Europe Road trip advice!

E902717 · 03-09-2009, 05:15 AM

Me and a mate want to do a Europe road trip at the end of July for 4 days. The main aim is to drive the Stelvio Pass.

We want to try and drive through as many countries as we can.

couple of places below we would like to go.

Stelvio Pass
Munich BMW museum
Stuttgart - Porsche museum (mate has got a Porsche)
Nurburgring Ring

Both of us have never done anything like this before so tips and advice would be greatly appreciated

I have done a route of google maps just trying to figure out how to save it!

also please recommend roads, places etc... to visit.

Thanks

RCUK · 03-09-2009, 05:34 AM

Im gonna keep an eye on this thread - myself and my 911 owning mate were discussing a road trip yesterday!

Your itinerary makes pretty good reading!

DonM3 · 03-09-2009, 05:53 AM

My only advice would be to to avoid France if possible. The french cops take great pleasure from fining the british for the most silliest of things.
You need to check out the driving requirments for each country that you plan to travel through.

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice...bycountry.html

booforty · 03-09-2009, 06:08 AM

Have a look at my thread here which should give you some ideas: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170297

If you are heading to the Stelvio Pass via the Nurburgring you could consider stopping at Spa, the BMW Museum, Neuschwanstein Castle, Lake Garda, Ferrari Factory at Maranello, the San Bernadino Pass, and stops at Lichtenstein and Luxembourg

Carrera RSR · 03-09-2009, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonM3

My only advice would be to to avoid France if possible. The french cops take great pleasure from fining the british for the most silliest of things.
You need to check out the driving requirments for each country that you plan to travel through.

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice...bycountry.html

Just read the advice on driving abroad for France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland as I'm going to all these countries over the next few months. If you haven't read this recently it is worth noting some changes and/or refreshing yourself.

Use of headlights in built up/non built up areas
Carrying of replacement bulbs and the tools to replace them
Carrying of a spare wheel and tools to replace a punctured tyre
Carrying reflective vest for some or all passengers
If your sat nav has speed camera function in POI's this must be switched of in CH.
The use of speed detectors is banned across most of EU. Not allowed in CH even if switched off (I guess this is seen as contraband)

Speeding fines are rife across EU now and heavily enforced. The days of blatting down to the Alps at over 100mph are now gone.

E902717 · 03-09-2009, 08:25 AM

Boof - That route looks amazing! Cant be that close to the Maranello and not go!

CD · 03-09-2009, 08:37 AM

european road trips are just the best fun !!

i didnt manage to go through germany, but did manage BELGIUM > FRANCE > SWITZERLAND > ITALY > ANDORRA > SPAIN...

I went late september, when the roads were a little quieter with tourists, something to consider ?

my best advice i could give you is, get a few recomendations of the best roads to travel on , where to go and what to see (BOOFORTY or HOTCOUPE have good suggestions, and i pretty much based my route round their suggestions, so ask them) then get out the maps on the table and look for all the twistiest, mountain roads, interesting back roads you can find and join them all together AVOIDING AS MANY MAIN ROADS AS POSSIBLE !

that way you may come accross deserted roads to 'play' on like i did ...

or roads that just drop away into the clouds like this ...

or how about miles of deserted hairpins ? ...

and if your lucky you may even find some of this .... (not a photoshop, we actually found this place

)

have fun mate, im sure you will have a great time

E902717 · 03-09-2009, 09:52 AM

CD - Which country are those pics from? they look fookin amazing

CD · 03-09-2009, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E902717

CD - Which country are those pics from? they look fookin amazing

the spectacular mountain road is a back road accross the alps

the road disapearing into the clouds is a place called Saint Madalaine 2000m up !

the hairpins were out of the mont blanc tunnel heading up the alps in Italy.

the 'pussy' was in .. well im sure you can guess ... france

CD · 03-09-2009, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carrerarsr

Carrying of a spare wheel and tools to replace a punctured tyre

so how do us poor BMW runflat folk go on

Hotcoupe · 03-09-2009, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CD

the spectacular mountain road is a back road accross the alps

the road disapearing into the clouds is a place called Saint Madalaine 2000m up !

the hairpins were out of the mont blanc tunnel heading up the alps in Italy.

the 'pussy' was in .. well im sure you can guess ... france

Fantastic pics Chris, and 'Pussy' was not too far from where I was last July.

Did you get to Geneva? Or Annecy?

