Europe In May & June

[Mich1958]

Hiya All and a very Happy New year to you all.

I'm looking for some advice and knowledgeable input from people that have done some of my proposed european tour.

I have driven in Europe a dozen times mainly in American cars Dodge Viper, Dodge Ram and Delorean (Irish American), but this will be the first for the Corvette C8 and one that will stretch her legs, it is by far the longest single european road trip we have attempted approx 4.5k, but it's not our longest road trip, my long suffering wife is used to my long distance wandering.

So please feel free to offer advice on places to see and things to do that may be in the destinations or along the route or just good old common sence advice on places we are intending to visit.

Along with any information regarding LEZ on the places we are going to visit, I know about the French one and the German one but anything else would be helpful.

Cheers and thanks in anticipation
Mich & Sue


European Road Trip

Route Plan A approximate timings and mileage.

1. 29th May. Home to Hull ferry P&O to Rotterdam. mileage 85

2. 30th May. Rotterdam to Hamburg . mileage 320

3. 1st June. Hamburg (Minatur Wonderland) to Berlin. mileage 180

4. 2nd June. Berlin. ( Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate) mileage 0

5. 3rd June. Berlin. mileage 0

6. 4th June. Berlin to Colditz Castle (stay overnight in Colditz) mileage 145

7. 5th June. Colditz to Zagan (Stalag Luft 111 Great Escape) mileage 170

8. 6th June. Zagan to Prague (Railway restaurant) mileage 141

9. 7th June. Prauge. mileage 0

10. 8th June. Prauge to Brezinka (Auschwitz) mileage 275

11. 9th June Brezinka (Auschwitz) mileage 0

12. 10th June Brezinka to Vienna. mileage 244

13. 11th June Vienna to Bratislava. mileage 50

14. 12th June Bratislava to Budapest. mileage 124

15. 13th June Budapest. mileage 0

16. 14th June Budapest. mileage 0

17. 15th June Budapest to Zagreb. mileage 214

18. 16th June Zagreb to Lake Bled. mileage 125

19. 17th June Lake Bled to Burg Hohewerfen (via Grossglockner pass) mileage 220

20. 18th June Burg Hohewerfen (Where Eagles Dare) mileage 0

21. 19th June Burg Hohewerfen to Lake Konstz. mileage 230

22. 20th June Lake Konstz. mileage 0

23. 21st June Lake Konstz to Stelvio Pass. mileage 142

24. 22nd June Stelvio to Lake Como. mileage 115

25. 23rd June Lake Como. mileage 0

26. 24th June Lake Como. mileage 0

27. 25th June Lake Como to Lauterbrunnen Piz Gloria (007 On Her M S S) mileage 155

28. 28th June Lauterrunnen to Geneva. mileage 140

29. 29th June Geneva to Turin. mileage 155

30. 30th June Turin (Fiat factory, Italian Job Roof test track) mileage 0

31. 1st July Turin to Monaco (Drive F1 Circuit) mileage 160

32. 2nd July Monaco to Lyon. mileage 306

33. 3rd July Lyon to Le Mans. mileage 365

34. 4th July Le Mans to Le Val Ygot ( V1 Launch site) mileage 160

35. 5th July Le Val Ygot to Cailais. mileage 115

36. 5th July Calais to Dover, Dover to Home. mileage 221

Cheers Mich & Sue

[Evercross]

Mich1958 said:

27. 25th June Lake Como to Lauterbrunnen Piz Gloria (007 On Her M S S) mileage 155

I did that exact drive as part of my Euro road trip last summer (in the other direction). I assume you will be driving the Susten Pass from Wassen, but follow the Gotthard Pass From Airolo to Wassen as well. You'll go past Andermatt and you can take in another 007 location!

Edited by Evercross on Thursday 8th January 11:41

[SuperPav]

I mean that itinerary does take in a lot of highlights already and no really long legs so you've broken it up nicely. Sounds fantastic.

I'd spend a bit more time in holland at the start if you're landing in Rotterdam. Madurodam, sand dunes and somewhere like Valkenburg are really lovely and a bit different to the mainstream destinations. Not massively out of the way for you either so a good way to start.

I also had a great drive via Luxembourg, don't remember where exactly but it was driving from Stuttgart to Calais, and it took us through some lovely forest roads (non-motorway, A-road type, but cruising rather than racing). I wouldn't stop there but nice to drive through.

