Euro Road Trip - 11 days, 2500 miles, 6 countries
Discussion
Sorry I stole MattS5's title but it works well! 
My mate turned 40 recently and he wanted to go on a road trip.. Right up my street, he originally said about doing one of these driving tours but the nerd in me loves planning trips so I got to work. We make the pilgrimage to Nurburgring a few times a year and like a driving holiday so we’re both seasoned Euro drivers. I got a route together, he wanted twisty roads and car stuff to see, so 10 nights, 2500 miles was planned and booked.
We set off early for a 7:30 train, the first day was UK - Frankfurt, staying at the B Mine hotel. Not the most exciting route but it got us well into Germany, my wife took the first stint after the train doing a solid 4hr stint behind the wheel, she’s not really drive the M3 much so it was strange being a passenger in it!
We stopped for fuel and lunch before carrying on, arriving at the hotel at a reasonable 5pm. We had a quick bit of dinner and a wonder about the area before an early night and a bit of plane spotting with the cars tucked up safely on the balcony.
Day two was a short drive down to Stuttgart, firstly to Mercedes for a visit to their museum. I’d done this before so knew to allow plenty of time, we spent nearly 4 hours there with lunch, plenty to see! Because they make so many different types of vehicle it's got lots of variety to it, I love this display.
We then made the trip across town and visited Porsche for a look there. My mate has a GT4 too so he was nerding out to stuff, the museum was smaller than Mercedes but I still really enjoyed it. We headed down to Baden Baden for our overnight stop, the hotel knocked out a cracking dinner and we went for a little walk afterwards, it was in the middle of nowhere so pitch black and a bit haphazard after a few wines. Nice quite area so no worries about the cars here!
Day three was taking the German ‘Black Forest Road’ down to the Swiss border. The views were great, not much of a drivers road now though with a lot of reduced speed limits along it, it was a nice run and we both enjoyed it but it wasn’t somewhere I’d return in a hurry.
We stopped for a quick bite to eat on the Swiss border before in a little town we stumbled upon, felt very touristy but pretty.
The last run down through Switzerland to our apartment for the night in Schattdorf. Stunning views here, we all made a packed lunch as we didn’t know where lunch would be the next day! Quick picture when we arrived here, right below the bedroom window, perfect!
Early start to hit up the Swiss passes, Susten, Grimsel, Nufen, St Gotthard, Furka then back towards Italy doing the Nufen again. We managed the first three without getting much traffic at all which was great! By the time we got to the Furka it was very busy and unknown to us, that pass was the narrowest of them all. I felt the squeeze at times so I knew my mate would have even less room but we did survive! It was worth the early start to see the sunrise!
We then dropped down towards Italy, the Swiss roads were not only nice and smooth but well laid out and easy to navigate, even through the busy towns and cities. We arrived in Como late afternoon, grabbed a cold drink and then headed for our next stop over. While at the bar we saw the Tricolori fly over which was pretty cool! Got to our a little apartment on the outskirts, I was a bit worried about the super steep driveway but we got down it ok and had a nice little space for the cars, we chilled out and all squeezed around an iPhone to watch the F1. Bit of dinner and a late night ice cream before bed!
The fifth day was a short one driving wise, half hour down to the Alfa museum which was good and worth a trip if passing, before heading north towards Lake Garda and ending up in Trento for a night. The Bip & go tag was great for this stint, making the toll booths much quicker! We arrived at our hotel, stunning views everywhere. I went for a trip to the nearest supermarket in a little village in the hills. Back for more beautiful views and a meal under a thunderstorm to round the day off.
An early start the next morning, we headed over to the Dolomites for some more twisty roads and another day of stunning views. I had planned a route doing a bit of a loop but even the roads to get to the ‘loop’ were amazing. The weather was still warm and dry, when we stopped on the passes though it was bloody chilly. You see these places on TV and they look amazing but seeing it in real life is something else!
