Going on a roadtrip in Europe this coming Summer, pic related. I got some destinations figured out thanks to friends living there, but there are a few countries that I'd go through that I am no quite sure what do do yet.
Would appreciate if you could come with suggestions to one or more countries below.
>Where to go in France?
>Where to go in Germany?
>Where to go in Northern Italy?
>Where to go in Switzerland?
Any other recommendations?
i assume the points on the map are stops you are making?
Are all destinations locked in or just a general loop?
What sort of things do you have planned to do?
What classic europe trip stuff are you not into?
What types of things do you think you're into
Is Zurich a planned stop?
Because a cool route from Munich is south route to Innsbruk Austria, to Italy thru Dolomite mountains - Bolzano (Nearby bressanone, ortisei, merano - famous parks for ex puez odle) to Trento, along Lake Garda, to Verona (one of my fav cities).
From Verona (this could also be connected on your Zurich to Milan route) is a transverse northern italy trainline.
Venice - Padua - Vicenza - Verona - Pescheria Del Garda - Brescia - Bergamo - Milan - Turin. Italians autisitcally hate the northern cities but as a foreigner i thought they were pretty comfy but as with everywhere it is usually cooler outside the city.
The italian northern lakes are very popular so if you are going from zurich to genoa as on the map - you're passing near lake lugano between lake maggiore and lake como, both have beautiful towns, but summer in italy famous spots will have tourists naturally. other northern lakes as mentioned garda but the lower tier ones are beautiful too like iseo or orta
Are you going to Genoa area or were just thinking to travel along the riviera all the way to barcelona? South of milan is Pavia - old city with a few landmarks.
other direction there is cinque terre but will be crowded. There are many popular tourist towns on italian riviera, Portofino is a fancy one.
Like every region there are tiny beautiful towns, like Dolceacqua or Apricale - but is it worth the time getting there on a tight schedule with public transport? depends if you are taking a break or seek those things.
Drive italian riviera to french riviera is nice.
In france before Nice there are towns of Menton, Eze. This area has the roads called Les Trois Corniches
Thanks alot for the helpful post!
>i assume the points on the map are stops you are making?
>Are all destinations locked in or just a general loop?
Just general directions in the loop.
Actual planned stops are
>Malmö
>Haarlem
>Paris(yes got nice friends there)
>Normandie
>Barcelona/Palamos
>Pavia
>Warszawa
I just added Zürich because I’d like to pass through Switzerland.
As for what I have in mind, obv no cooming as I have my gf with me, but everything from historical, cultural experience to natural wonders would be nice. Also food. Whichever stuff you think is worth the time. I want to avoid doing very long hikes as I won’t have the gear for that.
I’ll be using my own vehicle. Any tips passing through the borders of Yuro countries? From my experience, passing through Sweden, Denmark and Germany has not been an issue at all.
Add Vienna and Krakow between Prague and Warsaw if you can.
Kino. I’ll add these.
As my friend and his parents live there. It’s a nice city, though Wrocław is much nicer.
I suggest Lake Como in northern Italy, Lauterbrunnen and Mürren in the swiss Alps. These are places you will not forget for the rest of your life
If you want to Normandie, go to Mont Saint Michel, Bayeux for the tapestry and the nearby WW2 beaches, then head in to Honfleur and go further inland to Beuvron en Auge (small village with typical Norman architecture, very touristy but mainly french tourists), and head towards Lisieux (shit city but the Basilica is one of the greatest religious building of the 20th century), on your way to Lisieux feel free to have a drink or coffee in Livarot and do the Fromagerie tour, and I would highly recommend St Germain de Livet castle (small castle off the beaten track, very comfy).
>Because a cool route from Munich is south route to Innsbruk Austria, to Italy thru Dolomite mountains - Bolzano (Nearby bressanone, ortisei, merano - famous parks for ex puez odle) to Trento, along Lake Garda, to Verona (one of my fav cities).
This OP. I did a motorcycle trip through the alps a couple of years ago and took a similar route to balzano and other places in the vicinity before going up through Switzerland.
Northern Italy was by far my favorite. The dolomites are amazing (pic related). The Swiss alps are very majestic and the roads are of superior quality but the smaller roads are far more comfy and Switzerland is also twice as expensive as Italy.
I'd skip it entirely if going back, but if you absolutely want to visit I would just drive through for the vistas, the hike in prices annoyed me so much I just camped out and bought sandwiches from convenience stores until I got back to Germany (which was still more expensive than restaurants on the Italian side.
