Advice for road trip from Finland to Pyrenees?

[Portti]

Hello,

I'm planning a road trip from Finland to Pyrenees starting on Mid-May this year and I would like to have some advice/tips for the trip.

I have just booked tickets for the ferry from Finland to Travemünde starting on 16 May 2026 and I will be returning to Finland on the same ferry route on 7 June 2026 making this a three week trip. The overall idea for the trip is to drive pretty quickly from Travemünde on northern Germany to the Spanish Pyrenees, and then spend about a week in the Pyrenees before heading back to Travemünde.

The initially planned route would take me through northern Germany and then through France to San Sebastian in Spain. From there the plan would be to make my way slowly towards the eastern part of the Pyrenees. Once I've reached Andorra La Vella (or somewhere around there), I would start my way back towards north via French Alps.

I'm also planning to have my car (Alpine A110) serviced somewhere along the way, most likely in France. I've already done four European road trips on the Alpine in the last four years.

I've done my first European road trip over thirty years ago and have quite a bit of experience on driving in the continental Europe and I'm quite familiar with driving in Germany but I haven't driven in France since nineties and I have driven only once in Spain on a rental car. Therefore I would appreciate advice on driving in France and Spain and tips on places to see and also accommodation recommendations etc.

The initial route plan is as follows (driving distance following quickest route in kilometres in brackets for each day) :

• Day 1: Drive to ferry in Helsinki (110 km)
• Day 2: Arrival to Travemünde late in the evening, then drive to Bremen (176 km)
• Day 3: Bremen - Reims (680 km)
• Day 4: Reims - Blois (399 km)
• Day 5: Blois - Saint-Emilion (416 km)
• Day 6: Saint-Emilion - San Sebastian (279 km)
• Days 7 to 14 somewhere in the Pyrenees, more detailed plan to be determined
• Day 15: Andorra La Vella - Millau (381 km)
• Day 16: Millau - Nimes (159 km)
• Day 17: Nimes (possibly Alpine service)
• Day 18: Nimes - Chamonix (460 km)
• Day 19: Chamonix - Karlsruhe (459 km)
• Day 20: Karlsruhe - Hannover (470 km)
• Day 21: Hannover - Travemünde (222 km)
• Day 22: On a ferry
• Day 23: Arrival to Helsinki harbour

I've done some initial research on the route and places I would like to visit but I would appreciate advice on possible places to visit along the way or recommendations on places worth visiting overnight instead of my initial plans. Sometimes it is necessary to use motorways to make good progress but I like to take the smaller roads whenever possible.

For background I'm interested in nature and hiking but also like to visit different sights like castles, museums etc. I do like good (reasonably priced) food but wine is of no interest to me since I don't drink any alcohol. Therefore wine tasting etc. is not worth recommending to me, although I can appreciate nice looking vineyards. I do like cities also but driving and parking in big cities can be painful.

Another area where I would appreciate recommendations is accommodation. If you have tips on accommodation on my planned route or near my planned route, that would be nice. Budget for the accommodation is pretty tight and if I could find accommodation for around 100 euros per night for one person, that would be good. I can stretch to up to 150 euros per night for some nights if necessary but would prefer cheaper accommodation. I don't need anything luxurious but the ability to park my car safely would be high on my priorities.

[Imasurv]

Sounds like an amazing trip you are planning.

A week in the Pyrenees sounds good, but if you are heading to San Sebastián, you should also consider the Picos de Europa and the Rioja region, including Burgos, Logrono and Pamplona, which take you back towards the Pyrenees.

There are some good recommendations for places to stay in and around the Pyrenees, including Vielha and La Seu d'Urgell which both have good Paradores to stay at.

[Ussrcossack]

Try Paradors in Spain.

Government owned. You used to be able to get a discount if over 60 I believe

[Portti]

Thanks for the responses Imasurv and Ussrcossack!

Pico's de Europa and Rioja seem to be further south/west from San Sebastian and since my current route plan already involves about 5,000 km of driving, I'm not that keen on adding much more driving. Thanks for the tip anyway.

I was not familiar with the Paradores but Wikipedia seems to say that: "Paradores de Turismo de España S.M.E. S.A., branded as Paradores, is a Spanish state-owned chain of luxury hotels that are usually located in historic buildings or in nature areas with a special appeal. "

Sounds interesting, I will look into them in more detail. Thanks! Do they usually have safe parking available for cars?

[Imasurv]

They are typically well regarded by road trippers when travelling in Spain, I have several booked for my road trip later this year, and safe parking was an important aspect. Don t expect to find secure underground parking at all of them, but they generally have decent sized car parks. You can usually check this via google street view etc.

Edited by Imasurv on Tuesday 6th January 18:11

[Palmela]

As stated, paradors tend to have safe and sensible parking but they do vary considerably, so always check. I've stayed in quite a few and whilst none have been what I'd call 'secure', they've all been safe and off the beaten track.

As someone said, there's an over 60s discount. Highly recommended.

Sounds like a great trip!

[Portti]

Thanks Imasurv and Pamela. Paradores sound promising.

Parking doesn't have to be underground parking garage when outside of the big cities. Just something where I feel reasonable safe knowing that nobody is going break into or steal the Alpine and hopefully spacious enough so that car stays dent free.

Edit: Oh, and I'm still slightly below 60 so no discount for me.

[Palmela]

Is your itinerary fairly fixed? I haven't mapped it in detail but you have some fairly short days. That might be deliberate so that you've got time to explore your destination, in which case fine, but you might have the potential to have longer days in the car and more time in some of the nicer cities.

[Portti]

Palmela said:

Is your itinerary fairly fixed? I haven't mapped it in detail but you have some fairly short days. That might be deliberate so that you've got time to explore your destination, in which case fine, but you might have the potential to have longer days in the car and more time in some of the nicer cities.

Only thing that is fixed at the moment are the ferry trips. I will be arriving to Travemunde late in the evening of 17 May and therefore plan to drive only to Bremen that night. For the next day I was planning a longer drive of 680 km to Reims to get to France as soon as possible.

From there on I'm open for suggestions. Generally what I like to do is start early in the morning and reach the day's destination early enough to be able have time to walk around the destination and to see some sights.

[Palmela]

Portti said:

Only thing that is fixed at the moment are the ferry trips. I will be arriving to Travemunde late in the evening of 17 May and therefore plan to drive only to Bremen that night. For the next day I was planning a longer drive of 680 km to Reims to get to France as soon as possible.

From there on I'm open for suggestions. Generally what I like to do is start early in the morning and reach the day's destination early enough to be able have time to walk around the destination and to see some sights.

The early starts make sense. I'll let others comment on the itinerary which overall looks pretty good I think, but I was in Rheims a few weeks back and was slightly underwhelmed. The cathedral is lovely but that was it for me. You might think about extending that trip slightly and go to Epernay, which has a much more 'champagne' feel to it.

[Imasurv]

I was in champagne in September and didn’t mind Reims, and the cathedral is something to behold! Epernay is smaller and Avenue de Champagne is my kind of bar crawl if you are into champagne! Hautvillers near Epernay is a lovely village with more champagne houses and tasting rooms that belies its size, some of which have tasting rooms like someone’s front room!

[Portti]

Thanks again for additional comments related to Reims and Epernay. I will do a little bit research to compare these two cities although it has to be said that my stay on that area will be very short since I the plan is to arrive there after a long drive and probably leave in the next morning so not much time to see things in that region.

Looking at the map there seems to be something called "Parc naturel régional de la Montagne de Reims" between Reims and Epernay. Even with a limited amount of time perhaps it would a good idea to at least drive through the natural park instead of taking the motorway.