Europe road trip 2014

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After having a thread on here asking questions about the planning etc, myself, a mate and our other halves had a successful trip!

We visited 7 countries, all be it popping into some purely because the roads took us through, and covered 2430 miles door to door. We took Jip's BMW 335D Touring (with 139k on the clock) which didn't miss a beat, and even averaged 40mpg with a roof box!

This was the rough planned route:

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Itinerary was as follows:

2 nights in Marseille
2 nights in St. Tropez
3 nights in Nice (pop into Monaco)
2 nights in Lake Como
3 nights in Prutz, Austria
1 night in Strasbourg
1 night in Lille (because Jip ballsed the insurance up!)

So 2am on the first day we set off for Dover, myself driving as it was the first time I had been behind the wheel of a) the BMW, and b) an auto! Arrived in Calais at 7 local time and set off for the monster drive down to Marseille. 864 miles later we arrive at our first stop. Didn't plan for anything special, we just wanted a bed for the night.

Marseille harbour
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Marseille was rather a dump to be honest, apart from right down at the dock you could really see the damage from the recession. Anyways onwards and upwards to St. Tropez!

We were camping from here onwards until Wow what a difference a couple of miles makes! The shear wealth of the place was staggering.

Here was the view from the campsite:
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And some general bits around St. Tropez:
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Next was Nice, which was really very nice (sorry)
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Popping into Monaco was rather lavish, but wet! Managed to drive all the way round the track too

No idea how this got into/out of a very right car park
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Outside the casino
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Down a back alley somewhere..had a couple of Enzo's in there too.
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This guy also had '4 you' on the back of is ginormous boat:
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Didn't realise the track still had the curbs?
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Popped into a lovely small place just down from Monaco called Menton
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Onwards to Lake Como, car was getting rather grubby by this point
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But the view was rather good... until it rained!
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The roads were now getting much nicer than just motorways, and the scenery was fantastic on the way to Austria, and along the Stelvio! The rain really did start to set in when we were at the top.
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Now off to Strasbourg, and we saw this on the way:
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Tried taking some photos but it promptly booted it!

Anyway Strasbourg was lovely
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This also came passed on the way home:
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We were thinking new 1 series convertible?

Then after a brief overnight stop in Lille, and making our way back to the dump that is Calais, 2430 miles later we were home!
 
Looks amazing! I'm thinking of doing something very similar next year with a colleague of mine our our other halves but we're going to go in convoy in case there is a differing of opinion on where to go at any stage (meet up again the next day or something).

How did you share out the driving?
 
Looks amazing! I'm thinking of doing something very similar next year with a colleague of mine our our other halves but we're going to go in convoy in case there is a differing of opinion on where to go at any stage (meet up again the next day or something).

How did you share out the driving?

Thanks! There was originally more of us so we were going to go in convoy, but it worked out quite well because everything car related was quartered and so it worked out a lot cheaper.

Driving wise, it was my mates car so anything slightly risky, he did, apart from that we split it in roughly 2 hour shifts on the long drives.
 
Looks fantastic. I'll be doing Calais - Toulon in just over a month, taking a similar route to you.

I agree with your opinion of Marseille - it's basically a French version of the area I live in now, which isn't what you want when you go on holiday!
 
Is that some kid leaning on a Ferrari in his jeans? :(

Some nice shots.

I'd be annoyed too! Yet you can't park there not expecting it to happen

I agree with your opinion of Marseille - it's basically a French version of the area I live in now, which isn't what you want when you go on holiday!

It wasn't the best start to the holiday! But it was onwards and upwards from there !
 
Thinking of doing something like this myself at some point as I have some free weeks insurance in Europe.

About how much did it all cost and is the driving possible to do alone as I would likely be going it alone.
 
Planning on doing a very similar route in September. I hope to see the Col de Turini as well as Stelvio, stop at the ring and also drive over the Millau Viaduct
 
Awesome mate, me and a few lads did a Euro trip in 2011 in a couple of cars, and it was absolutely fantastic, loved virtually every minute of it :) That looks like a cracking route and I have to agree with you the scenery over there is beautiful. Looks like you took the right car for four of you, plenty of space and comfort = win win :D
 
Thinking of doing something like this myself at some point as I have some free weeks insurance in Europe.

About how much did it all cost and is the driving possible to do alone as I would likely be going it alone.

Do need to finish totting up but it's looking to be about £600pp. Bear in mind that any car costs were quartered, but we were comfortable and didn't skimp.

Driving wise with the two of us, we did roughly 2 hour stints, could have done longer but there was no point in tiring us out too much. Planned it nicely that we didn't feel like we were in the car constantly, but if driving it alone, I'd suggest a shorter route as you'd have to drive for shorter hours, more often to cover the same distance. Might get a bit tedious!

Planning on doing a very similar route in September. I hope to see the Col de Turini as well as Stelvio, stop at the ring and also drive over the Millau Viaduct

They were some places we were originally planning to go to, but insurance for the ring was expensive seeing as ours wouldn't cover it, and it's not the same experience going round in a big heavy estate.

Awesome mate, me and a few lads did a Euro trip in 2011 in a couple of cars, and it was absolutely fantastic, loved virtually every minute of it :) That looks like a cracking route and I have to agree with you the scenery over there is beautiful. Looks like you took the right car for four of you, plenty of space and comfort = win win :D

Car was fantastic, glad we did it in 1 car now as I don't think 2400 odd miles in my manual A3 and no cruise control wouldn't have been so pleasant. Beemer was rather fast too!
 
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Reminds me of my trip, I did 3200 miles to Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Innsbruck and back through Switzerland and Germany in the 530i about 2 years ago. Absolutely fantastic. Would love to do it again.
 
[TW]Fox;26627450 said:
Reminds me of my trip, I did 3200 miles to Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Innsbruck and back through Switzerland and Germany in the 530i about 2 years ago. Absolutely fantastic. Would love to do it again.

How long did you go for? I'd like to go to Vienna, mothers side of the family are from there
 
You went up and down the Stelvio?

Thats a real shame as it means you missed Umbrail pass which goes down the other way. You can do a loop so you go up one and down the other. Umbrail is pretty cool in places as it's not tarmaced.
 
[TW]Fox;27530539 said:
You went up and down the Stelvio?

Thats a real shame as it means you missed Umbrail pass which goes down the other way. You can do a loop so you go up one and down the other. Umbrail is pretty cool in places as it's not tarmaced.

We did yeah. I was unaware of the Umbrail pass, sounds worth doing if we go again some time. My friend was quite uneasy in the rain as it was, not sure if he would have coped! (chicken)
 
Well if you think about it logically there must be at least one pass the other side of the mountain to Stelvio otherwise... how do you get down, it wasn't built as a tourist road after all :p
 
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