Europe Driving Holiday Tips and Recommendations

[squishy]

Hello all,

I'm planning for a euro road trip with the family end of July - first week August for approximately 7 to 9 days including driving down and back, taking the ferry.

Plan is to cover the following places:

Aachen (half a day) -> Cologne (1 day) -> Stuttgart (2 days) -> Zurich (2 days) -> Bern (1 day) -> Liege (half a day) -> Ghent (maybe) -> Bruges (1 day)

This is the first time we are heading to Europe by car - please critique my plan and provide any recommendations for must see places (nature / architecture / historical significance etc.) at these cities or along the way.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

squishy said:

Hello all,

I'm planning for a euro road trip with the family end of July - first week August for approximately 7 to 9 days including driving down and back, taking the ferry.

Plan is to cover the following places:

Aachen (half a day) -> Cologne (1 day) -> Stuttgart (2 days) -> Zurich (2 days) -> Bern (1 day) -> Liege (half a day) -> Ghent (maybe) -> Bruges (1 day)

This is the first time we are heading to Europe by car - please critique my plan and provide any recommendations for must see places (nature / architecture / historical significance etc.) at these cities or along the way.

If I've read that correctly that is at least 8 days in different cities (9 if you do go to Ghent). Your 7 to 9 days include driving?

[squishy]

Yes thats correct, days are a bit more flexible I suppose. Plan is to finish a city and then hoof over to the next one during the evening/night for sightseeing the next day. We are also considering starting one day earlier, after work and stay overnight near Dover to catch a early morning ferry and save a day. Might be hectic, but would consider dropping a place or two if time does not permit or nothing too interesting there.

[DeuceDeuce]

I’d say that’s too much travelling with a family.

I’m just back from a solo 8 night trip in 7 different and that was just about okay as I pack light (one bag) and don’t really mind what or where I eat.

I can imagine unloading and loading a family’s worth of stuff almost every day will become very tiresome. As will needing to accommodate rest stops and meals.

What’s your plan for Stuttgart? I stopped there for one night, mainly to visit the Porsche museum (which was great) but not sure I’d choose Stuttgart as my 2 night stop.

I get that there’s an appeal in seeing lots of different places but I think you might all enjoy the trip more doing less different o/n stops.

[RC1807]

Do you *absolutely have to* go to Liege?
It isn't a very nice city.

[squishy]

Think I have had a reality/sanity check.

Its only 3 of us travelling - child's a 6 year old and very "non-complaining" type on holidays - actually likes to enjoy the scenery and stays quiet if his music is blaring out.

Change of plan:

Early morning start to Dover, hoping to catch 9 am ferry (its a 4 hour drive from where we live).

Can someone advise on passport control and queues to get onto the ferry? Also, is there a PH collective preference for ferry companies?

Out of the ferry around mid-day and hoof it down to Basel (Mrs. S will be sharing driving duties apparently - looking forward to the speeding fines as the speedo and the heads up display showing the speed is not obvious enough lol)

Overnight stay in Basel, and then another night and half a day in Basel before heading to Zurich.

2 nights in Zurich and over to Stuttgart.

2 nights in Stuttgart

1 night in Luxemburg

1 night in Bruges aiming to catch an evening ferry and then back home to the midlands.

Does this make better sense?

I am also actively seeking hotel recommendations and any off the beaten track places to visit along the way.

[Bill]

Why those places? Apart from Bruges none are particularly exciting.

[Boxster5]

squishy said:

Think I have had a reality/sanity check.

Its only 3 of us travelling - child's a 6 year old and very "non-complaining" type on holidays - actually likes to enjoy the scenery and stays quiet if his music is blaring out.

Change of plan:

Early morning start to Dover, hoping to catch 9 am ferry (its a 4 hour drive from where we live).

Can someone advise on passport control and queues to get onto the ferry? Also, is there a PH collective preference for ferry companies?

Out of the ferry around mid-day and hoof it down to Basel (Mrs. S will be sharing driving duties apparently - looking forward to the speeding fines as the speedo and the heads up display showing the speed is not obvious enough lol)

Overnight stay in Basel, and then another night and half a day in Basel before heading to Zurich.

