Your summer holiday drive

[spud989]

Thought I'd make a thread in which people can post any summer holiday drives they're planning to do. I'm doing my first driving into Europe this summer. My girlfriend and me will be taking the 123d (wish it could have been in the Z4MC last year, but petrol costs would have been astronomical!) around the following 2,500 mile route:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Doncaster,+South+Y...

Hopefully I've not broken the internet with that link.

Anyone got any suggestions of places to go/things to do in those cities? Anyone doing a longer trip? Feel free to post your own routes up. Just keep clicking 'add destination' on Google Maps to do more than one place.

[iva cosworth]

Munich has BMW world including their museum which is good.

You probably knew that anyway.

I got back from 3800 mile trip to Sweden on Thursday.

Will do a thread when I can be bothered.

[Blayney]

Been to Paris and Venice out of your list. I was young when I went to Paris, but I remember the Eiffel tower being disappointingly low.

I thought Venice was lovely. Covered in tourists as you would expect, but it really was very beautiful. My GF and I managed to find a relatively quiet spot for a pizza and a beer. It is easy to get lost though!

Depends how much time you have in each place but I did Italy based out of Bologna. We went to Modena and the Ferrari museum, which both of us enjoyed thoroughly. Bologna is crap though.


Personally, I've spent a lot of money on holidays already this year so this summer is going to be a back to basics camping in the Peak District. Going to trundle along the Cat & Fiddle and the Snake Pass. Amongst other more GF friendly attractions of course.

[ClaphamGT3]

Drove down to the Dordogne in the E63 yesterday. Will be pottering about down here for 3 weeks before heading back. Will probably do about 2000 miles all in

[Tannedbaldhead]

Troyes is worth a visit and not a big detour (only difference is the Autoroute you take is the one that runs to the East rather than West of Dijon). Avoid the French Riviera like the plague, traffic is a nightmare in summer. Best South Coast route is down from Marseilles through the calanques round Cassis to Toulon. Head north from there get to Alessandria as planned but take the Autostrada south to La Spezzia. The succession of high flyovers straddling the valleys then tunnels through the mountains make it one of the most spectular stretches of Motorway a driver is likely to encounter and the Autostada from La Spezia to Parma is an experience too.

[DuckDuck]

Tannedbaldhead said:

Troyes is worth a visit and not a big detour (only difference is the Autoroute you take is the one that runs to the East rather than West of Dijon). Avoid the French Riviera like the plague, traffic is a nightmare in summer. Best South Coast route is down from Marseilles through the calanques round Cassis to Toulon. Head north from there get to Alessandria as planned but take the Autostrada south to La Spezzia. The succession of high flyovers straddling the valleys then tunnels through the mountains make it one of the most spectular stretches of Motorway a driver is likely to encounter and the Autostada from La Spezia to Parma is an experience too.

+1

Through Genoa down to La Spezia is wonderful.

[DuckDuck]

Tannedbaldhead said:

Troyes is worth a visit and not a big detour (only difference is the Autoroute you take is the one that runs to the East rather than West of Dijon). Avoid the French Riviera like the plague, traffic is a nightmare in summer. Best South Coast route is down from Marseilles through the calanques round Cassis to Toulon. Head north from there get to Alessandria as planned but take the Autostrada south to La Spezzia. The succession of high flyovers straddling the valleys then tunnels through the mountains make it one of the most spectular stretches of Motorway a driver is likely to encounter and the Autostada from La Spezia to Parma is an experience too.

+1

Through Genoa down to La Spezia is wonderful.

[Zoobeef]

Mine is very slightly different although I am starting from Doncaster also!
I'm going from Donny to Harwich, ferry to the hook off holland and then driving to Zandvoort. Day on the track then returning the same way

[AmitG]

A few weeks ago I did this (hopefully the link works)

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/London,+UK/Folke...

Particular highlights were:

• Art museum and locally made porcelain in Quimper (porcelain is the local speciality)
• Driving through the Pyrenees and watching the amazing scenery. Stopped off at some very remote places near the Spanish border and explored some of the abandoned churches which was ace
• Visiting Lourdes (the site of the alleged miracle). Even if you don't believe, it's well worth visiting the church built over the grotto and watching the queues of people who have come in hope of a cure; it's quite moving. The surrounding area is a bit tacky but again worth experiencing. There's also a funicular railway that takes you high up in the Pyrenees and leaves you on a ledge with a 500ft drop and no safety barriers!
• Art museum and open-air book market in Montpelier. I spent 90 euros at the book market
• Wine tasting in Bordeaux, Chateuneuf-du-Pape and Reims
• Aix-en-Provence and Marseilles are beautiful

...plus good food, wine, scenery, friendly people and empty autoroutes everywhere

Consider getting a Sanef toll tag for the autoroutes, I think you can get them online now even if you are not a resident.

[fatboy b]

We're driving down to St. Johann in Austria in the Jaaaaaag. Did it last year in the last Jag, so looking forward to it again, as well as the Grossglockner again

[Martin_Hx]

Just arrived in Dover for 2 weeks over in Normandy tomorrow, my first dip in euro driving in a convertible SLK!

Was worried about driving on the right but now I'm looking forward to it!

[IntriguedUser]

Will be heading to Valencia beginning of August.

Car: Vauxhall Corsa C 2.0T (Z20LET)
Who: Me and my lady
Why: Because.... **** it

Haven't planned a route yet, we want to go through the pyrenees mountains though for sure though. This will be my first drive in Europe, I'm slightly nervous about the police and getting pulled over and robbed for hundreds of Euros, but maybe these forums make it sound like a bigger issue than it is....!

[Conscript]

Heading down to the Dordogne with my girlfriend and another couple in a couple of months. Two cars, driving overnight as the other couple have their little girl with them and are hoping she will sleep most of the way.

Only going for a week and staying in a small villa. Just a bit of a chillout holiday really, but looking forward to taking the car on a few drives where we get there. Stunning scenery in that part of the world

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/51.3995807,0.446...

Edited by Conscript on Sunday 13th July 18:04

[spud989]

Zoobeef said:

Mine is very slightly different although I am starting from Doncaster also!
I'm going from Donny to Harwich, ferry to the hook off holland and then driving to Zandvoort. Day on the track then returning the same way

Sounds good. Might have seen your car about, actually. See a few of the same ones quite a lot round Kirk Sandall/Edenthorpe area. There's a bloke who drives a soft-top M3 like an idiot, a yellow VX220, an old American muscle car and a white 1M that I see round about fairly regularly.