Assistance with Europe trip, sight seeing and nice roads

[Acksaw]

Hi all

Well, isn't this hard work... We are planning a drive in Europe at around August to do some driving but also stop over in a few places each day for some sight seeing... We both love the scenic routes so I'm trying to incorporate those, though I'll be in a Diesel Golf Estate (GTD) with a roof box and carrying 2 dogs so I'm not planning to go fast anywhere, just enjoy the roads and the views. The plan is to hit a good few countries and then finish it off with a lap of the Nurburgring and then venture home.. Mostly we will camp along the route if we can find some good camp sites, if not I suppose AirBnB could be the order of the day.. Not the easiest to find camp sites and EuroCamp is somewhat limited with destinations

Planning this is mental... I need to get some sort of route down before I can then check what tolls, vignettes, tags etc etc I need to pay so I can carry enough euros and swiss francs...

So far I have this.. Slightly limited by Google's ability to add more than a few stops but it's roughly where I see the route going and we can just navigate the routes manually when closer..

https://goo.gl/maps/wyz79Ktno4vjv7JQ7

Staffordshire to Folkestone on a Friday, stay overnight and catch the ferry or Euro Tunnel in the morning (ferry usually comes in cheaper with the dogs)

Calais to Strasbourg, mainly just a point to stop overnight at rather than sight seeing

Strasbourg to the Simplon Pass - could be a long drive though

Simplon Pass to Lake Como

Lake Como to Innsbruck

Then each day hitting a different country with no real planned roads
Slovenia, Czech Republic

Back to Germany for a lap of the Nurburgring providing tourist drives are on

Back home

I was thinking how to add in Route Napoleon amongst other things in southern France but not sure how much time that would add to the journey, we have 2 weeks for the whole thing.

Any input appreciated!

[mr pg]

One change I would suggest is that from Innsbruck you head towards Mittersall and take the Grossglockner pass to Lienz (which you're heading for anyway). It's a must do road, although a hefty 35eu toll, still worth it.

[Acksaw]

I think you're onto something there and I could hack the toll for the once in a lifetime kinda drive. Google maps can't seem to route it but should be simple to set the sat nav it from Innsbruck and then once done set it again to Ljubljana

[ZeroGroundZero]

Alternative route for scenic road through Switzerland would be to head through Bern, then past Interlaken and the on up over the Grimsel Pass.
Then head south to pick up on the Simplon.

Also your route could also go via Vienna if you wanted. A beautiful city to walk around if you are able to give a full day for it.
If not then Salzburg could also be an option. Again, another pretty city to walk around.


Another suggested option for the route, from Prague towards Nurburgring, you could stop off at Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Fantastic medieval town to explore. Loads of character.
(Not open for vehicles to enter, but can park up and easily walk in to the walled centre).

[Kev_Mk3]

All I can say is it looks a epic trip

[mr pg]

Acksaw said:

I think you're onto something there and I could hack the toll for the once in a lifetime kinda drive. Google maps can't seem to route it but should be simple to set the sat nav it from Innsbruck and then once done set it again to Ljubljana

Google won't allow you to route it at this time of year as it's closed due to snow. If you go, ensure you take the dead end road up to the glacier from the roundabout on the Lienz side of the pass.

[Acksaw]

Interesting regarding Google Maps not mapping due to the road closure, makes total sense!

I guess my last question for now would be how do you guys go on about staying overnight on these road trips? I'd usually say a hotel but with having the dogs they're not the easiest to find.. We're both happy to camp and have an adequately sized tent for us and the dogs... Trouble seems to be finding camping places... Not sure all the countries will be friendly to wild camping though. No doubt something to check, would rather stay at a proper camp site though as it would be straight forward to find some services to shower if we were sticking to the motorways but we probably won't always have that option!

[ZeroGroundZero]

Also use TomTom website for route mapping, that will show current road closures in an easier visual way.

[gdr]

Acksaw said:

Trouble seems to be finding camping places...

I've used pitchup.com which has a reasonable range of campsites. Many are for campervans but you can filter for tent pitches. Or just google "campsites near ......" Plenty campsites in Europe. Although often dominated by campervans, many are fine for tents, check they have grass or at least sand pitches rather than hardstanding though.

[Acksaw]

Thanks guys, great help so far... Still plenty of research to do so any info appreciated... Hoping to get the route mostly firmed up by the end of Feb!

[omniflow]

Acksaw said:

Interesting regarding Google Maps not mapping due to the road closure, makes total sense!

I guess my last question for now would be how do you guys go on about staying overnight on these road trips? I'd usually say a hotel but with having the dogs they're not the easiest to find.. We're both happy to camp and have an adequately sized tent for us and the dogs... Trouble seems to be finding camping places... Not sure all the countries will be friendly to wild camping though. No doubt something to check, would rather stay at a proper camp site though as it would be straight forward to find some services to shower if we were sticking to the motorways but we probably won't always have that option!

Use ViaMichelin for route planning and set the route option to "Discovery" - it will then route you over mountain passes. It will also show you the total costs of tolls, and if you enter the details of the car you're using, it will show fuel costs as well.

[Kev_Mk3]

Side note and sorry to bring this into it but had note from the wife (vet) to say that pet passports are being removed WEF tomorrow so may want to check on what's required with the dogs on the 1st to get things in place. Has been mention of bloods 4 months before travel etc It is changing a lot so just check, I mention this as don't want to see anyone booking things and then lose / spoil a trip due to this.

[Deesee]

Sounds like fun!

Via Michelin as mentioned above is great from planning and understanding tolls etc.

If you need any vignettes or toll beacons check out.

https://www.tolltickets.com/en/

You can pre purchase all your vignettes and hire toll passes in advance and pick them up from Folkestone services when you leave.

I would suggest that you look at going to Strasbourg via Luxembourg (cheap fuel) and no tolls, and look at crossing over the Rhine and using the autobahn, it’s a bit more fluid (and quicker)..on your way to Switzerland.

Here’s a fuel price guide..

https://autotraveler.ru/en/spravka/fuel-price-in-e...

As you can see filling up in Austria, Germany, Luxembourg has its advantages.

[Lord Flasheart]

check out www.grandprixgrandtours.com, they put our route together for the same price as we could have done it on booking.com but obv less hassle for us