Need help to plan a 15 day Europe Road Trip Hello Fellow BHPians,
I am planning a 15-day road trip to Europe and opening this thread up to seek suggestions on the same.
The trip would be sometime in first or second week of April 2012.
We are a group of 4 friends who plan to do the trip by renting a car through out the trip.
The trip would be a budget oriented one and we plan to spend as least as possible through out the trip and also enjoy the trip to the fullest at the same time.
We plan to cover the following countries during our stay in Europe:
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Germany
Czech
Switzerland
Italy
and here's how the initial plan is chalked out:
The starting point would be Paris and we plan to end the trip with Paris as well.
Paris to Brussels: Distance: 309 time: 4 hours
Brussels to Amsdam: Distance: 211 time: 3 hours
Amsterdam to Bremen: Distance: 360 time: 4 hours
Bremen to Berlin: Distance: 397 time:4 hours
Berlin to Pragueistance: 356 time:4 hours
Prague to Vienna: Distance: 333 time:4 hours
Vienna to Munich: Distance: 455 time: 5 hours
Munich to Zurich: Distance: 315time: 4 hours
Zurich to Milan istance: 282 time: 4 hours
Milan to Venice : Distance:284 time: 4 hours
Venice to Pisa: Distance: 336 time:4 hours
Pisa to Lyon Distance:638 time:7 hours
Lyon to Paris Distance :466 time:5 hours
We have 15 days in hand and we don't plan to extend the no. of days as of now.
Now, here are some questions for which I would need your help on:
1. Is First/Second week of April the right time to visit?
From what I have read in various travelogues, I infer the winter along with the skiing season would just be completed.
I want to know if the "touristy" places would be open in April? and how would the mercury behave during this time?
We don't want to spend the whole day driving to a place and end up locked up in our rooms with cloudy and snowy/rainy weather.
2. The initial plan which is listed above is very skeletal as of now with no real details within it. The distances and the duration of travel is a straight lift from google maps and I know its not as realistic as it is seen.
As of now, we have 13 driving days ( out of 15 available days). I am guessing its a bit of rushed up plan, but still doable.
I can add/remove places based on your recommendation.
3. The plan is to rent the car from Economy car rentals, as of now a small car and the budget would be about 450-500 Euros ( including the insurance). Is this budget sufficient for a small car like VW Golf/Ford Focus?
Also wanted to know if these guys would allow us to drive through Czech (Prague) since I have seen some blogs mentioning about the rental companies not allowing their cars to Czech. It'd be of great help if people who have rented cars can have their views on this.
4. Food and accommodation:
With all of us being veggies, we plan to carry packed food from India ( MTR ready to eat stuff), with as light luggage as possible to reduce the food costs and plan to book hostels for our stays through out.
Do Hostels allow free parking during our stay there?
Also wanted to know if its good if we can plan to camp in the night.
5. Drive plans:
I am sure it would take at least 1-2 days for us to acclimatize ourselves to the roads and the signs. Any pointers which would make us getting the signs easier to our minds before we land there on the motorways totally confused.
I also wanted to ask if its safe to drive in the night, in case a situation arises?
6. Tolls, Parking charges and Vignettes:
I have known that except for Germany and Belgium, all of the autobahns charge for using the roads. From what I have seen in viamichelin, the toll charges vary from place to place and gets exuberant at some places ( for ex: From Pisa to Lyon, the toll is about 99 Euros for a distance of about 680 Kms), would it make sense for us to use alternative roads and reduce the toll specially in Italy?
What would be the cheapest/safest place for us to park the car?
I have heard the city outskirts provide parking at reasonable prices for the whole day. Is that true?
I have also heard about the disc parking, but have no idea what it is about. Any enlightenment on this would be of much help.
I guess Austria and Swiss operate on the Vignette policy. In swiss, do we have an option of buying the vignette for a smaller period say for 10 days or so instead of spending 70 CHF?
Any other pointers/suggestions thrown would be of great help. Please pour in. |