So, big Euro road trip planned for September:
Calais
Belgium (Namur)
Black Forest (Baden Baden, Frieburg)
Liechtenstein (Vaduz)
Austria (Innsbruck)
Passes? Stelvio maybe
Lake Garda, Como, Maggiore
Lausanne
Luxembourg
Calais
We’ll take about two weeks, maybe a bit more in the 1.5ND2, above are just my initial thoughts after a bit of reading and research regarding a possible route and stops.
Will use soft bags and travel light (obvs!) looking to stay in a mixture of B&B, Airbnb and reasonable hotels.
Really looking forward to it and I’m asking for some collective wisdom from you good folks on routes, accomodation, car prep and anything else you think might be useful. Thanks very much!
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See here and relayed pages for ideas
https://www.sceniccartours.com/italian-lakes-2024
We booked with them a few years ago for a trip to Lake Garda.
Thanks, I have seen this company advertised, thanks for the link. How many people aand cars per tour, are you escorted? I plan to do it myself this time and have booked the tunnel - could be persuaded next time though.
We’re heading in a similar direction in June, but to the Dolomites not the Lakes.
Our stopover points are:
Caen - Verdun - Memmingen - Cortina d’Ampezzo (7 day stay here), then Winterthur - Clairvaux-les-Lacs (2 days) - La Chatre-sur-le-Loire - Caen.
We had a week in the Black Forest last September and would certainly do it again, but that trip convinced me to avoid Belgium - awful roads, awful drivers, nothing to recommend it really!
From a previous trip, I can recommend the Hotel Lovere Resort & Spa on the Lago D’Iseo, and the city of Brescia.
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We did Austria with scenic car tours a few years ago, everything is planned and you get a route/guide folder to follow with lots of info [things to see and do] but you are not escorted. if you have the time to organise it yourself I dare say you can save a fair amount [saying that they are a business not a charity] and plan your trip to take in things you want to see on the way.
Try not to make your daily drives too long , if it takes a day longer it takes a day longer if you do 3-400 miles a day you just end up knackered and you miss so much, we drove past bayern munich footy stadium and dachau concentration camp but we didn’t have time to visit.
We stayed for a day in Ulm lovely place and if you can try and fit in the grossglockner mountain road you certainly won’t be disappointed.
cheers Dave
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If you are going near Augsberg the mazda museum is well worth a visit also.
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Thanks, didn’t know Belgium wasn’t good, I’ll look at re-routing that bit. I’ll look up Augsberg too. Keeping driving hours per day down, most are three or four hours, we’re not in a rush. Grossglockner pass I’ll look at.
Thanks everyone for replies so far.
Belgium can have some poor quality roads, but there is also plenty of good scenic driving so maybe don’t dismiss it completely, having said that whenever we do the Black forest we go peage to Reims and then N roads across to Frieburg, could easily do that to Baden Baden.
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Reims is a fabulous city and the old GP circuit is worth a visit (although they are getting a bit shirty about parking outside the old pits!)
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While heading up through Europe to Norway, we didn’t have the best experience in passing through Belgium, very busy, incomprehensible manoeuvres were witnessed and while managing to stay alive, will never forget. Perhaps it was the result of the time of year (Autumn holiday) it was the most stressful part of the journey!
The Italian lakes are magical! Th car ferries are great for getting across at various points & can save significant driving time & fuel if required. Bellagio on Como is beautiful. We stayed by Maggiore last year, also lovely. Nice to drive the Stelvio but it can get very busy, lots of camper vans which can hamper progress. It’s actually quite nadgery rather than flowing, there are more enjoyable roads in the area but I would do it anyway for the experience.
San Pellegrino terme is a lovely old spa town & home to the famous mineral water. We tend to stay in apartments with a washing machine so we don’t need to take a huge wardrobe. Go for quick drying non iron items if you can. Unless you are en-route 2 & 3 nights are better than just one, you get more chance to explore and chance to wash & dry clothes. Take a long sleeved shirt for the car, if the sun is strong you can fry in the cabin and arms can get sunburnt. A foldable cool bag and a couple of freezer blocks are handy for food shopping unless you eat out all the time which can get expensive over 2 or 3 weeks. We fit a Revo rack just for food shopping between apartments because the car is usually rammed! Absolutely love our road trips!
Thanks, someone else was saying Belgium isn’t great, might detour!
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We’ve booked in a hotel on the opposite side of the lake to Bellagio (which is soo expensive to stay in!). I’ll look up San Pellegrino. We will deffo have to travel light - good tip about long sleeved tops. Thanks.
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