2014 5 Month Tour of Europe - Inspiration

[Tjdixon]

Me and the Mrs are setting off in April for a 5 Month tour of Europe, taking in the following Countries;

Holland
Germany
C. Republic
Austria
Hungary (maybe)
Croatia (maybe)
Italy (North)
Switzerland
Belgium
Home Via Holland / France (timings dependant)

The only country we have spent any time in / visited is Italy (Driving straight through France/Switzerland) so most are completely new to us.

Anyone got any real gems of places that are worth visiting / staying at? - Pictures welcome.

Any shows / events worth visiting? VW or other? - May try to take in a F1 race..

Anyone into Mountain Biking - good locations?

We are pretty much open to anything..

Any advice, much appreciated.

I have a Blog which I am hoping to keep updated, link in my Signature below.

 

[aspro]

French Alps is a must for mountain biking. Alpe Dhuez in particular has some huge mountain biking races in the summer months. All lifts open too. Check it out.

 

[Bay-low71]

We stayed in Valliore in the Alps south west of Mount Blanc. Great camp site and town big climb up there but well worth it.
Italian lakes - camping namzel literally lakeside..... beautiful, travel up mount Baldo by cable car on Garda amazing Riva for a bit more hussle, ask people you meet a Dutch couple planned our route back home from Italy we followed their route down.
You'll have an amazing time very jealous...

 

[Resto-raider]

If you are going to visit the VW factories in Wolfsburg, don't go on the weekends because they shut down and you can't take the tour. Ask me how I know.
If you are there you should also visit the VW museum. It's on the other side of the river, but they have some rare cars.

In Hungary they have the best motorways you can imagine. They do charge you, but super smooth and not a lot of traffic because most locals can't afford it I guess. If you exit the motorway watch out for the potholes
Budapest is a beautiful city to visit and very driveable in my opinion. make sure to visit Lake Balaton and drive around it. It is a very shallow lake, in some parts you can walk to the center of the lake without having to swim. In the summer the water heats up to nice temperatures. They also have a lot of natural spa's in Hungary that are famous for its welness abilities. For example in Heviz.

Austria and Switzerland are allround beautiful with awesome sceneries.
If you're in Belgium visit the Ardennes. They fought heavily there in WWII. In Bastogne there are a number of war museums and monuments that remind you of that period. Of course there is also the circuit of Spa. There are always races in the weekend.
Then the waterfalls of Coo, the caves in Remourchamps, etc.

So much to see. Wish I had 5 months time to drive through all these countries.

 

[Bundy]

5 months....I wish!
Here's what we managed in 2 weeks. I'd love to have more time to do it properly!
http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53522
Cheers
Al

 

[Tjdixon]

French Alps is a must for mountain biking. Alpe Dhuez in particular has some huge mountain biking races in the summer months. All lifts open too. Check it out.

The Alps is on the lift, just hope my van can cope with the Hills / Mountains!!

 

[Tjdixon]

If you are going to visit the VW factories in Wolfsburg, don't go on the weekends because they shut down and you can't take the tour. Ask me how I know.
If you are there you should also visit the VW museum. It's on the other side of the river, but they have some rare cars.

In Hungary they have the best motorways you can imagine. They do charge you, but super smooth and not a lot of traffic because most locals can't afford it I guess. If you exit the motorway watch out for the potholes
Budapest is a beautiful city to visit and very driveable in my opinion. make sure to visit Lake Balaton and drive around it. It is a very shallow lake, in some parts you can walk to the center of the lake without having to swim. In the summer the water heats up to nice temperatures. They also have a lot of natural spa's in Hungary that are famous for its welness abilities. For example in Heviz.

Austria and Switzerland are allround beautiful with awesome sceneries.
If you're in Belgium visit the Ardennes. They fought heavily there in WWII. In Bastogne there are a number of war museums and monuments that remind you of that period. Of course there is also the circuit of Spa. There are always races in the weekend.
Then the waterfalls of Coo, the caves in Remourchamps, etc.

So much to see. Wish I had 5 months time to drive through all these countries.

Thanks for the all the advice

5 months....I wish!
Here's what we managed in 2 weeks. I'd love to have more time to do it properly!
http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53522
Cheers
Al

That looks great, will have a good look at that again.

We stayed in Valliore in the Alps south west of Mount Blanc. Great camp site and town big climb up there but well worth it.
Italian lakes - camping namzel literally lakeside..... beautiful, travel up mount Baldo by cable car on Garda amazing Riva for a bit more hussle, ask people you meet a Dutch couple planned our route back home from Italy we followed their route down.
You'll have an amazing time very jealous...

Thanks, will give those a look, I was hoping for some recommendations around the Italian Lakes, I imagine we may spend a decent amount of time there...