On the way back down we stopped for a coffee and a break in the sun. While we were here I realised we had a bit of spare time so found a little bakery for lunch and an extra little ‘mini pass’ on the way to our next overnight stop in Merano, a nice town close to the Austrian border. We still got here early so we splashed some fuel in and checked into our hotel, relaxing a bit before dinner. I got bored so went for a walk into the little village down the hill. I had spotted a couple of E92 M3s on the Swiss passes but no E90 flavour, got excited when I stumbled upon one parked in a restaurant car park! Black manual, the owner wasn’t around (not that my limited italian would get me far!) but it was cool to see another.
We got up to rain, lots of it! Not ideal but we got breakfast down and packed the cars. The original plan was to do the Jaufenpass but it was closed! Not sure why but given the weather my wife was probably relieved that we had one less pass to do. We headed over to the Austrian border and up to the ‘Grossglockner High Alpine Road’, as we got close the fog came in to the point where I couldn’t see all that far past the bonnet. We trundled along, thankfully it was nice and quiet so there was no one hurrying us and as we were on the accent the fog lifted a bit. It was still chucking it down though so we didn’t hang about for pictures and enjoyed the views from the cars.
We were still full from breakfast so decided to just crack on with the trip over to Munich, or ‘Mecca’ as I like to call it. The rain eased off as we arrived, the Mrs was taking this stint, her first bit of driving in a busy city. The E90 gets its fair share of attention, particularly when we go to the Nurburgring etc but we were getting nods of appreciation and thumbs up everywhere here! We arrived at our first hotel in Munich, tucked the cars up in the underground carpark and went for a bit of dinner. Everyone went to bed early but I went for a wander down the road to spot the BMW tower lit up. On my walk I realised how much of the city is taken up with BMW/Mini buildings, they’re everywhere.
The next morning we made the 4 minute drive over to BMW, staring out at the museum. This was my second visit here but they’ve changed a few displays so it was still a worthwhile visit, anyone who is passing I’d recommend it, the others with me on the trip (who are probably less biased than me) rated it as good as the Mercedes museum.
We decided to take a quick train into the old town for lunch and then returned for the ‘BMW World’ side which was cool, seeing the new models and motorbikes. I also spotted a nice position for a picture in front of the tower, it needed a bit of cheeky reversing down an access road and my possible issue was the security guy in his box. I planned to have the Mrs ready for the picture and I was going to pull up quickly and get the shot. It worked, but the guard wasn’t fussed in the slightest so I jumped out to take a couple. Pretty pleased, worth the effort I reckon!
Our second night in Munich was at Motorworld, I’m sure many of you will know about it, a nice museum alongside some shops, restaurants and a Hotel. The hotel has two rooms that allow you to store your car inside, the front door of the rooms take you directly into the museum. We checked in and decided to head out to wash the cars as they were pretty ropey after the rain. A quick photoshoot when we got back before heading for dinner.
A late night wonder around the museum and the carpark was great fun, lots of quirky and unusual cars and it was nice doing it with hardly anyone else there!
A great breakfast was consumed and we headed over to the Nurburgring for our last two nights, we visit here a few times a year so it’s like a second home by now. It was busy with a few events taking place but nice to relax for a bit before returning home. We had a good run home, Le Shuttle was a s
t show as expected but the drive round the M25 didn’t cause us too many issues, aside from the rain!
We finally arrived home after about 2500 miles and 65 hours behind the wheel. The two cars were very close on economy, 450 litres/£1200 of fuel each roughly. The Vantage was woeful on the passes and when pushed a bit but actually quite reasonable on the steady runs, whereas the M3 was just fairly poor most of the time, of course neither of us cared (although I did wince a bit at €3.04 a litre in Germany). Both cars served us well, we all arrived feeling pretty fresh even after the longer stints of driving, neither gave us any problems.
Great trip overall, the brief was twisty roads and car stuff which I think I hit fairly well. Next time I think we’ll maybe do two nights at each location and have a little more time to explore the towns/cities but that wasn’t the aim for this one.
My mate turned 40 recently and he wanted to go on a road trip.. Right up my street, he originally said about doing one of these driving tours but the nerd in me loves planning trips so I got to work. We make the pilgrimage to Nurburgring a few times a year and like a driving holiday so we’re both seasoned Euro drivers. I got a route together, he wanted twisty roads and car stuff to see, so 10 nights, 2500 miles was planned and booked.