If you go mate, visit a bit more of switzerland. Fucking gorgeous place, just pack a few extra bucks as mentions. You won't regret it.
for France i'd do this
Why go through Landes? Pretty empty
From Germany, There is the Romantic Road - in Bavaria, it is a tourist track that all the towns kind of have comfy romantic architecture but if you were coming from Prague - Nuremberg or Regensburg have good medeival town centres. A bit further off route there is wurzburg too. Rothenburg ob der Taber is probably super popular tourist spot but it was cool.
If you got to Munich area - for a detour, Salzburg was pretty comfy, there is also the austrian lake district outside salzburg most famous town is hallstadt,
Also in that direction there is Chiemsee - a lake in germany has an unfinished 1800s palace on an island. There is hitler's eagles nest hideout too.
South of munich there are touristy bavarian mountain towns at the foot of the mountains like zugspitze you could get cable car up that.
Near the town of Fussen there is the Neuschwanstein Castle
On your map you go near Lindau before going into switzerland -is an island town.
If you drive through french riviera towards marseille, there are the famous fancy towns like cannes and saint tropez but traffic might be congested by them but inland in that area is also beautiful. and if you are looking to see beautiful south french coast, just before marseille are the Calanques of Marseille. Verdon national park has a nice canyon river. If you look in the countryside of any place you'll find weird things like Malpasset Dam - a collapsed dam disaster, maybe not interesting to everyone but if i was in the neighborhood itd be cool.
Towns like Arles, Orange, Nimes have a large intact roman structure or two. Avignon famous for the french pope + its bridge song. Pont Du Gard aqueduct.
In June Provence lavender fields start to blum - Plateau de Valensole is a famous region. They also have sunflowers. There are too many villages in every region of france that if you were on a road trip could be worth passing through. some cool looking ones are like Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, Gordes, Roussillon, Les Baux-de-Provence
Carcassonne is a famous tourist spot - the classic fairytale castle vibe has been recreated here i think in 1800s reconsturction.
Millau is like one of the largest bridges in the world or something.
Albi has a neat history - grand cathedral built to establish catholic presence, there was another sect of christianity Cathars that were put down centred in Albi
Going into Spain, Girona is a medieval town that is famous as a foodie destination, has some film+tv shoots there.
Castellfollit de la Roca is a cool looking village in the country, and Besalú
North of Barcelona there is Montserrat monestary in the mountian
Tarragona has roman amphitheatre, and an aquaduct
Going thru middle of switzerlnd, Interlaken is the most famous area. As mentioned Lauterbrunnen - it is like fairytale land with high waterflls off the mountains. Grindelwald also famous. gelmerbahn looks neat to try - there are a lot of cogwheel trains for steep mountains in switzerland.
Famous ski destinations are nice in summer too - like Zermatt (Matterhorn) is an alpine town that has no civilian traffic, you have to train into town.
A bit in the wrong direction but Stelvio Pass road into italy is quite famous.
Valle Verzasca is sometimes clickbait called Maldives of Milan - north of Locarno, the crystal blue river, there is a famous bridge ponte dei salti
>all these fucking stops and destinations
>i'm from norway
you're an american in spirit because holy fuck what an atrocious itinerary.
France
>Paris
>Rouen
>Mont Sant-Michelle
>Bordeaux
>Sant-Emilion
>Carcasonnes
>Annecy (try syrah wines while in the Rhone region)
>Colmar
>Chamonix
For Spain I can't help much because Southern Spain > Northern Spain. Andalucia has so much to do and see packed so tightly together that it's a shame you're skipping it to mostly do barcelona and border towns.
Same thing with Italy, fucking Milan, really? You stop for the Church and Duomo and a meal then gtfo of that garbage city. Keep the NW edge of Italy, cut out Milan and then go back to France to do Annecy, Chamoix and Colmar. From there you go to Lucerne and Zurich while tossing in stops recommended by
Also
>going to Malmo, Sweden
Pray you dont get grenades thrown at you or outright fucked with as its a no-go zone for police.
France and it's stops should be the biggest time spender on your trip. Cut out Spain and do north Italy proper instead or cut out Italy and do north Spain properly rather than rushing it. Reloop into east France and go to Switzerland after. Prague is a 3 day city, Munich and its surroundings are really nice. Poland is a meme stop with this itinerary, you should cut from Prague back home through Germany.
You're severly underestimating how much time you need per stop. My 9 stops in France can easily take up 3 weeks and that's still semi-rushed. Your itinerary now looks like a 1 day per stop deal, at which point you're better off not going at all.
>Same thing with Italy, fucking Milan, really? You stop for the Church and Duomo and a meal then gtfo of that garbage city.
you go one about visiting these small towns for multiple days but think milan is just 2 sights and thats it?
every destination can be enjoyed quickly without doing every tourist activity, but if someone liked cities they could find a lot in milan
>you stop multiple days in small towns and say you should skip Milan?
