European trip, am I missing anything?

[0llie]

A group of friends and I are leaving for a roadtrip round Europe in just over 7 weeks. The trip is roughly 3k miles door to door, and we have ~10 days to do it.

The route we're taking is roughly (deep breath);
Route Napoleon
Col d'Turini
Monaco
Futa Pass
Imola
Maranello
Lake Como
San Bernadino Pass
Albula Pass (sp?)
Stelvio
Zillertal Pass
Grossglockner (REALLY looking forward to this one)
Voralberg Pass
MB Stuttgart museum
Darmstadt to Frankfurt A5 autobahn (where Rosemeyer was killed during his record attempt)
Nordschliefe



(Excuse all the waypoints!)

I've planned this myself after looking through some threads here and with suggestions from friends. I ask if I'm missing anything really interesting near-by, or if I should just avoid any part of the above?

I'd love to hear your thoughts

[trialsta]

What did you use to plan/plot the trip? Plotting routes over seasonally closed roads seems to be a problem with every mapping service I've tried.

[andyalan10]

I don't know the route down through Lyon, but I do know there is a rather lovely road SE of of Besancon, the D67 through Ornans and up through the gorge of the River Loue. Have used it driving to Italy for ski trips and normally a few bikers/classics out to play on a weekend. Goes through some typical small French towns, then winds up out of the top of the gorge. Not as spectacular as what you have following on from there, but good driving road through a very scenic part of rural France.

Depends if you are aiming at a high daily mileage on that part of the journey.

Andy

[DuraAce]

You might find some of the passes won't have opened by the time you are going, 7 weeks you say? I've seen some not open until late May or early June.

Stay flexible and be prepared to adjust your route as the weather changes.

[Ali2202]

You are going to have fun!

The only obvious omission I can see is the Porsche Museum while you're in Stuttgart. For me it was at least on a par with the MB museum. Both really fantastic!

Edited by Ali2202 on Monday 9th March 13:47

[NormalWisdom]

As aleady mentioned, could be a bit hit/miss on all the passes being open.

[Magic919]

I expect you'll need to plan a new version taking into account the various passes that will still be closed.

[AdiT]

Think you may have to adapt route for possible closed passes at that time of year. Grossglockner is closed until May for starters.

[SmilerFTM]

2013 and most passes were still closed near the start of June. In fact when I went through Europe in the middle of June Grand St Bernard, Susten and write a few others hasn't opened yet. I can't imagine many of the higher passes Stelvio, Grossglockner etc being open by the end of April/start of May but you might get lucky

[0836whimper]

I'd do less in 10 days, everyone always goes a bit nuts and you don't get time to stop anywhere and enjoy anything.

[Zed 44]

3000 miles in 10 days = 300 miles/day. Ok

[plenty]

300 miles per day is feasible if driving is your goal. We average 250-300 per day on our tours which is a full 8-10 hours "making progress" with lunch and fuel stops. We arrive at our hotels exhausted but that is the point - we stop only to eat and sleep. We're not interested in sightseeing, or museums, or photo opportunities...we are there purely to drive the best roads in Europe (ergo, the world) and every mile of every day is meticulously planned for months in advance.

However your plan appears to be a mix of both driving roads and sights and you are definitely being too ambitious. It's okay to have a mix, but think carefully about what you want to achieve each day. On driving days you can pack in more miles but you should not be using autoroutes (A5 excepted) and you should spend more time researching your routes - for example there are much better driving roads in SE France than Route Napoleon, and you really ought to drive the Andermatt loop while you are in the vicinity. As good as the Grosseglockner is, I would save it for a future trip, and the same goes for Maranello. Instead, spend more time in the Alps and particularly the Hautes-Alpes - the area south and east of Annecy is packed full of breathtaking roads that aren't as famous as some of the ones you read about online but are much better (and less trafficked) for it.

For your "sightseeing" days you need to keep the miles to a minimum, including boring autoroute miles, otherwise you simply won't have enough hours or energy left to enjoy your destination.

Edited by plenty on Monday 9th March 23:03

[Oi U]

I agree with Ali2202, the Porsche museum has to be on the list.

[Big E 118]

The comments about a number of the passes still being closed are right, detours aren't short either!

300 miles a day is going to be a struggle as well, I do a lot of tours and try and keep the days to 5 hours driving a day, in the mountains this might only be 150 miles! You want to enjoy the road trip, stop off if you see something cool, re-drive a stretch of road if you want and have a decent lunch etc. By the time you've done these things 5 hours of planned driving time turns into a whole day.

If you're really pressed for time each day it will be a chore and not as much fun.

There's so many great roads in Europe you'll never do them all in one trip, focus on a smaller area then do another trip to a different bit next year!

[Riley Blue]

Looks like you'll be passing close by here: http://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/?lang=en

It's well worth a visit if you can fit it in.

[SmilerFTM]

Big E 118 said:

The comments about a number of the passes still being closed are right, detours aren't short either!

300 miles a day is going to be a struggle as well, I do a lot of tours and try and keep the days to 5 hours driving a day, in the mountains this might only be 150 miles! You want to enjoy the road trip, stop off if you see something cool, re-drive a stretch of road if you want and have a decent lunch etc. By the time you've done these things 5 hours of planned driving time turns into a whole day.

If you're really pressed for time each day it will be a chore and not as much fun.

There's so many great roads in Europe you'll never do them all in one trip, focus on a smaller area then do another trip to a different bit next year!

I did around 3,600 miles in 16 days and I was shattered after a number of those days. I didn't mind at the time it was only when I stopped I released just how much it was taking out of me. 3000 in 10 days is a huge undertaking

[Ali2202]

SmilerFTM said:

I did around 3,600 miles in 16 days and I was shattered after a number of those days. I didn't mind at the time it was only when I stopped I released just how much it was taking out of me. 3000 in 10 days is a huge undertaking

Especially if you want to actually absorb anything!

[Wozy68]

Ali2202 said:

SmilerFTM said:

I did around 3,600 miles in 16 days and I was shattered after a number of those days. I didn't mind at the time it was only when I stopped I released just how much it was taking out of me. 3000 in 10 days is a huge undertaking

Especially if you want to actually absorb anything!

We normally do around 2500 miles in around or just under a week. I thought I was getting older, but when I look at it now, that's around 350 miles per day, no wonder I was tired

Difference between my trips and yours? We always go Pyrenees and the same hotel, so we are never too far from turning round and heading back, we also know the area pretty well.

I'd say 3K miles in 10 days on (I'm assuming), roads you don't know and scenery you have never seen before is asking a lot.

Saying that, I did Stuttgart (via a quick spectate at the Ring) in 12 hours, back to deepest Worcestershire. That's around 800 miles, so it is doable. I saw nothing of the countries I drove through mind..... Just the road ahead.

Sit back and enjoy it on some of the days. You'll be blown away by the beauty in places.

PS. Defo do the Porsche Museum ...... I enjoyed it a lot. Have a great trip

Edited by Wozy68 on Tuesday 10th March 22:52

[MAX1233]

Good route

[iva cosworth]

Oi U said:

I agree with Ali2202, the Porsche museum has to be on the list.

To pile onto the recomendations,I've been to it 3 times.

Lamborghini isn't too far away from Maranello either whist you're in that area.