European Road Trip, July 2016
Discussion
Hey, last month I did a 12 day trip through Europe with my old man in my 2010 R8 V10 Spyder. Had never driven in Europe before, hadn't had the car long and I found a lot of help on this site when doing the planning so I thought I'd do a bit of a write up in case it was of any help to anyone thinking of doing something similar.
I did 99% of the driving, most days we'd set off about 9 and reach our accommodation between 7:30 - 8:30.
Apologies for the length of post, hope someone gets something useful out of it!
Day 1 (Monday 18th July): London to Neunkirchen, Germany
Set off from west London just before 7 a.m. and arrive in plenty time for 10:20 Eurostar.
First time on the Eurostar, I'd expected it just to be a flat floor (which it is obviously) but the little 'channel' the car sits in only allows maybe 3 - 4 inches either side of the wheels max, got to be very careful when boarding. Bloke in front of us has a 911 50th anniversary edition and has the same issue.
Smooth progress from Calais through Belgium to Neunkirchen (A16 / E40 / E42 / 1)
See the fastest thing of the whole trip in Belgium, an M4 doing at least 150 mph on a quiet stretch of motorway, pretty surprising, would have thought that'd be major trouble if he got caught.
Later I get first experience of derestricted autobahn, get up to 130 mph and the car feels barely any different from cruising at 80 (though the scenery's passing noticeably quicker) but I'm getting tired and decide to go for a higher number the following day.
Stay Holiday Inn Express, Neunkirchen. Probably nicest H.I.E. I've stayed at, parking is fine, just out in front of the hotel, but spaces were a decent size and area felt secure. Nice meal in restaurant off little square 5 mins walk from hotel.
Total miles: 426
Day 2: Neunkirchen to Zurich via B500
Traffic means I don't have the chance to top 130 so head down on to the B500 at Baden Baden a little disappointed.
It's a good road with some fun sections though I don't enjoy it as much as most of the Welsh roads I've driven. Take it pretty easy as, on this day at least, it's really only bikers taking the mickey with speed limits.
Quick stop offs in Triberg (Germany's highest waterfall) and at Rhine Falls make for nice little breaks, then on to Zurich.
First impression of Swiss drivers, weirdly, given what I've read about the punishments for speeding, is that most of them don't give a toss about speed limits (on the motorway at least). So many people doing 90 - 100 m.p.h., far more than I see on the M4 and M40.
Stay in the Holiday Inn Zurich Messe, nice hotel and good parking, big spaces in underground car park (slightly awkward turn after the exit barrier on to the out ramp but could be worse). Dinner, definitely most expensive burger I've ever had at 28 francs (did include fries and salad though!) but I guess Zurich's not cheap.
Total miles: 707
Day 3: Zurich to Lugano via 5 passes
First passes day; head out east towards Glarus and take the Klausen Pass towards Altdorf. First ever Alpine pass doesn't disappoint, cool / unusual scenery and fun, decently surfaced road too which makes such a difference.
Next up, Susten Pass (Wassen / Meiringen) east / west, enjoyed this one too, first taste of real mountain views, awesome.
On to Grimsel Pass (Meiringen / Gletsch), north / south, more mountains, another really enjoyable road.
Furka Pass is next up (Gletsch / Andermatt), west / east, catch a bit more traffic on this one so not as much fun but scenery still amazing.
Final pass of the day, Gotthard Pass (Andermatt / Airolo), north / south, great stuff, a bit hairpinned out at this point but would happily spend more time driving any of these roads again in the future.
Take the 2 south and stay at Best Western Hotel Bellevue Au Lac, Lugano, very nice with (unsurprisingly) views over the lake. Parking not good, they have an underground garage which I'd arranged to use but turns out it has one of these mechanical 'car shuffling' systems to maximise space and the ramp's pretty steep, not ideal. Parking spaces in front of the hotel pretty useless for anything with low ground clearance.
Total miles: 959
Day 4: Como / Splugen Pass
A day of two halves. First half great fun, take the car on two little ferries Menaggio to Bellagio and Bellagio to Varenna (less than 20 Euros each, no need to book) with a quick look round Bellagio and lunch in between, cool little place.