Lac d'Annecy:

Pont De la Caille (N201 road to Geneva from Annecy)
Stumbled across this awesome bridge

CD · 03-09-2009, 01:45 PM

no i didnt go to any of those places, not that i remember anyway.

great pics ian !!! ... people are allways asking me why my car is the center of attention in my pictures

looks like your the same as me

Carrera RSR · 03-09-2009, 03:16 PM

Ian, everytime I drive past that bridge I ask myself could it be bungy jumped !! Have to stop and hang over the edge

Hotcoupe · 03-09-2009, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carrerarsr

Ian, everytime I drive past that bridge I ask myself could it be bungy jumped !! Have to stop and hang over the edge

Well funnily enough there is a story attached to the bridge pics.
We had just walked to the other side and turned around to go back to the car and we saw this:

The two Guys were from the West Country and had decided whilst passing on the way to go snowboarding to try a bungee jump.

They were all set up and ready to go (I also had my jacket off ready to jump myself

) and 4 Gendarmes pitched up after receiving a tip off.

The Guys were carted off in a meat wagon after having their equipment confiscated.They were confident they would just get off with a heavy fine though, so hopefully that turned out to be the case.

hmi1750 · 03-09-2009, 04:25 PM

Wow... I really want a road trip like this as soon as my PhD can allow for it.

E902717 · 03-09-2009, 04:31 PM

thanks for all the comments... we are trying to draw up a route nothing set in stone yet.

We have got 4 days/ 3 nights to do it in so trying to get as much in as we can, anyone got any good recommendations for where to stay?

We want to stay around the following -

Stelvio Pass
lake Como
Lake constance

The places above fit in with the rough route we have at the minute.

And we will go down to Maranello to the Ferrari museum

(thanks to booforty for the recommendation)

Thanks

booforty · 03-10-2009, 09:43 AM

Look forward to hearing your plans and seeing how it goes

E902717 · 03-10-2009, 09:54 AM

This is our rough route so far, 10 Countries in total if you include the UK

Geoffo · 03-10-2009, 11:05 AM

This looks like a great route..

alcook · 03-10-2009, 11:22 AM

Realistically, 4 days is going to be too little.

I did the Stelvio run with a group of Scoob mates and and Elise and we did the trip in a week. Fri Night 1 am crossing (after a 5 hour drive to Dover from Yorkshire) arriving back Saturday morning after full day driving back from Switzerland...

We had a few days 'exploring' the various passes (Grimsal, etc), but all in all we took a whole day to get there and a whole day to get back. Getting back from Brienz in Switzerland to Yorkshire in a single stint via Calais / Dover was a killer. Brienz is a good 4-5 hours still from Stelvio.

I'd say it was dangerous at the Yorkshire end with me about to fall asleep....

So realistically with two very hard driving days there and back... you'll have 2 days there and in the area. Trying to fit in those 3 other things and you're going to struggle...

I'd add another 2 days at least to manage the other visits....

E902717 · 03-10-2009, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alcook

Realistically, 4 days is going to be too little.

I did the Stelvio run with a group of Scoob mates and and Elise and we did the trip in a week. Fri Night 1 am crossing (after a 5 hour drive to Dover from Yorkshire) arriving back Saturday morning after full day driving back from Switzerland...

We had a few days 'exploring' the various passes (Grimsal, etc), but all in all we took a whole day to get there and a whole day to get back. Getting back from Brienz in Switzerland to Yorkshire in a single stint via Calais / Dover was a killer. Brienz is a good 4-5 hours still from Stelvio.

I'd say it was dangerous at the Yorkshire end with me about to fall asleep....

So realistically with two very hard driving days there and back... you'll have 2 days there and in the area. Trying to fit in those 3 other things and you're going to struggle...

I'd add another 2 days at least to manage the other visits....

Thanks for the advice, we might be able to put another day on it but 2 might be pushing it the girlfreinds aint that happy on the whole plan already

We are all going in the same car so there will be 2 drivers sharing it, also we want to go to the ring but not sure about actually driving it in my car as i know i will need track insurance etc... knowing my luck i would probably stick it in barrier

Also we could do a proper ring trip later on and all take our own cars as its alot closer than the Stelvio pass and Maranello etc..

Its only in the planing stage at the minute so its likely to change....

How did you find Stelvio Pass? Have you got any recommendations on roads near by or roads to do on the way?

Also where did you stay?

Thanks

alcook · 03-10-2009, 01:36 PM

I can't help with the GF's I'm afraid... that required a Mulberry handbag and some Jo Malone perfume from my side as I went on my own with the lads.....

