carla_amelia

I'm taking my sixteen year old daughter to Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Italy form June 8 - June 28. We're renting a car and I've only made hotel reservations at one hotel that I really want to visit. I'm doing the car and no reservations to be flexible. My thinking was that there had to be something available if we weren't too picky. I've driven in Europe before (1995) and was planning to park in the big cities and use public transport while visiting them. i like the idea of being able to travel off the beaten path. My brother thinks I'm crazy not to make reservations. Others have told me I'm nuts to drive. I hate to be locked into places where we decide we would rather not stay. Does anyone have any advice for traveling without reservations and for traveling by car?

adrienne

A car is good as long as you're not going to cities. It becomes a problem trying to drive and navigate and park in cities. You're going to need hotels with parking and that selection is limited.

You say you like to travel off the beaten path but my experience is that when people learn what this really means they opt for the standard tourist places.

Here's what I see as potential problems:
1. You may not find lodging in off the beaten path areas.
2. You may spend lots of time looking for hotels/pensions that meet your budget.
3. Five countries is a lot to cover in 20 days (a new country every 4 days) with seeing large cities and back roads. You should narrow your focus to particular towns or areas.
4. Have some kind of plan rather than driving around aimlessly and check to see how long the drives are.

AisleSeat

I think you will do ok in the Villages as long as you are not picky about your budget or accomodations. In the cities I would definately make reservations, even if it is just calling ahead a day or two before. I have a vision of you pulling into a city like Munich, dropping the car at the first parking lot then jumping on a trolly with your luggage as you look for a hotel.

We normally make reservations even in the off the beaten path places to save some of our travel time that might be eaten up while we look for accomodations. I'll assume you have the perfect 16 year old but at that age some of them can get cranky while you drag them from place to place looking for a bed for the night.

You might go from absolutely footloose to semi planned. At least have a good idea of what's available and desirable.

StCirq

Driving isn't an issue unless you're headed into big cities. Not having reservations at that time of year means you're probably going to lose at minimum an hour or two of valuable vacation time every day scouting out an acceptable place to stay. Up to you, but I wouldn't do that at that time of year. At the very least, have the Michelin Red Guide for the countries with you, and a cell phone, and call ahead in the morning to secure a place to stay for the night. You'll likely spend more money than you need to to be this footloose and fancy free, too.

jackdonoghue45

Bring a GPS with you that you are familiar with using and get the European maps. I say this having spent much time and energy finding hotels in cities and town where the street name may change every few blocks and there is no such thing as a straight road. This will also give you a database of nearby food and lodging.

Celticharper

We've traveled through France, Switzerland, Northern Italy and Germany without reservations for the last 13 years. We've Traveled maily in July to follow the tour de France but also in June. We've rarely had a problem finding places to stay. We have usually found really wonderful places simply by going to the tourism office in a village and asking for a recommendation for a Gite or a Chamber d'hote. We much prefer to find places to stay along the way so we can change our itinerary on the fly if the weather is dreadful or we fall in love with a place and want to linger.

nytraveler

As long as you're stayin gout of city centers driving is fine. We have don numerous road trips in europe and enjoyed all o fthem. (If you do visit a large city make up your mind to put the car in a garage and just enjoy the city.)

However, I would never even consider traveling without hotel reservations. I would never want to spend hours of my vacation trying to find a place to stay - esp if you are off the beaten path options may be limited. If you are very flexible in terms of amenities and budget (yes, you may have to go for some big budget places) you can risk it. If you want to limit your budget I think you are asking for a lot of frustration.

At a minimum have a list of places that you might be interested in - in the areas uo are considering visiting. And I would contact a few now to see how full they are. If a lot of places are already full or nearly so you'll know traveling without reservations won;t work.

basingstoke2

Every year I would take one of my kids on a trip to Europe - I did this for about 15 years. Since we would fly military space available we were usually not sure which country we would be going to so always traveled without reservations and rent a car on arrival. It works. We rarely spent much time looking for a place. For example, in cities we would go to the tourist information office and always found a suitable room. In smaller towns we would do the same or look for signs advertising Zimmer or equivalent word or just spot a suitable hotel or pension. We never went for fancy and some of our lodgings were not so great but always adequate and we lucked out many times with really good finds, always in our rather modest price range. We even went to Paris when France was hosting the world cup and found a fine room in a great location. A few times we stayed in hostels - I would always keep my hostel membership up to date. Germany is great for traveling that way we always had very good luck there and not once did we ever have a reservation even in high season in popular areas. The TI office is your friend.