Get the best car compliment of the trip shortly after entering Italy, roof down, some guy shouts "Nice car!" at the top of his voice out the window of another car that's just gone past, the Italians do love their cars, all the best reactions to the car were all in Italy.
Second half, the Splugen Pass (south to north) absolutely brutal road, lots of badly surfaced stretches and shedloads of the tightest hairpins we encountered (down to 1st and the car doesn't have the tightest turning circle so hard work), had planned to do it both directions but once was enough.
Back to the Bellevue Au Lac, decide to park in Lugano L.A.C. car park overnight, ramps were fine, tightish turn after exit barrier but still better than the hotel garage and not that expensive (about 12 francs I think).
Eat in same place both nights, Bar Domino, great pizzas / calzones and reasonably priced.
Total miles: 1124
Day 5: Lugano to Valdidentro
First up is the San Bernadino Pass (Bellinzona / Thusis), south / north, which takes us nicely on to Albula pass west / east over to La Punt-Chamues-ch then north up to Susch for Fluela Pass east / west to Davos. All fine roads I hope to visit again.
Drive in to Davos just out of curiosity and somehow end up going wrong way down one way street (very, very wide one way street) for a hundred yards until very nice policeman flags us down and turns us around.
Take Fluela Pass back out of Davos west / east then down towards Zernez and through the Munt la Schera tunnel, this is pretty cool, it's only wide enough for cars to travel in one direction so the direction of travel changes every 15 mins. Get lucky and only need to queue for 2 mins before we get the green light.
Take the SS301 through Livigno for Valdidentro (part of this is the Foscagno Pass, it was getting late in the day but it didn't strike me as a road that'd be that exciting at most times).
Stay Hotel Interalpen, Valdidentro, great little hotel, owner (is a car guy) and staff couldn't be more helpful, lovely food, can't recommend it highly enough. Has an underground garage with no steep ramps or tight turns. Share the garage with four Alfa 4Cs including one in a very cool matt silver (nice cars but they can't match the sound of the V10 on start up, particularly indoors!).
Total miles: 1327 (estimated from this point as trip counter zeroed when I tried to see if I could switch the digital speed display from mph to kph...).
Day 6: Valdidentro to Kaprun
Stelvio! South to north, had fairly low expectations but it was less busy than I thought it'd be so quite enjoyed it, tremendous scenery.
SS38 North East towards Merano Meran, SS44 North towards San Leonardo In Passiria, SS44bis West for Passo del Rombo (open 7 am - 8 pm Moso In Passiria / Soelden), can't really comment on this one as most of the time there was less than 50 yards visibility due to fog / cloud so it was low, low speeds all the way. At the top literally can't see fifty feet.
Turn around, back towards Moso In Passiria then SS44 east / north towards Vipiteno Sterzing, have lost quite a bit of time with the fog so decide to take fastest route (according to sat nav anyway) to Kaprun, A13 / E45 / 169 / 165 / 168.
Stay Hotel Kunsteralm, Kaprun, nice little place, had a great meal, excellent steaks! Parking just at front of hotel but plenty of space and in a very quiet location so no worries.
Total miles: 1591
Day 7: Kaprun to Verona
Grossglockner - and the roads approaching / leaving it were the highlight of the trip for me, well worth the 35 Euros or whatever for a surface which only varied between good and perfect plus a great mix of bends, corners and straights. Could have stayed here all day but had to push on to Great Dolomite Road.
Grab quick lunch in Cortina (just missed some kind of classic car show) then Great Dolomite Road (SR48 / SS48 / SS241) to Bolzano, spectacular and decent surfaces but very busy.
SS12 south to Verona, stay at Crowne Plaza, cool hotel but again parking doesn't go to plan as the car looked like it wouldn't make the angle at the bottom of the ramp (so reckoned the very helpful hotel employee just finishing his shift, down on his hands and knees checking). Park in front of the hotel, decent meal in hotel restaurant, all is well with car in the morning.
