European roadtrip - just get up and go

[nlldavies]

I fancy a roadtrip in Europe next year, basically a get in the car and head in a direction type of thing ... don't get me wrong I know there should be some planning before hand.

My thoughts are either go summer time and head for the south of Spain or a winter trip in the mountains with snow and such, probably the last one the best.

I just want to drive some nice roads, visit local places of interest and relax in the odd hotel. Sounds like a dream but I'm sure people do it.

Any one done this sort of thing? Any advice?

[Rollin]

Very easy to do. Have an idea of how far you want to drive each day and that's it.

[Tangent Police]

Yep. Epic fun. Do it.

[joncon]

did a road trip last year, me and wifey.
wifey agreed to go if she could pick the hotels beforehand !
17 days , 3700 miles, awesome !
all in a tvr chimaera.

photo courtesy of my brother who travelled with us for the first three days.

Edited by joncon on Thursday 12th November 23:28

[llewop]

joncon said:

did a road trip last year, me and wifey.
wifey agreed to go if she could pick the hotels beforehand !
17 days , 3700 miles, awesome !
all in a tvr chimaera.

photo courtesy of my brother who travelled with us for the first three days.

Edited by joncon on Thursday 12th November 23:28

I was wondering how you got the picture until I read the footnote! you obviously drove to the bridge from the north, when we went over it approached from the south then stopped after crossing to take better piccies than the wife could manage through the windscreen!

I loved the autoroute between there and the coast: heading north at least, like a grand scale roller coaster!

[v15ben]

That is a very good route considering it's a motorway! I did it with a friend unfortunately in a Merc ML280 CDI, but still a fantastic part of the world.

I did a roadtrip with 2 mates in June and although we did a bit more planning on where we wanted to go and how to get between places, we made various changes en-route and some of the best drives were on the bits we'd never planned to go in the first place

[Bluebarge]

I would do a summer trip to the mountains. If you go in the winter, the high passes will be under several metres of snow and you will need winter tyres and snow chains to get around (rwd cars are esp. crap in the snow). Clanking around with chains on at 40kph is probably not your idea of a hoon.

Whereas in the summer the roads are open, reasonably empty and fun to drive, plus the weather's generally warm and sunny and the scenery is ace. There are some great routes from France into Italy and back into Switzerland.

Otherwise France has plenty to see if you stay off the autoroutes.

[zac510]

I would prefer to stop and see things a bit more often than doing 3000+ miles in two weeks. You'll just spend too much time in the car!

[Mattt]

One thing's for sure, you'll need a co-driver. I thought it would be easy doing a big Euro trip solo, but I was glad we could switch drivers when the time came!