We caught the 2am ferry from Dover (not the 1am) as we felt the 2 hour crossing and having some 4 or so hours of pre Saturday rush hour driving would see us well through France and on towards Switzerland.. Unfortunately we caught some French strikes and lost a few hours...

..

We drove from Calais avoiding the £100 tolls (and adding 50 miles) through to Les-Rousses on the French side of the Swiss border. We stayed in a pre booked hotel. BY this time is was mid afternoon and we'd been travelling since 9pm the previous night.. so were up for a beer or 6..

We then went down to Lake Geneva and skirted up through St Moritz missing all the major roads and taking the B's and went to Brienz taking the ferry that the Top Gear lads did when they went.

From there we spent 2 days just doing as many passes as we could.. Sustenpass, Grindwald, Gottard, Furka, Oberwald... some just drove up as far as we could until snow blocked our path and we just drove back down... found some epic roads in the area... ones that just ended against a mountain... turnaround and head back.!

The we made the move over more passes to a sleepy 70's skiing resort and had a stunning Pizza.

Then from there to Davos for Lunch and then straight onto the top of Stelvio.. The Davos to Stelvio road was...awesome... no other word.

That was it.. time to go.. we headed back down and made our way to San Bernadino. Up to this point we'd thought the Davos road was the best.... but I can say that the 20 KM run up to the top of the San Bernadino pass was better. In 20+K's of hard charging...we saw one car coming the other way... Race track smooth and Jesus Christ what an epic road... We stayed at a small hotel righ at the top of the Pass and had a fantastic meal and some large beers... Mind blowing.

Back to Brienz over different passes for the last night.

Brienz back to calais is 560+ miles. So we set off nice and early to catch the 10pm ferry... We managed to catch an earlier one and landed early door Saturday morning... well knackered.

The the final 6 hour stint home from Dover.... man that was a 12 or so hour killer!!

If you're sharing, then excellent...

Top Tips:

1. Don't plan the hotels if you're going out of season. Just drive, find a hotel and haggle. You'll get a better price. Especially if you promise to drink / eat in the bar..

... Much better than planning ahead as that caused issues when we found a pass closed or wanted to try another pass due to recommendations. We cancelled the hotels ahead and just went where the roads took us...

2. Even though you may plan to miss the Swiss auto routes (green signs)... You will probably end up doing a small stretch. Buy a £20 toll ticket that lasts 12 months. There's no shorter values. We didn't as we'd programmed the Sat Nav to miss them. We ended up getting lifted by the cops for doing a small stretch of toll road (the bastards were waiting as we'd been spotted on on camera as they thought we were Gumball racers

) but a 100 Euro fine later we still had to buy a ticket..... You can buy them in most shops.. Highly recommended!!