Total miles: 1882
Day 8: Verona to Reggio Emilia
Ferrari day! Visit the Museo Ferrari first late morning (see my favourite car of all time, 288 GTO) then the Enzo Ferrari museum mid afternoon. Really enjoyed both, the big space at the Enzo museum is something else and the little movies they play there are worth seeing. The cafe at the Enzo museum does a tremendous cheesecake as well.
Stay H.I.E. Reggio Emilia, nice enough for a couple of nights. Surprise, surprise I can't get the car into the garage again, this time due to steep drop off at top of ramp... luckily there's lots of parking round the hotel and not many cars using it. Eat in the hotel, kind of weird menu but food is fine.
Total miles: 2000
Day 9: Reggio Emilia
Lambo museum. Sat nav takes us up to one of the factory entrances just as some semi-disguised Aventador sized thing is going back in, driver gives us a nod which is cool before security bloke explains museum is next right but there's no parking. Park back down the previous right then walk.
Lambo museum is way smaller than both Ferrari museums but definitely still worth a visit, could easily go round it in an hour if you were pushed for time.
Found a recommendation on a Ferrari owners website for a good drive from Maranello down towards Lucca (SP3 / SS12) for the afternoon but didn't get much out of it, lots and lots of little villages, patchy surface, lots of time spent driving slowly.
Head back to the H.I.E. Eat in a nearby all-you-can-eat buffet, decent food and good value.
Total miles: 2175
Day 10: Reggio Emilia to Cannes via Monaco
Motorway it to Monaco (E35 / E70 / E25 / E80), the approach part (E80) was actually pretty good fun for a motorway, again, no one seems to give a toss about speed limits, so many people doing well over the ton. Driving in Monaco less fun with the constant swarms of scooters and just as busy as London.
Spend a couple of hours at the Prince Rainier III Vintage Car museum, pretty amazing, loved seeing all the cars from the 20s, 30s etc, real works of art some of them, plus all the old F1 cars.
Wander round for a couple of hours (lots of building work going on so was quite noisy / messy, didn't catch it at its best) disappointed not to see many cars I wouldn't see pretty regularly in London (apart from the museum).
On to Cannes, stay at Holiday Inn, and, shockingly, the car can just negotiate the ramp into one of their garages! Small room but it has a sea view so just have room service out on the balcony.
Total miles: 2465
Day 11: Cannes to Lyon
Quick walk along the beach front then Route Napoleon up to Grenoble... was O.K., would probably have enjoyed it more had I not driven Grossglockner etc. first. Bit unlucky in that several bits where I'd just gotten into a nice flow were interrupted by road works.
Stay Best Western Hotel Golf & Gouverneur near Lyon, nice hotel, great value food and big almost empty car park.
Total miles: 2765
Day 12: Lyon to London
Lyon to Dijon on motorway then D996 to Reims, first stretch of this road (15 - 20 km) was terrible, the entire road had a weird rippled surface, anything over 40 mph was painful.
After a place called Moloy things improve massively and I see what all the fuss is about. For some reason, this is the road I'm most paranoid about getting done for speeding on so I keep it to not much over the limit - and get passed by almost everything as a result - so rarely see this on an equivalent NSL road in Britain, amazing.
Pick up the A26 near Reims and head back to Calais. Catch a slightly earlier train than we had booked, drop my dad off at my sister's near London Bridge then back to west London via Trafalgar Square. A long day, tired, but still totally comfortable in the car after 14 / 15 hours.
Total miles at Eurostar Calais: 3242
Total miles west London: 3309
Costs:
Eurostar £174
8 nights on hotel points (this is why mostly stayed Holiday Inn / Best Western!)
Interalpen Hotel £116 (incl bfast and dinner)
Hotel Kunsteralm £107.17 (incl bfast)
Best Western Golf & Hotel du Gouverneur Eur 94.85
Swiss M'way Vignette £31.10
Austrian M'way Vignette Eur 8.80
On top of that, petrol, tolls, food etc. was about £2,400 split two ways (petrol the biggest chunk of that).
Overall a very good trip, I'm glad I did it and will probably go back even if it's in a less fun car, any sporty / convertible would be cool. Things I'd do differently... I don't like getting up early on holiday but would try and be on the road for 8 rather than 9 most days just to give a bit more flexibility for stopping for food / photos.
