Author Topic: Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....  (Read 7805 times)

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Offline Elsa Padfield

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« on: June 20, 2011, 23:09:58 PM »
Hi all.  Just some information would help us decide whether to drive overland.

Plan is to travel via France & Italy; we'd like to visit Rome (how we negotiate that city I don't know), across the ferry to Greece and visit Istanbul.  Then we plan to drive down to Calis.  Hopefully the middle of September.  We'll then return via Istanbul again, but through Bulgaria, Romania etc....

Has anyone done this, how dangerous is it and how easy is it to negotiate your way through Istanbul[?]  And how expensive - we do realise it's going to probably cost more than flying but thought it'd be a great experience.

Oh... thanks.   :)

Offline heather07

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2011, 07:55:21 AM »
Elsa there have been reports from people doing this but haven't seen one for some time.  Have you tried a search??

Offline Old Daffodil

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2011, 08:14:04 AM »
I posted about our trip across Europe when we returned with the dogs. It is easy across France and there are plenty of hotel chains,FI,B and B, Campanile, Mercure etc or the farmhouses sometimes advertise chambre d'hotes which is when they let accommodation out on the farm.If you are going through the Frejus tunnel it only takes about twelve minutes. Once through the tunnel if you need a hotel for the night Italy tends to have individual hotels. At Torino(Turin) there is a good stop for the night at Rivoli,the Davide Hotel, and the owners brother owns a pleasant restaurant nearby. Also in the Asti area is a village called Bricco Barrano where the Cascina Bella Vista is very pleasant and run by an English couple.
When we visited Rome we did not even attempt driving in the city. It is best to stay outside the city near a train station and go in by train.Once in Rome there is a bus which travels a circular route and you hop on and off of it on the one ticket at the tourist spots.II Colle degli Ulivi is one place to stay outside the city. We also stayed at the Villa Vecchia for a night(Frascati area)nice sparkling white wine!I could imagine the Sopranos holding a wedding there.
Florence is also hard to drive around and we parked in the hotel car park. There is so much to visit in Florence and it is fascinating walking around. I especially enjoyed the Pritti Palace with the Boboli gardens.
When going on the ferry to Greece it is easy.It takes about eight hours to drive across Greece. We stayed at Kavala (I think it was the Egnatia hotel).There is also the Imaret which is an ottomman style hotel.As usual parking is a nightmare.Very pleasant there with a lovely view of Thassos from the room. You may not need to stop in Greece and make it over the border to Turkey. I wonder how the present situation in Greece would affect anyone visiting? We visited Gallipoli not Istanbul and that was a moving experience. It was easy to catch a ferry across the Bospherus and quite a pleasant little trip (tea in plastic cups and men selling perfume).
We are driving to the west coast of Ireland today with the dogs so they are still travelling!:D
We visited Istanbul on separate occasions and did not drive. We flew in and used the taxis and excellent clean metro system for sightseeing. When visiting friends there they drove and the roads and drivers are quite daunting.

« Last Edit: June 21, 2011, 09:26:42 AM by Daffodil »

Offline Old Daffodil

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2011, 10:13:40 AM »
With regard to the cost it depends on how you travel. Some people may not use hotels and sleep in their car. On the ferry to Igoumenitsa I saw people with blow up beds,sleeping bags and blankets and packed sandwiches on the top deck bedding down for the night. You can alternatively have a cabin and wear something a bit smart for a meal in the restaurant. You can have fun on that trip.
In France the F1 was a very budget hotel but clean and smart but a Mercure is a bit more comfortable.
Fuel is going to be the biggest bill.The Frejus tunnel cost 35euros I think and then you may use toll roads or not. The ferry across the Bospherous was 25 lira if my memory serves me right.
I would advise anyone doing the trip to sort out a hotel in Italy in advance. Not easy to find one at short notice if you are sightseeing and on the move.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2011, 10:29:40 AM by Daffodil »

Offline hillside

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2011, 10:16:02 AM »
Friends of ours did it and I asked how much they spent on petrol - £750 one way.

Offline Firo

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2011, 11:21:47 AM »
When you cross from Greece to Turkey at Ipsala you don't need to go to Istanbul but head down towards Gallipoli and there are ferries at Gelibolu to Lapseki and further down in Gallipoli there's the ferry to Canakkale. This is the easiest way to get to Ipsala border crossing for Greece or the Edirne border crossing for Bulgaria.Knowing the traffic in Istanbul I would avoid driving there at all costs, get a cheap flight from Dalaman.
Personally I would try and avoid Bulgaria and you can do this by travelling across Greece toward Thessalonika and then head north into Macedonia this bypasses Bulgaria completely and is not to much further to travel in time and distance.

Offline starman™

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2011, 12:22:46 PM »
Why pay to cross the Bosporus when you have 2 perfectly good motorway bridges that dont charge when you drive from the Asian side.

Advice, when driving through Istanbul, take the TEM highway and not the E-5. The E-5 is Istanbuls version of the M25, and most of the time if you look at it you would think it was a car park.

Offline Elsa Padfield

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2011, 14:08:19 PM »
Thanks so much for all the interesting and informative information.  I'm going to print it all out and then we can make an informed route choice.  And starman, I didn't know there were bridges so that'll be good.  Thanks everyone, very much.

Offline Old Daffodil

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2011, 14:39:51 PM »
I think to work out the petrol costs it would be best to look at distances on the RAC planner. If you are doing about 2,500 miles on a trip and your car does 35miles to the gallon how much would that cost?Answers on a postcard please!:D:D Then there is the varying cost of ferry crossings and hotels.Each individual trip will cost a different amount depending on the route,ferries,hotels,tourist sites visited etc. I don't think it cost 750pounds for us one way for fuel. Check it out for yourselves.
Look into the Green Card situation as well. The Green Card is a must for Turkey and costs about 90 euros at the border last time I heard anything about it. Ours was free from the insurance company.
As Firo says if you are visiting Gallipoli then the ferries are on that route.Then a pleasant coastal drive to Izmir and pick up the toll road to Mugla,about one pound.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2011, 14:49:07 PM by Daffodil »

Offline Ovacikpeedoff

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #9 on: June 21, 2011, 14:49:02 PM »
You also need to bring your registation document as the they need the chassis number. The crossing into Turkey can be a pain but be calm. When we were entering the country one guy was creating merry hell so they took hiom aside and made him empty the car. Because we were polite and spoke our few words of Turkish they were fine.

We took the ferry from Ancona to Greece. It was a bit expensive and did not save any time but it gave plenty of time to rest and also saved us 4 hours driving time down to Bari.We were also fresh enough to drive through Greece and stayed in Gallipoli
« Last Edit: June 21, 2011, 14:51:06 PM by Ovacikpeedoff »




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