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Post by cakediva on Jun 22, 2023 12:36:10 GMT
We love the idea of doing Europe but not as a bus tour where you have to have your suitcase outside the room door by 6am lol.
We've seen "self-drive" tours suggested where all the hotels are pre-booked, car is included and you are on your own.
Anybody done one of these? Any company suggestions?
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Post by gillyp on Jun 22, 2023 12:57:15 GMT
This is how we always travel but not through any company, we just book hotels in various places on a loose route, pick up a car at the airport and do our own thing.  |
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scrappinmama
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,019
Jun 26, 2014 12:54:09 GMT
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Post by scrappinmama on Jun 22, 2023 13:17:41 GMT
We did this, but with a train. I booked everything on my own and not as a package. We went to Milan, Lake Como, Pisa, Florence and Rome. I did not book through Eurail though. I booked train tickets through Trenitalia. That trip was amazing! I highly recommend train travel if you don't want to drive.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Jun 22, 2023 13:39:26 GMT
This is how we always travel in Europe. I like to plan, so have never used a company. Some people will wing it and not even prebook hotels, but that doesn't work for me. There are so, so many resources out there for planning and you can tweak things for your own interests. Italy, Germany, Austria, France, UK, Spain, Portugal - they're all extremely easy to navigate and explore on your own. We haven't had a chance yet to visit much of eastern Europe - but haven't had a bit of trouble - even when traveling with our young kids (unless you count severe motion sickness and the hills of Tuscany for my 4 year old son!)
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wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,020
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Jun 22, 2023 13:47:38 GMT
Like gillyp, we just hire a car at the airport and head off. Went to New Zealand for three weeks, only booked accommodation for the first night. It really felt like an adventure because nothing was overly planned, we just stayed or moved on as the mood took us. Couple of things to note, even crossing over from the UK to France, UK drivers need to check that they are up to date with all the rules. Last time we went to France, for example, we needed to carry reflective vests for everyone in the car in case of breakdown plus couldn't have a electronic system set to warns us of speed cameras. Here's one site but there are lots more europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/driving-abroad/road-rules-and-safety/index_en.htmA lot of European cities have low emissions rules, we had to register our car online and paid a fee before we went through Antwerp. urbanaccessregulations.eu/ |
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Post by auntkelly on Jun 22, 2023 14:07:35 GMT
All of our trips to Europe have been self guided. We travel by train for the most part, but we have rented cars and hired private drivers as well.
We love the flexibility of planning our own trips. We generally pick out two or three areas we want to explore, and then book one lodging in each area to serve as our base for day trips. We stay three or four nights in each lodging. Then we hop on a train to our next lodging and stay there three or four nights while exploring the new area.
Those who rent cars and change lodgings every one or two nights, probably cover a lot more areas than we do, but I think it would be exhausting.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jun 22, 2023 16:24:07 GMT
All of our trips to Europe have been self guided. We travel by train for the most part, but we have rented cars and hired private drivers as well. We love the flexibility of planning our own trips. We generally pick out two or three areas we want to explore, and then book one lodging in each area to serve as our base for day trips. We stay three or four nights in each lodging. Then we hop on a train to our next lodging and stay there three or four nights while exploring the new area. Those who rent cars and change lodgings every one or two nights, probably cover a lot more areas than we do, but I think it would be exhausting. This is pretty much how we travel as well. On longer trips we will book a hotel for a week and then do day trips out of there, before hopping a train to the next location. Sometimes we rent a car for a day or two, but more recently DH has preferred to just hire a car/driver through the hotel. This allows him to enjoy the trip more thoroughly, rather that worrying about traffic and rules we are not accustomed to. In the past we would usually just take the train to our destination, then find a hotel once we arrived. Some of the best hotels/stays have come from those trips. Now we tend to have reservations though because so many more people are traveling and those spur of the moment rooms are not the guarantee that they used to be. |
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Post by malibou on Jun 22, 2023 16:33:44 GMT
We’ve travelled in Europe a lot. And as the others above said, we wing it on our own. We have never encountered any issues doing this. We seldom know in advance where we will be stopping and spending the night. We even did it this way when DS was small.
