Has anyone done a road trip around Western Europe in a 2 weeks timeframe?
Please see my itinerary below.
We are not interested in museums and history, we are more into scenery and food tasting. So we don%26#39;t need too much time in each city.
Has anyone done a similar driving route? How was the drive? Are the driving times from google maps accurate?
Mon Jun 2 3h 11min drive Bordeaux to Lourdes
Tue Jun 5 h 8min Barcelona
Wed Jun 6h 5min Nice
Thu Jun 5 Nice
Fri Jun 6 7h 12min Rome
Sat Jun 7 Rome
Sun Jun 8 5h 31min Venice
Mon Jun 9 Venice
Tue Jun 10 5h 41min Lucerne
Wed Jun 11 Lucerne
Thu Jun 12 7h 33min Amsterdam
Fri Jun 13 5h 15min Paris
Sat Jun 14 Paris
Sun Jun 15 fly out of Paris
|||
I%26#39;m just making my itinerary clearer.
It is:
date, driving time, destination
Mon Jun 2, 3h 11min drive, Bordeaux to Lourdes
Tue Jun 3, 5 h 8min drive to, Barcelona
Wed Jun 4, 6h 5min, Nice
Thu Jun 5, Nice
Fri Jun 6, 7h 12min, Rome
Sat Jun 7, Rome
Sun Jun 8, 5h 31min, Venice
Mon Jun 9, Venice
Tue Jun 10, 5h 41min, Lucerne, Switzerland
Wed Jun 11, Lucerne
Thu Jun 12, 7h 33min, Amsterdam
Fri Jun 13, 5h 15min, Paris
Sat Jun 14 Paris
Sun Jun 15 fly out of Paris
|||
IMHO this is way too much. You are probalby driving on autoroutes where you will not really see the good parts. Is there any way to cut out some - maybe save Italy and Switzerland for another trip? You can get more time in France and Spain.
You will spend your whole vacation in a car. This may be okay for you, but my back would tell me NO after about four days. I really do recommend you scale back the areas you are trying to cover, in favor of more time in each place.
|||
When I saw you wanted scenery and then noticed your first destination was Lourdes, I really expected you to be spending a couple of days in the area, at least driving the high passes and going up to the Cirque de Gavarnie, which is an absolutely stunning World Heritage site. Then the drive towards Italy will take you through Provence, which is a wonderful place to see scenery with very pretty perched villages (and good lunches too, though they can take 2-3 hours). Google some pictures of Gordes or any other villages in the Luberon and you%26#39;ll see what I mean.
I%26#39;ve not driven around your other destinations, but I think you%26#39;ll have the same issue there, with no time to see anything because you%26#39;re on an autoroute / autostrada / autobahn which was designed to avoid any scenery which might distract the motorist ... and worse, the food you get may have to be from service stations, in order to keep up the schedule.
Sorry to sound negative, but I%26#39;m with the previous poster, that this is a lot of driving around with the risk of seeing nothing much at all. Two weeks is nice and generous to give you time to explore some of the small, slow roads ... which I think would give you the sort of holiday you%26#39;re looking for and a much better feel for old Europe.
|||
I have driven most of your itinerary and it is an excellent one - assuming you have 4-6 weeks in which to complete it.
This is more the itinerary of a professional trucker. How is the drive? . . . all from the autoroute - quite boring actually.
|||
Thank you so much for your replies. I didn%26#39;t realize the highways wouldn%26#39;t be scenic. Sorry to hear that.
Thanks again,
Linda
|||
Hi Linda,
I heartily concur with the previous posters...
you are attempting far too much and will end
up seeing very little.
If it were me, I%26#39;d concentrate on the northern
part... drive to Paris and spend more than a
day there. If you land in Bordeaux you can drive
up through the Dordogne and the Loire Valley.
DON%26#39;T use autoroutes. Your Google map itinerary
has most likely got you on them but as has been noted
you%26#39;ll get the worst of the scenery and miss the
small villages and towns and unexpected small
things that can make a trip so wonderful and memorable. And if you like food you won%26#39;t find
any worth eating along the autoroutes!
After Paris you could drive through Champagne,
see Brussels and/or Bruges then on to Amsterdam.
Whether you like museums or not, Amsterdam and Paris
alone deserve much more time than a day each. We spent a week in each last summer and even though we%26#39;ve been both places several times in the past we have barely scratched the surface!
Everyone is different but my feeling is to take
the time to enjoy things rather than rush about.
And take a trip as if it isn%26#39;t the only one you%26#39;ll ever take! Italy and Spain will be there for your
next trip. ;^)
Rob
|||
-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-
This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html
We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.
Removed on: 3:38 am, September 27, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment