Help ! ! ! Need help planning a 4 week European Road Trip

[Pilly]

Have booked the 3rd July to 3rd Aug off this year to hit Europe for a road trip. Was planning on doing USA but after working out the price of flights and car hire, thought I might as well use the new Zed and hit Europe.

Planning on the Eurotunnel to Calais, driving up the coast, stopping to look at the D-Day beaches and WW1 battlefields etc. Want to then head across Belgium, into Germany, Austria (drive across some mountain passes etc), across Italy and head to Venice. Then across Italy stopping at the lakes etc, down the south coast of France, then drive back across France.

I have a route in my head (as you can see) but the problem I have is actually going about planning it, sites, things to see in Germany, routes through Austria. I am a large virgin to this and would appreciate any advice help.

HEEEELLLPP ! ! !

[Taz]

from what others have told me, its very easy to find b&b's

i have booked 2 weeks in August, i think i will take a small tent and just see where i get to, Autria and Italy being the final destination

[Lance]

Taz.....can you point Pilly in the direction of your thread.......some good stuff in there

Pilly, 4 weeks? You jammy git

DD Beaches and WW1 battlefields, to some extent mean heading west, then back on yourself for Ypres Passondale, the Ardennes etc.

For 4 weeks, I wouldn't know where to start advising, there's just so much to do/see. DON'T worry about places to stay though, loads and loads,, oh and loads.

A few ideas.....Millau Bridge, Massif Centrale, Oradour Sur Glane, numerous mountain passes, Slovenia, Berchesgarten, Dachau, Nurburgring, Eifel mountains, Pyrenees, Route Napolean, the Tyrol, Chamonix....................there's just so much you can cover in 4 weeks. The Dordogne, Andorra, the N260 (epic road) near Andorra, white water rafting nearby.

A very jealous Lance

[Taz]

as lance says, some good stuff in here:

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic ... 36&t=23816

[roofless]

The romantic road in Germany from Wurzburg down through bavaria to the alps. Then you can go across into austria and Salzburg. I am doing this later in the year. If you're taking 4 weeks then i would think about going further south into Italy, to Florence say. The countryside from Forli to Florence is glorious and a beautiful drive. From Florence head to San Gimignano and up to Bologna or Parma then via Genoa into Provence, or up to the lakes first then back via genoa to provence. Head for the Gorges du Verdon, great scenery and fun driving. Any of the ville perche in provence, old villages on hilltops are pretty. The drive from Saint Tropez to Bormes Les Mimosas, stay close to the coast, is a great drive in the late afternoon/evening. From Bormes theres a great drive over the massif des maures to collobrieres.

as far as planning, as much as i dislike the iphone there are some great apps for booking hotels. You need to decide if you are going freeform and book as you drive or to pre book places to stay which forces you slightly.

For 2 weeks i might suggest booking in advance, for 4 weeks i'd suggest book as you go - perhaps. If you don't book too much ahead then you an decide to stay somewhere you like longer and leave somewhere you don't like sooner.

Also you can get travel guides pretty cheap off amazon or ebay. I tend to find the places are ok just the prices are out of date. I would also recommend two good map books at least, a europe wide one to help with the whole trip and a more detailed country one for the countrys you plan to spend more driving time in, there's nothing more frustrating than finding the roads you need aren't shown on the map you have.
When i had three months to drive around europe we would just take turns each day and say 3rd right, 5th left etc, not sure you have quite the time for that but it can be great fun, not too many dead ends.
Sounds like a great opportunity

[billygilly]

Sweet, I've got august off to do a similiar trip dunkirk, bruges, germany, austria, italy.. See you guys on the roads!

[Ian Hammond]

Mrs H & I are planning to do a week in France during late June. It will probably be a trip through the Chunnel and then follow your nose sort of tour with very few ideas before we go. I'll be watching this thread with interest for recommended places to visit.

[roofless]

Mrs H & I are planning to do a week in France during late June. It will probably be a trip through the Chunnel and then follow your nose sort of tour with very few ideas before we go. I'll be watching this thread with interest for recommended places to visit.

