European Road Trip - where to start?
Discussion
I have been looking at these stunning pics in an older thread and having 'acquired a new Lotus Emira I feel it is only right to treat it to a holiday drive with Mrs 111R. 
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
But where to start? I've done a few Euro trips with Lotus in the past and it always seems more fun with a group so should I be looking at one of the organised holidays or just research it and do it alone?
All thoughts and advice appreciated.
Also I am conscious there are better times to do these trips when it's not the main Euro holiday season.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
But where to start? I've done a few Euro trips with Lotus in the past and it always seems more fun with a group so should I be looking at one of the organised holidays or just research it and do it alone?
All thoughts and advice appreciated.
Also I am conscious there are better times to do these trips when it's not the main Euro holiday season.
We've always done our own thing, whether when just us or with friends. I consider the planning to be part of the holiday.
I do still look at organised trips, but always come away with the same conclusion in that you're paying a lot for someone else doing a job you could do.
We go late June/early July or early Sept to miss the school hols and ensure the mountain passes are open.
I do still look at organised trips, but always come away with the same conclusion in that you're paying a lot for someone else doing a job you could do.
We go late June/early July or early Sept to miss the school hols and ensure the mountain passes are open.
I'm going in June (on motorbikes) ferry to Bilbao and ferry to home from zeebrugge this is the first year I haven't planned the routes accommodation ETC.
June is so we miss the school holidays and price hikes.
Mate just tells me what I need to pay him and I transfered him the cash.
All my mate will tell me is we're going to,
Spain
Andorra
France
Italy
Switzerland
Germany
Netherlands
To be honest I'm looking forward to not knowing 100% where we are going or where we are staying.
I've planned the last three years so this will be a mystery tour for me.
June is so we miss the school holidays and price hikes.
Mate just tells me what I need to pay him and I transfered him the cash.
All my mate will tell me is we're going to,
Spain
Andorra
France
Italy
Switzerland
Germany
Netherlands
To be honest I'm looking forward to not knowing 100% where we are going or where we are staying.
I've planned the last three years so this will be a mystery tour for me.
myvision said:
To be honest I'm looking forward to not knowing 100% where we are going or where we are staying.
I've planned the last three years so this will be a mystery tour for me.
This sounds good - a vague idea where you want to end up, decide the route on the fly based on what looks interesting and book hotels online while driving. You tend to stumble upon roads that are interesting (whatever that means for you) often by accident.I've planned the last three years so this will be a mystery tour for me.
Outside the "usual suspects", Slovenia and Croatia can be very nice. Slovenian secondary roads tend to be in immaculate condition, and the scenery is similar to Switzerland or Austria. Croatia has a bit more contrast.
If feeling adventurous, traversing Bosnia from Bihac, Busko Blato or Neum to (Slavonski) Brod (and from there, e.g. to Zagreb) will be an experience (avoid peak holidays, check insurance certificate requirements and internet roaming). Lots of nice stuff to see at the beginning of the route, closer to Brod it gets much more sombre.
Edited by PetrolHeadInRecovery on Sunday 12th January 11:39
"Shoulder seasons" avoiding the main holiday months (July & August) are best for avoiding the crowds, important if the journey is a major part of the holiday, not just the destinations. We usually go May/June or September.
Work out where you want to go then look at what the attractions are en route. From what I remember of the thread you listed it involved a trip to the Alps via the Black Forest, a pretty good starting point! The wife and I have had several multi-destination euro trips yet strangely, until this year, the journey was just point to point autoroute blasting. This year we've done:
Brittany, Bordeaux (wine festival), Dordogne: the only autoroute was La Rochelle to Bordeaux as it was getting late, and Sarlat to the overnight as we came back via the tunnel. The routes were mostly "follow the nose" with just a rough idea. The accomodation was three destinations for the fortnight booked in advance
Ferry to Santander then Potes in the Picos de Europa, Logrono, San Sebastian, Lourdes, Sarlat. All accomodation was booked in advance and I had a good idea of the routes, a little bit of autoroute coming out of San Sebastian and on the last day from Sarlat to Limoges (the wife decided she wanted Cointreau Noir, so we headed to Angers..). Return ferry from Caen.
