How to Plan a European Road Trip [2024]

Your ultimate guide to planning a road trip in Europe

Planning a driving holiday in Europe can be pretty overwhelming. From deciding which country is best for you, finding locations you want to visit, knowing how much to budget to planning a route. Not to mention if you have a family or want to bring your pet, there’s a lot of other factors to consider. 

Questions to ask yourself before planning your European road trip

When are you travelling?

If you’re constrained to school holidays and travelling in peak season then you might want to think about places that are suitable at that time of year and aren’t going to be too hot to enjoy exploring 

How much time do you have? 

A 2 week trip compared to a 2 month trip is a big difference and you might not want to be driving 15 hours just to get to your starting destination if you only have a fortnight to explore.

What is your budget? 

One thing we always hear road trippers say is that moving costs money! It couldn’t be more true, if you are on a tight budget then look at places closer to home so you can keep your fuel and travel costs down. 

Who are you travelling with? 

Solo, couple, kids, with pets. It’s worth thinking properly about this because it will affect where you can travel, for example in the peak of summer, we wouldn’t want to travel anywhere too hot with our dog, so for us Scandinavia is the perfect option.

Logistics of your European road trip

Decide a date

Figure out dates when you are free and look at the best time to visit for your chosen location. For example, if you want to hike in Spain, then you might not want to visit in the shoulder season so that the temperatures are cooler. 

How are you going to get to your destination 

Once you know which country you’re visiting and when, you can start to look at the best transport and routes to get there. If your journey is going to include ferries or flights and vehicle hire, you might want to start looking in advance so that you can get the best deal or see how prices fluctuate. 

Are there any places you already know you want to go to?

Most of the time, we have a few places in mind when we decide to visit somewhere because we have seen lots of photos to inspire us in the past. Make a note of these so you can build the rest of your route and locations around these, and you get to see the places you’ve always dreamed of. 

 

How to plan and organise your road trip in Europe

Our personal favourite method for saving all the locations we want to visit and organising our route is to use Google My Maps. This is an amazing way to create your own map with all the locations you want to visit, from this you can see which locations are on your route or if some of them are out of the way. You can also add your route on here so that you don’t have to keep it all in your head and work from memory.

If you’ve never used Google My Maps before then we’ll talk you through it below. 

1. First up, create yourself a google account so that you can use Google products. 
2. Download the Google Maps app on your phone or iPad so that once you’ve created your map you can view it easily. 
3. To actually create your map you are going to want to use a laptop ideally. You can’t edit Google My Maps on the Google app, you have to do it through your web browser, and doing this on a phone can be a bit fiddly, but it is still possible if you don’t have a laptop. 
4. On your web browser, once you have opened Google My Maps, simply click on a create a new map, this will open up a new map with a blank name.
5. Name your map and start to add some of the locations that you really want to visit, we’ll talk more about how you can find inspiration further on in this guide. As you’re adding places you might find some locations nearby other ones you are adding that you like the sound of. 
6. When you are ready to start thinking about your route you can click on the arrow button under the search bar to add in the route directions. A limitation here is that you can only add 10 locations to your route so it’s good for these to be some main places or hubs that you plan to visit. You can drag the line so that it goes past other locations you want to visit. 
7. If you are creating this map for a long-term trip, you might want to add different layers and routes for each country so that you can view these separately if needed. 
8. Once your map is ready, you can view it on the Google Maps app by clicking on ‘Saved’ on the bottom toolbar and then going through to ‘Maps’.

 

How to find inspiration for your European road trip

• We love being out in nature and hiking so often search for things like, best nature, best hikes or best lakes in whatever country we are visiting. 
• Look on instagram at hashtags, for example ‘road trip spain’ and see if any locations take your fancy.
• Since we love hiking we also look on AllTrails to find beautiful hikes in the area we are visiting. 
• Use the app Park4night to find good places to stay for the night on your route, this could be campsites or overnight spots. 

If you’re still struggling to plan your road trip route or you would like some more inspiration then check out our Europe road trip guides that include comprehensive pages of places to visit and detailed Google maps of locations. 

See our Road Trip Guides

Budget

Budget is another really big factor that comes into planning your ultimate road trip adventure. Like we mentioned before, if you have a smaller budget, you might not want to drive as far because it will cost more fuel money. 

Some other great tips are to use websites like Toll Guru and Via Michelin to calculate tolls and fuel costs on your route. This way you can see whether you are being too ambitious with your driving route. 

If you’re unsure how much a trip like this might cost, check out our blog on costs of our previous Europe road trip.

Documentation

Another thing you should consider when planning your road trip is any documentation you need, slightly less exciting than finding the bucket list places you want to visit. But don’t worry we’ll break it down so that you only need to check these things off. 

• Passport - ensure your passport has empty pages, as some countries require this for entry. It's recommended to verify this before your travel date.
• Driving license - a  must-have for driving in Europe, and you don’t need to worry about getting an international driving permit. 
• V5 - this document proves your ownership of the vehicle and is required for legal driving.
• Car insurance - make sure your car insurance covers you for driving abroad. Check if additional coverage is needed for the countries you'll be visiting.
• Breakdown cover - consider getting breakdown cover for peace of mind in case of any vehicle issues during your journey.
• Visa - If you’re from the UK you don’t need a visa to travel in Europe but you do need to consider the 90 day schengen rules, make sure you are aware of these if you’re planning a long-term trip. 
• Travel insurance - get comprehensive travel insurance that includes coverage for medical emergencies, trip cancellations, and other unforeseen circumstances.
• Pets - if you're bringing along your pet, ensure they have the necessary documentation, such as a UK Animal Health certificate or EU passport, along with up-to-date rabies vaccination records. Check the EU guidelines for more information.

It’s also worth checking any safety requirements for driving in the country you’re visiting. Common safety requirements include carrying a reflective jacket, which must be easily accessible in case of emergencies or breakdowns, as well as using headlight deflectors to adjust the beam pattern of your vehicle's headlights when driving on the continent You will also be required to have a UK sticker or UK on your numberplate in most countries. 

 

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to allow yourself to be spontaneous too. Having an itinerary that’s too rigid and with no room for improvising can mean you miss out on some beautiful places that you simply stumble upon or miss out on enjoying some lovely company. We hope these tips help you turn your dream European road trip into reality!