Driving on t'other side of the road in Europe...

...planning a European sight-seeing tour for early next year (well mainly Germany) but thought I'd drive both to keep the cost down and to give more freedom as to where we can go. Trouble is, I've only ever driven in this country and the thought of driving on the other side of the road in a right hand drive car does fill me with fear. Does it take a lot to get used to and is there anything particularly weird about it?

Also - toll roads. Am I going to be constantly paying tolls? My car is pretty good on fuel when going steady on the motorway which is why going in the car makes sense financially but I've heard in some countries the tolls on the roads cost more than the petrol?

 

Top tip: Go for a trip down the M1 to meadowhall and back on the other side of the motorway to see how you feel about it. If you get home alive then you'll be fine in Europe.

 

Great advice, thanks!

 

I really wouldn't worry about it. Take it really steady for the first few miles of course but you'll be surprised how soon you don't even think about it. Having a passenger is an advantage on single carriageways but even driving solo you soon get used to it - I drive a big old slow right-hand drive van over here and you just get used to being more cautious and dropping back a nice long way to give yourself better vision.

We used to have a left-hand drive car over here as well and even swapping between the two became second nature after a while, although I never did stop bashing my left hand on the door every time I went to put the hand brake on in the car.

Re: toll roads, in France at least you can pick and choose of course. If I was on a sight-seeing tour I'd mainly stay off the toll roads but there are some bits you might want to get past. For example, we used to go on the toll road down to Paris but then off it for the bit from Paris to Burgundy. Some toll roads are more expensive than others - for example, the A6 is a rip-off but the A77 is great value for money. Check it out before you travel and pick and choose would be my advice.

 

Nothing weird about it - first roundabout might cause some confusion but you'll probably find driving much more rewarding on many of the roads over there than it is over here.

Toll roads can be very expensive, particularly certain areas of France. ViaMichelin route planner will give you the exact cost of tolls so you can use/avoid the ones you want - http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/web/Routes

 

Driving on the other side is not really a problem. The main roads are all pretty well organised so it's really difficult to make mistakes. - think in the UK how hard it would be to go the wrong way up the motorway. The first time you drive it takes a bit of getting used to but then it becomes second nature, so much so that I struggle when back on UK roads. There are no motorway tolls in Germany so you'll only need to pay the French ones to get there.

 

The driving isn't a problem, its the smashing your left hand on the door going for the gear stick and handbrake that's annoying.

 

As others have said, it does become easier as you go along but take this advice from someone who has driven thousands of miles right across Europe, including Central Europe.

Don't switch off when you are joining a single carriageway main road, from a side road or from a service area/cafe/restaurant etc. If you do I GUARANTEE that you will automatically slip into UK mode and be on the wrong side. It happened to me a couple of times when living in Germany, but always on such a quiet road that I was able to correct the mistake without a problem.

Don't get yourself wound up about it, just relax and concentrate like you normally would when driving. And use your passenger in the front seat when overtaking - they can see something coming, you might not be able to!

 

cheers for that folks...one other thing, am I best off going on the ferry or the tunnel?

 

It's OK, you will find everybody else drives on the wrong side over there, so you can't go wrong ...

 

You'll get used to the driving in 10 minutes and there are no toll roads in Germany, for private cars at least.

Watch out in residential areas where "proper" British rules of priority don't apply. If there are no other signs, priority is from the right, which means that even if you are driving along a straight road, you have to stop at every side road on the right hand side to let cars in. It's a bizarre feeling which takes some getting used to. I got used to it extremely quickly when the driver of a car explained it to me.

I always found the Dover - Calais ferry better as by that time (assuming you live in Tarn) you've already been driving for 5 hours anyway, and the ferry is more relaxing. In the tunnel you just sit in your car. If you're heading to Germany the Hull - Rotterdam route is a good one although highly expensive if you can't get a special offer. Harwich - Hook of Holland is another way.

Another option is to fly and hire a car, but as others have said a left hand drive car is tricky, so if you do that hire an automatic.

 

We go on the tunnel these days so we can stay with our cat. It's a lot quicker and a lot easier (and there are generally more crossings in case you just miss yours) but as Stahlrost says the ferry can be a handy opportunity to take a bit of a break and there are usually better offers around for longer stay ferry crossings than for the tunnel.

 

If you completely trust the person in the passenger seat it's a doddle. If you don't, or if they're the kind of person that goes to sleep during car journeys, then driving on single lanes can be frustrating. Overtaking large, slow moving vehicles in such circumstances isn't impossible, but it's much more difficult. You've got to chuck your car in to oncoming traffic to have a look round it.