Good luck sounds like a fine thing to do.
If you haven't already scanned through it pawnsacrifice has done an amazing job of bringing roadtrip links into one thread. There's some fab pics and ideas to look at. http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic ... 36&t=25591 Hopefully i have done it right and the link will be live. Happy road tripping

[Pilly]

Sorry haven't been on here for a while to say thanks for posts etc but work firewalls and lack of home pc haven't helped. So..... Thanks :0)

Think we have route planned. We are looking at doing eurotunnel to Calais, up to yvpes or day then up to brugges. Drive up to Rotterdam to join the Rhine then follow the river down through Germany. Not sure were abouts yet on the Rhine but we will then head across east taking in a few places the misses wants to see and do some of the romantic road. Head across to birtschgarden, see the eagles nest, spa and salt mines. Salzburg next then may go down to Innsbruck. Then across alps into Italy. Lakes then may head down to Pisa to see the leaning tower. Up the coast, Do the French south coast, across the pyrennes and up the west coast of France and home.

Hopefully this won't be too much in a month?!!?

The one question I still have is money??? Do you take cards and try and pay all on them or as someone I work with suggested, take euro trAvellers cheques!?! What would people who have done trips do/suggest???

Again thanks for posts and help, all been very useful.

P.s. If any weird words in here, used iPhone to type this and it likes changing spellings and words.

[roofless]

Sounds like a great trip, Not too much when you have 4 weeks, not so sure about Pisa, i might try and get to Bologna or Parma instead, but that's just me - or spend more time around the lakes, Verona is glorious and well worth a couple of days.

Re money I've only ever used cards in Europe, never found a problem and i don't like carrying too much money or travellers cheques etc. Just have a card each and a spare one for emergencies. Cheque with your card co if they load charges or do specials for usage in europe. Some i know used to do preferential rates. also you tend to get a better exchange rate on a card - or always used too, someone may correct me on those points
Whatever have a great trip
And take lots of pics

[lacroupade]

If you intend to do a fair amount of driving in France, I don't know what other European countries are like, but the peages have been significantly demanned the last couple of years so that getting a 'tag' is a 'bon idee', otherwise you are in and out of the car trying to stick your credit card in the damn machine at the front of a long queue of holiday traffic. The tag has a deposit of around 30 euros (refundable), and apart from a charge of around 4 euros for any month in which you use it, tolls are exactly the same as if you pay and go - debited straight to your plastic. And means you drive straight through the 'reserve' lanes.

And traffic outside Paris in August can suck bigtime as the whole country is on holiday so beware.

And TBH if you are planning to have your roof down at that time of year you are going to get seriously hot unless you are driving fast. One of the reasons you don't see many convertibles on the continent.

My preference for a roadster road trip is always May/June or Sept/Oct - just the most perfect ragtop driving you can imagine.

Finally, if you want to do any blasting from A to B...do it at night, as it avoids the roadside speed traps (most countries have no reciprocal arrangements for fixed speed cameras but in France there are often police cars hiding offroad, especially on the last one or two bridges before the tolls where a horde of waiting gendarmes will leap out and flag you off the road, followed by an on the spot cash fine and a major grilling if you aren't carrying your V5).

[mason storm]

Wow a whole month makes me start to reconsider adding more time to my trip< i could grab a cheap tent which would considerably reduce costs.

[Dannyd]

I did a few weeks a couple of years ago. Started off in holland and did the bloomen trail which was nice. If I had more time would have headed north to Denmark and scandawegia etc but headed south taking in Belgium and Luxembourg (other than spa dont bother) and then into Germany. Nurburg obligatory for obvious reasons and then as others gave said the romantic trail through Germany (Rhine valley) us fab. From there we went through Austria (there's a castle by the border that the Disney castle is based on that is worth a visit. Then through the alps & switz stelvio pass etc. Much written on that I'm sure. From there to genoa and would like to have travelled down into Italy if had more time but didn't so headed along the south coast through France (manic traffic) to Barcelona (amazing) and then back up to paris via Millau bridge then Chunnel home. We just went where the wind blowed and found b&bs on the way. Consider doing an anti clockwise lap and dont ignore the scandawegian countries and possibly head further east too.

[Pilly]

Off on the trip next Tuesday. Have managed to get all the essentials and have had a trial run with the bags in the boot (filled them up full with bed sheets and toilet rolls to see howany bags could fit in).

Just have 2 things not too sure on :-
1. Fire extinguisher??? Do I HAVE to take one??? Been told couple of different answers, I don't think I do.

2. Spare bulbs. What do I need, one of everything??? If so think that's 9 bulbs.

Hopefully someone can help again. When I get back I will attempt to put up photos.

[Lance]

Fire ex - no.

Spare bulbs are recommended not essential.

See here http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/to ... monaco.pdf