2 nights in Zurich and over to Stuttgart.

2 nights in Stuttgart

1 night in Luxemburg

1 night in Bruges aiming to catch an evening ferry and then back home to the midlands.

Does this make better sense?

I am also actively seeking hotel recommendations and any off the beaten track places to visit along the way.

If you’re heading to Switzerland, you’ll need a vignette for travelling on the Swiss motorways (40 Swiss francs at last check, bought at the Swiss border control) - failure to display one and there are severe consequences. Also in Switzerland, don’t speed EVER - it’s just not worth it.
Drove past Basel on our Euro road trip back in 2018 and to be honest it didn’t rock our boat - lots of graffiti which came as a shock and not pretty in the slightest. We were travelling from Cote D’Azur to Alsace via St Gotthard Tunnel though so only seen from the motorway.
We’ve been to Switzerland since (in 2022) as part of another Euro road trip but only to drive some of the mountain passes (stayed in Andermatt). Switzerland is very expensive and the weather can be very changeable.

[mr pg]

Calais to Basel is nearly 8 hours (without stops/delays), which is going to be a long day as you're setting off at the crack of dawn to get to Dover.
We have been as far as Mulhouse (not far from Basel), but that was with an early Eurotunnel crossing so we set off much earlier than you intend. I'd be re-thinking your plans if it were me.

[oneandone]

Boxster5 said:

squishy said:

Think I have had a reality/sanity check.

Its only 3 of us travelling - child's a 6 year old and very "non-complaining" type on holidays - actually likes to enjoy the scenery and stays quiet if his music is blaring out.

Change of plan:

Early morning start to Dover, hoping to catch 9 am ferry (its a 4 hour drive from where we live).

Can someone advise on passport control and queues to get onto the ferry? Also, is there a PH collective preference for ferry companies?

Out of the ferry around mid-day and hoof it down to Basel (Mrs. S will be sharing driving duties apparently - looking forward to the speeding fines as the speedo and the heads up display showing the speed is not obvious enough lol)

Overnight stay in Basel, and then another night and half a day in Basel before heading to Zurich.

2 nights in Zurich and over to Stuttgart.

2 nights in Stuttgart

1 night in Luxemburg

1 night in Bruges aiming to catch an evening ferry and then back home to the midlands.

Does this make better sense?

I am also actively seeking hotel recommendations and any off the beaten track places to visit along the way.

If you’re heading to Switzerland, you’ll need a vignette for travelling on the Swiss motorways (40 Swiss francs at last check, bought at the Swiss border control) - failure to display one and there are severe consequences. Also in Switzerland, don’t speed EVER - it’s just not worth it.
Drove past Basel on our Euro road trip back in 2018 and to be honest it didn’t rock our boat - lots of graffiti which came as a shock and not pretty in the slightest. We were travelling from Cote D’Azur to Alsace via St Gotthard Tunnel though so only seen from the motorway.
We’ve been to Switzerland since (in 2022) as part of another Euro road trip but only to drive some of the mountain passes (stayed in Andermatt). Switzerland is very expensive and the weather can be very changeable.

You can now get an e vignette online and no need to display it as your registration is marked as having one.

[ecsrobin]

I think you need to say what you want to do/see, there’s some big miles there and don’t forget parking in cities can get expensive (€30 a night is quite normal if they have parking).

There’s some great places you can visit without smashing out the miles. Also Ghent is better than Bruge, less tourists a bit more gritty but depends what you’re after.

Edited by ecsrobin on Tuesday 28th May 07:30

[RedWhiteMonkey]

I live close to Stuttgart, whilst the Mercedes Museum and the Porsche Museum are worth a visit the actual city isn't anything special.

[Metric Max]

You might get better advice if you tell us what you both like to see and do.
Is it natural scenery, mountains, lakes, rivers etc; or is it cities perhaps with old buildings etc?
Everyone has different preferences around these things

[omniflow]

4 tips.

