There is so much to see in Europe that planning a road trip can feel a complex task. There are many ways to classify the best countries for road trips, and we are going to take a look at a few examples here. One ranking is based on data collected from a range of sources, but that particular study made us think why did they use the data points they used. To balance the data based approach, we also created road trip ranking based on opinions. Let’s see if any of the same countries appear on top.
Swiss E-vignette, a service that provides electronic vignettes for drivers who want to tour Switzerland along highways, has collected data from many sources for ranking the best European road trip countries. The data was provided by organizations such as the European Commission, Unesco, ViaMichelin, Cargopedia, Autotraveler, and National Parks of Europe. Swiss E-vignette indexed the data in multiple categories for calculating the results. The categories are Road quality, Mean speed, Price of diesel, Road fatalities, Number of World Heritage Sites, Number of National Parks, Number of attractions, Number of hotels, Number of petrol stations.
Here is the top 10 of Swiss E-vignette ranking for the best countries for road trips:
- Spain
- Croatia
- Austria
- Portugal
- Czech Republic
- France
- Germany
- Cyprus
- Greece
- Sweden
You might be thinking that surely countries with spectacular landscapes and sights like Italy, Switzerland, and Norway should fit into the top ten, and so do we. But fair enough, with that particular set of data, you get those results.
Perhaps there are other ways to rank countries for their suitability for road trips? Let’s try. Each Klaava Travel Guide book has a section that introduces the most scenic drives in a destination the book talks about. What if we rank countries by their scenic drives? Although it is a highly personal opinion what is a scenic drive, many travelers regard landscapes that are pleasant, interesting, or spectacular as scenic. Which European countries would be the best for scenic road trips?
Here is our proposal for countries where you can experience nice road trips (in no particular order):
- Norway
- France
- Switzerland
- Austria
- Spain
Every summer there are many drivers on their first campervan, motorhome, or family car road trips. Drivers, who may not trust their skills on foreign roads. Sure, it is true that the traffic culture is different, for instance, in the warm south and in the cool north. Experienced drivers should be able to relatively quickly adjust themselves to the expected behavior in different cultures, such as road etiquette in Bulgaria or in Denmark. If you are a driver who want to start calmly, where is it easiest to drive?
Here is our proposal:
- Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
- Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland
Everyone certainly has his or her own opinion where the traffic culture is such that the traffic flows effortlessly, there is space for everyone on the road, and if there are hiccups the whole world doesn’t go crazy. An explanation why we chose the Baltic and Nordic regions is that the traffic simply isn’t as hectic as it tends to be in central and southern Europe. In Central Europe, countries like Austria, Switzerland, France, and Germany have plenty of regions (surely most other countries have calm and easygoing regions) where life and traffic is more peaceful than elsewhere.
No matter which countries in Europe you choose for your road trip, here is an important fact: in Central and Southern Europe, August is the most popular month for vacations. It means busy roads, and sometimes, colossal traffic jams on a number of highways.
