OUR personal Grand Tours...
 

Hi All,

Last week some old friends came to stay and we came up with a plan to do a driving tour in Europe. Our friends want to see Auchwitz and other European Cultural Highlights... :Confused:

They haven't been able to travel to Europe before and we can help them achieve their Dream Trip while sharing the steep ferry and other costs of touring in an A8: Win Win in my book! ;)

Could we start a Grand Tour thread with long distance advice? It seems that "Driving Biss" is more "Evo Triangle" or Cat and Fiddle than tips from drivers and true Tourists. +++

Our plans are Hull to Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Berlin, Krakow, Prague, Bruge then Rotterdam-Hull return. 10 days excluding ferry: thoughts? Experience of visiting those places? Good places to stay over? :)

Robert

I can't comment on that route, but 5 cars (including us) did the Wild Atlantic Way tour this summer over about 2 weeks. Incredible journey. +++

The one thing I will say is that moving on every day and getting plenty of miles in was pretty relentless. I think we did over 2000 miles, not sure what your route would be, though there are probably a lot more easy motorway/autobahn miles in it. :ROFL:

So, if you have the luxury, take your time and allow several days in some key locations.

Of that list of cities I've only been to Amsterdam (many times) and Prague (once). You need several days in each, especially Amsterdam.

I've only been to Rotterdam out of those on your list. I can recommend a visit to the Euromast http://www.euromast.nl/en some fantastic views to be had there and has a restaurant.

If you're into architecture then the Cube houses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_house might be worth a visit too.

Bruges. The Park restaurant, had some fantastic meals there. The hotel Jan Brito, massive room, small swimming pool and amazing brekkie
Auchwitz!!! I'd rather stand barefoot on a brick of lego.

Thanks to all
 

Yeah... And guess what they want to see in Amsterdam? :rolleyes:

Thanks for tips, especially Bruge restaurant.

Anyone else do much Continental motoring? A friend's brother drives his A8 on business in Europe rather than fly, my friend says he LOVES his A8! :love:

Doh! :o just thought: will text my pal and suggest her Bro logs on! Sounds like he would be a good contributor- at least to this thread!

Robert

This boring old fart hereby claims first dibs as a volunteer driver. Just feed & sleep me, and tell me where you want me to take you. :ROFL:
Seriously the Hull-Rotterdam crossing is a good choice, used it many times. Three years back reserved a suite in both directions, rather expensive but was a special for SWMBO.
Bruges, nice mix of old and new. Have not stayed overnight there since 1959, just day visits.
Brussels, Atomium, Manekin ****en and Glockenspiel worth seeing.
Berlin, Gedankeskirche, November 7th Strasse, Brandenburg Gate and the Wall remains.
Just goes on. You need a week in each place to see anything properly. I lived in Germany for nine years from when I was 18 and had many coach driving jobs over there since.
I'd love to go back and do a Grand Tour.
Just thought, how about the Mohne Dam (Dam Busters fame) whilst driving towards Hannover?
Hope you manage it and ENJOY.

I have also only been to Amsterdam a few times, and Prague and Berlin once a long time ago.

I can only think of one suggestion, but it works only if you have enough time. Avoid the motorways (even though the German ones are very good), take your time and take the slower roads and go through some of the smaller towns and villages. That way you really get to see a country.

My advice is listen to Ray+++

We visit France routinely and have been further afield to Spain, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Germany etc. many times. Best tip I would give is to have some way of accessing the internet while out there (we have Three mobile sims) you can plan as you go along and see if you're right next to a place of interest that you may have overlooked. Consider stopping for decent meals, sleep and showers (we use Ibis cheap and cheerful hotels) so you all feel human and refreshed. The 8 is fairly epic for these types of journeys TBH.

Enjoy, and take pictures. We all like pics!

John

Any firm plans yet on this, Robert?

I've done several euro road trip, last one was to the Monza GP, round about and back, before that was Estonia and back.

Best advice I can give is don't be too ambitious with how far to go in one day, break the journey up into smaller sections and take your time, the journey is often better than the destination +++