Would anyone mind giving their advice on european driving holiday?

gaz_jones · 25 March 2009 at 3:46PM

Me and the OH are going on holiday in August. So far we have decided to drive down to dover area, get a ferry to Calais or Dunkerque then drive up through Belgium and end up in Holland. We are leaving on the 15th August and returning 22nd August. Our plan is to drive up to Belgium on the 15th and stay that night. Then the next day we either want to explore Brussels or Antwerp. We can't decide which. Any suggestions? We will then travel up to Rotterdam that evening and stay in a hotel. Then on the 17th we will travel over to Den Haag, up to Harleem and then finally end up in Amsterdam. On the return leg we are going to drive straight from Amsterdam to Dunkerque (7 hour drive :O) Has anyone done a similar drive? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Could anyone please recommend anywhere on the way that would be worth stopping? What about nice driving roads on the way? (Sorry about not putting into paragraphs. My account has been playing up so it wont let me space things out)

neilbond007 · 25 March 2009 at 5:15PM

gaz_jones wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion :)A firend was talking about Bruges aswell funnily enough. How long ago did you go there?

last year. stopped for 3 nights.
excellent place. very easy to walk around. found a bar that served 13% ale (de garre). i remember little else

gaz_jones · 25 March 2009 at 5:37PM

neilbond007 wrote: »

last year. stopped for 3 nights.
excellent place. very easy to walk around. found a bar that served 13% ale (de garre). i remember little else

13% :O Not suprised you don't remember much of the rest of your trip :rotfl: Thanks very much for the suggestion. I would hit the thanks button but it wont work still

I'll remember to come back and thank you when it works again

dacouch · 26 March 2009 at 12:35AM

Brussells is a nice city, a bit souless but lovely architecture and great restaurants. The bars are great and serve an amazing variety of beers.

I would recommend a sat nav if you driving into central Brussels, its not very far from Calais.

We always stop at adenkerke for cheap fags and a full english (Its just on the belgium border).

We've done the drive to Amsterdam, the central part is not a place for cars though

gaz_jones · 26 March 2009 at 9:49AM

Dacouch, Sat nav is on the top of my list

lol, don't think I'd want to risk driving there without it. Adenkerke, I recognise that name, not sure where from though. How cheap is the tobacco, do you know? How was the drive when you did it? Fingers crossed for nice weather :)Thanks for your advice.

bedlam · 26 March 2009 at 11:18AM

Gaz - for cheap places to stay - try Etap or Formule1 - these no-reception hotels are all over the place, you just insert a credit/debit card, pay your £28 - 42 ( from /per room) and it prints out the door codes to let you in. These are basic but functional - Formule1 has no bathroom, you share the self clean (they clean themselves automatically ) showers and toilets in your hallway. Then up a notch is Etap with your own bathroom, and even better still are Ibis. Seach Accorhotels to find what you want and see vids/pics of what each looks like. I only sleep the night and then am on my way, so no need to spend 100 bucks for that pleasure ( in my view )

Adenkerke is also know as Tobacco Alley - its just across the French border into Belgium, you will see all the British flags flying welcoming you to come buy some cheap cigs and booze and !!!!!!.
As for prices. It's not as cheap as it used to be. Depends on the brands. Using B&H gold 200 ( 10 packets ) as an example - cheapest is Luxembourg €38.00 , then Belgium €45.00 and lastly France €53.00-€55.50.
a great site is day-tripper(dot) net for local maps, how to find the cigs and booze shops, and also the latest prices.They do some cracking deals on the ferry prices too.
Is is worth the extra couple of miles to pop into Luxembourg from Belgium -and that website will show you how.
ps: know your limits when buying cigs and booze ( see HM Revenue and Customs )

neilbond007 · 26 March 2009 at 11:29AM

bedlam wrote: »

Gaz - for cheap places to stay - try Etap or Formule1 - these no-reception hotels are all over the place, you just insert a credit/debit card, pay your £28 - 42 ( from /per room) and it prints out the door codes to let you in. These are basic but functional - Formule1 has no bathroom, you share the self clean (they clean themselves automatically ) showers and toilets in your hallway. Then up a notch is Etap with your own bathroom, and even better still are Ibis. Seach Accorhotels to find what you want and see vids/pics of what each looks like. I only sleep the night and then am on my way, so no need to spend 100 bucks for that pleasure ( in my view )

Adenkerke is also know as Tobacco Alley - its just across the French border into Belgium, you will see all the British flags flying welcoming you to come buy some cheap cigs and booze and !!!!!!.
As for prices. It's not as cheap as it used to be. Depends on the brands. Using B&H gold 200 ( 10 packets ) as an example - cheapest is Luxembourg €38.99 , then Belgium €38.00 and lastly France €53.00-€55.50.
a great site is day-tripper(dot) net for local maps, how to find the cigs and booze shops, and also the latest prices.They do some cracking deals on the ferry prices too.
Is is worth the extra couple of miles to pop into Luxembourg from Belgium -and that website will show you how.
ps: know your limits when buying cigs and booze ( see HM Revenue and Customs )

i stopped in an etap in lille... never again...
room seemed flithy. kept clothes on to sleep in.

the only good things were -
there was a bunk above the main bed. i slept there. it seemed cleaner
top gun was on tv

bedlam · 26 March 2009 at 11:42AM

yeah Neil, as with all cheap hotels, there are some great and some not. Like in Calais there are two Ibis hotels, One called Ibis Car Ferry which was dirty, stank of sewerage and stale smoke and the area was not nice at all. The other one is called Ibis Calais Coquelles Tunnel which is actually closer to the tunnel, secure fenced in parking and was spotless, it's right across the road from Cite Europe shopping centre which has great restaurants and shops.
Use the tripadvisor site and read the most recent comments to find out which hotel is best for you.

ps: my quote on Neils msg has incorrect cigarette prices - see my original post above his where I corrected them.

zappahey · 26 March 2009 at 1:18PM

gaz_jones wrote: »

On the return leg we are going to drive straight from Amsterdam to Dunkerque (7 hour drive :O)

7 hours? What on Earth are you driving, a Sinclair C5?

It's only 200 miles.

As others have said, I would try to avoid driving into the centre of Amsterdam as it's not very car friendly and vehicle crime is high.

http://www.tobacco-alley.be/cigarettes.html for tobacco prices. Despite what it says on that page, there are no limits on how much you can import only guidelines that they may start asking you questions if you have more than a certain amount.

gaz_jones · 26 March 2009 at 1:50PM

Ah well done zappahey, made a mistake there. I meant to put we'll be driving straight from Amsterdam to Dunkerque then on to Milton Keynes. Thats around 7 hours. Not amsteram to Dunkerque is 7 hours.

gaz_jones · 26 March 2009 at 1:58PM

Thanks very much for the Etap suggestion. I have had a look online and I think this will be our best option. It is only for a night and we'll only be sleeping there so I don't mind too much. We are booking a 4* in Amsterdam anyway so that will make up for any bad experiences on the first night :)Thanks for your advice everyone

Would anyone mind giving their advice on european driving holiday?

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