Celticharper

We've never spent hours looking for a place to stay. We stop at a gite or Chambre d'hote that looks nice and ask if they have any available rooms, usually we've found great places this way or we stop at the tourist office, they call a gite for us and we are on our way. From tourist office stop to check in at the gite one half hour tops. I don't consider that a great inconvenience. In fact we have stayed in some wonderful places that don't advertise and get guests only by word of mouth and from the tourist office. We've stayed in amazing places and met some wonderful people.

Though I will say when we stay in a large city we always have reservations because our budget is low, we want to maximize our options.

justineparis

My father and I did a car trip from Paris to Zermatt, about 10 years ago admittedly ,, but in late July early August.
We always found a place to stay,, sometimes it was a chain hotel outside a town, but that is the advantage of having a car. In Paris we parked the car outside the city , took the RER in, and collected the car after our visit. A car in a big city is a liability.
My dad had no problem with the driving, he is Europeon, but, he did need me to be the navigator,, so suggest you and daughter go over routes each day, its hard to read foriegn sounding names sometimes.Get a good map and /or GPS.

Jean

I'm stuck on five countries in 20 days!!!

Where exactly were you planning/hoping to go?

FYI, driving into many cities in Europe has changed significantly since 1995, even if you only plan to go in and park. For example, many cities in Italy have instituted limited traffic zones. Enter the zone without the proper permit, and you'll probably receive an expensive ticket in the mail after you get home.

irishface

With your time limit, I would drop Italy. France, Belgium and parts of Germany are fairly close.

I don't get the business about wasting time looking for a place to sleep. I used to always travel in summer as I was a teacher and had no choice, so I was going in high season. Except in cities I never made reservations. I always either stopped at a place along the road or went to the tourist office. It never to book a room and be on my way. They were always most helpful and were able to book in my price range. Met some wonderful people and had some great advventures that way.

capxxx

What Irish says.

We have often taken road trips in Europe with just reservations at our first and last destinations (close to airports). Germany, especially, has a nice tourist information system where you can just walk in and ask for accomodations. They can find out what's available that suits your needs, and phone to make the reservation for you.

Sometimes they are located just off the highway outside a major city, sometimes close to a main tourist attraction. Just look for the blue and white ''i''.

Other times, when we can't find the tourist office we head for the area around the train station or the main square or near the Dom: there is usually a row of small hotels nearby, with signs in the window ``zimmer frie.'' etc.

ParisAmsterdam

We spent a week driving from Nice to Paris in August 2008. We had a hotel reserved in Nice and one in Paris but nothing in between.

We did just fine and ended up staying in a couple of great places even though everyone will tell you not to attempt this in France in August. It can be done.

StCirq's advice of having a cell phone and a Michelin or other hotel guide is spot on. Once you zero in on where you'll want to stop for the night your daughter can start looking things up as you drive. You can then stop for refreshments and get on the phone to line something up. Worked well for us.

If you plan on having a iPad, netbook or smartphone along, look into getting some type of data package and you'll be able to surf while on the move making it even easier to line up accommodations. If a hotel you stay in is part of a chain or association be sure to pick up one of their books listing all the affiliated hotels. We found this invaluable. Twice hotels where we inquired that had no rooms recommended other places that worked out really well.

Have fun!

john183

I am always fascinated to read these kinds of threads talking about no reservations and visiting 5 countries in 20 days - probably because it is so opposite of my travel style now. A few years ago, someone said in one of these posts that a big part of the trip experience for them was the thrill of hunting for and finding a place to stay each night. Some were good - some were not. They also really liked the total freedom and flexibility to just do whatever struck their fancy each day. I wish I could try that type of vacation once but I'm afraid it would be more like torture than a vacation for me. Bravo to those of you who enjoy it!

