Euro Trip advice

[cjay03]

Hello all.

I have been reading some great write ups from some of you guys on your euro trips (nice to see people making the effort to share their experiences)

Anyway long story short I have decided to go for it and am in the middle (and very confused) of planning this trip to give me an idea of the sort of money I will need to budget.

So far the route is as follows:

1. Home to Dover
2. Dover to Calais (on ferry as this is cheaper)
3. Calais to the Nurburgring. (I plan on spending a day to do a few laps and generally have a look around)
4. Nurburgring to Somewhere near Stelvio Pass – Any ideas?
5. Stelvio Pass to Dijon
6. Dijon to Paris (only to keep the better half happy)
7. Paris back home

Now you now the route do you have any advice on places that are worth visiting on route?

I have worked out that I will spend 8 nights in Hotel’s / B&B’s and budget £50/night – Am I being sensible or should I budget more? Nothing fancy!

I have budgeted £50 total for Toll charges – Again is this enough?

Most importantly however are great driving roads – obviously the Stelvio Pass but any others?

Thanks in advance

Chris

[dcb]

cjay03 said:

4. Nurburgring to Somewhere near Stelvio Pass – Any ideas?

Bormio usually.

cjay03 said:

Now you now the route do you have any advice on places that are worth visiting on route?

You'll be in the middle of the Alps, hundreds of miles
from home - there are *thousands* of places to visit on the
way, depending on what you want.

cjay03 said:

I have worked out that I will spend 8 nights in Hotel’s / B&B’s and budget £50/night – Am I being sensible or should I budget more? Nothing fancy!

You won't get many places in the Alps doing 2 people overnite
and food for £50 a night.

Not unless you like Turkish truck drivers.

I'd budget twice that, and make a holiday of it,
not an endurance.

cjay03 said:

I have budgeted £50 total for Toll charges – Again is this enough?

IIRC £6 per 100 miles on the French autoroutes.

cjay03 said:

Most importantly however are great driving roads – obviously the Stelvio Pass but any others?

www.alpineroads.com has it all - If you are looking for great
driving roads you can do a lot better than the Stelvio - it's
just a tarmac staircase.

[Davey S2]

Dont drive into Paris. Its a nightmare and your car may well end up looking different at the end of your trip due to all the new dents and scratches.

[Slippydiff]

+1 Stelvio pass. Overated.
What time of year are you planning your trip ? The 'Ring isn't the place for a first timer at this time of the year. Would also question putting your trip in jeopardy by doing the 'Ring first.

Some great roads in France, but the better ones will be under snow now !

[cjay03]

Slippydiff said:

+1 Stelvio pass. Overated.
What time of year are you planning your trip ? The 'Ring isn't the place for a first timer at this time of the year. Would also question putting your trip in jeopardy by doing the 'Ring first.

Some great roads in France, but the better ones will be under snow now !

I will be leaving in June (14th ish). What’s the 'Ring' like then?

Good point with regards to doing the 'Ring' first but as i am taking the other half my reasoning is that she will have something to look forward to as we are driving around the other places, I’m thoughtful like that, and not fond of headaches

Davey s2 - I think what I will do is book into a hotel on the perimeter on Paris and then find a way of getting to the center without my pride and joy.

I have now decided on a hotel which is very near to the 'ring' - Dorint Hotel Am Nurburgring / Hocheifel, this is £100/night or there abouts. Anyone stayed here?

Thanks for the replies so far.

Chris

[cjay03]

You won't get many places in the Alps doing 2 people overnite
and food for £50 a night.

Not unless you like Turkish truck drivers.

I'd budget twice that, and make a holiday of it,
not an endurance.

---

Sound advice. I have had a rethink and decided £100/night is the way to go. As funnily enough im not that keen on Turkish truck drivers

Thanks

[Longers]

Buy a Michelin road atlas - any road with green shading along it is usually worthwhile The atlas also has height of passes in meters so gives you a good idea of the landscape too

cjay03 said:

I have budgeted £50 total for Toll charges – Again is this enough?

Plot your route here http://www.viamichelin.com/ and it will work out the cost of tolls for you.

You should be able to stay close to the Ring for less than £100 per night. Try a search in the trackday forum where you'll find plenty of suggestions for places or feel free to drop me an email.

About 30 mins south of the Ring is a town called Cochem. GREAT road to get there and a nice place to have lunch or even stay overnight

Enjoy!
L'rs

[cjay03]

Longers said:

Buy a Michelin road atlas - any road with green shading along it is usually worthwhile The atlas also has height of passes in meters so gives you a good idea of the landscape too

cjay03 said:

I have budgeted £50 total for Toll charges – Again is this enough?

Plot your route here http://www.viamichelin.com/ and it will work out the cost of tolls for you.

You should be able to stay close to the Ring for less than £100 per night. Try a search in the trackday forum where you'll find plenty of suggestions for places or feel free to drop me an email.

About 30 mins south of the Ring is a town called Cochem. GREAT road to get there and a nice place to have lunch or even stay overnight

Enjoy!
L'rs

Thanks for the reply Longers

Just about to order the atlas. I’m debating whether to get the Europe one or one for each separate county. I mean would the Europe map show enough detail to pick out nice roads

It must be said that the viamichelin website is a gem. Goodbye Google maps.

Thanks.

[r129sl]

I have to say that Paris is both easy to drive in and safe to leave your car in: much safer than leaving it in the suburbs and taking a day trip into town. There is still a lot of free on street parking, believe it or not (blue curb means you have to pay) although parking garages are pretty expensive. The signage in Paris (as in the rest of France) is simply first rate and the road network is up to date and adequate even at rush hour. That is my experience, anyway.