Happy to try and answer any questions anyone has.
I did 99% of the driving, most days we'd set off about 9 and reach our accommodation between 7:30 - 8:30.
Apologies for the length of post, hope someone gets something useful out of it!
Day 1 (Monday 18th July): London to Neunkirchen, Germany
Set off from west London just before 7 a.m. and arrive in plenty time for 10:20 Eurostar.
First time on the Eurostar, I'd expected it just to be a flat floor (which it is obviously) but the little 'channel' the car sits in only allows maybe 3 - 4 inches either side of the wheels max, got to be very careful when boarding. Bloke in front of us has a 911 50th anniversary edition and has the same issue.
Smooth progress from Calais through Belgium to Neunkirchen (A16 / E40 / E42 / 1)
See the fastest thing of the whole trip in Belgium, an M4 doing at least 150 mph on a quiet stretch of motorway, pretty surprising, would have thought that'd be major trouble if he got caught.
Later I get first experience of derestricted autobahn, get up to 130 mph and the car feels barely any different from cruising at 80 (though the scenery's passing noticeably quicker) but I'm getting tired and decide to go for a higher number the following day.
Stay Holiday Inn Express, Neunkirchen. Probably nicest H.I.E. I've stayed at, parking is fine, just out in front of the hotel, but spaces were a decent size and area felt secure. Nice meal in restaurant off little square 5 mins walk from hotel.
Total miles: 426
Day 2: Neunkirchen to Zurich via B500
Traffic means I don't have the chance to top 130 so head down on to the B500 at Baden Baden a little disappointed.
It's a good road with some fun sections though I don't enjoy it as much as most of the Welsh roads I've driven. Take it pretty easy as, on this day at least, it's really only bikers taking the mickey with speed limits.
Quick stop offs in Triberg (Germany's highest waterfall) and at Rhine Falls make for nice little breaks, then on to Zurich.
First impression of Swiss drivers, weirdly, given what I've read about the punishments for speeding, is that most of them don't give a toss about speed limits (on the motorway at least). So many people doing 90 - 100 m.p.h., far more than I see on the M4 and M40.
Stay in the Holiday Inn Zurich Messe, nice hotel and good parking, big spaces in underground car park (slightly awkward turn after the exit barrier on to the out ramp but could be worse). Dinner, definitely most expensive burger I've ever had at 28 francs (did include fries and salad though!) but I guess Zurich's not cheap.
Total miles: 707
Day 3: Zurich to Lugano via 5 passes
First passes day; head out east towards Glarus and take the Klausen Pass towards Altdorf. First ever Alpine pass doesn't disappoint, cool / unusual scenery and fun, decently surfaced road too which makes such a difference.
Next up, Susten Pass (Wassen / Meiringen) east / west, enjoyed this one too, first taste of real mountain views, awesome.
On to Grimsel Pass (Meiringen / Gletsch), north / south, more mountains, another really enjoyable road.
Furka Pass is next up (Gletsch / Andermatt), west / east, catch a bit more traffic on this one so not as much fun but scenery still amazing.
Final pass of the day, Gotthard Pass (Andermatt / Airolo), north / south, great stuff, a bit hairpinned out at this point but would happily spend more time driving any of these roads again in the future.
Take the 2 south and stay at Best Western Hotel Bellevue Au Lac, Lugano, very nice with (unsurprisingly) views over the lake. Parking not good, they have an underground garage which I'd arranged to use but turns out it has one of these mechanical 'car shuffling' systems to maximise space and the ramp's pretty steep, not ideal. Parking spaces in front of the hotel pretty useless for anything with low ground clearance.
Total miles: 959
Day 4: Como / Splugen Pass
A day of two halves. First half great fun, take the car on two little ferries Menaggio to Bellagio and Bellagio to Varenna (less than 20 Euros each, no need to book) with a quick look round Bellagio and lunch in between, cool little place.
