16 weeks in Europe

winky

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how far would you go, what wouldn't you miss, and how many countries would you try and visit?

We are planning 16 weeks away starting from Calais, we want to go everywhere but the more planning I do the more I realise the odds of getting out of france seem short.

We really want to make it to Italy/ Croatia/ Slovenia but have no idea if we are simply biting of more than we can chew. Its a once in a life time trip (work commitments etc) and really want to make the most of it.

Many thanks.
 
We're looking to do this soon but for less time. Can't wait!

On our list is Amsterdam, Munich and Balvarian Alps, Switzerland, North of Italy and Nice. Gonna try it in 2-3 weeks haha.

If you can't decide, get a map and throw a dart at it to see where you are going!
 
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16 weeks

winky said:
how far would you go, what wouldn't you miss, and how many countries would you try and visit?

We are planning 16 weeks away starting from Calais, we want to go everywhere but the more planning I do the more I realise the odds of getting out of france seem short.

We really want to make it to Italy/ Croatia/ Slovenia but have no idea if we are simply biting of more than we can chew. Its a once in a life time trip (work commitments etc) and really want to make the most of it.

Many thanks.
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France is very good especially with the Aires
However with 16 weeks surely you could also spend time in...Switzerland (expensive though) Austria (expensive but some cheaper "stellplatze")
Germany (Many Stelleplatze)
Or France Italy (north) Austria, Germany
 
Having sixteen weeks to tour mainland Europe is a very exciting prospect. You mention that it is to be a 'trip of a lifetime', can people assume from that comment that 'cost' is not a major concern?
With high fuel prices these days, extended touring is not cheap. Spending sixteen weeks exploring every inch of Normandy/Brittany, stopping for several days at a time on free or low cost Aires, would be far less costly than 'ticking off' countries and clocking up many thousands of miles.
Having said that I know what I would prefer and recommend.......tick of the countries! Get yourselfs a good guide book for each country you intend to visit. I really like the 'DK Eyewitness' guides. Some people say you don't need them because of the internet, but daily connection is not always possible. Using the guides you can plan your touring, region by region, not country by country and ensure you don't miss a thing!
You just can't beat sitting outside the van on a warm summer evening, sipping wine and researching where to go and what to see tomorrow.
Driving on the continent is so much easier and more enjoyable than the UK.
I hope you have a GREAT time.
Kath
 
16 weeks, I'd be planning a trip to go around the Black Sea, Georgia is definitely on my to do list, not so sure about Ukraine though. lol.
A more leisurely trip 16 weeks is plenty for Italy and Croatia.
 
what about the biggest factor ...what time of year ?
and what is your plan for gas ?
 
Hi

It all depends on when your 16 weeks starts. If immediately, then that takes in some very hot weather in southern Europe - if you are not keen on 40 degree heat then maybe Scandinavia might be a good idea (good for wildcamping but not cheap). If. on the other hand, you are not starting till the end of what passes for our summer then it can be rapidly get very cold in Eastern Europe and some of the Alpine/Pyrennean passes may be blocked with snow. It also, of course, depends on your tastes but to give you an idea, we normally take about 8 weeks to meander slowly through France and Spain to get to our over-wintering destination of Almeria (SE Spain). If you have a lot of time then we can't see the point in travelling fast. We would average less than a 100 miles per move and take far from direct routes. Get off the beaten track and enjoy the peace and the new discoveries. It doesn't really matter where you go - if you don't like it you can easily up sticks and go somewhere else. Enjoy!

PS just read lebesset's post - good point. We have a Gaslow system fitted - LPG is widely available throughout Europe (even in Spain things have got a lot better!)
 
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On motorcycle trips ive always dispensed with NE France pronto.. scenery and places get better imo once through this area.

Coming from west last time we went LD Lines Newhaven-Dieppe as it was a better run through Salisbury etc and we treated it as day one of the tour, and we could plan a nicer direct off Peage run straight SE toward the Alps with no more mileage on the France side and avoiding the NE. Calais crossing would be cheaper and shorter though.

Bits I've done on a trip include Brittany which is v nice, as is the Vosges forested region in the SE of the country. The only place I avoided mostly was Switzerland due to the cost and the fact that its just as nice in surrounding areas without their roads pass and the hassle.

Straight south through the Limousin region is lovely. Then worked down on the scenic routes to the Millau Bridge engineering marvel over the Gorges de Tarn. The bridge is fine, but its the Tarn Gorge underneath that what I was after. Followed it and the fantastic scenic D roads Eastwards towards the Ardeche region and around Gap on the Route Napoleon. Went on East into the Alps, then over the Col d'Iseran through Val d'Isere across the Italy border (think scenery out of the original Michael Caine Italian Job film).

Northern Italy Alpine / Dolomites region is possibly my favourite. Austria, maybe via the Timmelsoch Pass, but instead heading East toward the Stelvio Pass and onward East and up to Austrias Grossglockner is even better imo.

You have fantastic options and places open to you with 16 weeks - sounds blissful.

I'd suggest you decide what sorts of places and scenery are your thing, then plan a circuit visiting key places via routes that stay off the Peage, Autostrada etc... the roads are much better than ours and much more enjoyable, and you avoid tolls.
 
Hello

I know 16 weeks sounds a lot to some people but believe me you will just scratch the surface.
My advice would be not to try and go to too many countries. If you do you will not do them justice.
Have a good trip.

Blue Skies
 
We have been lucky enough to have spent the last 5 years doing similar length trips each summer while still working. The longest being 2012 for six months in one go.

Its a good length of time for a single trip to really see some of the best of Europe. On our first adventure in 2009 we didnt plan very well and ping ponged around Europe at way too fast a pace and in no real logical order.