Yes, the small towns have soul and Milan doesnt. You'd quickly recognize this the second you compare Paris (which has a ton more draw than Milan) to any of the other spots I listed in France.
>if you like cities you can find a lot in Milan
I actually dont mind cities, Milan is just really that boring and uninteresting. Hes bringing his gf with him, Venice is a better stop than Milan. I get your reaction against the autistic >muh cities bad hurr durr but it really is just against Milan. Most people agree, Milan is fucking boring.
These are just general directions, but some stops are because I have friends there see
I have no idea how long this trip is gonna be. It may take 1.5 months, starting late May or early July
Thanks!
See above. I’ll stop by København
French girls love it in their back door.
Another reason to never go to France
why would I want poop in my dick?
why would I want to do that to a woman and simulate sex with a man on her?
Very strange.
Don't go to warsaw. It's a copy paste big city. Go to southern poland like Bielsko-biała and Kraków instead. Much more culture there. Beautiful mountains too.
>A list of cities
Straight up bulimic indeed. The man will go to so many places in a span of two weeks he won't even remember where was what. But to each their own, I guess.
If this is your first time in Europe?
I would rec you spend less time in the skandi nations and Germany and more time in Italy and the balkans. Germany is a great place to live but kinda boring to visit and Scandinavia is a bit soulless compared to Southern Europe and the balkans. Balkans is dirt cheap and incredibly beautiful and Italy has retained its culture far better than anywhere else in Europe so it offers the best European experience. Far better than France.
Forgot to inform, trip starts in Norway, because that’s literally where I live.
It will be the first time to visit Netherlands, France outside of Paris, mainland Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Czech Republic.
Would do Balkans another time, definitely wanna visit there
if you do pass through bordeaux and go north toward normandy + paris (brittany would be cool tho) you would go through the loire valley, which one famous thing is their castles/stately homes- these are more rich later period, not battle tested castles.
Many are in the periphery of the city of Tours
Like Château de Villandry, de Chambord, de Chenonceau there are like two dozen.
Amboise nice town and castle. Royal City of Loches
Le Mans the town quite nice medieval interior, also famous car race history
Chartres is another famous cathedral town, in the perimeter around paris there are several but this is one of the more famous
Going near Bordeaux, if the wide atlantic beaches were not enough sand you can go to Dune du Pilat...
Marais Poitevin is dubbed "the green venice" series of canals in woodland, Maillezais has a ruined abbey in this region. Coulon and Niort nearby.
Island of Yeu i really liked, but going to an island, may be as much time just worth going to bretagne region.
If you are into spirits, there is the regions of Armagnac, and Cognac in the vicinity of bordeaux
Oiron castle could be cool but you'd almost be in loire going that way with more impressive castles imo.
Saint Savin Abbey is unesco
Angles-sur-l'Anglin another cool town, also Chauvigny
Brouage is a bastion fort
Talmont-sur-Gironde looks like a neat northern costal town.
Bit of a detour but the Dordogne valley has beautiful towns. Rocamadour and Beynac-et-Cazenac are probably the most striking but there are certainly others: Castelnaud-La-Chapelle, La Roque-Gageac, Domme, Soulliac, Limeuil, Monpazier, Collonges-la-Rouge, Curemonte, Bonaguil Castle is in the region.
If you went through a more central route by dordogne, there is more to consider like Ségur-le-Château, Uzerche and more just north.
dordogne east and further east region have many striking villages also
>Marais Poitevin
damn that's actually kind of niche. I hope I'll remember it when I return to France someday.
My #1 marsh/swamp to visit right now is the Spreewald
>stopping in malmo but not copenhagen
?????
More small towns etc
near the Pyrenees french side:
some cool riverside old towns: Oloron Sainte-Marie, Sauveterre-de-Béarn, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Orthez
Lourdes is a famed christian pilgrimage site from due to an 1800s Marian apparition. cauterets is a nearby mountian resort
you're not one for hiking but Cirque de Gavarnie is a very popular walk - maybe 2 hours round trip, there is a hotel you can stop for lunch
Saint-Bertrand de Comminges has some old town feel, but looks more cool the elevated church with mountain backdrop
Foix - small castle town. Tarascon-sur-Ariège - nice river town.
Montsegur -a tiny nothing village nice to drive through - but there is a ruined cathar castle on the mountian top above it, maybe too much for you to hike but nice view.
Its not of interest to me, but if you are into Cave Paintings, southern france/northern spain is a big cluster.
Moving a bit north town of Auch is a neat town.
Condom is a pretty good ratio of funny place name to neat town, but nearby Nerac may be nicer.
