Hi all.
We have had some excellent advice in the past...and in need of some help with planning our next trip.
My girlfiend and I have just purchased a Volkswagen Van, kitted out with a bed, ready to travel around Europe for 3 weeks this Summer. We will be attending a wedding in Orleans at the end of August before heading home - the rest is a blank canvas.
We want an itinerary that involves a bit of city sightseeing, mountain biking (we'll be taking our own) and the outdoors. We would also like some chill out time at the beach/lakes.
We have a rough plan but we need help piecing together the route - to ensure we make the most of the trip.
We are in our late 20's and have a budget of around £2,000. My girlfiend is also fluent in French!
We haven't booked the ferry, campsites or anything for that matter yet - so we need your help.
Here's the route we're thinking:
Cardiff - Dover (Ferry or Tunnel) - travel onto
Belgium - Brussels, then onto
Germany - Black Forest (biking), then onto
Switzerland (maybe Berne) - onto
Italy - Como and Garda - Verona - Pisa - onto
France - Cote d'Azur (Nice & Monaco) before going on to see family in Toulouse and then the wedding in Orleans before returning home.
We appreciate that this is a huge undertaking - 3,000 miles in 3 weeks, but am open to advice and suggestions.
Any help with planning our trip or with any suggested destinations to visit on-route would be invaluable to us!!!
Many thanks
European Road Trip
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I have no experience doing this sort of trip, but it seems like a lot of geography to cover in three weeks with little time to hang around anywhere. I would also think you may be late in getting reservations in your preferred campsite locations for this August.
But good luck! It could be a nice trip with some planning.
My advice would be to try and limit the length of your journey and then I'm going to advise that you need to go further.
I'd look at the Black Forest, Lake Constance, Austria, Slovenia and then Verona. This is partially because I think Switzerland is soooooo expensive that keeping out of the country is worthwhile and partially because I think Austria and Slovenia are so nice. Have a look at Google and come back if you want to discuss this further. Both Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia charge for the use of the motorway, (buy at the border).
If you are doing Brussels to the Black forest you might like to take a break on the Mosel (great cycyling) or the Pfalz (reasonable riding) I have a few bits at http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk
You are going at the height of the holiday season so areas such as
Italy - Como and Garda - Verona - Pisa - onto
France - Cote d'Azur (Nice & Monaco)
are going to be seriously busy with campsites hard to get into and wild-camping illegal.
Given the whole August thing I might re-plan and stay north of Zurich until 12 August, just to keep the crush to the minimum. You might also find the http://www.bison-fute.equipement.gouv.fr/en/traffic-forecasts-calendar-r106.html seriously useful to avoid the worse of the traffic in france