Apart from that, you'll be used to it in an hour.

In France we never took a toll road. There's always an alternative. It's huge France and apart from the major cities, there's no bugger there. Everyone driving from one city to another uses the toll roads, so the fee roads are empty. You can drive for hours and hardly see another car. And you find beautiful scenery and quaint towns and villages that you would never see if you took the tolls. The best places we stayed were the places we found by accident from taking the minor roads.

In other countries there were fewer toll roads, but sometimes they were harder to avoid. Sometimes there was no choice but to take them, although we never felt completely ripped off when using them.

Hope you enjoy yourself. Road trips are the best holidays.

 

I did it in gran canaria, piece of piss.'

 

I'd definately recommend Hull to Zebrugge. Easy drive to Hull and pleasant overnight, arriving to make an early start in the morning. It's like staying overnight in a hotel really. Is also nearer to e.g. Cologne than Calais is.

Are no tolls on Belgian, Dutch or Luxemburg motorways, so you don't have to worry about these travelling this route to Germany.

 

There isn't a problem driving on the right. Just take extra care for first few miles. I've just been to Switzerland by car. Went out by tunnel and back by ferry. Not much in it for time (a train was cancelled) so only about 15 mins difference from arriving at port to getting on the road at the other end. The ferry cost £30 the tunnel £86 ( both around 3pm). Big eye opener for me was the tolls charged in France now. I didn't think about it and spent £45 on tolls going through France to Strasbourg on the way and zero tolls coming back via Luxembourg and Belgium (30 miles further!)
The problem of being on the wrong side of the car for overtaking has never really been much of a problem. I used to travel every summer through a France and as others have said there is so little traffic and lots of long straight roads that you can overtake quite easily. Obviously not a problem on motorways now that we have mirrors on both sides.

 

This site is great for planning....http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/ as it gives you optional routes and costings including toll fees. If using own car initially put a bit of coloured lx tape or something around top of steering wheel as it reminds you each time that you need to be on the RH side. France tolls are expensive... Switzerland has a vignette system at around 35 euros for a year which runs Dec 1st previous year to 31st Jan following year (i.e. 14months ) Austria has a vignette system for motorways but you can buy weekly monthly yearly ones. However unlike Switzerland you STILL have tolls for some tunnels, passes (e.g. Brenner pass) on top. As someone has already said some French tolls are extortionate whilst others are reasonable value. Avoid Mont Blanc tunnel though if you go from France to Italy as it is rteally is extortionate and works out dearer than the annual Swiss vignette which includes unlimited times through St Gotthard tunnel (assuming you are going to Italy.

I personally think roundabouts are less of a worry than turning out of a side road onto a dual carriageway as if you don't concentrate it is simple to end up, for example, crossing over a dual carriageway for a right turn!!! I live in Italy now so inspite of 40 years of driving in the UK and still having a RH drive car I have to watch what I am doing when I am in the UK.

Overtaking lorries on single carriageway roads is harder as you don't have the visibility that LHD car drivers have so, unless you are in a big hurry, drop back and leave a space to allow locals to overtake you before going past the lorry. Serious tailgating and using mobile phones is common in Italy but don't be intimidate by the former. Lane discipline on 3 lane MWays in Italy is poor as most drivers sit in the middle lane for mile after mile even where the RH lane is clear. Finally, unless near major cities you will find traffic densities are much, much, lower than the UK.

 

Keep plenty of room to see before overtaking, workout speed in kilometers as 6 x table ie: 100 kilometers 60 mph 10x6 etc that way you'll be just under the speed limit & don't forget to go around the roundabouts the other way to the UK.

 

If you are going in the winter months, just make sure the weather is going to be reasonable. Any 'wintery' conditions and you'll be required by law to have winter tyres (Germany only). Think rain is ok, but anything snow/slush/ice and you could be fined up to 80 euros if you dont have them.

With regards to driving, i recently drove to Balaton in Hungary and pretty much drove the entire length of Germany. Other than the autobahn, it was fine. Judging how fast cars were going when thinking about overtaking something was quite a challenge. Often by the time id thought about whether id got enough time to pull out, the vehicle in question had already gone past and was 100 yards down the road...

 

It's easy

Although I've only ever really driven in Canada where everywhere is in a straight line, although I managed to find ONE roundabout! I found Germany slightly more challenging at first