Euro tour—6 countries, 2,000 miles - do it before you can’t

[Boxster5]

As a regular tourer of Europe by road, I thought it worth passing on some info and recommendations to those “thinking” about it.
This year we opted for the Newcastle-Amsterdam ferry with a view to staying in Luxembourg for 3 nights prior to moving onto our next 6 night stay in Aix-Les-Bains followed by our final stay in Epernay for 4 nights before returning to Amsterdam for our return ferry.
This is our third time travelling on that ferry route and prices have risen sharply since our last time in 2022 (£450 then, now £800 inc cabin bunks and breakfast and evening meals).
It’s a very civilised way of travelling with no 6 hour slog down to Eurotunnel.
However, the Dutch have recently introduced a blanket 100km/h speed limit on their motorways between 06:00-19:00 and that has to be considered as you are having to drive the equivalent distance to get into France (better if you were heading into Germany).
Our initial plans of staying in Luxembourg City (Limpersburg) changed when we realised that car parking may prove problematic so shortly before we were due to leave we quickly changed that to 3 nights in Metz, France. Our Airbnb was ideally located within a short walk to the stunning cathedral and had its own private underground parking space which proved invaluable.
We opted to travel through the Netherlands then into Belgium past Spa Francorchamps then via the E421 through the length of Luxembourg.
We did hit really slow moving traffic on the A31 near Thionville and this added around an hour onto our journey. That though is not the norm in France from our vast experience.
Obviously, it’s obligatory to fill up in Luxembourg with “cheap” fuel which was universally priced @ €1.60 for unleaded with 102 RON also available. By comparison French fuel prices are in the region of €1.70-1.80 at supermarkets away from the motorway.
Our impression of Luxembourg is it is obviously a wealthy country with quite a lot of modern new build properties. Very civilised and neat.
Metz cathedral is absolutely stunning although we didn’t go inside.
Our initial plan was to go into Luxembourg City but the problems on the A31 made us change our plans with a quick hop into Saarburg, Germany and a tour around the Moselle Valley on our second day.
We were impressed with Metz.
Our next destination was Aix-Les-Bains in the Rhône Alps and we chose the scenic route avoiding tolls and you definitely see more of the real France that way - it did mean an 8 hour journey with stops.
Our apartment in Aix was stunning but we didn’t realise there was a big music festival (think a cross between Glastonbury and Ibiza) on for our first 3 nights and this caused us a few problems as the town was rammed with parking really difficult. Luckily we had arranged a garage with our Airbnb host but we were totally unaware of the music festival which went on until 02:00 every night. This is the latest we have been in France and we would definitely revert back to late June/early July in future.
To escape the madness on the Sunday we decided to go via Beaufort via Roselend Dam and across the Little Saint Bernard Pass crossing into Italy - a fantastic stunning drive.
Once the music festival had gone, we got to see how Aix-Les-Bains is in normal times. A very elegant town with lots of Belle Époque architecture reminiscent of Harrogate (but with sunshine!)
We’d been for a day trip when we stayed in Annecy but had only seen the stunning lake Lac du Bourget.
The town roads however are pretty bad (like quite a lot of French town roads), broken surfaces partly caused by the tree lined streets plus nasty speed humps.
Time to leave our Aix base for our journey onto Epernay this time choosing the quick route using tolls - a 5 hour 30 minute trip that flew by - you can really munch miles on these roads (unlike the congested UK roads) - driving standards too are far superior to the UK with the only issue being when you slow down for speed humps that some drivers attach themselves to you rear bumper - an exception more than the rule.
We’ve been to Epernay 4 times now and really love the relaxed vibe and once again our accommodation was bang in the centre of town with an allocated space in the Centreville underground car park (think Q park standard).
A must do is exploring Avenue de Champagne and the many champagne houses - we’ve done it so didn’t need to repeat it.
With it being July, many of the decent restaurants (not Michelin star or anything pretentious) in town were fully booked up so a point to note.
We did our customary wander around part of the Route Touristique du Champagne driving through stunning rolling countryside and sleepy villages - as they are so sleepy places for lunch are few and far between as these villages house all the vineyard workers. They really are stunning with stunning floral displays in many of them. Of course the obligatory visit to the old Reims/Gueux GP circuit.
A visit to the massive E LClerc hypermarket at Champfleury just South of Reims to top up on wine, champagne, cremant, Ricard & June gin was a must do. The hypermarket is so big some staff use rollerblades. It puts our UK supermarkets to shame.
We really enjoyed our 4 nights here but it was soon to time to hit the road back to IJmuiden for our ferry.