Take the overnight ferry from Harwich -> Hook of Holland on the way out
Do a bit less - visit fewer places - spend a minimum of 2 nights anywhere that you actually want to visit.
Embrace the journeys between places - evening / overnight won't give anyone a decent view of the scenery. Stop in interesting places for coffee / lunch / snacks
Avoid the major cities in Switzerland, they are really dull. Particularly Zurich.

[squishy]

Metric Max said:

You might get better advice if you tell us what you both like to see and do.
Is it natural scenery, mountains, lakes, rivers etc; or is it cities perhaps with old buildings etc?
Everyone has different preferences around these things

Thanks, don't have a detailed plan yet as we both need to get the holidays signed off at work. Areas of interest include lakes & rivers, natural beauty, architecture - cathedrals, old buildings etc., art, and for me, some decent non motorway driving where possible.

Mrs. strongly suggested that she wanted to go to Switzerland - I know its ridiculously expensive etc., but time doesn't permit to go further south.

Happy to take suggestions around Germany, Belgium etc, with some scenic routes for driving.

[LemonTart]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

I live close to Stuttgart, whilst the Mercedes Museum and the Porsche Museum are worth a visit the actual city isn't anything special.

I would agree Stuttgart isn’t anything special.

I would stay in Baden Baden just a few miles away, very nice posh old Spa town, or split it stopping Baden Baden first night and take the short drive to Stuttgart if you want to do the M&P museums mentioned above for the second night.

We stopped in Baden Baden for a couple of nights last year when driving down to spend a week in Zell am See and came back via Stuttgart for two nights to do the museums.

You allegedly need an emissions sticker or face a big fine going into Stuttgart and that was a right proper PITA to get from a TUV centre of which there aren’t many and the guys weren’t interested, it became apparent most visitors didn’t have one.

[ecsrobin]

LemonTart said:

I would agree Stuttgart isn’t anything special.

I would stay in Baden Baden just a few miles away, very nice posh old Spa town, or split it stopping Baden Baden first night and take the short drive to Stuttgart if you want to do the M&P museums mentioned above for the second night.

We stopped in Baden Baden for a couple of nights last year when driving down to spend a week in Zell am See and came back via Stuttgart for two nights to do the museums.

You allegedly need an emissions sticker or face a big fine going into Stuttgart and that was a right proper PITA to get from a TUV centre of which there aren’t many and the guys weren’t interested, it became apparent most visitors didn’t have one.

I have got all mine from online although a quick check and tolltickets no longer do the emissions stickers but there seem to be plenty about.

[RizzoTheRat]

omniflow said:

Take the overnight ferry from Harwich -> Hook of Holland on the way out

This! Or Hull-Rotterdam if you're further North. It effectively gets you an extra day on your holiday as you wake up already in country. Although don't forget the Dutch have a 100kph day time speed limit when you get off the ferry.

[Bill]

squishy said:

Mrs. strongly suggested that she wanted to go to Switzerland - I know its ridiculously expensive etc., but time doesn't permit to go further south.

Happy to take suggestions around Germany, Belgium etc, with some scenic routes for driving.

Why does she want to go to Switzerland? To get to proper chocolate box mountains you need to go further south, at the moment you've got a couple of cities surrounded by big hills. And the Swiss are st hot on speeding so the driving is pretty but not necessarily exciting.

Personally (assuming it's mountains she wants) I'd look at spending more time in the mountains and crack off a couple of bigger motorway days to get there. Aim for somewhere like Lauterbrunnen (for choice), Interlaken or Grindelwald.

I'd also not worry about Belgian cities as they're easy for a weekend which means no parking worries.

As far as the journey goes, Belgian drivers are awful and the roads relatively busy. And I don't think (could be wrong) there are many unlimited autobahns on that southern route across Germany. My choice would be to blast down France, through Alsace and head to Lauterbrunnen.

[RC1807]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

I live close to Stuttgart, whilst the Mercedes Museum and the Porsche Museum are worth a visit the actual city isn't anything special.

Yep, RAF and allied bombers saw to that ...same for many German cities that had any industry in/around them
1 day in Stuttgart is enough to do the museums, then move on