Tom

 

[JohnS]

The only recommendation I can give is the campsite at Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. We stayed there on a road trip to Greece back in 2000 but I doubt it has changed much since then. Here's the link: http://www.camping-jungfrau.ch/en/camping/sommer/default.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Great location and scenery but I remember that in April it was baltic in the van. It's just down the road from Grindelwald (north face of the Eiger). If you're feeling flush you can ride the Eiger Mountain Railway and pretend you're Clint Eastwood (http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/quick-navigation/company/railways/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false. Have a good trip.

 

[Clem]

We did a trip last summer, down through France, via the Alps, we stayed at a place called Vevey, just near Lausanne in Switzerland for a couple of nights, right on the edge of Lake Leman.
From there we went through Mont Blanc, via a stop off in Milan to the southern part of Lake Garda for a week where you can easily make Venice and Verona.(We left the van on site and took the train to Venice for an overnight stay). Lake Como is within easy reach from there also.

I guess if you hit France from that region you'll see the Cote D'Azur region which is self explainatory - Menton, Monaco, Nice, Cannes and St Tropez.

North end of Belgium on the return, its worth checking out Bruges and Ghent for the architecture and chocolates.

 

[Pickles]

Given you have put Austria on the list I would add Slovenia … we had a good driving holiday there a few years ago. I've always wanted to go back, we also did a walking holiday in the mountains and would assume there would be some mountain biking too.

I like the French Alps too, but sometimes the summer weather is too unsettled and it can be a miserable place if it rains for a whole week.

 

[Trikky2]

I like the French Alps too, but sometimes the summer weather is too unsettled and it can be a miserable place if it rains for a whole week.

Everywhere is a miserable place if it rains for a whole week :lol:

 

[oorwullie]

Tjdixon, if you want to see some obscurer corners of swissland in my area then give us a shout when your near. :idea:

We did a trip last summer, down through France, via the Alps, we stayed at a place called Vevey, just near Lausanne in Switzerland for a couple of nights, right on the edge of Lake Leman.
From there we went through Mont Blanc, via a stop off in Milan to the southern part of Lake Garda for a week where you can easily make Venice and Verona.(We left the van on site and took the train to Venice for an overnight stay). Lake Como is within easy reach from there also.

I guess if you hit France from that region you'll see the Cote D'Azur region which is self explainatory - Menton, Monaco, Nice, Cannes and St Tropez.

North end of Belgium on the return, its worth checking out Bruges and Ghent for the architecture and chocolates.

clem, did you stay on this site?

http://www.la-maladaire.ch/galeries.php?galerie=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i've stayed there once for a night on the way home instead of driving another hour. nice spot but noisy road.

there's another wee site from vevey towards lausanne right on the lake at a place called cully, it's considerably quieter. apart from this coming weekend when it's jazz festival. :lol:

https://maps.google.ch/maps?q=camping+cully&ie=UTF-8&ei=jak6U6ulD-X07Ab5y4GgAw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Clem]

Wullie

It was the one at Cully we used, it was fine for a short stay, not much on there other than the lake, but was great for what we needed. 8)

 

[Pirateringo]

I've got friends in Belgium Italy and Holland all through cycling. They would happily show you local stuff. All a really nice bunch. Let me know if you want any contacts

 

[oorwullie]

Wullie

It was the one at Cully we used, it was fine for a short stay, not much on there other than the lake, but was great for what we needed. 8)

what more do ye want than the lake? :lol:

there's a bigger site next to the aquapark at le bouveret just before the french border if you need to spend plenty money and stand in a queue for the attractions.

 

[Tjdixon]

Tjdixon, if you want to see some obscurer corners of swissland in my area then give us a shout when your near. :idea:

Thanks, I will bear that in mind..

And thanks for the other links.

Tom

 

[Tjdixon]

I've got friends in Belgium Italy and Holland all through cycling. They would happily show you local stuff. All a really nice bunch. Let me know if you want any contacts

I'll drop you a PM.

Thanks.

 

[Tjdixon]

Hi,

Just thought I'd give you an update, we have now been on the road for 81 days today (I think), we have managed to reach as far East as Budapest and now travelling through the last parts of Italy before entering France via the Alps, we have spent a bit of time in the Alps (Austria) already and the van coped ok, despite only doing 20mph up some of the hills!

So far we have been fortunate to be trouble free although I'm not sure how much damage is being done by the state of some of the roads..... We are mainly sticking to toll free roads, the only tolls we have been on to date was through the last part of Czech Republic and Slovakia, they were just as bad as the other roads..

I am trying to upload some van specific pictures for you guys, as soon as they are ready I will share...

 

[Tjdixon]

Album link;

http://s154.photobucket.com/user/tjdixon911/library/Rupert%20-%20Europe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Resto-raider]

So cool. Enjoy the rest of your trip and if you're in the South of the Netherlands stop by for a cuppa