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Europe summer drive
Hi,
I am planning a family drive holiday with kids through Europe in summer 2009 for 2-3 weeks long. We would like to cover some parts of the following couontries. London-France-Switzerland-Austria-Germay-Holland-Belgium-London I am finding it difficult to plan the routes because I am not familiar with any of these countries. We are basically trying to plan a reasonably good site seeing drive. Any suggestions on where you believe are good places to visit? i.e. scenery, villages, towns or whatever you believe suits a young family? Many thanks |
you dont give the ages, or whether camping, camping car or using hotels. But as suggestion at least for teh french part..
As you are leaving from London, if you take the overnight ferry from portsmouth (about two easy hours from London) to St. Malo it will get you to france fully refreshed early * 8.30) in the following morning. Then follow the route to Rennes, Nantes, Poitiers, Limoge to see the Milau bridge. Between Limoge and Milau there are water parks in both the Lot and Gers river valleys ( kids love water, these really just beaches bythe river, cheap and safe) and if the kids are happy all is well :). From there take the roads to APT via Avignon and pass through the Verdon gorge. This is beautiful, and again there is at least one water park there. From the end of the gorge it is easy to enter Nice and North Italy or Switzerland direct. I would be tempted to follow the rhine for a while ( at least to Strasburg). Then come back through Aachen and work your way to the Belgian coast. ( very good camsite in middle of Mons for tents/campervans) There is then a mostly free Auto route to Caen where you can take a ferry back to portsmouth ( again with Brittany ferries). Brittany ferries not cheap price wise, but you save on overnight accommodation and two days of your holiday by travelling when you are asleep. |
Nice post from oldbmw. In addition i would add Bayeux for the tapestry (if you ferry to Le Havre instead), the volcanic domes at Le Puy, the Verdon Gorges, Chamonix for the Aguille du Midi cablecar, Stelvio Pass (Italy/Switz), Lauterbrunnen valley (Interlaken), Venice (camping on the mainland and watertaxi to the city), Neuschwanstein, Bad Tolz (south of Munich - awesome waterpark!), Black Forest... oh, the never-ending list... :D
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europe trip
Hi,
The kids ages are 5 and 7 I believe hotels are easier because we have not done camping before although it may be a good start. Thanks for the tip. |
Adventure playground near Paris
My sister and I used to love going here Gisors Infos - Parc de Loisirs d'Hérouval when we were little - it's northwest of Paris.
Apparently it has changed a lot since we were there though, it used to be a sort of cross between an adventure playground and a funfair, but with nothing electrical - you'd have huge boats that you had to set rocking by running from one end to the other, roundabouts on a slope so you had to balance everyone's weights to set them turning, massive water-filled trampoline type things, funny bicycles with one wheel bigger than the other or the pedals in the wrong place, etc. My sister's been there more recently than I have, and says health and safety has got in the way of a lot of it, but it may well still be worth a look! Also Cordes-sur-Ciel, which is a village near the Lot, is built on a very steep hill, which you can take a little train up. It's a bit touristy in summer, but a pleasant place to wander round, with ramparts and old wells, and the Musee du Sucre, which has loads of amazing spun-sugar sculptures and displays of how they make them. Hope that helps! Laura |
There are some good suggestions there... what I would recommend for planning your route between these points of interest are the Michelin series of maps and/or road atlas (around 1:400,000 scale) - they show plenty of detail, and 'scenic route' roads are marked with green - allowing you to plan a pretty (and often breathtaking) route between points/destinations...
xxx |
routes
Hi,
You mentioned: "Michelin series of maps and/or road atlas (around 1:400,000 scale) - they show plenty of detail, and 'scenic route' roads are marked with green - allowing you to plan a pretty (and often breathtaking) route between points/destinations... " Could you please elaborate on these? I always thought t hat if I buya good sat nav, it does show the good places to see and it is much easier than reading maps. Am I right? Thanks |
Whether you get a sat nav or not I'd still buy a Michelin map like this one at AMAZON.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA240_.jpgMaybe I'm old fashioned, but maps (used with or without Satnavs) give you the flexibility to see what's around you and pick places to go see, whereas Satnavs due to their restricted screen size if nothing else, tend to show you how to get to where you think you want to go to ONCE you've picked the places. Also European road signs are really quite good, almost all roads are clearly numbered, and if you're lost in a village it's far easier to go into the bakers with a map to find out directions, than it is with a Satnav. Oh and it's about 90 quid cheaper. |
map
Looks good.