We went with the satnav which took us into Belgium and unfortunately the area around Charleroi and the Brussels eastern bypass - an awful road to be avoided if possible then the snorefest 100km/h through the Netherlands.
In hindsight, I think we’re now back to Eurotunnel in future.
However, if you ever considering a Euro road trip, do it without hesitation and before it isn’t possible.

[havoc]

Boxster5 said:

...do it without hesitation and before it isn’t possible.

And exacly why do you think it won't be possible? We're well post-Brexit and we can still do trips like you suggest. Freedom of movement is enshrined in the EU legislation.

Care to reconsider your hyperbole, or are you just attention-seeking?

[Vasco]

I've no idea why this has been posted.

What time limit ?

[Boxster5]

havoc said:

Boxster5 said:

...do it without hesitation and before it isn’t possible.

And exacly why do you think it won't be possible? We're well post-Brexit and we can still do trips like you suggest. Freedom of movement is enshrined in the EU legislation.

Care to reconsider your hyperbole, or are you just attention-seeking?

If you’re not interested move on - before you can’t can mean many things (eg health issues, age etc, we’re not part of the EU now [unfortunately]). At some point, I think car travel will be actively discouraged.
Keep your snarky comments to yourself.
I was giving an overview of one of our many trips, nothing more.

[Boleros]

Well the title is a bit odd so not surprised people are picking up on it. Still, looked like a great trip and a cracking little car to do it in.

[Dingu]

Looks like a great trip!

[ettore]

havoc said:

And exacly why do you think it won't be possible? We're well post-Brexit and we can still do trips like you suggest. Freedom of movement is enshrined in the EU legislation.

Care to reconsider your hyperbole, or are you just attention-seeking?

Miserable git!

Looks a great trip.

[soad]

Dingu said:

Looks like a great trip!

[Vasco]

It may well be a nice trip - that was never the point.

Just what is this time limit ?

[havoc]

Vasco said:

It may well be a nice trip - that was never the point.

Just what is this time limit ?

Indeed.

Click-bait title...pretty pathetic on here.

[vikingaero]

We normally visit Metz and Thionville in the winter months when the whole North East of France is a drizzly miserable concrete industrialised wasteland. It's nice to see pictures in the summer. Metz and Thionville are lovely clean towns/cities with some really nice restaurants. There's a real sense of civic pride that we lack in the UK.

[Imasurv]

Harsh crowd.

Good trip OP helpful for me planning similar next year

[Boxster5]

Imasurv said:

Harsh crowd.

Good trip OP helpful for me planning similar next year

Thank you - that was the whole point of the title.
Do it while you can whether that’s health related, age related or restrictions on our movement through government policy.
We’ve lost too many friends and family recently who would have loved to do what we do. OK it’s not for everyone but if you are thinking about it then now is the time.
I’m not even responding to those who think it has an ulterior motive.
Pistonheads has become a bit of a cesspit of weird people!

[BoRED S2upid]

Nice write up I’ve been to Metz by accident on the way to Spa. Lovely city. Done most of Europe but never the Newcastle ferry.

[Dog Star]

Boxster5 said:

If you’re not interested move on - before you can’t can mean many things (eg health issues, age etc, we’re not part of the EU now [unfortunately]). At some point, I think car travel will be actively discouraged.
Keep your snarky comments to yourself.
I was giving an overview of one of our many trips, nothing more.

I tend to agree - I think the days of hopping in your car and tooling round the continent (or UK) are numbered - not this decade but things will tighten up, of course if you’re very rich then you will be able to crack on.

[Lotusgone]

That looks to have been a very pleasant trip.