3. Just enjoy it! memories to last a life time and some truly spectacular roads and scenery....

03-09-2009, 05:15 AM	#1
E902717 Colonel 57 Rep 2,402 Posts Drives: E91 335d M-Sport Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: uk iTrader: (0)	Europe Road trip advice! Me and a mate want to do a Europe road trip at the end of July for 4 days. The main aim is to drive the Stelvio Pass. We want to try and drive through as many countries as we can. couple of places below we would like to go. Stelvio Pass Munich BMW museum Stuttgart - Porsche museum (mate has got a Porsche) Nurburgring Ring Both of us have never done anything like this before so tips and advice would be greatly appreciated I have done a route of google maps just trying to figure out how to save it! also please recommend roads, places etc... to visit. Thanks __________________ Car: 2011 BMW E91 335D M-Sport Previous: 2010 BMW E70 X5 3.0D M-Sport - last seen going backwards in a hedge
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03-09-2009, 05:34 AM	#2
RCUK Lieutenant Colonel 100 Rep 1,672 Posts Drives: 911 Turbo Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Orpington, Kent iTrader: (4)	Im gonna keep an eye on this thread - myself and my 911 owning mate were discussing a road trip yesterday! Your itinerary makes pretty good reading! __________________ Been there, done that, driven the 'Ring
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03-09-2009, 05:53 AM	#3
DonM3 Captain 8 Rep 629 Posts Drives: AW e92 M3 Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: London iTrader: (1)	My only advice would be to to avoid France if possible. The french cops take great pleasure from fining the british for the most silliest of things. You need to check out the driving requirments for each country that you plan to travel through. http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice...bycountry.html
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03-09-2009, 06:08 AM	#4
booforty Major General 337 Rep 8,811 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: London, UK iTrader: (0) Garage List 2008 E92 M3 [0.00]	Have a look at my thread here which should give you some ideas: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170297 If you are heading to the Stelvio Pass via the Nurburgring you could consider stopping at Spa, the BMW Museum, Neuschwanstein Castle, Lake Garda, Ferrari Factory at Maranello, the San Bernadino Pass, and stops at Lichtenstein and Luxembourg
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03-09-2009, 08:25 AM	#6
E902717 Colonel 57 Rep 2,402 Posts Drives: E91 335d M-Sport Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: uk iTrader: (0)	Boof - That route looks amazing! Cant be that close to the Maranello and not go! __________________ Car: 2011 BMW E91 335D M-Sport Previous: 2010 BMW E70 X5 3.0D M-Sport - last seen going backwards in a hedge
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03-09-2009, 08:37 AM	#7
CD gone ... but i will be back ! 62 Rep 1,183 Posts Drives: 335D Coupe Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: England (north) iTrader: (0)	european road trips are just the best fun !! i didnt manage to go through germany, but did manage BELGIUM > FRANCE > SWITZERLAND > ITALY > ANDORRA > SPAIN... I went late september, when the roads were a little quieter with tourists, something to consider ? my best advice i could give you is, get a few recomendations of the best roads to travel on , where to go and what to see (BOOFORTY or HOTCOUPE have good suggestions, and i pretty much based my route round their suggestions, so ask them) then get out the maps on the table and look for all the twistiest, mountain roads, interesting back roads you can find and join them all together AVOIDING AS MANY MAIN ROADS AS POSSIBLE ! that way you may come accross deserted roads to 'play' on like i did ... or roads that just drop away into the clouds like this ... or how about miles of deserted hairpins ? ... and if your lucky you may even find some of this .... (not a photoshop, we actually found this place ) have fun mate, im sure you will have a great time __________________ E92 335D / QUAIFE LSD / EIBACH / DIMISA / REMAP / 19" HAMANN EDITION RACE REPS ... USUALLY WITH A HEALTHY SPLATTERING OF GOOD OLD YORKSHIRE MUD ...
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03-09-2009, 09:52 AM	#8
E902717 Colonel 57 Rep 2,402 Posts Drives: E91 335d M-Sport Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: uk iTrader: (0)	CD - Which country are those pics from? they look fookin amazing __________________ Car: 2011 BMW E91 335D M-Sport Previous: 2010 BMW E70 X5 3.0D M-Sport - last seen going backwards in a hedge
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03-09-2009, 01:45 PM	#12
CD gone ... but i will be back ! 62 Rep 1,183 Posts Drives: 335D Coupe Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: England (north) iTrader: (0)	no i didnt go to any of those places, not that i remember anyway. great pics ian !!! ... people are allways asking me why my car is the center of attention in my pictures looks like your the same as me __________________ E92 335D / QUAIFE LSD / EIBACH / DIMISA / REMAP / 19" HAMANN EDITION RACE REPS ... USUALLY WITH A HEALTHY SPLATTERING OF GOOD OLD YORKSHIRE MUD ...
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03-09-2009, 03:16 PM	#13
Carrera RSR Colonel 75 Rep 2,937 Posts Drives: BMW Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Location: Location: iTrader: (1)	Ian, everytime I drive past that bridge I ask myself could it be bungy jumped !! Have to stop and hang over the edge
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03-09-2009, 04:25 PM	#15
hmi1750 Major 25 Rep 1,130 Posts Drives: M135i Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: London, UK iTrader: (0)	Wow... I really want a road trip like this as soon as my PhD can allow for it.
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03-09-2009, 04:31 PM	#16
