When planning your next holiday why not consider a road trip around Europe. This can be a fantastic way to see the best sights across Europe without breaking the bank account. However, there are many things to consider when planning a road trip around Europe.

Plan in Advance

When planning a European road trip it is always a good idea to plan your destinations and stops well in advance of the travel date. If you have a specific city that is your priority to visit over all others then that can be a good starting point to plan your trip around. As most European countries are relatively close to each other you can create a route revolving around your desired location that also takes you through a number of major European cities both on the way out (Southern?) and the way back (Northern?). Make sure you have an up to date map. If you have SatNav, ensure you have the postcodes of where you want to visit.

Hire a Car

When travelling in a group from the UK into Europe for a road trip it can be a good idea to hire a car for the journey. The advantages to this are that you take away some of the fear of causing damage and wear and tear to your own vehicle. Also, petrol prices on the continent can be very expensive. So if your own vehicle has a large, gas-guzzling engine, it's smart to hire something more economic to run. Therefore, hiring a car gives you the opportunity to search around various car hire companies to find the most economical vehicle available for your journey. Also, if you're going off the beaten track, small cars are easier to negotiate around narrow village streets.

When travelling in a group or as a family (3 to 5) people, prices for other forms of travel i.e. plane travel, train travel etc can be very expensive. Hiring a car can bring down those costs dramatically when shared between the whole group.

Hiring a car also gives greater flexibility to change your itinerary as and when you like without cost a fortune to change travel tickets and arrangement. For example, you may meet someone who advises you to visit a certain sight that wasn’t in your initial itinerary. With a vehicle already at your disposal you can easily change your route to include this sight without having the problem of changing tickets.

Documents / Emergencies

Before leaving to travel Europe you must ensure that you have all of your personal documents (passport, driving licence etc.) up to date and correct. You need to make that your insurance company and breakdown cover are valid for travel on the continent. Ensure you contact your insurance and breakdown cover companies and confirm this in order to avoid potential problems when out there.

There may be certain legal requirements that you must comply to. On the continent it is compulsory to display a GB sticker at all times. However, a lot of cars since 2001 have Euro number plates that include the GB euro-symbol. Cars with this symbol are no longer required to display a conventional sticker within the EU.

On the continent they drive on the right hand side of the road. Because of this there is a legal requirement for all UK vehicles to adjust the headlights beam pattern so that you don’t dazzle oncoming drivers. To do this you will need to buy a headlamp beam convertor kit. Alternatively, you can hire a left-hand drive vehicle.

In a nutshell, hiring takes the stress out of road trips. So you can enjoy the experience all that much more. Happy car hiring.