Is there one that covers europe i.e. the countries I mentioned that I would like to travel to. Thanks |
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route
I will give it a try...
Any ideas on the routes and places to visit with the kids in the mentioned countries please? Thanks |
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I should have mentioned that I would like to definitely visit Paris and then drive towards Switzerland. Any suggestions on places to visit From London to Paris and then towards Switzerland? Thanks |
My kids are in their teens now but when they were the age of yours we spent a lot of time touring by using eurocamp sites. Their tents are very well equiped and most sites have excellent facilities for young kids. You can also book different sites on different nights in different countries.
Just my tuppence worth |
We did a version of the following route a couple of times on our bike before we had children and have been back to most of the places of interest since with them:
London-Dover-Calais-Paris-Reims-Dijon-Switzerland around the east end of Lac Lemon-Chamonix-Grenoble-Gap-Grasse-South coast to Toulon-Arles-Millau-Aurillac-Dordogne river to Bergerac-Limoges-Futuroscope-London. To do it justice that's a good three week trip. On one occasion we went to Brussells instead of Paris which was good but Paris is better if you've not been ther before. Holland and Austria would be hard to fit in in three weeks but Germany and Northern Italy would be good coming back into France via the Mont Blanc Tunnel or over one of the small alpine passes. City hotels are expensive these days but worth it if you want more than a drive by experience. You can save money by camping elsewhere but it can be hard to find camping along the south coast in July and August - best to pre-book. Try to plan to enter and leave Switzerland on minor roads and avoid paying the extra Motorway Insurance. Maps and GPS. I'm new to GPS and it does have its uses especially in towns but there is no substitute for up to date Michelin maps (IMHO). |
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Other things for Paris:
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More things to do in Paris
They might still have a beach in the city centre in summer, which has novelty value if nothing else.
Pompidou centre looks fun from the outside. There's also the science museum, the Cite des Sciences Sciences - Découvrez la science à la Cité des*Sciences et de l'Industrie*à Paris, and the Pere Lachaise cemetery is also great to wander round, lots of famous people buried there and some very elaborate & extravagant tombs. On the same morbid and therefore highly appealing to small children themes, you can also visit the sewers and the catacombs underneath Paris. Oh and ignore Disneyland Paris, head for Parc Asterix instead, cheaper, more fun, fewer people and not Disney :-) And finally given you have a car, it's worth venturing to nearby places like Rambouillet, which has a forest with lots of wildlife, and Fontainebleau, which has some of the best bouldering in Europe, we always used to love scrambling round there! Err... maybe now someone should suggest things to do in other countries on your itinerary?! Oh and be careful with scenic routes - they're great, but make sure they're not between tourist attractions. We spent a very very long time driving back to our gite from northern spain via a steep, winding scenic route used by all the tour coaches... Laura |
routes
Hi,
Thanks guys. I now know the good places to visit in France. Any suggestions for other site seeing places in other countries in my route please? Thanks |
campsites
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I will give them a call to see if they can plan a route of stay for us. Thanks |
Try this site and print off your maps.
ViaMichelin: Maps, route planner, route finder, UK maps, European maps, hotel booking, travel guides :thumbup1: |
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' Sounds like you want to do very much what me and the wife did summer 2006. Drive down to Dover, quick ferry to Calais.Onto Reimes, Dijon,(France) Geneve, Lausanne, Montreaux, Martigne, Carmonix-Mont-Blanc (Switzerland) then through the Mont Blanc tunell, comming out at Courmayeur in Italy, and onto Cuneo. Then to Monaco, and onto Cap-de Adge, following the coast road to Perpignan, and Barcelona and Valencia. From Valencia we headed north to Madrid, more north to Bilboa and back into France. Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes, and Paris as our last French stop. Back to Calais, and ferry back to Dover. We stayed 4 nights in Paris, Cuneo, Geneva, Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid was 3 nights I think, We did NO pre-booking, and simply knocked on the doors of bed and breakfasts, or hotels, as and when. If the place was nice, we stay an extra day, otherwise, one night and move on. We were able to find launderettes for the washing, and when we got to the hotel room, or B&B, we would do some ironing. We did this in August, September 2006, and had a great time. Driving in Europe is very easy, Madrid was the worst for driving, as even a small UK mini looks big in Madrid, and concidering we were driving this. ' http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...79/WS6/51a.jpg ' Up past Carmonix ' http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...79/WS6/53b.jpg ' Up towards the tunell ' http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...579/WS6/52.jpg ' Tunell entrance ' http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...579/WS6/58.jpg ' Monaco ' http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...lerestarea.jpg ' Some Spanish rest area. 'vette |
tour
Thanks for the mentioned places.