I also had a motorbike trip to Spain in May but my bike threw a spanner in the works, along with other events that conspired against us. Something good that came from that was realising how easy it is to ride for a bit then pick a destination for the day and use a hotel app to get accomodation for the night. Also if you go to a good destination, it's hard to find a bad route, but easy to miss the best ones. We missed out a lot, as the later journey with my wife proved, although one of the best bits of that was stumbled across by "following my nose".
Next year three of us are going to the Alps on the bikes heading down through Germany to Austria, the Dolomites and working our way back. I've got detailed routes for the mountains, I've lost track of how many passes we're doing, at least 15, but the accomodation will be booked on the day, and we've wangled an extra couple of days so we'll spend that somewhere, somehow.
In '26 the wife and I are taking the motorbike to Slovenia and Croatia using the motorail from Germany to Austria to take out the slog.
Resources I've used for planning these trips include:
Google Maps
Garmin Basecamp
https://www.alpen-paesse.ch/
https://www.bestbikingroads.com/
Various YouTube channels of people doing trips like these
Various travel sites
Booking.com
Eurocamp
Marvilla Parks
The social aspect of travelling in a group is a nice draw, but is balanced by the freedom of doing what you want when you want. Know what you like: we did a couple of cities in our autumn trip and realised neither of us like city breaks. The wife is a nature lover and I love mountains, so our next roadtrip is Slovenia & Croatia (fingers crossed for bear spotting).
Work out where you want to go then look at what the attractions are en route. From what I remember of the thread you listed it involved a trip to the Alps via the Black Forest, a pretty good starting point! The wife and I have had several multi-destination euro trips yet strangely, until this year, the journey was just point to point autoroute blasting. This year we've done:
Brittany, Bordeaux (wine festival), Dordogne: the only autoroute was La Rochelle to Bordeaux as it was getting late, and Sarlat to the overnight as we came back via the tunnel. The routes were mostly "follow the nose" with just a rough idea. The accomodation was three destinations for the fortnight booked in advance
Ferry to Santander then Potes in the Picos de Europa, Logrono, San Sebastian, Lourdes, Sarlat. All accomodation was booked in advance and I had a good idea of the routes, a little bit of autoroute coming out of San Sebastian and on the last day from Sarlat to Limoges (the wife decided she wanted Cointreau Noir, so we headed to Angers..). Return ferry from Caen.
I also had a motorbike trip to Spain in May but my bike threw a spanner in the works, along with other events that conspired against us. Something good that came from that was realising how easy it is to ride for a bit then pick a destination for the day and use a hotel app to get accomodation for the night. Also if you go to a good destination, it's hard to find a bad route, but easy to miss the best ones. We missed out a lot, as the later journey with my wife proved, although one of the best bits of that was stumbled across by "following my nose".
Next year three of us are going to the Alps on the bikes heading down through Germany to Austria, the Dolomites and working our way back. I've got detailed routes for the mountains, I've lost track of how many passes we're doing, at least 15, but the accomodation will be booked on the day, and we've wangled an extra couple of days so we'll spend that somewhere, somehow.
In '26 the wife and I are taking the motorbike to Slovenia and Croatia using the motorail from Germany to Austria to take out the slog.
Resources I've used for planning these trips include:
Google Maps
Garmin Basecamp
https://www.alpen-paesse.ch/
https://www.bestbikingroads.com/
Various YouTube channels of people doing trips like these
Various travel sites
Booking.com
Eurocamp
Marvilla Parks
The social aspect of travelling in a group is a nice draw, but is balanced by the freedom of doing what you want when you want. Know what you like: we did a couple of cities in our autumn trip and realised neither of us like city breaks. The wife is a nature lover and I love mountains, so our next roadtrip is Slovenia & Croatia (fingers crossed for bear spotting).
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