Driving in EU holiday: worth it? Ease of finding accommodation? Etc

tired_dad

Hi, will have a little over a week off in late Aug.

We have only driven around when on holiday in US. It's so easy there. Finding a hotel for the night and food is never a problem.

We are thinking of driving around Europe fora week. maybe a bit of France, Switzerland and at most a tiny bit of N Italy.

Any experiences to share would be welcome. I'm particularly interested in the general experience and easy of finding a bed for the night etc.

TIA

zombeana

We did 7 weeks of driving in Europe last year and had no problem with the roads etc. We booked most accomodation in advance and for very cheap on lowcostholidays.com and finding food was no issue (apart from in Spain between about 3-8pm..but we expected that, but we couldn't even find coffee!)

I woudl recommend it, but you need a lot of things for your car to drive in Europe.
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/index.html

The only problem we had was in Spain where someone targetted our GB number plate outside a hotel and smashed the windows in and stole laptop/ipod as we were checking in Apparently this is common practice in some areas of Spain.

hartcjhart

zombeana wrote: »

We did 7 weeks of driving in Europe last year and had no problem with the roads etc. We booked most accomodation in advance and for very cheap on lowcostholidays.com and finding food was no issue (apart from in Spain between about 3-8pm..but we expected that, but we couldn't even find coffee!)

I woudl recommend it, but you need a lot of things for your car to drive in Europe.
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/index.html

The only problem we had was in Spain where someone targetted our GB number plate outside a hotel and smashed the windows in and stole laptop/ipod as we were checking in Apparently this is common practice in some areas of Spain.

yes still happens but not as bad as a few years ago,however NEVER leave any valuables in sight for however short a period of time

mcfisco

I never [well, very rarely] book accommodation in France and never have any problem.
August however, particularly on the Med coast and surrounding area may prove difficult, not done that before so .......?

With only a week, it's definitely going to be a 'driving' holiday though

tired_dad

on reflection we may just drive to Paris and environs. Considering a trip into switzerland but don't think we will be driving all over the place. Just to 1 or 2 places.

maibobs

we book ahead the formula 1, and ibis, are really good value, for just a over night stop, but we did find it a lot cheaper to book in advance, rather than just turn up, just come back from italy / france, prices seem to have gone up a lot from last year

zagfles

tired_dad wrote: »

on reflection we may just drive to Paris and environs. Considering a trip into switzerland but don't think we will be driving all over the place. Just to 1 or 2 places.

Yes, I was going to say your original plan was crackers in just a week!

It's not as easy as the US and late August is towards the end of the peak season, so might be best to book ahead especially in Paris. Though personally if Paris was my main destination I wouldn't be driving...it'd be Eurostar or flight.

slinga

Confine yourself or the driving will mean you don't need accommodation as you'll be behind the wheel non stop.

A question for others, we see Chambre D'hotes around when driving and wonder if these are available if we just pop in??

But we are always concerned that if we just pop in the price may be more than we wish to pay etc. Ditto for B & Bs in the UK.
Anyway round this apart from booking a few weeks ahead.

browneyedbazzi

tired_dad wrote: »

on reflection we may just drive to Paris and environs. Considering a trip into switzerland but don't think we will be driving all over the place. Just to 1 or 2 places.

Don't forget to factor the costs of motorway vignettes into your budget if you're thinking about switzerland - you can only buy a year long one there (unlike czech and austria where you can buy cheaper 7 day ones). If you're only going for a day or two then the 40 francs might not seem worth it.