I believe with kids we better pre-book and that is why I am being very fussy about placecs to stay. I am also worried that if we don't book in advance, there may not me a place to stay where we need to since we will travel in August 2009. |
France Route
Hello again,
Since my last post, I have been looking at your suggestions... I have narrowed down the route to touring France and perhaps a little stop in Zurich switzerland. Here is a route I have in mind which is based on your suggestions only. We will have two weeks and thought may be we can cover this route. Do you think I have a reasonable route in mind baring in mind that there are two kids (5 and 7 years old) with us? Looking at previous suggestions, there are places for kids to keep busy on these routes. I am hoping this is a scenic route. Any thoughts please? Route: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK Rennes, france Nantes, france Poitiers, France Limoge, france Avignon, France Logis de France, Apt, France Verdon gorge, france Nice, france Monaco Geneva Chamonix, france Zurich, switzerland Strasburg, france nancy, france reims, france paris Back to UK Many thanks |
Zurich nein
Hi, I'd meekly suggest considering looking at Lauterbrunnen near Interlaken. there are dreamy, narrow guage trains from Interlaken right up to the very high cafe near the sky between the Eiger and the Monch peaks. Lauterbrunnen valley is breath taking and features a very, very high waterfall behind which you can stand! Other falls to walk to and the Heidi atmosphere just breath in. There is a world of difference between valley floor and high alpine pastures. I highly recommend considering it. Happy travels, Linzi.
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Is "Lauterbrunnen near Interlaken" in Switzerland? Thanks |
Indeed it is, and a superlative place it is too - and i recommend Lucerne on the way to Zurich, a gem. I notice that you plan Geneva-Chamonix, you could try the Route des Grandes Alpes which goes from Thonon-les-Bains to Cluses, and thence the valley road to Chamonix, lovely. Also, how do you plan the fantastic jump from Limoges to Avignon - will it be Millau+Tarn gorges (virtually next door to each other)? I hope you take the backroads... a mouthwatering prospect!,
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route
Hi,
I have modified the route as follows: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK Rennes, france Nantes, france Poitiers, France Limoge, france Tarn, France Millau, france Avignon, France Logis de France, Apt, France Verdon gorge, france Boulevard Princesse Grace de Monaco, 06300 Nizza, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France Chamonix, france Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France Cluses, Haute-Savoie, Rhône-Alpes, France Geneva Chamonix, france Thonon-les-Bains Lucerne, switzerland Zurich, switzerland Strasburg, france nancy, france reims, france paris Dover, Kent, UK Question 1: What do you think of the above route in terms of scenery Question 2: I still find "Lauterbrunnen near Interlaken" in Germany and not switzerland? Any thoughts please? Thanks |
Interlaken is SE of Bern on the N8 Autobahn between the Thuner See and the Brienzer See. Frankly, the areas you highlight are super-scenic and it'd be difficult to go wrong esp if you keep off the Autobahns, just keep your options open.
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route
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Thank you |
route
Hi,
Most probably I will take the following route with the kids in August 2009. I have been told these are scenic routes so adults will enjoy the scenery. Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK Rennes, france Nantes, france Poitiers, France Limoge, france Tarn, France Millau, france Avignon, France Logis de France, Apt, France Verdon gorge, france Boulevard Princesse Grace de Monaco, 06300 Nizza, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France Chamonix, france Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France Cluses, Haute-Savoie, Rhône-Alpes, France Geneva Chamonix, france Thonon-les-Bains Lucerne, switzerland Zurich, switzerland Strasburg, france nancy, france reims, france paris Dover, Kent, UK How do I find out where the kids activities are on this route? Thank you |
A fine routeplan, the only other recommendation would be between Zurich and Strasbourg to travel through the Black Forest (try Titisee to Freudenstadt?). There you'll find the land of Cuckoo clocks (and their museums) which should enthrall the kidiwinks, in addition to the fantastic cakes...hmmm cakes! Other than the Chamonix cablecar-ride and Futuroscope 10km north of Poitiers i'm unsure of other kid-stuff. Other Hubbers may have more specific info...
