Hi all! I am renting a car for a month and traveling from through Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain, plus visiting nearby countries. Any advice? Anything I need to be aware of? I have my international license and insurance!

Each country has different laws about driving. Research....

GB they drive on the other side or the road, if renting ensure rental company does not mind you going to GB, you may find it cheaper to dump car and rent in UK.

1 month to visit 5 contries plus nearby ones, "are you having a laugh?"

Google times need 40% adding to them

<i> Any advice? </i>

1. Rent a diesel. Something small. Small = easier to park.

2. Start brushing up on your parallel parking skills.

3. Get your rental car with a GPS and make sure it is set to English before you leave the rental facility. Although it will almost certainly be cheaper to just buy a GPS, so...

4. Get a GPS with RDS-TMC antenna. Update the maps on it. Play with it so you know how to have it navigate around delays. Customize the screen how you want it. Load the traffic cameras on it.

I like TomTom's range of products so I recommend these:

TomTom VIA 1505M World Traveler Edition GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps: http://amzn.to/28MOR2O

RDS-TMC antenna: http://amzn.to/28MOOlQ

Universal High Speed Multi-Charger: https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Spe...dp/B005MIZYOW/


<i>Anything I need to be aware of?</i>

Plenty.

- There are speed limits on the Autobahn -- only certain stretches are no speed limit.

- Read up on the traffic laws of each country you will be driving in.

- You are not allowed to use speed camera detection in France.

- If you are not used to driving on the left hand side of the road, driving in the UK will suck -- especially if you end up with a manual.

- The secondary roads in the UK can be harrowingly narrow.

- Ignore any driving time estimate while in the UK. When you run into the inevitable traffic delay on the motorways in the UK, this is where having a GPS will be worth it because you can redo routes on the fly.

- If you speak the language of the country you are in, turn on the TP option on your radio.

I do not recommend using your smartphone for navigation. Many people do, but I don't.

<i>Load the traffic cameras on it.</i>
<i>You are not allowed to use speed camera detection in France.</i>

Loading traffic camera locations onto you GPS map is just as illegal in France as using detection equipment.

You just disable that feature when driving in France. I didn't explicitly state it because I didn't think I needed to. Consider this post my official statement to disable traffic/speed cameras while in France if you want to be compliant with French law.

<i> Driving through Western Europe
Posted by: pjvickers on Jun 22, 16 at 2:53am
Any advice? Anything I need to be aware of? </i>

For an illustrated introduction to driving in Europe see http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap18/auto-1.htm.

Consider one of the lease programs, e.g. Renault. You will probably save money.

Drive on the right lane whenever possible
Never take over from right
No turn on red
Lots of speeding cameras.
Rent an automatic if not used to manual
Michelin.com gives better accurate times.
Don't stay on lanes with T+ on French tolls.

Thank you all! I'm so glad I found this site. I will bring a gps, plus road maps. Does anyone know of any apps that will substitute for the cameras in France? In the U.S. We have one called Waze and it really helps.

apps in france as described would all be... illegal, in France.... as stated above.

For GPS I use "here" on my phone which is perfect

Speed cameras are posted ALL over France, and more are going up all the time. With few exceptions, speed limits are clearly posted, and of course you can research them online in advance. Just learn the rules, watch the signs, and don't exceed the limits. If you are caught on camera, your rental car company will be notified, and it will charge you an administrative fee. Then, months later, you will receive a notice of a fine in the mail, and by that time the fee may have doubled or even tripled. If you don't pay it, you might have a problem making future rentals.

Don't speed.

<i>Drive on the right lane whenever possible</i>

Except in the UK & Ireland

My best advice is to watch the traffic around you. If the road ahead is clear then have a look in your rear view mirror where you'll see the locals trying to overtake you. If you are overtaking the locals then they know something you don't.

Think about what you want to get out of this trip.

What will be meaningful to you at the end?

Unless you want only the experience of driving a lot, you will want to plan for sightseeing, how much time that will take and cut back on the number of countries.

Cultural experiences, iconic sights such as cathedrals, castles, towers, walled cities, etc., major museums, great food, cities with a wealth of history, majestic landscapes, hilltop villages, battle sites, hiking, etc. all take a little bit of planning.

If you plan on cities or towns, be sure to check on driving restrictions within them, some allow only locals to drive in certain areas and you will get a big fine for not respecting that.

You will need two breathalysers for France still. You need to check the car has a warning triangle and hi-vis vests in it. If taking a LHD car to Britain you must buy and use headlight adapter stickers.

Look online for the different road signs and rules of each country. Remember who has priority and where. Priority from the right is still common in towns, you need to know road marings and signs which indicate this. The name board of a town also acts as a speed limit board in much of Europe. The French love to put speed cameras a couple of metres beyond them, so you must slow down to 50mph (or 30 or even 20) before you get to that board.

We have certain cities we want to see, museums, places, but yes, I do want to see everything I can. I understand I am probably not going to do everything I want to do and have certain priorities! We are fortunate that we have a week accommodations in 4 countries: Germany (west side), England (central), Italy (north) and France (south). With a slightly autistic 10 yo, I just didn't want to deal with planes and trains once we arrived. We have 3 adults driving, so that helps!

It would help more if you just didn't break the laws and didn't speed than relying on an app to tell you when not to break the law. I presume you know how to read speed limit signs, if you dno't, you should learn what they look like.

<i>I presume you know how to read speed limit signs, if you dno't, you should learn what they look like.</i>

Yes. Especially in the UK and their use of the national speed limit sign.

LOL, I imagine I'm more likely going to be pulled over for going too slow rather than speeding. I like the apps that have current traffic conditions, we don't have speed censors here so the only warnings we get are there is/was police waiting somewhere!

They use cameras for most of the speed limit enforcement -- the police have better things to do than sit and wait for someone to go speeding by.

>><i>We have certain cities we want to see, museums, places, but yes, I do want to see everything I can. I understand I am probably not going to do everything I want to do and have certain priorities! We are fortunate that we have a week accommodations in 4 countries: Germany (west side), England (central), Italy (north) and France (south).</i><<

Where specifically -- which cities? Because for many (most actually) cities trains or planes make much more sense than driving.


(or . . . By any chance are these timeshares? They are often not in cities but out in the countryside)