European road trip on a budget - Can it be done?

[Pulse]

Considering doing a euro trip next year, and have a few questions...

We've found a place we like that is just North of Toulouse, in a remote location. We'd like to end up there for 7 days.

Before reaching there, we'd quite like to take in the ring (and more of Germany if possible), Switzerland, Italy and Monaco.

Now, to do all of this, I assume we'll need to then peg it back from our 7 days North of Toulouse, so would have to take the motorway at some high-ish speeds.

So, can someone recommend some fantastic roads to take for all of those destinations, and then the fastest road home?

Can anyone recommend some places to stay, with a decent enough room, and parking (for the Z4), but for a reasonable price. If we go up to £100 a night, it just blows the budget instantly.

I'm sure I'll think of more things as the thread goes on, but any help would be great!

[v15ben]

I can't help on specific hotels, but I did a similar route including the Ring, Swutzerland, Austria and Italy in June and we managed to stick to a reasonable budget while making the most of all those good roads

[toasty]

We did a Z4 road trip to Budapest in May and the main expense was fuel. You'll be looking at up to £1.50/litre if you like the high octane stuff.

French/Belgian/Luxembourg/Dutch motorways were OK but lots of cameras (esp France)
German autobahns were fast but crowded and often 2 lane.
Austrian were slower and bumpier.
Hungarian were smooth and quick but watch for the police.

We didn't have time to take in many of the twisty bits. Next time maybe.

[Stablelad]

I might consider doing you a deal if you're near Como (and it ain't high season/sold out)

[Pulse]

v15ben said:

I can't help on specific hotels, but I did a similar route including the Ring, Swutzerland, Austria and Italy in June and we managed to stick to a reasonable budget while making the most of all those good roads

How much did the trip cost all in? Did you not stay in hotels? Would be interested to hear your views!

[Pulse]

toasty said:

We did a Z4 road trip to Budapest in May and the main expense was fuel. You'll be looking at up to £1.50/litre if you like the high octane stuff.

French/Belgian/Luxembourg/Dutch motorways were OK but lots of cameras (esp France)
German autobahns were fast but crowded and often 2 lane.
Austrian were slower and bumpier.
Hungarian were smooth and quick but watch for the police.

We didn't have time to take in many of the twisty bits. Next time maybe.

£1.50/litre? Is that in all of the countries I mentioned? I would only use 97 or higher.

[v15ben]

Pulse said:

v15ben said:

I can't help on specific hotels, but I did a similar route including the Ring, Swutzerland, Austria and Italy in June and we managed to stick to a reasonable budget while making the most of all those good roads

How much did the trip cost all in? Did you not stay in hotels? Would be interested to hear your views!

There were 3 of us travelling and except for the Ring we stayed in hostels which usually proved pretty decent quality and locations. We stayed in Innsbruck, Davos and Brussels amongst others and found decent quality hostel dorm beds for about £20-25 a night.

Fuel wise we averaged about 37mpg in my Clio 182 though fuel was on average more expensive than the UK. I can't remember it off the top of my head, but there is a good website showing average and best fuel prices in each country. £1.50 per litre was more expensive than we saw anywhere. The most we paid was £1.40 I think though can't remember which country that was in. Average was probably £1.20-1.25 a litre.

I spent about £40 on the ferry, £25 per night approx on accommodation (a little less camping at the Ring) with meals often included or usually quite cheap in the cities. Fuel was the main cost plus European breakdown cover and £30 for my mate to be insured as a 2nd driver. I probably got through £500-600 myself but we did share the fuel, Ring card and breakdown cover costs between 2 of us for the week.

I did a bit of a blog at the time: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by v15ben on Tuesday 1st December 17:01

[Pulse]

v15ben said:

Pulse said:

v15ben said:

I can't help on specific hotels, but I did a similar route including the Ring, Swutzerland, Austria and Italy in June and we managed to stick to a reasonable budget while making the most of all those good roads

How much did the trip cost all in? Did you not stay in hotels? Would be interested to hear your views!

There were 3 of us travelling and except for the Ring we stayed in hostels which usually proved pretty decent quality and locations. We stayed in Innsbruck, Davos and Brussels amongst others and found decent quality hostel dorm beds for about £20-25 a night.

Fuel wise we averaged about 37mpg in my Clio 182 though fuel was on average more expensive than the UK. I can't remember it off the top of my head, but there is a good website showing average and best fuel prices in each country. £1.50 per litre was more expensive than we saw anywhere. The most we paid was £1.40 I think though can't remember which country that was in. Average was probably £1.20-1.25 a litre.

I spent about £40 on the ferry, £25 per night approx on accommodation (a little less camping at the Ring) with meals often included or usually quite cheap in the cities. Fuel was the main cost plus European breakdown cover and £30 for my mate to be insured as a 2nd driver. I probably got through £500-600 myself but we did share the fuel, Ring card and breakdown cover costs between 2 of us for the week.

I did a bit of a blog at the time: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by v15ben on Tuesday 1st December 17:01

Thanks for the link to the blog. I'll take a look later. The other half is never going to go for a hostel. I think if we can find a hotel, even a basic one (ala Travelodge), for £50 a night or so, then we're on the right track.

[v15ben]

Yep it should be possible. We looked into the budget hotel route and there were definitely places out there. www.hostelworld.com is often a good place to find budget hotels even though they normally focus on hostels.

[thehawk]

Plenty of Etap hotels for that price

[toasty]

Pulse said:

toasty said:

We did a Z4 road trip to Budapest in May and the main expense was fuel. You'll be looking at up to £1.50/litre if you like the high octane stuff.

French/Belgian/Luxembourg/Dutch motorways were OK but lots of cameras (esp France)
German autobahns were fast but crowded and often 2 lane.
Austrian were slower and bumpier.
Hungarian were smooth and quick but watch for the police.

We didn't have time to take in many of the twisty bits. Next time maybe.

£1.50/litre? Is that in all of the countries I mentioned? I would only use 97 or higher.

I can't comment on Switzerland or Italy but the average for our trip was about £1.25/litre i.e. a little bit more than the UK but 3000 miles at 28mpg and it gets a bit pricey.