune in toll money if you drive through France.
You have to be a real petrol head to do it as for the same kind of money that you will spend out in petrol and tolls and overnight stays you could have a nice all inclusive holiday deal to America for the same money.
You have to be a real petrol head to do it as for the same kind of money that you will spend out in petrol and tolls and overnight stays you could have a nice all inclusive holiday deal to America for the same money.
We did one a couple of years ago
went something like
Day 1 - Sussex - Spa Francorchamps
Day 2 - Trackday at spa
Day 3 - Head down towards the alps
Days 4-6 driving around the alps through France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland
Days 7-10 Nurburgring and then home
Only hotels we booked where at spa and the ring as we didn't know quite where we'd end up on the other days.
Tolls went to bad, one of the mountain passes runs through some sort of nature reserve, that had a reasonably expensive toll and I'm sure we had to buy road tax to enter Switzerland
Great fun I'd highly recommend it and hope I get the chance to do it again
went something like
Day 1 - Sussex - Spa Francorchamps
Day 2 - Trackday at spa
Day 3 - Head down towards the alps
Days 4-6 driving around the alps through France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland
Days 7-10 Nurburgring and then home
Only hotels we booked where at spa and the ring as we didn't know quite where we'd end up on the other days.
Tolls went to bad, one of the mountain passes runs through some sort of nature reserve, that had a reasonably expensive toll and I'm sure we had to buy road tax to enter Switzerland
Great fun I'd highly recommend it and hope I get the chance to do it again
bennyboydurham said:
Durham - Folkestone - Calais - Bruges - Luxembourg - Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber - Munich - Strasbourg - Calais - Folkestone, with a night spent each way in Folkestone (the Holiday Inn is perfectly adequate), 1 night in Bruges, 1 in Strasbourg and Luxembourg and 2 nights in both Munich and Rothenburg.
Deary me. Lovely little city like Durham and you want togo and look at Brugge ? The logic of that escapes me.
Hint: Not only is Brugge overpriced tourist central, but Rothenburg is
wall to wall with tourists in the summer, too.
Ghent is far cheaper than Brugge, few fewer Brit tourists and is quite
pleasant.
I haven't yet found an alternative to Rothenburg, but Heilbronn and Ingolstadt
are in the frame.
If you are in Durham, why not get the Hull to Holland ferry and
go somewhere off the beaten track there ? Surely far more interesting
than somewhere all the guidebooks recommend ?
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