Short Euro Road Trip (with teenagers)

[Storm 911]

Hi all,

I’m planning to get away for a short trip to Europe, and fancy driving.

I’ve never done this before, so I’m open to any sort of general advice (do I need special plates, things in the car etc).

I’ll be setting off from Manchester and going via the channel tunnel. I’m really flexible on route, I’m just looking for a fun, 7 day road trip.

Can anyone recommend any good locations to keep some teenage boys (and myself!) entertained. Things that would appeal are:

-Theme parks
-Water sports
-Adventure activities (climbing/zip lines that sort of thing)

If anyone can recommend some good destinations / routes I would really appreciate it.

It would be nice to see a few countries, and having a go on the Autobahn would be fantastic too.

Thanks for any info you can share,

[andyA700]

Storm 911 said:

Hi all,

I’m planning to get away for a short trip to Europe, and fancy driving.

I’ve never done this before, so I’m open to any sort of general advice (do I need special plates, things in the car etc).

I’ll be setting off from Manchester and going via the channel tunnel. I’m really flexible on route, I’m just looking for a fun, 7 day road trip.

Can anyone recommend any good locations to keep some teenage boys (and myself!) entertained. Things that would appeal are:

-Theme parks
-Water sports
-Adventure activities (climbing/zip lines that sort of thing)

If anyone can recommend some good destinations / routes I would really appreciate it.

It would be nice to see a few countries, and having a go on the Autobahn would be fantastic too.

Thanks for any info you can share,

To be honest, a few countries in seven days (particularly as you have travelled from Manchester to the Chunnel) sounds like an absolute nightmare. Do you really want to spend all your time in the car?

[Jordie Barretts sock]

Check your insurance doesn't just cover the bare minimum legal requirements for the EU.

A warning triangle and hi-viz for everyone in the car.

A UK sticker.

Breakdown cover.

Personal insurance for illness/accident, etc.

Don't forget just how vast the EU is. For instance, going to the Nuburgring will take a whole day from Manchester via the tunnel. Plan carefully as you really don't want to be spending a week on soulless EU motorways.

[Adenauer]

2 teenage boys you say?

Nürburgring and Phantasialand. Done.

[RizzoTheRat]

Depends on which bit of the road trip you want, a nice roads or nice destinations. The easy bits to reach, ie northern France, Belgium and Netherlands, have plenty of interesting stuff to look at but not many interesting roads. The roads generally get better as you get in to hillier terrain further south or in to Germany.

Walibi and Aqalabi near Brussels are a theme park and a waterpark next to each. We went 2 days running with a dat at each.
Pairi Daiza, not that far from Brussels, is a massive zoo where you can stay on site (we had a room overlooking the penguins and woke up to one tapping on the window) and takes a couple of days to see everything.

Efterling and Toverland in the Netherlands are both decent theme parks, and you want something motoring related visit visit the Louwman museum in Den Haag on the way through.

Europa Park in Germany is supposed to be very good but I've not been yet, it's way down south though so might be a bit further than you plan to go.

As an alternative to the tunnel, consider the overnight ferry from Hull to Hoek van Holland, more expensive but saves you an lot of distance and a night in a hotel, and gets you 3 hours further East if you want to heat towards Germany

[andyA700]

OK OP, here we go. Once you get to Calais, make your way to Colmar in the Alsace. You are then almost right next to the Black Forest and Freiburg. You could take a daytrip to the Motor Museum at Mulhouse.

https://www.musee-automobile.fr/en/

[Jimjimhim]

I think your boys will be extremely bored, kids want ice creams and water parks, they aren't interested in being stuck in a car for hours and hours.

[Ussrcossack]

I went to Mulhouse recently it wasn't for my teenage son.

But MotorWorld is a different story, located Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart

Enjoy the trip

[Storm 911]

Thanks everyone for the advice, I’ve made a note of what to take etc.

I’ll be looking at the recommended places to visit/see and then take a look at a map to plot out a route.

To those who have said that the kids might not enjoy it, they’ve requested something other than a standard beach holiday. But you’re right, I don’t want to spend 4 hours a day in the car. So I’ll look at fewer stops with more fun things to do based on the advice in this thread.

It’s 90 mins from Calais to Bruges for example, which is absolutely fine for a day and means we get to see something different,

[TCEvo]

RizzoTheRat said:

Depends on which bit of the road trip you want, a nice roads or nice destinations. The easy bits to reach, ie northern France, Belgium and Netherlands, have plenty of interesting stuff to look at but not many interesting roads. The roads generally get better as you get in to hillier terrain further south or in to Germany.

Walibi and Aqalabi near Brussels are a theme park and a waterpark next to each. We went 2 days running with a dat at each.
Pairi Daiza, not that far from Brussels, is a massive zoo where you can stay on site (we had a room overlooking the penguins and woke up to one tapping on the window) and takes a couple of days to see everything.

Efterling and Toverland in the Netherlands are both decent theme parks, and you want something motoring related visit visit the Louwman museum in Den Haag on the way through.

Europa Park in Germany is supposed to be very good but I've not been yet, it's way down south though so might be a bit further than you plan to go.

As an alternative to the tunnel, consider the overnight ferry from Hull to Hoek van Holland, more expensive but saves you an lot of distance and a night in a hotel, and gets you 3 hours further East if you want to heat towards Germany

I went to Europa Park a couple of weeks ago. It's huge with loads of roller coasters/attractions & there's also a separate (same company) water park next door. With kids/teens you could easily spend 2-3 days there. It is quite a long way south though (we added it into a longer Black Forest stay).

Coincidentally we also took the overnight ferry (from Harwich) to Holland, which was a new experience - well worth doing as it saved a night in a hotel & we were in Holland for 08:00 the following day, although it took approx. one hour from getting in the car after we'd docked to getting through passport control (Wednesday morning).

Motorworld Cologne was mentioned - went there as well. It's worth a stop as there's some decent stuff to see (classics, moderns, supercars inc. an Enzo & the Schumacher collection (lots of F1 Ferrari's)) & it has a couple of restaurants. Free entry, few Euro's to park, within an interesting historic building & it's just off the motorway so very easy to get to.