European Holiday Road Trip

[Beeroklaunch]

Evening all,

After reading road trips and great road threads this year we have decided to take the plunge and do a Europe driving holiday.

Now let me start by saying that I love the thought of driving through Europe and the experience but I’m self employed and also like to relax and enjoy the areas so not constant driving.

We will be starting in Wrexham and would like to head towards Dunkirk, my wife would like to see Annecy (either heading down or back) and spending time in Lake Garda. My wife would like to see Lake Bled in Slovenia, which is approx 3.5 hours past Garda so no issue.


Apart knowing a few places to see we are unsure of a good route except for following maps/ ways etc.

Any suggestions or must sees / do are appreciated and welcome.

We are driving in my Skoda Superb 190 diesel estate which is a great car for the trip imho but motoring advice is warmly welcome.

Thanks in advance

Beerok

[Bill]

How long do you have?? That's a lot of miles... (I've done Garda via Chamonix with kids in a MH, so it's doable but there were some big days.)

[Beeroklaunch]

Thanks for the reply Bill.
I did mean to add that.
It will be a 14 - 17 day break.

[ghs456]

Funnily enough myself and my partner did a road trip from Ellesmere (not far from you!) to Annecy and back last summer. I will put a few things down below which might be useful!

I didn't want to use any motorways in France as I know they are tolled and also prefer exploring/driving away from the main roads. I followed almost exactly the route that Google chose from Calais to Annecy under the 'Avoiding Motorways' section. At quite a relaxed pace we took 3 days (2 nights) to drive down to Annecy. I personally find this good because its quite a relaxed pace (160-190 miles a day) and nice to have the chance to stop in some smaller French towns for an hour or two and have a wander/grab some lunch or a drink. Some WW1 sites/cemeteries in the Northern half of the route as well. Roads got quite twisty/better to drive in the last 50 or so miles before Annecy with some nice mountain views (I think it was in the Haut-Jura National Park area)

Annecy itself is a lovely town with the lake etc. but when we went (early August) it was very crowded. There was a large yearly fireworks event the evening we were there which made it worse I think but I get the feeling it is a busy place all summer long. The centre itself is not too big, and you could probably see most of the main sites in a day.

In terms of the drive down there, understandably the time it takes to travel distances on the smaller roads are longer with frequent speed limits/villages/towns etc. but I found the experience pretty relaxing. Very quiet even in mid-summer outside the biggest towns, and the road surfaces are so much better than in the UK. Did see a few fixed speed cameras, but should be no issue at a relaxed pace. Standard of driving seemed pretty good on the whole to- had read a few things about priorite a droite before we went which had given me images of cars shooting out into the main road in front of me but didn't experience this once in 800+ miles of driving in France. Didn't get the chance to show any gendarmes my lovely new reflective jackets or warning triangle either Can't comment if you were wanting to use motorways as I didn't go on one!

If you have any other questions let me know and I can try to answer the best I can!

Edited by ghs456 on Sunday 7th January 21:14

[TTmonkey]

Beeroklaunch said:

Thanks for the reply Bill.
I did mean to add that.
It will be a 14 - 17 day break.

What dates? Italian lakes are very busy mid summer. In fact northern Italy can be very busy and traffic slow.

Kids in the car? Or just the two of you?

Annecy is doable in a day if you do the autoroutes all the way. But there are some nice places to see on the way down if you want to take it easy. We particularly likes Troyes which is a nice distance to drive in a day.

[the benno]

We did a 2023 euro road trip
Eurotunnel to Calais, down through France via Reims, Dijon, Lyon right down to Marseille and St tropez, then on round to Monaco, and Cinque Terre Northern Italy, then up to Lake Como via Modena and Maranello of course. From Como it was on to Germany via Zurich, stopping at Stuttgart for Porsche and MB then Cologne and home.
We did 17 nights in total 👍🏼

[TTmonkey]

the benno said:

We did a 2023 euro road trip
Eurotunnel to Calais, down through France via Reims, Dijon, Lyon right down to Marseille and St tropez, then on round to Monaco, and Cinque Terre Northern Italy, then up to Lake Como via Modena and Maranello of course. From Como it was on to Germany via Zurich, stopping at Stuttgart for Porsche and MB then Cologne and home.
We did 17 nights in total ????

You could visit Lamborghini….



AND Ferrari….




Hired these for 20 minute test drives. Excellent.

[Beeroklaunch]

First of all thank you for the replies.

My wife said that when I ask I’d end up with keyboard warriors saying ‘ don’t bother in a Skoda, get a plane’ etc etc

The route through Reims, Troyes etc looks good.

Just realised that The Euros are in Germany next year so wonder if that could have a knock on effect. Would we have inflated/ extortionate ferry prices and places to stay.

We even looked at maybe driving straight down to Spain? Plans are fluid.

Love the thought of hiring Ferraris and Lamborghinis, my 15 year old son who will be with us would love that.

Decisions Decisions.

[petrolbloke]

Back in 2016 I went to the Monaco Historic GP, then hired a car, drove to Monaco then did a bit of a road trip around the French alps for a week or so. Some great roads and although it would've been nice to be driving something a bit more interesting, the diesel fiesta hire car was pretty good.

A couple of accommodation highlights were staying at Chateau De Picomtal and Hotel la Roberyere.

Can you go via the Nurburging too?!