Summer European Road Trip

[chris21]

I am hoping to travel around Europe with 2 friends this summer for approximately 4-6weeks. We all live in the UK and are British citizens, all have full drivers licences. We have a few connections out there with friends in France, Belgium and Estonia and relatives in both Holland and Italy which we are hoping we can stay with for a night to save money.

Basically, the trip (if possible) would be in a car (probably rental) starting by crossing the Channel Tunnel to France then first driving North to Belgium and progressing through various countries along the way to reach our furthest point Estonia and then coming back a different route and ending back in France before heading back home.

The proposed route outwards is: UK, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia

route inwards is: Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Poland, Czech Repulic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, France, UK.

The idea of using the car is for the greater freedom to do what we want by not relying on public transport. It would also be easier for storing bags and it even gives us a place to catch up on lost sleep when we're not driving.

To be honest we dont know the exact places we will be travelling to yet, but we would like to know would it be possible to use a car to travel? This site has a lot of information on trains but not cars. Do you have to be a certain age to drive in different countries? Can we realistically leave the EU with a car?

thanks in advance!

[madamtrashheap]

chris21, welcome to the boards!

The places you've listed for your trip look great, lots to see and cover so you should enjoy it. Keep us updated with your adventures when you get out there.

The reasons you haven't seen too much on the GFE site about travelling by car are:
1.car rental can be more expensive (insurance, fuel, tolls, etc) than many budget travellers want to be
2. budget airline travel and train travel seem more convenient (planning, actually getting there,etc) than navigating the trip yourself and people want to relax a little.
3. parking in major cities can be a major hassle
4.many people aren't confident driving in foreign countries

Having said that, by all means look into driving yourselves around Europe as it will give you better access to small towns and out of the way places than if travelling by train. You could look at buying a car/van to travel in rather than rent, not sure if that suits. Many travellers buy a van, drive around Europe and camp out at camping sites to save on accommodation costs. Here are a few other points to consider:

[/u]- it isn't always secure and can be hard to find in large cities. Plus leaving your bags/possessions in a car while you sightsee or overnight is a security risk as this is like a red flag to theives to break in. Even if there's nothing of great value, it will be a major inconvenience and cost if your car is broken in to.
Fuel costs - don't forget to work these into your budget
Border crossings - do some research into crossing non-EU borders and what visas you'll need and consider the delay factor while waiting for your papers to be checked
Road Tolls - some countries (eg Italy, France, Austria) require road tax stickers or tolls to be paid to drive on the motorways/freeways. Check the costs for the days you'll be in each country to give you an idea for your budget.
Driving ages in the countries you've listed are generally, to the best of my knowledge, 18yo. some are 17yo but if you use 18 as the minimum you should be fine. Have a look at www.2pass.co.uk/ages.htm. However, to rent a car the ages vary from 20 to 25y.o. This is something you'll have to check, depending on your ages, directly with each country and/or rental agency.
Driving licences issued in EU countries are valid in all other EU countries, but do some checking on the non-EU countries. You should be fine, but some may require an additional International Licence.

You could consider using a combination of car and train (and plane if it suited) travel, picking up and dropping off your rental car in different cities or countries. It will cost a little more but is convenient and allows you to make the most of your trip (sleep on overnight trains, drive to small towns, etc).

Good luck with the planning!

[chris21]

Thanks for the reply, it has unearthed a lot of issues that need to be looked into.

In response to some of your points, with only one car being rented the costs are being split 3 ways so surely the costs wont be too expensive in comparison to buying a 3 rail tickets. We already anticipated the fuel costs but have accepted that as a necessary evil if we want to enjoy the freedom of the car. Also most rental cars will surely come with insurance ranging in price depending on your intended use of the car.

The cheap airline and rail travel are a good alternatives but flight may not be so appealing as we are already based in Europe and are a few hours drive from the continents mainland. Also I feel flights could mean we waste valulable time in airports waiting for flights in which we could be on the road seeing the world go by! Also I think I would feel more relaxed in a car with my friends listening to music, talking etc than worrying about flight times.

Hopefully with a bit of luck we can park in the car parks of the places we stay. If its a friends house, motel, hotel, etc. Im thinking we can stay clear of busy city centres and crime hotspots.

The driving may be an issue with my friends, although I spent the summer of 2006 in the USA and spent some seriously long hours behind the wheel. I once drove from San Antonio to Kansas City in a day, I even managed to stay on the right side of the road too! My friends may lack confidence initially but hopefully if I lead the way they will feel more comfortable after a while. Maybe avoid the autobahn's though!

Regarding the ages to drive/rent cars on mainland Europe, I am 21 years old and my friends will also be 21 by the time of the trip. I have seen that most rental companies allow a 21 year old to rent a car but usually include a young drivers fee.

Thanks again for the reply, I welcome everyone to analyse these initial plans and pick faults with them! I would rather they were highlighted now before we committ to finalising any plans.

[madamtrashheap]

Glad the advice helped and gives you something to work with. Maybe sit with your friends and work out a list of the cities in the countries you're thinking of visiting and you'll find a more concrete route will sift out from there (with allowance for detours when something looks interesting of course!). If you want help with the city suggestions, post your list in the Itinerary section on these boards.