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route
Thank you for the tips.
Google map says "Titisee" is in Germany, right? |
Indeed, it's in the bottom Left Hand corner.
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route
Thanks but I think we'll miss Germany this time.
Thanks for the tiips. |
places to stay on route
Hi,
Thanks to you all, I have come up with a list of places to visit for our tour de france in July 2009. As we will have a 5 and a 7 year old with us, we will try to book places such as keycamp, eurocamp and hotels before we start our journey for two weeks. I used google map to show me the directions through my route. We will avoid highway and use smaller roads so have hopefully a scenic route. Questions: 1) Do you know if in France there are plenty of service stations(petrol stations, restaurants) on my route? 2) Someone suggested to get the michelin france map as well as the sat nav. Does the michelin map show the scenic routes for my destinations? 3) If possible, please give more recommendations on places to stay on my mentioned route. Many thanks |
Michelin map
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1) What kind of things does the michelin map show please? 2) Does it show which routes are scenic, places to rest on the route, places for kids activities, camps, etc. ? I am considering buying the France michelin map as well as a Sat Nav. 3) Do these maps get updated every year? Thanks |
euro/key camp
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It seems likely that we book several of these camps for our two weeks drive round France. They say the minimum stay is three nights. As I am not familiar with France, I am having difficulties deciding how long we need to book which camps in order to see the places we have in mind. Any suggestions on how long is required and where (Based on the route I have mentioned in this forum)? Thanks |
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Michelin maps: Yes, they're updated each year, the scenic routes are marked with a green border down the side of the road, and major rest areas on the auto-routes/dual carriageways are marked. Watch out though as an "Aire de repos" just means a place to stop, with a loo and maybe a little tourist info area, there's no restaurant, but there are picnic areas. That said autoroutes do also have British style motorways services, but to be honest unless you must, there's no reason to eat there, they'll be more expensive and the food won't be as good.
Good cheap food: the thing to do is come off the motorway and look for the place surrounded by trucks. ALL French truckers think of themselves as gastronauts, and so actively seek out the good cheap places to eat, and of course they all have CBs so they let each other know very quickly if standards have slipped. Petrol stations: yes there's loads, just like the UK, and just like the UK supermarket prices are usually cheaper. BUT, aside from petrol stations on the autoroutes most of the others will be shut outside normal trading hours (so nothing after 6 pm and nothing on Sundays). The pumps take a credit card, and most chip and pin cards will work, but NOT ALL. One way to check is to go to a big supermarket petrol station, and choose the 24/24 pump. Try your card to see if it works, if not then just drive round again and go to the normal pumps. Have a look at Viamichelin it's a route planning website, but so much more. It uses the Michelin maps so you can see what they look like, it gives you a choice of different types of route (quickest, most economical, recommended by Michelin, scenic), it'll give you places of interest, places to stay, and places to eat AND you can import all that into some satnavs (they even sell satnavs). For a European trip like yours I'd say it's the best thing to look at. |
route
Very useful info here. many thanks
What is autoroute please? p.s., yesterday, I ordered the Michelin map of France 2008, thanks |
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The ViaMichelin website seems to calculate and show only one Destination. Is there a way for it to show from A to destination B and then C and then D, etc...? Thanks |
Route plan
Hello all,
I have now re-planned our two weeks Drive holiday in a bit more details as follows: London Calais Pierrefitte campsite (one night stop) Port Grimaud campsite in the south (4 nights) Aiguebelette campsite (one night stop) Susten campsite in Switzerland (Two nights) Rougemont campsite back in france (one night stop) Paris (3 nights) Calais Unless anyone has any better suggestions, I will now start planning the nearby places to visit while staying at each campsite subject to timing. Thank you all |
campsites
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Not sure if I thanked you before. Thank you. I have booked the following campsites through keycamp and eurocamp. 1) Calais To Lac de Chalain (Domaine de Chalain) -> 2 nights 2) Lac de Chalain (Domaine de Chalain) to Port Grimaud --> 5 nights 3) Port Grimaud to Aiguebelette (Saint-Alban-de-Montbel, centre) --> 1 night 4) Aiguebelette (Saint-Alban-de-Montbel, centre) to Interlaken (Manor farm) with Eurocamp --> 4 nights 5) Interlaken (Manor farm) with Eurocamp to Paris --> 4 nights 6) Back to London |
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