We set off early for a 7:30 train, the first day was UK - Frankfurt, staying at the B Mine hotel. Not the most exciting route but it got us well into Germany, my wife took the first stint after the train doing a solid 4hr stint behind the wheel, she’s not really drive the M3 much so it was strange being a passenger in it!
We stopped for fuel and lunch before carrying on, arriving at the hotel at a reasonable 5pm. We had a quick bit of dinner and a wonder about the area before an early night and a bit of plane spotting with the cars tucked up safely on the balcony.
Day two was a short drive down to Stuttgart, firstly to Mercedes for a visit to their museum. I’d done this before so knew to allow plenty of time, we spent nearly 4 hours there with lunch, plenty to see! Because they make so many different types of vehicle it's got lots of variety to it, I love this display.
We then made the trip across town and visited Porsche for a look there. My mate has a GT4 too so he was nerding out to stuff, the museum was smaller than Mercedes but I still really enjoyed it. We headed down to Baden Baden for our overnight stop, the hotel knocked out a cracking dinner and we went for a little walk afterwards, it was in the middle of nowhere so pitch black and a bit haphazard after a few wines. Nice quite area so no worries about the cars here!
Day three was taking the German ‘Black Forest Road’ down to the Swiss border. The views were great, not much of a drivers road now though with a lot of reduced speed limits along it, it was a nice run and we both enjoyed it but it wasn’t somewhere I’d return in a hurry.
We stopped for a quick bite to eat on the Swiss border before in a little town we stumbled upon, felt very touristy but pretty.
The last run down through Switzerland to our apartment for the night in Schattdorf. Stunning views here, we all made a packed lunch as we didn’t know where lunch would be the next day! Quick picture when we arrived here, right below the bedroom window, perfect!
Early start to hit up the Swiss passes, Susten, Grimsel, Nufen, St Gotthard, Furka then back towards Italy doing the Nufen again. We managed the first three without getting much traffic at all which was great! By the time we got to the Furka it was very busy and unknown to us, that pass was the narrowest of them all. I felt the squeeze at times so I knew my mate would have even less room but we did survive! It was worth the early start to see the sunrise!
We then dropped down towards Italy, the Swiss roads were not only nice and smooth but well laid out and easy to navigate, even through the busy towns and cities. We arrived in Como late afternoon, grabbed a cold drink and then headed for our next stop over. While at the bar we saw the Tricolori fly over which was pretty cool! Got to our a little apartment on the outskirts, I was a bit worried about the super steep driveway but we got down it ok and had a nice little space for the cars, we chilled out and all squeezed around an iPhone to watch the F1. Bit of dinner and a late night ice cream before bed!
The fifth day was a short one driving wise, half hour down to the Alfa museum which was good and worth a trip if passing, before heading north towards Lake Garda and ending up in Trento for a night. The Bip & go tag was great for this stint, making the toll booths much quicker! We arrived at our hotel, stunning views everywhere. I went for a trip to the nearest supermarket in a little village in the hills. Back for more beautiful views and a meal under a thunderstorm to round the day off.
An early start the next morning, we headed over to the Dolomites for some more twisty roads and another day of stunning views. I had planned a route doing a bit of a loop but even the roads to get to the ‘loop’ were amazing. The weather was still warm and dry, when we stopped on the passes though it was bloody chilly. You see these places on TV and they look amazing but seeing it in real life is something else!
On the way back down we stopped for a coffee and a break in the sun. While we were here I realised we had a bit of spare time so found a little bakery for lunch and an extra little ‘mini pass’ on the way to our next overnight stop in Merano, a nice town close to the Austrian border. We still got here early so we splashed some fuel in and checked into our hotel, relaxing a bit before dinner. I got bored so went for a walk into the little village down the hill. I had spotted a couple of E92 M3s on the Swiss passes but no E90 flavour, got excited when I stumbled upon one parked in a restaurant car park! Black manual, the owner wasn’t around (not that my limited italian would get me far!) but it was cool to see another.