People say "Oh we never plan and just turn left at Calais". Ok if that suits you but I can honestly say since that first trip I have researched and planned much more with each year and now with the Internet being more readily available abroad our trips have just got better and better. I would recommend you research and plan where your going and where your going to stay as much as possible and dont rush on too quick when you get there. We now stay in one place until we feel we have had enough. On our first trip we were still feeling like we were on a two week holiday and rushed around too much. 16 weeks is a lot of time.

I would say over the past 5 years of touring my highlights would be in no particular order

France
Brittany
Most of the south but definately not the coast. Cut a line from the Southern French Alps across the Verdon Gorges, Lac St Croix and east through Provence, Tarn, Languedoc, Aveyron, Lot and Dordogne and you cannot go wrong.

Germany
Black Forest and Bavaria. Mossel Valley is ok but gets a bit samey

Switzerland
Lucern and the Bernese Oberland, Eiger and Jungfrau (north of and around Interlaken) are just breath taking but try and do it in ACSI season as wilding isnt as easy, not many Aires and sites outside the cheap season expensive

Italy
The Italian Lakes and the Dolomites are stunning. Maggiore and Orta are my Favourites with Garda being my least favourite only because everyone goes there.

Austria
The Austrian lakes east and south of Saltzberg are out of this world and even in July / August not that busy as everyone is under the impression its expensive. Well its not and wilding and Stellplatz do exist.

Slovenia
Triglav National park, Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj are stunning. Wilding not allowed in the park and only one or two aires


I tend to plan a general idea for the trip and a route plan. Then I will spent hours if not days on CAMPINGCAR-INFOS which if you use google Chrome through this link accueil it will translate into English. I also have the offline French version on the laptop. I look at all the wilding and Aire opportunities around each area I plan to visit and save them in folders as PDF files to call up later when we are nearby. Mrs D tends to research the what to see and do lists (This is all before we go).

The plan will inevitably change a bit as places are dropped or new ones found enroute.

The other important thing is to make sure you can get online whilst away. This can be useful for asking questions about new places or general local research.

Most of our trips are on here www.hankthetank.co.uk but the last couple of trips I never finished the blogs.
 
As has been mentioned do not miss out on Germany it is a wonderful country must dos are the Romantic road through Bavaria and the Black Forest. Forget the Mosel and Rhine as they are very much samey after a while but nice wines..lol
Further north can be nice with some nice interesting towns such as Hann Munden then a hop across into Holland to visit Gouda and no trip would be complete without a trip to the Kinderdyjik (windmills).

Just do what you want and go where you want if you enjoy where you are stay if not move on.
France has a good range of aires and so do Germany.

One other thought the Western Front area is very interesting and moving and has a real relevance this year as the centenary for the great warm is remembered.
I think everyone should stop at Ypres and go to the last post ceremony at the Menin Gate it is one memory that will never leave you.
 
take each day as it comes. If you want to tick off countries, head into Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg. Then Germany, Austria and northern Italy. At that point see how long its taken you, if you still have plenty of time ,try Slovenia or Croatia, possibly returning north through Hungary, Slovakia and back into Germany. If you are running out of time when in Northern Italy, return back through France.
Buy aires book for France and Camperstop Europe for other countries. Always keep plenty of food in, so if you are in an expensive area, you don't need to buy much. Keep topped up with fuel for the same reason. If you buy large scale maps in advance it gives you chance to look at them before you go.
Most of all enjoy !!
 
We're planning our first trip to Europe in June and hope to be away for 5 weeks. We're taking our dog so we intend spending time in the moral rural parts. I've just bought the French Passion guide, which has 100's of farms listed where you can camp for free overnight. This is to encourage tourism, in the hope that visitors will purchase produce from the farmers. No problem, if like me you enjoy wine and cheese! Might be worth checking out the guide book. Easy to find via google.
 
Typo

Elaine Hunt said:
We're planning our first trip to Europe in June and hope to be away for 5 weeks. We're taking our dog so we intend spending time in the moral rural parts. I've just bought the French Passion guide, which has 100's of farms listed where you can camp for free overnight. This is to encourage tourism, in the hope that visitors will purchase produce from the farmers. No problem, if like me you enjoy wine and cheese! Might be worth checking out the guide book. Easy to find via google.
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:) love the fact it auto corrected more to moral!
 
I would break down the trip into 16 areas and stay a week in each or 8 areas and stay 2 weeks in each. 16 weeks isn't a lot of time to explore all of Europe.
 
Elaine Hunt said:
:) love the fact it auto corrected more to moral!
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:lol-049::lol-053: I didnt bother to read beyond that post and just spent 5 minutes trying to google what the hell "Moral Rural France" was thinking I'd been missing something all these years!
 
If this is a one off opportunity tnen I would head down through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia Croatia Albenia and on to Greece. From Greece get a ferry back up to Italy travel up through Italy, Switzerland, France.

Why spend a lot of time in France, as great as it is, or other nearby countries? You could do these in other years, 2 weeks at a time.
 
Don't plan anything , just check the weather forecasts and follow the sun !
 
Thanks Barryd

barryd said:
:lol-049::lol-053: I didnt bother to read beyond that post and just spent 5 minutes trying to google what the hell "Moral Rural France" was thinking I'd been missing something all these years!
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Your reply was great - it made me laugh, thanks! ;);) :lol-049::lol-049:
 
What do you like to do most? Plan the best way of doing whatever that is. We love walking so I plan some great walking tours. We also love cycling so spend a lot of time in Belgium, using their cycling maps. There are some must sees that I'd never done before so I included those on some of our trips. I love planning - I could plan every day of the sixteen weeks. When it actually comes to doing the trip then the plan takes a backseat, and we follow the weather that suits us, reverting to the plan when we get stuck for ideas.

Enjoy
 
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