Back to this post - I'm with Jean - you must have some idea of an itinerary because you have chosen 5 countries to visit but I am curious as to where you plan to start and end as well as what tentative route you have in mind. This is such a huge area and your desire to both get off the beaten path and to see large cities is something I have trouble imagining how you are going to accomplish. Good luck and please post a trip report of your adventures.

msteacher

At a minimum, I would suggest reserving a hotel for your first night there. There's no worse feeling than getting off an airplane and having no idea of where you are going. You will probably be jet-lagged your first day there and will appreciate knowing a comfortable bed is awaiting.

quokka

Where are you flying into? June 7 is a public holiday in the catholic world, which means many people take Friday off and travel for the long weekend. Depending where you go, these first days are likely to be busy.

Christina

I traveled without reservations once but didn't enjoy it in the slightest and vowed never again. I just ended up in places that were not the best location and not that great, and it did take up hours of my time (just going to the tourist office, waiting for calls, etc., takes up at least an hour). And one place in Paris I had to call around 15 hotels before finding a bed and then I only got it for one night and that was it, and that took maybe at least 2 hrs in Gare du Nord at the public phones (and having to constantly buy some things to get change for the phones). I just didn't have the energy to go through that again the next day, so just left for Belgium the next day. Of course those were in the old days when people didn't travel with their own phones.

I find zero thrill in hunting for a place to stay, but if people enjoy it, more power to them.

So I don't have any advice except the idea that you can decide on a daily basis whether to stay in a hotel or move on is not reality in any place I've been. You have to say how long you are going to stay when you ask for a room, you can't just say oh, I'll tell you each day if I feel like staying or not. Furthermore, they can charge you if you say you want a room for 2 days and then leave without notice just like any hotel booking where you reserve and if you don't give enough notice, they can charge you.

June 7th as a Catholic holiday isn't a public holiday in most places, I think it is only a public holiday in parts of Germany and Switzerland (among those countries named, anyway). It isn't in France or Belgium, nor even in Italy AFAIK. But if going there first (Germany or Switzerland) that might be something to consider for the long weekend as it's on Thursday.

So I would be interested in comments from people who say you can decide on a daily basis whether you are going to stay in a hotel or not and how that works. What kind of places allow that, for example.

annhig

And one place in Paris I had to call around 15 hotels before finding a bed and then I only got it for one night and that was it, and that took maybe at least 2 hrs in Gare du Nord at the public phones (and having to constantly buy some things to get change for the phones)>>

i don't think that even the keenest supporters of the ad hoc trip would suggest not having reservations in places like Paris or London. but in most places it's perfectly possible, especially if you only need one room, though we did it with our kids a few times, when we wanted two rooms, and still did fine, usually using the TI, but not always.

clausar

Technology makes it simple....
I have friends, that always travel without any prior reservations.. They book only the first and last night, and nothing in between...
Since they have a car they are not interested in staying in the city centre of every city, they are searching for hotels bit outside of the centre with the help of their mobile phones.

They have downloaded the app of booking.com, and can always search for available hotels near to where they are and even book them on line.
They also have their own GPS ( can't remember which one), which shows all nearby hotels as well with tel. number, so they can check on them without going through booking.com.

Last year they spent 3 weeks in France, changing hotel every day, and never had a problem finding a nice hotel to stay.
The only problem they had was in Biarritz, where they had to choose a pretty expensive hotel, but that was the exception...

This year they went to Southern France and Corsica, they aren't back yet, but i am curious if they had a success with finding accommodation, as last year.

Personally, i love studying city maps and comparing hotels, facilities, locations and prices, and i always prebook everything, in order to avoid bad surprises...

I remember when i arrived in Munich during the Octoberfest when i was 18, had no clue what was going on, had never heard of the Octoberfest hefore... and had to wait for 1 hour at the Railway station, to be told from the tourist office that there was nothing available....