The Great European Drive : Conception and start

Conception

The idea behind driving into Europe had been raging since our move back from Hong Kong. I always felt travelling and stopping randomly in cities on your own accord in a much more adventurous approach to travel. It feeds the gypsy inside all of us for the short period we often need change.

We had already done a few forays in to Europe using our older car but it was no longer our companion. Although we had a new car (a fast ford focus), the idea of going around Europe in a fast Ford didn’t agree with the family’s idea of comfort. And it was to be a family trip so we swapped to a Land Rover and the Europe Road Trip idea was conceived. The idea was to use the large Land Rover for a couple of years starting with a drive one of the best road in the work the GrossGlockner High Alpine pass a scenic road near the Austrian Alps. 

The approach was to take a 2 week trip through the most scenic sights through Europe to get to Austria and then take the most scenic road back.

The plan

So our plan was as to experience the mountain. fast German roads, Milan and do some Swiss hikes. The plan was as follows:

Date	Start	End	Est Mileage (km)	Est Travel Time	Points of Interest
Sat 3rd Aug	London	Vianden, Lux	369	7h24m	Leave early and get to Vianden castle by afternoon, Visit is EUR 5
Sun 4th Aug	Luxembourg	Manneheim	314	4h29m	Vianden Castle to Neurbergring in the morning - Ring Taxi (BMW M3). Ring opens at 8am Drive to Koblenz and follow the Rhine Valley - UNESCO World Heritage site. Drive from Koblenz to Bingen (Rhine Valley and Rhine Gorge) Bingen to Mannheim
Mon 5th Aug	Manneheim	Stuttgart	110	1h50m	Drive from Mannheim to Stuttgart in the morning. Do Ludwigsburg Palace and Stuttgart city in the afternoon and evening
Tue 6th Aug	Stuttgard	Salzburg	314	3h49m	Do Porsche Museum in the Morning at 9am. Then Drive to Salzburg potentially do eagles nest today to reduce stress on the following day. Austria requires a permit / driving
Wed 7th Aug	Salzburg	Salzburg			No Driving Day - Explore Salzburg (https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/top10/domquartier-salzburg) Salzburg Residenz Palace (Mirabell Palace and Gardens) Hohensalzburg Fortress Mozarts Birthplace Hellbrunn Palace and Trick Fountains Squares and Streets (DomQuartier) walk
Thu 8th Aug	Salzburg	Innsbruck	492	7h21m	Drive out from Salzburg to : Austrian Mountain Roads Drive (1) Eagles Nest (https://www.kehlsteinhaus.de/) this is back in Germany South to Zel-am See and down to Zlan (2) Goldeck Panoram Road (Zlan to (3) Grossglockner High Alpine Road : Zell Am See to Rojach (https://www.grossglockner.at/gg/en/index) (4) Gerlos Alpine Road : Krimml (Waterfall) to Tyrol (5) Swarovski Crystal worlds - open until 10pm
Fri 9th Aug	Innsbruck	Innsbruck			Potentially to space out the above
Sat 10th Aug	Innsbruck	Milan	568	6h17m	Innsbruck to Marenello (3h51m) - depending on starting time come via Lake Garda Ferrari Musuem Drive to Milan
Sun 11th Aug	Milan	Milan			No Driving Day - Around Milan City
Mon 12th Aug	Milan	Milan			No Driving Day - Around Milan City
Tue 13th Aug	Milan	Como	279	1h35m	Around Lake Como
Wed 14th Aug	Como	Como			No Driving Day - Around Lake Como
Thur 15th Aug	Como	Interlaken	245	3h15m	Drive to Interlake and around Interlaken
Fri 16th Aug	Interlaken	Interlaken			Switzerland Mountain Roads Day Great St. Bernard Pass, Martigny Furka Pass, Guttannen St.Gotthard Pass, Andermatt
Sat 17th Aug	Interlaken	Interlaken			Switzerland Hike Day (https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/experiences/summer-autumn/hiking/32-most-enjoyable-hikes-search/) The Eiger Trail - 6km trail altitude loss of 800m (downhill hike) - https://www.nomadasaurus.com/beginners-guide-hiking-in-switzerland/ Grindelwald ZipRider
Sun 18th Aug	Interlaken	Interlaken			Hornliweg Zermatt - Matehorn base hike - 4.2km with 700m altitude gain - https://www.nomadasaurus.com/beginners-guide-hiking-in-switzerland/
Mon 19th Aug	Interlaken	Rhine falls	219	2h21m	Stay at Rhine Falls
Tue 20th Aug	Rhine Falls	Home	949	10h15m	Way home
			3859

So overall it was going to be a 2 week break and a return to the UK before exam results season. The rest of blog entries will be taking you through the trip above with the key sights we saw and the thing to watch out for and the things to avoid.

We packed camping gear but no one wanted to rough it and the approach was to book hotels as we go. Good hotels in location where we were planned to stay for a few days and just places to sleep where we were just stopping over.