This is a collection of the best road trips in Europe we experienced so far in our home continent Europe. (There are a lot more and I´m sure we will do a lot more in the future.)
So far: Trust us that the following road trips are the ones you definitely shouldn´t miss while being in Europe.
Contents
First Things First: What is considered a great road trip?
a) The landscape is one of a kind.
b) You can enjoy nature and see special places.
c) The roads are interesting. We don´t talk about driving down a boring highway, hundreds of hundreds of kilometers. We want to have fun on the road. This means that sometimes the roads can be a little bit challenging like the narrow roads in Ireland or the winding roads up to a gorge or in the mountains.
The Best Road Trips in Europe – Our Favorites
We like doing road trips with a campervan as often as possible. Here are some reasons why you should consider it too: Reasons For Traveling And Living In A Campervan.
As for Ireland: We always booked the car in advance and picked it up at Dublin airport.
1. Ireland
Ireland with its green and wild landscape is the perfect place for a road trip. After getting used to driving on the left side (which isn´t as hard as you might think) you will enjoy the rugged coast, narrow roads protected by a canopy of trees, and the famous stone walls.
Read more:
ALONG THE RING OF KERRY
TRAVEL IRELAND ON A BUDGET
Duration: 7 days
Best Time: Summer or winter – if you are comfortable driving in winter time (with the possibility of some snowflakes during the road trip) you can do it in winter too. We were there in February having a great time because there were only few tourists around. In case you don´t want to drive in winter, (Note: always check the weather forecast) summer means more tourists and the sights can be a lot more crowded.
2. France – Along the Lavender Route, Provence
The Lavender Route in Southern France is the place if you like the color and the smell of the purple flowers. But it´s not the only reason why you should do a road trip along the Lavender Route at least once. The road is winding up along one of the largest gorges in Europe. The turquoise water of the Verdon flows slowly between the cliffs and you can take a rest at the different lakes along the road which we highly recommend.
(We included some information about a road trip to the Provence – see 5. Provence, France)
Read more:
ROAD TRIP ALONG THE LAVENDER ROUTE
KAYAKING THE VERDON GORGE
Duration: you can do the route in a couple of hours but we enjoyed our time and it took us 3 days.
Best Time: July and (beginning of ) August
3. Croatia
Driving along the coastal highway in Croatia, you can´t do anything wrong. There are many stops and places to enjoy. The only downside of driving the coastal highway in Croatia is that it might take some time (a lot of time) because of certain speed limits.
Read more:
THE BEST ISLANDS TO VISIT IN CROATIA
Duration: 1 week
Best Time: Summer if you want to swim, otherwise the whole year.
4. Austria
If you like challenging roads and heights you will like the winding roads in the Austrian Alps. You will find the best roads definitely in Tirol. Some of them include the Timmelsjoch between the Ötztal and South Tyrol, the Hahntennjoch between Imst and the Lechtal, or the Hochtannbergpass between Vorarlberg and the Lechtal.
Best Time: Summer. In late fall (depending on the weather) and winter some of the roads are closed.
5. Provence, France
While driving the Lavender Route we wanted to see more of the Provence. Therefore we drove to the ocher town Roussillon, along the famous Gorges de l’Ardèche (which was too crowded for us) and to the Cascades du Sautadet, where we enjoyed the day swimming and cliff jumping.
Read more:
CLIFF JUMPING AT THE CASCADES DU SAUTADET
Duration: Route de Lavande 3 days plus 2+ days for Roussillon, Cascades du Sautadet
Best Time: Summer
6. England
This was one of our spontaneous weekend road trips. 48 hours. From London to Stonehenge and the Blackpool Illuminations. Do you know the “Blackpool Illuminations”? If not, check out the post below the picture.
Read more:
STONEHENGE – A MUST SEE?
ROAD TRIP LONDON TO THE BLACKPOOL ILLUMINATIONS
Duration: 48 hours
Best Time: End of October, November
“The journey is the destination.” – Dan Eldon
When I think about it, I would love to go back to Provence and to Ireland. These are my favorite road trip destinations so far. What was your favorite road trip in Europe so far?
zuletzt aktualisiert am February 27, 2023
Provence looks perfect for a Summer road trip. As great as parts of England are, the motorways are so congested I think I’d stick to the trains there! Although, they are expensive. great post!
That´s true. You gotta be patient when it comes to driving in England. Especially when you´re leaving the airport and driving by London. After that we enjoyed the trip. We´re just not into trains. It doesn´t feel like being free. You have to stick to their schedule. We like leaving and stopping when we want to.
Great you like the post.
Hi there – we’ve just completed 16 months driving around Europe and North Africa in a motor home; our favorite “road trips” within our road trip? We’d have to say Bohemia is bucolic, Andalucia, Spain on smaller roads, the most southern route to Italy from Provence, Ireland was fantastic but the back roads a bit narrow for comfort :), and the entire Ionian coastline from Greece north to Croatia. Thanks for your focus on road tripping Europe!
Hi Tammy and Aaron, thanks for sharing your best road trips within your longer road trip. 😉
Hi Christina! What a wonderful post! We just had our first Roadtrip in Europe this May! We traveled throug Italy and south france. The absolute highlight was the gorge of verdon. It was amazing!
Hi Thomas. I am a big fan of the Verdon Gorge too. I love the turquoise color of the river Verdon and the winding roads with the view.
What did you see in Italy during your road trip?
All of these road trip destinations seems so awesome and worth going to,Christina. I especially loved the idea of going on a road trip in Croatia!