Hi all,

I am planning a european road trip with half a dozen friends or so. Has anyone done the hard work of planning such a route and do you have an itinerary (does not need to follow my exact route). I am trying to work out an idea of costs for me and my friends and plan as much as possible. A idea of my requirements for example:

- The roads to take/avoid between waypoints
- Toll costs (Euro's)
- Tax cost (for example Swiss & Austrian Vignettes)
- Times to avoid
- Hotel experience
- Other advice/experience/fees

The overview of the planned trip so far:

- Saturday to Sunday (8 days)
- Start from UK, Euro-Tunnel to Calais, then on to Brussels and then Nurgurbring (Track and museums). Then destinations include: Germany (Stuttgart), Switzerland, Italy (STELVIO PASS, BOLZANO), Austria (GrossGlockner), maybe even Hungary. Here are the waypoints I would like to follow: https://www.thegreatrally.com/the-gr...an-rally-2016/
- Start date: Sat July 1st 2017
- 4 Cars so far (6 people, mixture of types of cars)
- Go Pro's and Drones to remember our visit (used sensibly)
- Looking for > 3 star hotels (with secure-ish parking)
- Walkey Talkies and mobile phone coverage
- Ensuring suitable cover (EIC, Travel / breakdown insurance, Euro car insurance cover)
- Fuel can be worked out when total mileage identified

I would like to ensure that the travel between these destinations picks the right roads as there will obviously be a lot of driving. I will be managing the group. The are similar organised events such as "The Great European Rally", however I do not want to be constrained and the cost is much higher than organising ones self.

Many thanks in advance.

 

Muppets ain't the best place for this, so moved.

But from my travels through France.

Avoid Rouen if at all possible.
Bordeaux at rush hours ( morning and evening and weekends)
Leon at at rush hours (morning and afternoon and weekends)
And don't trust the sat nav around Paris even when it's up to date.

And the food is crap at the Holiday inn at Calais.

As far as planning goes, I bought an old fasioned road atlas that differentiated toll routes to non-roll roads.

Fuel through France is expensive on toll roads: use this website to find cheaper fuel: http://www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr/mobile/

Almost everything is shut in France and Spain on a Sunday. That includes some hotel restaurants and petrol stations.

Bon voyage


)

 

Super, thanks for the heads up. Not going to be spending too much time in France as as soon as we come off the channel tunnel, we'll be heading for Belgium.

Thanks for the fuel link!

 

Depends on how far your traveling each day 300 400 500 miles. I have ridden across and back in 10days to Czech republic. We do the mornings on the autobahns and pick a country side route for the afternoon. Hotels I used booking.com /trivago to get reviews and prices. I like to stay out of town and cities and book country hotels. 70 per night gets a good room With breakfast. Vignettes you but at the border or near from petrol stations. Swiss are quite keen at prosecution, but you don't need to buy them if you stay off motorways. Autobahns can be very fast, watch mirrors and keep out of way of faster cars. Lane discipline is very important in germany and Austria.
Lakes, mountains and forrests are fantastic in Germany, Austria and Italy. Italians are crazy and very aggressive driving. Hungary Czech republic are cheap for food lower quality hotels but not by much.

France has great roads but expense tolls. Also on Mondays a lot of places are shut petrol stations in small towns and each day 12on to 2pm. Also card payments don't work often. The French can be awkward if you don't speak good French.

 

Thanks, Andy. I have updated my management tool "Excel" with some of your captured suggestions.

I am now getting a better base understanding of what is required for european driving.

Much appreicate your input.

 

fill up in Luxembourg

 

Swiss vignette (1yr) costs 40CHF this year (and the last umteen years), but they have been talking about hiking the price to 100CHF for some time now. If they do hike the price then they may also introduce a cheaper tourist vignette with shorter validity.

In Austria you can get a 10 day, 2 month or 1 year vignette. 10 day costs €8.80, 2 months is €25.70 and 1year is €85.70. In Austria there are also additional tolls with varying cost for some tunnels and passes including the Brenner pass, Arlberg tunnerl, in Ötztal there is a toll road up to a glacier and a pass into Italy, there is also a tunnel somewhere in the Grossglockner region.

 

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice...al_advice.html

 

We did the following route.

Cardiff to Dover.
Calais to The Ring for two nights.
The Ring to Garmische for one night.
Garmische to Lake Como via Bolzano and the Stelvio Pass.
Lake Como for two days.
Lake Como to Monaco around the Circuit then back up through Cuneo over the Col d' Var (which I think is better than the Stelvio Pass) to Briancon through the Tunnel to Modane for an overnight - very hard day.
Then up to Reims for the night then around the old F1 Track in Gueux and home.
All in a week, epic, tiring but brilliant.

Out of season ski chalets in France, German and Italy are very cheap during the summer. The tolls in France and Italy are a pain. There is a cost from Austria into Italy through the Brenner Pass to Bolzano. If you can fill up in Luxembourg as they have the cheapest fuel in Europe.
We used www.booking.com but some hotels take your money at the time of booking.
One highlight was a place called Treterre above Lake Como, probably the best food I have ever eaten. http://www.booking.com/hotel/it/agri...=total;ucfs=1&
https://www.expedia.co.uk/Drees-Hote...GBP&exp_pg=HSR

 

Some unusual traffic laws in France;

Need to carry a breathaliser in your car, need to have a high viz vest (I think this might be for all passengers and driver, in case of needing to exit the vehicle on a motorway), if you wear specs, you are supposed to carry a second pair with you, speed camera warnings must be switched off on your satnav, and speed limits are reduced by default when it rains, there is something about urban speed limits starting at the edge of towns and villages, and the limit sign is considered as a repeater, not the starting point for the limit.

Italy is a mental place to drive - there are no rules! a flash when you are giving way at a junction, doesn't mean I am letting you out - it is entirely the opposite - pull out now i will go through you! All Italian drivers have the reaction speeds of a startled cat - just make sure you are as alert as they are! There are about ten different types of police in Italy who whizz about with blue lights and sirens, but only the cars marked polizia seem to care about the speed you are driving at.

Enjoy the trip - I wish I were embarking on something like this, sounds like a great adventure.

 

Thanks for your input guys. Certainly lots of work to plan this but I am picking up more and more each day due to your contributions. Many thanks again.