One thing I'm wondering about is that 6 weeks might still not be enough to cover all of the places listed. By that I mean you'd be looking at staying 2 days in each place then moving on in order to cover the ground. Use tools like www.viamichelin.com to plan your journeys as they will give you an idea of journey time (always looks closer on a map!) and best routes to take. Don't avoid the motorways/autobahns/autostrade/autoroute all the time as you'll add more time to your journey and they aren't that scary really, just stick to the right hand lane!

[herrbert]

Hi Chris,

At least do a check if you can enter Belarus without a visa. My guess is that for all other countries you'll be alright.

As you don't write the cities, that are on your route, it is hard to say, but in some cases it might still be good to compare the costs between the car, and a plane. Also consider creating a break in the middle of the trip. To have a week without driving.

Compare prices between the car-rental companies in different countries. Renting a car in Spain will be a lot cheaper, than in the Netherlands.

Take into account that parking in cities, can be really expensive when you park in parking lots, or can be restricted to 30 minutes/1 hour or is only possible for people with a permit to park there (the people who live there). When visiting Amsterdam, the best choice is to park at the Olympic Stadium, and to use the P+R program (you need to go to the entrance, and ask for this). You will get tickets to get to/back from the city, by tram and even better you get a fixed price for parking the whole day for 6 euro. which is much better than parking in the city, paying 2 euro per 30 minutes.

Another possibility to consider is whether or not to get rid of the car, when you arrive in a city, you want to stay longer, and to rent a new one, when you are leaving. Renting a car for a longer time, might get you a better price, but you still need to park the car everywhere you go. (and in most cities, it would mean paying to park). At least in Holland, a lot of parking lots, have no fixed price per day, so you would pay 4 euros an hour for parking your car ... imagine you stay for 3 days. If they do have a maximum fee for a day it can be as high as 15, 20 euros, and even higher in major cities.

For shorter distances, let's say: Rotterdam - Amsterdam. I would take the train, because it would take longer, and most likely cost more to rent a car. For some longer distances, it might be better to get a plane. (You could fly Berlin - Tallinn, and then drive back via Latvia - Lithuania etc ...)

I am not sure about your argument on storing bags. My guess is that you would be flying into Europe, so you are already restricted on weight.

[me]

chris21 said:

Can we realistically leave the EU with a car?

Belarus & Switzerland are actually the only places on your lists that are not EU states! i've driven between Germany, France & Switzerland many times. don't know anything about driving an EU car into Belarus. [your car rental contract might specifically say not to drive in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine. actually, the contract might even say no to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, & Slovenia, too, even though these are EU states.]

what the others have said is all quite true. and, although you've driven on the right side in America, you say your friends haven't. being still rather new drivers, might that cause a problem? i recall signs in London sidewalks reminding pedestrians to "Look Right!" before crossing the street. Renting a car with the drivers seat on the left with help.

believe me, parking is an expensive proposition on the continent!

[chris21]

Thanks again for the help everyone! I thought I'd try and add a little more information to your concerns, advice and suggestions!

Firstly I'm thinking of renting a car from a British company and using the Channel Tunnel not a flight to get to the mainland, therefore our baggage will not be restricted to that of a flight as will be driving the entire trip. Also we plan on using just one car for the duration of the trip so there will be no need to keep on changing cars, we collect a car in London, rent it for a few weeks, go see Europe, then return the car to London.

Regarding the car parking issue which has been introduced: we plan to park the car in places where it is free to park such as the car parks of the cheap motels, hotels we stay in. I'm fairly certain most hotels will have parking facilities available to its customers. Also when the time arises we can park up outside the homes of our friends/family we have out there when we visit them. We will definately not be using expensive car parks in the middle of the city centres!!

The Belarus problem is not a big issue really because we are very flexible with our route and should that be difficult we can simply just take another route.

If we are going to struggle to fit that much travel into the 6week period then we can always shorten the route, reduce the number of places we visit or the time we spend in each place. We are yet to get around to planning an exact route from city to city yet as we are in the initial stage of seeing if this road trip is a feasible option before getting ahead of ourselves!

Thanks again for all the interesting replies, please feel free to keep the useful advice coming!

[me]

chris21 said:

Firstly I'm thinking of renting a car from a British company

beware driving on the right side of the road in a car which has its steering on the right.

- d

[chris21]

yes good call! I will maybe see if any rental companies have any left hand drive cars available!

[madamtrashheap]

chris21 said:

The Belarus problem is not a big issue really because we are very flexible with our route and should that be difficult we can simply just take another route.

Worth noting also is the fact that the border crossing between Belarus and Poland often takes a while (entering the EU, visas, etc), so keep that in mind if you keep your planned route.

[me]

chris21 said:

yes good call! I will maybe see if any rental companies have any left hand drive cars available!

actually, it would make more sense to rent the car on the continent. why pay to transport a rental across the channel?

[chris21]

Yes I was thinking of that option, probably cheaper too, thanks again David!

[cherish]

Don't know if this was mentioned yet, but I believe that many car rental companies won't let you take their car into the Czech Republic. This is just from what I've read in guide books, no first hand experience here so don't quote me on it! lol. Just might wanna keep that in mind since I saw that was a stop on your itinerary.