I would say city driving is probably the trickiest. A lot of cars, different road rules, and signs you might not understand. Once you know which countries you will be driving in, I would look up their road signs and study them a bit.
I love winging it as does my family.
However you decide to do it, enjoy yourself.
ETA We had a trip to Ireland planned as Covid hit that we didn’t get to go on. That one was kind of planned. We booked thru a tour group as they had a special on the airfare, car rental, and accommodations. We picked the route we wanted to take, and they had lists of accommodations at each of our selected stops that we could pick from. Most were B&B type places, with a castle thrown in one night.
For the life of me I can’t think of the name of the business we used. Dh will be home later, and he will remember. I also think that this business had set ups like this in other countries.
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jennc
Shy Member
Posts: 24 
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Post by jennc on Jun 22, 2023 16:45:45 GMT
We did exactly what you are talking about in April in Ireland. CIE Tours set up our car rental and booked all our hotels (independent adventurers). They worked with us to plan the route. They will even do airfare if you want. I liked the set destinations and no worry about where we were staying. I did not have time to research and plan the trip myself, so I left it up the professionals!
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tanya2
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea #1604
Posts: 4,427
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Post by tanya2 on Jun 22, 2023 17:29:38 GMT
We just finished a trip like this. Ireland, Scotland, England and then a cruise to Norway. In Ireland we did public transportation in Dublin and then rented a car for 5 days to see the southern/western parts. It was a huge adjustment driving there, other side of the road, other side of the car, super narrow roads, manual transmission. First day I thought for sure we were going to die. But then it became more normal. Scotland we did 4 days in Edinburgh using public transportation and then did a bus tour of the highlands & the Isle of Skye. It was amazing! I cannot recommend that tour company highly enough, if anyone is travelling to Scotland check out Rabbie's tours! I completely get what you mean about not wanting to be on a schedule, but it was nice to have a few days of not having to do any of the planning or driving, and the guide had a lot of information and stories about the areas we were seeing. It was a good break in the middle of our trip.
We were supposed to take a train from Edinburgh to Manchester but thanks to a rolling train strike it was cancelled and my daughter helped us find a bus instead, which was cheaper but instead of 4 hours on a train we did 10 hours on a bus. Not so much fun. England we rented a car for 2 days and mostly walked the rest of the time, took a train from Manchester to London. Norway was a cruise so less transportation worries, and a lot of walking at port stops. According to my apple watch in 30 days we walked over 275 kms! Thankfully I had a massaged booked for the day after we got home LOL
We did change hotels a lot though, no more than a couple nights in each place (not including the cruise) - that was a hard adjustment! Not enough sleep for sure. Also, because it's so much farther north than we were used to the sun is up for a much longer time, and it never really got totally dark. That didn't help with the sleeping. So yes, moving around a lot is interesting and a great way to see a whole lot - but exhausting!
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Post by librarylady on Jun 22, 2023 21:51:42 GMT
We did that, but used trains for transportation.
Before the internet (now I shudder at doing it without the internet), I planned a 3 week trip for my 3 sisters and one BIL. We spent a week in Switzerland, a week in southern Germany and a week in France. We had a wonderful time.
Booked all our hotel reservations and planned the route.
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peppermintpatty
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea #1345
Posts: 3,947
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Post by peppermintpatty on Jun 23, 2023 11:38:51 GMT
I refuse to do tours. If I am going to pay all that money, I want to see and do what I want and not spend days running from one church to the other. We don't like doing museums so those tours are a waste of money. When I was in Italy, I saw so many Madonna and Child paintings that I never want to see another one again. I spend close to a year planning some vacations. I can do much better on price since they always put people in 5 star hotels. I would rather stay at AirBnB's and have the ability to do laundry and have a kitchen. I have actually had many people ask if I would plan a vacation for them. It really isn't difficult to plan your own. Find a facebook group that discusses that location, read blogs and do some research. For me, that is part of the fun.
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