E902717 Colonel 57 Rep 2,402 Posts Drives: E91 335d M-Sport Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: uk iTrader: (0)	thanks for all the comments... we are trying to draw up a route nothing set in stone yet. We have got 4 days/ 3 nights to do it in so trying to get as much in as we can, anyone got any good recommendations for where to stay? We want to stay around the following - Stelvio Pass lake Como Lake constance The places above fit in with the rough route we have at the minute. And we will go down to Maranello to the Ferrari museum (thanks to booforty for the recommendation) Thanks __________________ Car: 2011 BMW E91 335D M-Sport Previous: 2010 BMW E70 X5 3.0D M-Sport - last seen going backwards in a hedge
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03-10-2009, 09:43 AM	#17
booforty Major General 337 Rep 8,811 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: London, UK iTrader: (0) Garage List 2008 E92 M3 [0.00]	Look forward to hearing your plans and seeing how it goes
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03-10-2009, 09:54 AM	#18
E902717 Colonel 57 Rep 2,402 Posts Drives: E91 335d M-Sport Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: uk iTrader: (0)	This is our rough route so far, 10 Countries in total if you include the UK Attached Images __________________ Car: 2011 BMW E91 335D M-Sport Previous: 2010 BMW E70 X5 3.0D M-Sport - last seen going backwards in a hedge
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03-10-2009, 11:22 AM	#20
alcook Captain 22 Rep 639 Posts Drives: M4 CP Convertible Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Yorkshire, UK iTrader: (0)	Realistically, 4 days is going to be too little. I did the Stelvio run with a group of Scoob mates and and Elise and we did the trip in a week. Fri Night 1 am crossing (after a 5 hour drive to Dover from Yorkshire) arriving back Saturday morning after full day driving back from Switzerland... We had a few days 'exploring' the various passes (Grimsal, etc), but all in all we took a whole day to get there and a whole day to get back. Getting back from Brienz in Switzerland to Yorkshire in a single stint via Calais / Dover was a killer. Brienz is a good 4-5 hours still from Stelvio. I'd say it was dangerous at the Yorkshire end with me about to fall asleep.... So realistically with two very hard driving days there and back... you'll have 2 days there and in the area. Trying to fit in those 3 other things and you're going to struggle... I'd add another 2 days at least to manage the other visits....
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03-10-2009, 01:36 PM	#22
alcook Captain 22 Rep 639 Posts Drives: M4 CP Convertible Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Yorkshire, UK iTrader: (0)	I can't help with the GF's I'm afraid... that required a Mulberry handbag and some Jo Malone perfume from my side as I went on my own with the lads..... We caught the 2am ferry from Dover (not the 1am) as we felt the 2 hour crossing and having some 4 or so hours of pre Saturday rush hour driving would see us well through France and on towards Switzerland.. Unfortunately we caught some French strikes and lost a few hours... .. We drove from Calais avoiding the £100 tolls (and adding 50 miles) through to Les-Rousses on the French side of the Swiss border. We stayed in a pre booked hotel. BY this time is was mid afternoon and we'd been travelling since 9pm the previous night.. so were up for a beer or 6.. We then went down to Lake Geneva and skirted up through St Moritz missing all the major roads and taking the B's and went to Brienz taking the ferry that the Top Gear lads did when they went. From there we spent 2 days just doing as many passes as we could.. Sustenpass, Grindwald, Gottard, Furka, Oberwald... some just drove up as far as we could until snow blocked our path and we just drove back down... found some epic roads in the area... ones that just ended against a mountain... turnaround and head back.! The we made the move over more passes to a sleepy 70's skiing resort and had a stunning Pizza. Then from there to Davos for Lunch and then straight onto the top of Stelvio.. The Davos to Stelvio road was...awesome... no other word. That was it.. time to go.. we headed back down and made our way to San Bernadino. Up to this point we'd thought the Davos road was the best.... but I can say that the 20 KM run up to the top of the San Bernadino pass was better. In 20+K's of hard charging...we saw one car coming the other way... Race track smooth and Jesus Christ what an epic road... We stayed at a small hotel righ at the top of the Pass and had a fantastic meal and some large beers... Mind blowing. Back to Brienz over different passes for the last night. Brienz back to calais is 560+ miles. So we set off nice and early to catch the 10pm ferry... We managed to catch an earlier one and landed early door Saturday morning... well knackered. The the final 6 hour stint home from Dover.... man that was a 12 or so hour killer!! If you're sharing, then excellent... Top Tips: 1. Don't plan the hotels if you're going out of season. Just drive, find a hotel and haggle. You'll get a better price. Especially if you promise to drink / eat in the bar.. ... Much better than planning ahead as that caused issues when we found a pass closed or wanted to try another pass due to recommendations. We cancelled the hotels ahead and just went where the roads took us... 2. Even though you may plan to miss the Swiss auto routes (green signs)... You will probably end up doing a small stretch. Buy a £20 toll ticket that lasts 12 months. There's no shorter values. We didn't as we'd programmed the Sat Nav to miss them. We ended up getting lifted by the cops for doing a small stretch of toll road (the bastards were waiting as we'd been spotted on on camera as they thought we were Gumball racers ) but a 100 Euro fine later we still had to buy a ticket..... You can buy them in most shops.. Highly recommended!! 3. Just enjoy it! memories to last a life time and some truly spectacular roads and scenery....
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