My take on the title was that it referred to age - either fatigue from distance driving or needing the loo every hour. Mrs L & I have decided that driving all the way to the south of France is too far for us any more (63 & 59) and will fly next time.

However we are doing Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest-Zagreb-Lake Bled-Graz-Vienna later this year. 900 miles, 12 days, should be fine.

That's before we get too old, travel insurance becomes prohibitive and Putin sends his tanks further west. I hadn't considered regulations.

[havoc]

Dog Star said:

I tend to agree - I think the days of hopping in your car and tooling round the continent (or UK) are numbered - not this decade but things will tighten up, of course if you’re very rich then you will be able to crack on.

I'd love for you and Boxster5 to explain your thought processes / reasoning there...all I'm reading right now is Daily Mail-esque fearmongering and soundbites.

The way I see it:-
- probably as many people holiday via car as holiday via plane, across Europe. I'd love to know why you think that's likely to become controlled AT ALL in the future...
- noting that freedom of movement is enshrined in the EU constitution.
- ...and despite Brexit we still have visa-free access to the EU, so our freedom to enter/exit is also unfettered. And once we're in there our movement is also 'free'. That's also immensely unlikely to change as they're our closest neighbour and biggest trading partner.
- ...and without any fascist-like controls being implemented, that's all there is to it.
- ...so I'm struggling to see HOW things will 'tighten up'? Or in Boxster5's words "before it isn't possible"?!?

Personally I think you've both been drinking the Kool-Aid - there is no anti-car conspiracy that will go so far as to restrict movement in ANY way beyond financial. And that will be very slow and gradual and linked to the environment (fuel duties and/or road charging) as there's no other real reason and the EU really isn't THAT control-freakish, plus making travel expensive makes everything else expensive - going to work, delivering goods and services, etc - it becomes a massive drain on the circular flow of money and risks pushing countries into a recession. And yet again, our politicians AREN'T that stupid.


By all means go on road trips - enjoy them - I've done several into/across Europe, and plan to again. But don't go dragging the hyperbole out and suggest we're running out of time, because that's just immature paranoid bullst.

[daqinggregg]

This all went South, very quick; I took OP’s post, to mean take these adventures, while you still have the mobility to do so.

That could be down to me, enjoying a write up of a road trip, of which I’ve enjoyed reading many. Thank you, for taking the time to post.

[Dunbar871]

OP - Ignore the usual lefty loons on here seeing Daily Mail conspiracies and god knows what based on a few innocent comments about a road trip.

Sounds like a great tour, but it needs more photos. This guy (not me) seems to have the right idea...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Boleros]

havoc said:

I'd love for you and Boxster5 to explain your thought processes / reasoning there...all I'm reading right now is Daily Mail-esque fearmongering and soundbites.

The way I see it:-
- probably as many people holiday via car as holiday via plane, across Europe. I'd love to know why you think that's likely to become controlled AT ALL in the future...
- noting that freedom of movement is enshrined in the EU constitution.
- ...and despite Brexit we still have visa-free access to the EU, so our freedom to enter/exit is also unfettered. And once we're in there our movement is also 'free'. That's also immensely unlikely to change as they're our closest neighbour and biggest trading partner.
- ...and without any fascist-like controls being implemented, that's all there is to it.
- ...so I'm struggling to see HOW things will 'tighten up'? Or in Boxster5's words "before it isn't possible"?!?

Personally I think you've both been drinking the Kool-Aid - there is no anti-car conspiracy that will go so far as to restrict movement in ANY way beyond financial. And that will be very slow and gradual and linked to the environment (fuel duties and/or road charging) as there's no other real reason and the EU really isn't THAT control-freakish, plus making travel expensive makes everything else expensive - going to work, delivering goods and services, etc - it becomes a massive drain on the circular flow of money and risks pushing countries into a recession. And yet again, our politicians AREN'T that stupid.


By all means go on road trips - enjoy them - I've done several into/across Europe, and plan to again. But don't go dragging the hyperbole out and suggest we're running out of time, because that's just immature paranoid bullst.

I mean yes, there's an element of tinfoil hattery about the thinking behind the thread title and subsequent reasoning but your aggressive response is a bit over the top, non?