Get the best car compliment of the trip shortly after entering Italy, roof down, some guy shouts "Nice car!" at the top of his voice out the window of another car that's just gone past, the Italians do love their cars, all the best reactions to the car were all in Italy.
Second half, the Splugen Pass (south to north) absolutely brutal road, lots of badly surfaced stretches and shedloads of the tightest hairpins we encountered (down to 1st and the car doesn't have the tightest turning circle so hard work), had planned to do it both directions but once was enough.
Back to the Bellevue Au Lac, decide to park in Lugano L.A.C. car park overnight, ramps were fine, tightish turn after exit barrier but still better than the hotel garage and not that expensive (about 12 francs I think).
Eat in same place both nights, Bar Domino, great pizzas / calzones and reasonably priced.
Total miles: 1124
Day 5: Lugano to Valdidentro
First up is the San Bernadino Pass (Bellinzona / Thusis), south / north, which takes us nicely on to Albula pass west / east over to La Punt-Chamues-ch then north up to Susch for Fluela Pass east / west to Davos. All fine roads I hope to visit again.
Drive in to Davos just out of curiosity and somehow end up going wrong way down one way street (very, very wide one way street) for a hundred yards until very nice policeman flags us down and turns us around.
Take Fluela Pass back out of Davos west / east then down towards Zernez and through the Munt la Schera tunnel, this is pretty cool, it's only wide enough for cars to travel in one direction so the direction of travel changes every 15 mins. Get lucky and only need to queue for 2 mins before we get the green light.
Take the SS301 through Livigno for Valdidentro (part of this is the Foscagno Pass, it was getting late in the day but it didn't strike me as a road that'd be that exciting at most times).
Stay Hotel Interalpen, Valdidentro, great little hotel, owner (is a car guy) and staff couldn't be more helpful, lovely food, can't recommend it highly enough. Has an underground garage with no steep ramps or tight turns. Share the garage with four Alfa 4Cs including one in a very cool matt silver (nice cars but they can't match the sound of the V10 on start up, particularly indoors!).
Total miles: 1327 (estimated from this point as trip counter zeroed when I tried to see if I could switch the digital speed display from mph to kph...).
Day 6: Valdidentro to Kaprun
Stelvio! South to north, had fairly low expectations but it was less busy than I thought it'd be so quite enjoyed it, tremendous scenery.
SS38 North East towards Merano Meran, SS44 North towards San Leonardo In Passiria, SS44bis West for Passo del Rombo (open 7 am - 8 pm Moso In Passiria / Soelden), can't really comment on this one as most of the time there was less than 50 yards visibility due to fog / cloud so it was low, low speeds all the way. At the top literally can't see fifty feet.
Turn around, back towards Moso In Passiria then SS44 east / north towards Vipiteno Sterzing, have lost quite a bit of time with the fog so decide to take fastest route (according to sat nav anyway) to Kaprun, A13 / E45 / 169 / 165 / 168.
Stay Hotel Kunsteralm, Kaprun, nice little place, had a great meal, excellent steaks! Parking just at front of hotel but plenty of space and in a very quiet location so no worries.
Total miles: 1591
Day 7: Kaprun to Verona
Grossglockner - and the roads approaching / leaving it were the highlight of the trip for me, well worth the 35 Euros or whatever for a surface which only varied between good and perfect plus a great mix of bends, corners and straights. Could have stayed here all day but had to push on to Great Dolomite Road.
Grab quick lunch in Cortina (just missed some kind of classic car show) then Great Dolomite Road (SR48 / SS48 / SS241) to Bolzano, spectacular and decent surfaces but very busy.
SS12 south to Verona, stay at Crowne Plaza, cool hotel but again parking doesn't go to plan as the car looked like it wouldn't make the angle at the bottom of the ramp (so reckoned the very helpful hotel employee just finishing his shift, down on his hands and knees checking). Park in front of the hotel, decent meal in hotel restaurant, all is well with car in the morning.
Total miles: 1882
Day 8: Verona to Reggio Emilia
Ferrari day! Visit the Museo Ferrari first late morning (see my favourite car of all time, 288 GTO) then the Enzo Ferrari museum mid afternoon. Really enjoyed both, the big space at the Enzo museum is something else and the little movies they play there are worth seeing. The cafe at the Enzo museum does a tremendous cheesecake as well.