[sherman]

Onlything I would change is stop 34.
Change your V1 site to a V2 site.
I went last year. Was there for hours wandering reading everything.
La Coupole - Wikipedia https://share.google/zhy2s75xa3q6KCk08

[chopper602]

12/13 Don't try and drive into Vienna - go straight to Bratislava get the train into Austria - much cheaper too

Went to Zagan last year - Great Escape might keep you busy for 2-3 hours, but not much else there, unless you carry onto Wroclaw

+1 on Colditz, make sure you on the full tour and get to see the glider in the loft

[isaldiri]

seems a bit of a shame not to pass by the nurburgring prior to Hamburg? (although make sure you don't go there around the N24 as it's mayhem...)

[RizzoTheRat]

SuperPav said:

I'd spend a bit more time in holland at the start if you're landing in Rotterdam. Madurodam, sand dunes and somewhere like Valkenburg are really lovely and a bit different to the mainstream destinations. Not massively out of the way for you either so a good way to start.

The Louwman museum in Den Haag is probably more suitable for a petrolhead https://louwmanmuseum.nl/
Rotterdam has some great architecture if if you're in to that kind of thing, eg https://kubuswoning.nl/en/

There's a lot to look at in Berlin, you have a couple on your list, but consider Classic Remise and the Reichstag. There's a whole thread in the Holidays section on here on Berlin with some great suggestions.

Check which passes are open, Stelvio usually opens in mid to late May I think, but some of the less busy passes may well not open that early.

In Italy, the valley roads past the lakes can get pretty congested, and you get a lovely view of the backs of the houses that have the nice views. If you take the hills you'll find empty roads and stunning views. The road past Lake Valvestino was a highlight for me on a motorbike trip a few years back

[omniflow]

As far as I know a single LEZ sticker from an EU country covers all of them - you don't need separate ones for France, Germany etc.

Get the sticker from an official website, not some 3rd party which costs a lot more for exactly the same thing.

[sherman]

omniflow said:

As far as I know a single LEZ sticker from an EU country covers all of them - you don't need separate ones for France, Germany etc.

Get the sticker from an official website, not some 3rd party which costs a lot more for exactly the same thing.

Really?
I bought a French and German ond last year to make sure.
It was only €20 total.
Better safe than sorry for that price.

[Mich1958]

Evercross said:

I did that exact drive as part of my Euro road trip last summer (in the other direction). I assume you will be driving the Susten Pass from Wassen, but follow the Gotthard Pass From Airolo to Wassen as well. You'll go past Andermatt and you can take in another 007 location!

Edited by Evercross on Thursday 8th January 11:41

I'll look into the Passes I, just don't want to be driving passes all day as the boss lady will be getting onto me, but ill check them out thanks

[Mich1958]

SuperPav said:

I mean that itinerary does take in a lot of highlights already and no really long legs so you've broken it up nicely. Sounds fantastic.

I'd spend a bit more time in holland at the start if you're landing in Rotterdam. Madurodam, sand dunes and somewhere like Valkenburg are really lovely and a bit different to the mainstream destinations. Not massively out of the way for you either so a good way to start.

I also had a great drive via Luxembourg, don't remember where exactly but it was driving from Stuttgart to Calais, and it took us through some lovely forest roads (non-motorway, A-road type, but cruising rather than racing). I wouldn't stop there but nice to drive through.

I have done Luxembourg a few times and its very nice and Stuttgart, Holland we did a lot of last year in the Delorean, We met up with the NL Delorean and Viper club of NL and had a fab week around the lowlands including Amsterdam the Hauge and Delft which was beautiful.

[Mich1958]

chopper602 said:

12/13 Don't try and drive into Vienna - go straight to Bratislava get the train into Austria - much cheaper too

Went to Zagan last year - Great Escape might keep you busy for 2-3 hours, but not much else there, unless you carry onto Wroclaw

+1 on Colditz, make sure you on the full tour and get to see the glider in the loft

Many thanks for the info I'll defo do the tour in Colditz.

[Mich1958]

isaldiri said:

seems a bit of a shame not to pass by the nurburgring prior to Hamburg? (although make sure you don't go there around the N24 as it's mayhem...)

Done the Nurburgring many many times as both a driver and a passenger in the ring taxi with Sabine

[Mich1958]

RizzoTheRat said:

The Louwman museum in Den Haag is probably more suitable for a petrolhead https://louwmanmuseum.nl/
Rotterdam has some great architecture if if you're in to that kind of thing, eg https://kubuswoning.nl/en/

There's a lot to look at in Berlin, you have a couple on your list, but consider Classic Remise and the Reichstag. There's a whole thread in the Holidays section on here on Berlin with some great suggestions.

Check which passes are open, Stelvio usually opens in mid to late May I think, but some of the less busy passes may well not open that early.

In Italy, the valley roads past the lakes can get pretty congested, and you get a lovely view of the backs of the houses that have the nice views. If you take the hills you'll find empty roads and stunning views. The road past Lake Valvestino was a highlight for me on a motorbike trip a few years back

Cheers great info thank you