kkirby

My husband and I would like to spend 6 weeks driving around Europe. Any suggestions?
We would like to spend about a week at a time in different places. Thanks

bilboburgler

Hi kkirby, welcome to fodors, could you give us just a bit more info

Summer/Winter/month?
Language skills
Interests
Budget
City/countryside
what you like to do?

It's just such a big, open question is soooooo hard to answer

janisj

That is like asking "We want to travel to the USA, where should we go?" Impossible to answer w/o a TON more info from you.

Have you done any research? Which countries interest you? Give us something (ANYTHING) to work w/ . . .

adrienne

I guess if you're driving you want to avoid cities. And you'll want to avoid drop off fees incurred when renting in one country and dropping in another country.

Are you already in Europe and do you own your car or will you be leasing?

I'd either do six weeks in Italy from top to bottom or Austria, Czech Republic, and southern Poland.

kkirby

I guess I could have given a little more info it is just that we are really wide open to new things.We would like to do the trip in the fall after school starts. We don't speak another language but in the past that hasn't bothered us. We like historic sites, some city but mostly small towns, villages and country side. We are older and difficult hiking is not what we want to do. We like museums, ruins, castles, beautiful country, historic sites, concerts, good food.

kkirby

We are in the United States and city driving is not the best but we have driven in Dublin,and Vienna so it is not totally out of the question.

bilboburgler

My suggestion are to limit yourselves to only two or three regions so for example you could do

Fly into Paris, visit some of the smaller towns on Belgium, Holland (so Middelburg (Zeeland), Bruges, Rheims, Strasborg, Mullhouse/Zurich, Bad Durkheim, Koblenz, Trier, Luxembourg and then fly out of Amsterdam. The route could be circular but this covers a fair amount of distance and lets you have something like 3 days in each city with nice options in between, wineries abound

Op2 you could have a serious crack at Germany in 6 weeks with just a bit of the low countries in for good measure, again you can visit wineries, castles and some fine museums, in 6 weeks it will get cooler so start in the north and work your way south. Generally avoid the big city centres but there are great places to stay out of town and that lets you use local (very clean and efficient) public transport to visit the centres.

op3 do a France tour, in 6 weeks you could make a good fist of touching most of the corners of the hexagon and it would be warmer than Germany (probably). If I had 6 weeks, I might look at Normandy/Brittany (great castles), Loire (last 500km), The Midi, South coast, Burgundy and you could hire a gite for each week gites-de-france.com I think is the website.

Loads more options but I think you need to get hold of Rough Guide to Europe and chose a country

kkirby

Thanks for the 3 opts and the tip about the Rough Guide to Europe.

d_claude_bear

You have received good advice. Our strategy has been different: we have spent six weeks (never with a car) (1) just in and around Paris--cannot run out of things to see/do in a lifetime, (2)in Venice, Florence, Strasbourg, and Paris), (3) and this May/June in Arles, Avignon, Lyon, and Paris.

I think having a car would make it very convenient to see the quaint smaller places outside cities, but I would recommend not trying to cover too much distance. Whether big city, small city, village, etc. it is really nice to "settle in" and absorb the local flavor.

dwdvagamundo

You could also see southern France, northern Italy and Austria in the time you have, concentrating on smaller cities. Of course, you wouldn't get as in-depth look at each as bilboburger and d-claude suggest, but that's not what I understand you want to do and, frankly, not what I would do if I had six weeks and a car. (Lucky you!)

I'd say to plan a week in southern France, two weeks in Austria/Czech Republic and Bavaria (including Munich and maybe Prague), and two weeks in Italy (Tuscany north). This would leave you some time to do what the spirit moves you to do. There are many small but important cities in northern Italy that are well worth seeing--Verona, Padua, Lucca, to name just a few. And of course two of the big three: Venice and Florence. Each city is so different from the others, and each has its own history, etc., that you really need to see all of them. Also the lakes.

Austria is great for music: both Salzburg and Vienna offer classical concerts nearly every night, as does Prague. Venice too.

Skip the Cinque Terre as in my opinion they're only good if you hike.

This is all very drivable--we've driven all of it with few problems despite our very limited to non-existent French, Italian and German.

One big tip, though: be aware of limited restaurant opening times in the afternoon. This has plagued us in many countries, and not knowing how to say "Where can we get something to eat around here?" has led us to either starve or end up with some very strange meals.

As you'll have a car, one thing you can do, particularly in France and Italy, is stop and get picnic makings: bread, tapenade or cheese (or both) and a bottle of wine. Then when you find a beautiful place, you can stop and eat no matter what time it is.

But no matter where you choose to go, you'll have the trip of a lifetime, I'm sure.

bilboburgler

Lunch is basically 12 to 2 in much of europe in the weekdays you will find that many restaurants in many towns offer a 12 to 14 Euro three course with vin de table is the norm. Given France's employment laws you are going to struggle to find lunch after 2 (finishing time)

lynda_berlin

Lunch from 12-2 is the norm in France but in many countries it's rather later.You can certainly eat in Germany after 2pm (most places are open all day in fact) and in Spain of course lunch is later still. You will not be able to order a menu del día in Spain before 1pm at the very earliest and could still order one after 3pm.

kkirby

thanks for all the replies it has been a great help.

suze

Six weeks is a wonderful amount of time! You can go either way, picking 1 area for each week and see six places (driving or using the train in between). Or if a particular destination really appeals to you, stay longer. Personally I could easily spend the 6 weeks just in Paris (as someone mentioned). Get an apartment and really dig in.

StCirq

Europe is huge. "Six weeks driving around Europe" is only the barest start on the process. You really do need to hunker down with some guidebooks and get a handle on what appeals to you. You can do a loop through a few countries or drive from point A to point B and buy open-jaw tickets, book apartments in cities or gîtes in villages or mix it up, or whatever you want - the possibilities are endless.

I've never had an issue with lunch anywhere in Europe. Places serve food at the normal times people are looking to eat lunch - it's really quite simple. The times vary a bit by country, but not a whole lot, and everywhere there are places that will serve all day.

When you've looked at maps, read a few guidebooks, and have a handle on an outline of a plan, do get back to us and we'll help you refine it.