We got up to rain, lots of it! Not ideal but we got breakfast down and packed the cars. The original plan was to do the Jaufenpass but it was closed! Not sure why but given the weather my wife was probably relieved that we had one less pass to do. We headed over to the Austrian border and up to the ‘Grossglockner High Alpine Road’, as we got close the fog came in to the point where I couldn’t see all that far past the bonnet. We trundled along, thankfully it was nice and quiet so there was no one hurrying us and as we were on the accent the fog lifted a bit. It was still chucking it down though so we didn’t hang about for pictures and enjoyed the views from the cars.
We were still full from breakfast so decided to just crack on with the trip over to Munich, or ‘Mecca’ as I like to call it. The rain eased off as we arrived, the Mrs was taking this stint, her first bit of driving in a busy city. The E90 gets its fair share of attention, particularly when we go to the Nurburgring etc but we were getting nods of appreciation and thumbs up everywhere here! We arrived at our first hotel in Munich, tucked the cars up in the underground carpark and went for a bit of dinner. Everyone went to bed early but I went for a wander down the road to spot the BMW tower lit up. On my walk I realised how much of the city is taken up with BMW/Mini buildings, they’re everywhere.
The next morning we made the 4 minute drive over to BMW, staring out at the museum. This was my second visit here but they’ve changed a few displays so it was still a worthwhile visit, anyone who is passing I’d recommend it, the others with me on the trip (who are probably less biased than me) rated it as good as the Mercedes museum.
We decided to take a quick train into the old town for lunch and then returned for the ‘BMW World’ side which was cool, seeing the new models and motorbikes. I also spotted a nice position for a picture in front of the tower, it needed a bit of cheeky reversing down an access road and my possible issue was the security guy in his box. I planned to have the Mrs ready for the picture and I was going to pull up quickly and get the shot. It worked, but the guard wasn’t fussed in the slightest so I jumped out to take a couple. Pretty pleased, worth the effort I reckon!
Our second night in Munich was at Motorworld, I’m sure many of you will know about it, a nice museum alongside some shops, restaurants and a Hotel. The hotel has two rooms that allow you to store your car inside, the front door of the rooms take you directly into the museum. We checked in and decided to head out to wash the cars as they were pretty ropey after the rain. A quick photoshoot when we got back before heading for dinner.
A late night wonder around the museum and the carpark was great fun, lots of quirky and unusual cars and it was nice doing it with hardly anyone else there!
A great breakfast was consumed and we headed over to the Nurburgring for our last two nights, we visit here a few times a year so it’s like a second home by now. It was busy with a few events taking place but nice to relax for a bit before returning home. We had a good run home, Le Shuttle was a s
t show as expected but the drive round the M25 didn’t cause us too many issues, aside from the rain! We finally arrived home after about 2500 miles and 65 hours behind the wheel. The two cars were very close on economy, 450 litres/£1200 of fuel each roughly. The Vantage was woeful on the passes and when pushed a bit but actually quite reasonable on the steady runs, whereas the M3 was just fairly poor most of the time, of course neither of us cared (although I did wince a bit at €3.04 a litre in Germany). Both cars served us well, we all arrived feeling pretty fresh even after the longer stints of driving, neither gave us any problems.
Great trip overall, the brief was twisty roads and car stuff which I think I hit fairly well. Next time I think we’ll maybe do two nights at each location and have a little more time to explore the towns/cities but that wasn’t the aim for this one.
Looks like a great trip- I did a few of the same roads and places in my E92 in July and it was brilliant fun. Other than being a bit thirsty (although sounds like it averaged out with your mate's Vantage!) I couldn't really fault it as a GT car.
Wish I was brave enough to get a photo of mine outside BMW Welt though! We left the car tucked up in the hotel and got there via U-Bahn, and although I had a quick look I didn't spot anywhere where it looked like I could pull up for a quick photo without getting into trouble, so didn't risk it on our way out of Munich the next day.
Wish I was brave enough to get a photo of mine outside BMW Welt though! We left the car tucked up in the hotel and got there via U-Bahn, and although I had a quick look I didn't spot anywhere where it looked like I could pull up for a quick photo without getting into trouble, so didn't risk it on our way out of Munich the next day.
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