Stay H.I.E. Reggio Emilia, nice enough for a couple of nights. Surprise, surprise I can't get the car into the garage again, this time due to steep drop off at top of ramp... luckily there's lots of parking round the hotel and not many cars using it. Eat in the hotel, kind of weird menu but food is fine.
Total miles: 2000
Day 9: Reggio Emilia
Lambo museum. Sat nav takes us up to one of the factory entrances just as some semi-disguised Aventador sized thing is going back in, driver gives us a nod which is cool before security bloke explains museum is next right but there's no parking. Park back down the previous right then walk.
Lambo museum is way smaller than both Ferrari museums but definitely still worth a visit, could easily go round it in an hour if you were pushed for time.
Found a recommendation on a Ferrari owners website for a good drive from Maranello down towards Lucca (SP3 / SS12) for the afternoon but didn't get much out of it, lots and lots of little villages, patchy surface, lots of time spent driving slowly.
Head back to the H.I.E. Eat in a nearby all-you-can-eat buffet, decent food and good value.
Total miles: 2175
Day 10: Reggio Emilia to Cannes via Monaco
Motorway it to Monaco (E35 / E70 / E25 / E80), the approach part (E80) was actually pretty good fun for a motorway, again, no one seems to give a toss about speed limits, so many people doing well over the ton. Driving in Monaco less fun with the constant swarms of scooters and just as busy as London.
Spend a couple of hours at the Prince Rainier III Vintage Car museum, pretty amazing, loved seeing all the cars from the 20s, 30s etc, real works of art some of them, plus all the old F1 cars.
Wander round for a couple of hours (lots of building work going on so was quite noisy / messy, didn't catch it at its best) disappointed not to see many cars I wouldn't see pretty regularly in London (apart from the museum).
On to Cannes, stay at Holiday Inn, and, shockingly, the car can just negotiate the ramp into one of their garages! Small room but it has a sea view so just have room service out on the balcony.
Total miles: 2465
Day 11: Cannes to Lyon
Quick walk along the beach front then Route Napoleon up to Grenoble... was O.K., would probably have enjoyed it more had I not driven Grossglockner etc. first. Bit unlucky in that several bits where I'd just gotten into a nice flow were interrupted by road works.
Stay Best Western Hotel Golf & Gouverneur near Lyon, nice hotel, great value food and big almost empty car park.
Total miles: 2765
Day 12: Lyon to London
Lyon to Dijon on motorway then D996 to Reims, first stretch of this road (15 - 20 km) was terrible, the entire road had a weird rippled surface, anything over 40 mph was painful.
After a place called Moloy things improve massively and I see what all the fuss is about. For some reason, this is the road I'm most paranoid about getting done for speeding on so I keep it to not much over the limit - and get passed by almost everything as a result - so rarely see this on an equivalent NSL road in Britain, amazing.
Pick up the A26 near Reims and head back to Calais. Catch a slightly earlier train than we had booked, drop my dad off at my sister's near London Bridge then back to west London via Trafalgar Square. A long day, tired, but still totally comfortable in the car after 14 / 15 hours.
Total miles at Eurostar Calais: 3242
Total miles west London: 3309
Costs:
Eurostar £174
8 nights on hotel points (this is why mostly stayed Holiday Inn / Best Western!)
Interalpen Hotel £116 (incl bfast and dinner)
Hotel Kunsteralm £107.17 (incl bfast)
Best Western Golf & Hotel du Gouverneur Eur 94.85
Swiss M'way Vignette £31.10
Austrian M'way Vignette Eur 8.80
On top of that, petrol, tolls, food etc. was about £2,400 split two ways (petrol the biggest chunk of that).
Overall a very good trip, I'm glad I did it and will probably go back even if it's in a less fun car, any sporty / convertible would be cool. Things I'd do differently... I don't like getting up early on holiday but would try and be on the road for 8 rather than 9 most days just to give a bit more flexibility for stopping for food / photos.
Happy to try and answer any questions anyone has.
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