[r129sl]

Also, Michelin is key to touring in France, as others have said. The 1:200,000 road atlas is essential and packed with information for those who bother to decipher its code. The 1:1,000,000 map of the whole of France is useful for route planning, too.

The Guide Rouge is also invaluable when looking for accomodation and food and not just at the top end of the scale. Michelin has a special ranking for good quality hotels at value prices, "Bib Hotels". These are generally independent, family-run joints with character rather than bland chain hotels, but they are always up to the mark. For France at least, the Michelin is totally reliable.

If you prefer the familiarity of a chain hotel, the Accor group has very good coverage throughout France and their hotels are generally affordable and reliable if a tad on the boring side. In Paris there is a wonderful hotel in the 1st called Hotel Therese which starts at 125E per night and which I would recommend very highly.

[dcb]

cjay03 said:

Just about to order the atlas. I’m debating whether to get the Europe one or one for each separate county. I mean would the Europe map show enough detail to pick out nice roads

Even the national ones aren't much cop. Both Germany
and France are big places.

I use the 1-300K sub-national maps of Germany. One for Bavaria,
one for Baden-W, one for Tyrol, one for Alto-Adige.

More detail is well worth paying a few quid more for.
Visit any local petrol station in Europe and you will get
far better local maps than the merely national maps
available in the UK.

cjay03 said:

It must be said that the viamichelin website is a gem. Goodbye Google maps.

Agreed.

And for the poster who suggested Cochem, I've never been
but I understand it is a standard destination for pensioner
bus trips and boat rides.

Tourist Central in June isn't somewhere I usually visit.

[blackburn]

Cochem is a very pleasant small town, but gets very very busy in the summer with hordes of motorcyclists - 99% of whom ride incredibly sedately. True.

If you've never been to the 'Ring before, beware that it does get busy, especially at the weekends. Parking can be a bit of a pain. If you are daft and get carried away, you stand a good chance of crashing your vehicle on the 'Ring. If you are not daft and drive to your own limits, you'll love it.

All IMO.

[nickwilcock]

1. Take the superlative Norfolk Line to Dunkerque rather than going to Calais.
2. Avoid Paris like the plague.
3. Why not try the Hotel am Tiergarten in Nürburg? 3-star, looks pretty nice....and the owner's youngest daughter is a bit of a petrolhead - she's the delightful Sabine Schmitz! You can even stay in 'Sabine´s Fuchshof' if you like! See http://www.am-tiergarten.de/en/home .

[Longers]

nickwilcock said:

Why not try the Hotel am Tiergarten in Nürburg? 3-star, looks pretty nice....and the owner's youngest daughter is a bit of a petrolhead - she's the delightful Sabine Schmitz!

A great place with good food and yes, she is delightful

[HereBeMonsters]

I've just been totting up the mileage for my version. I thought I could do 4,000 miles in two weeks, with a few days off in the middle. Now it's looking like 14 stops - one every night, with no break.

[Davey S2]

HereBeMonsters said:

I've just been totting up the mileage for my version. I thought I could do 4,000 miles in two weeks, with a few days off in the middle. Now it's looking like 14 stops - one every night, with no break.

4000 miles in 2 weeks is a lot. To do that you will be spending most of your time on Autoroutes and where is the fun in that?

I did about 2,200 miles in 8 days and that was more than enough.

I plotted my route to give about 5 hours of driving a day via the nice interesting B roads. This meant having enough time to stop off at interesting places and have a wander round, coffee or lunch etc. It also meant that we arrived where we were staying mid to late afternoon so you could have a look around.

There were 2 days where I had to cover a lot of ground so had to use the Autoroutes but other than that try and stick to the more interesting roads.

[HereBeMonsters]

Davey S2 said:

HereBeMonsters said:

I've just been totting up the mileage for my version. I thought I could do 4,000 miles in two weeks, with a few days off in the middle. Now it's looking like 14 stops - one every night, with no break.

4000 miles in 2 weeks is a lot. To do that you will be spending most of your time on Autoroutes and where is the fun in that?

I did about 2,200 miles in 8 days and that was more than enough.

I plotted my route to give about 5 hours of driving a day via the nice interesting B roads. This meant having enough time to stop off at interesting places and have a wander round, coffee or lunch etc. It also meant that we arrived where we were staying mid to late afternoon so you could have a look around.

There were 2 days where I had to cover a lot of ground so had to use the Autoroutes but other than that try and stick to the more interesting roads.

Yeah, just I have to get to Malaga to pick up some things from my Grandparents (which are far too big to post), and I also want to do West coast of France, Northern Spain, then meet up with a friend in Barcelona, on to Monaco, then Modena, then over the Alps up to Nurburgring then back home. Perhaps I'll just buy an old VW bus and take 6 weeks instead!

[silverthorn2151]

Sounds like the OP has a nice enough trip planned, but I'd reitterate advice about the cost of stops. A few days in France in October and I was amazed at the cost of fuel and food. Prices seem to have shot up to me.

I use Mappy.com to suppliment my own route planning. You can set options for the routes and it allows you to print a roadbook of the route, that I have found to be very reliable.

This takes you straight to the UK version.

http://en.mappy.com/

[dcb]

silverthorn2151 said:

This takes you straight to the UK version.

http://en.mappy.com/

I tried it and it seemed covered in adverts to me.

Even with popups switched off it still seemed
painful to use.

viamichelin seems better to me, but even that
isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

[silverthorn2151]

Looked at both just now as a comparison for a route from Calais to Dijon.

Have to say that I thought Mappy was easier to use but the route information and graphics look more or less identical to me so I guess it's what you are used to.

Incidently, Mappy says it's 2 mins quicker, result!