You'll see much and experience nothing. Great job. A classic American vacation in Western Europe.
That’s why I made this thread so I can receive suggestions.
Although the route itself can change easily, I’m not planning to visit other countries aside from maybe Austria and Hungary
What's your time allotment at each location? 1 day? If you are staying for an entire summer, why not pick 2-3 places and stay there?
The current stops will be between 1-3 days. I don’t plan on making many stops so I made this thread so I can figure out interesting places to stop by on the way.
i know we can't visit everywhere but i like to think about it
More east of dordogne
Cordes-sur-Ciel medieval hill town
Autoire - nice little village in a valley, with ruined castle up in the cliffs
Conques - another village in the valley
Estaing - old river town with overbearing castle
Soreze - medieval village centred around a great abbey
Gaillac - town with nice view of church of nice river
Puycelsi - walled hilltop village
Saint-Cirq-Lapopie - hilltown over a cliff above a river
Belcastel little village with a bel castel
Castelnau-de-Montmiral more medieval town, nice old street vibes
Peyre - cliffside town over a river, has the grand millau viaduct in the horizon
Figeac another cool old village
Brousse-le-Château has some large castle ruins
Najac skinny hilltop village running up to a tiny fort castle.
Saint-Côme-d’Olt another cool old town
Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val old river valley town, nice old street vibes
Bruniquel another cool old village on cliff
Penne - nice ruined castle on mountain peak - castle has some reenactment/reconstruction stuff going on sometimes
Cahors has a cool bridge, maybe some old town, but i dont know if old town vibe is the first choice for the region like Lauzerte for ex.
belgium
BELGIUM!
Persinally, I'd cut out the poland leg of the trip and add Vienna, Budpaest, Slovenia, Croatia, Venice and Verona. You could drive up through the alps through Bolzano.
As a French, be extra careful in Paris, as morons and bougnoules are more active than ever.
Avoid everything btween Saint-Denis and Gare du Nord
>Going on a roadtrip in Europe this coming Summer
nice me too anon I'm excited
>I have my gf with me
Then you need to stop in Venice, absolute must.
In Germany you will also want to stop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It is simply stunning, quaint and fascinating just in how it manages to be so quaint yet people actually live there.
Château de Grosbois - does this mean castle of Fat Bois?
>skipping vienna, budapest and 90% of italy in order to drive for days through literal nothingness in poland, northern germany, denmark and sweden
why do peabrained retards think this is a good idea?
At least OP rightfully doesn't even bother with Berlin.
I live in Switzerland and can give you some tips.
First thing you have to decide is if you want to see the cities and towns or the nature. If you only stay some days in switzerland I wouldnt recommend you going to the mountains(60% the whole country is mountainous) but only to the cities, because you need a lot of time for the hiking.
What I would recommend:
>Berne
Capital of switzerland. The old city is magical, especially in the morning. Its also Unesco heritage. (0.5 days)
>Lucerne
Probably the most tourist town in Switzerland. Its really beautiful. You can also take a boat tour at the lake or got to the mountain Pilatus. (1-1.5 days)
>Zurich
Biggest city. You can do there all the things you can do in big cities. Partying, museums, eating,art, shopping. 12. august takes also the biggest open public party in whole europe part, the street parade. (1 day)
>St. Gallen
Hidden gem. Beautiful old city, Unesco heritage (cathedral and barroque library). You can also take the train to Appenzell and the mountain Säntis for authentic old switzerland folklore experience (1-1.5 days)
the cities are soulless.. do not listen to this banker
>t. scared of people
>t. fond of meeting and socializing with fellow human beings
You disgust me.
You should really consider driving more in the south, especially in Spain, ESPECIALLY Andalusia. This is potentially the most beautiful region in Europe to drive.
what's your time frame?
Alright frens, I guess this is it. Thanks a lot for all the awesome suggestions!
I have literally plotted every single spot(that Google could find) on this map here. In Green are places I will do this trip. Grey are places recommended but that I find a bit excessive for this trip due to being too far from the main route. I will always have these places in mind for a future trip though!
Blue are places I have in mind to go maybe another time.
From my rough estimate, this should take around 50 days, starting 19-20th of May and being done around mid-July.
It will go counter-clockwise so Netherlands/France first and Germany last
By the way, I am planning to do this on a 400cc motorcycle. I don't know if this is a good idea at all, and what tyres to get considering this trip will be 10,000km. Comfort may not be a problem as the current seat we have is good for our asses for 4 hours(longest we've ridden).
Now, I might unironically need to do a few oil changes on the way. Although I can do it myself, I don't wanna waste time on my vacation doing it.
Should I do it in France, Spain, Italy and Germany?