7 Things To Know Before Taking a Road Trip in Europe

Growing up, road trips helped me see more of the U.S. by the time I was 18 than many people ever get to see in their lives, which makes me so lucky! The importance that was placed on travel — in the form of my family’s annual road trip — definitely helped shape me into who I am today. But recently, I tackled a new undertaking: my first-ever road trip in Europe!

While I’d done day trips by car, or even weekend trips with friends in Europe, I’d never done something this ambitious, or for this long. Matt and I spent two weeks traversing parts of three countries, staying in six hotels along the way. But most of the cities we chose to visit weren’t more than 4 hours apart from each other, and we didn’t have lots of driving on back-to-back days. You can read our whole trip review here.

What I wanted to share, though, is that I learned a lot during this trip. So if you’re planning your own road trip in Europe, here are 7 things you’ll want to know before you set off.

1. You Might Need An International Drivers License

If you’re from another EU country or the UK, this might not apply to you. But if you’re from the U.S., keep reading.

I had rented cars in Ireland and Germany for day trips before, and I’d never worried about having an International Drivers License. But upon doing some research about driving in Spain, I read that an International Drivers License/International Driving Permit (IDP) is technically required.

Luckily, getting an IDP is easy — all you have to do is find your nearest AAA (Triple A) office. Print out the application form, fill it in, and bring two passport-sized photos to the office, and you’re all set. No appointment needed. Your IDP will be issued on the spot and will be valid for one year from the date of your choosing. Plus, it only costs $20.

2. Your Credit Card Can Insure Your Rental Car

Renting a car can be scary. Is it just me that feels like the rental car agents get some sort of pleasure from telling you that if there’s one additional ding, dent, or scratch — whether it’s your fault or not — you’ll be liable for the full cost of the car??

So when they offer you the collision damage waiver for like $200 a day, you might think “oh my god yes please release me from this responsibility I don’t care what it costs.”

Take a deep breath and remember this: There’s a good chance that your credit card, which you hopefully used to make the booking, provides you with all the insurance you need. (Read that again.)

When you decline the collision damage waiver (CDW) and loss damage waiver (LDW), your credit card is able to assume responsibility for many typical things that might happen while renting the car. But the trick is that you MUST decline those extra coverages at the counter. I know, it’s easier said than done! Stay strong.

Certain credit cards offer better rental car insurance protection. For example, Chase Sapphire Preferred is often recognized for its extensive rental insurance benefits. Which made me super glad that’s the credit card I used for this big trip! Learn more about Chase’s rental car coverage, or apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card.

3. The Upgrades — Especially a GPS — Might Be Worth It

So you’re at the counter, you’re feeling good about declining all the extra coverage. But now the agent is asking if you want to upgrade your car to something with a better engine for all the mountain driving you’ll be doing. Or if you want to upgrade to a car that has a built-in GPS.

We said no initially to these things… but in the end, we we got both things. Maybe that makes us suckers. Or maybe it makes us realists. When we really thought about it, it became obvious that a better car would make for better driving in the Pyrenees mountains. This better car, as a result of taking diesel fuel, would give us better gas mileage and save us money in the long run — more money than we would have saved by not upgrading the car.

And that’s the story of how we ended up with a fancy BMW X1.

That cost us €190 more than we originally had planned. But the gas mileage truly was better, and the car included a GPS, which turned out to be a lifesaver throughout the duration of the trip. Even with T-Mobile providing free international data, and the e-Sim card Matt was using, it was a huge benefit to just put our destination in the car’s GPS and let it take us where we needed to go.

The car’s GPS was incredibly intelligent, by the way. Not only did it tell us the speed limit, but it also told us when there were accidents ahead, how far until the next rest stop or gas station, which lane we needed to be in for our upcoming turns or exits, and more! Maybe a lot of cars are like that these days and we’re too easily impressed, but… we drive a 2008 Buick so 🤷‍♀️

4. Gas Is More Expensive

Speaking of gas mileage… the price of gas in Europe is much higher than it is in the U.S. Thanks, Biden!

Ok, but really, let’s look at the difference.

Today, in my hometown of Kansas City, gas is $3.10/gallon. If you live somewhere else in the U.S., gas might be more expensive than that.

But for Europe, I’ll use Bilbao as the sample, since it was about the halfway point of our road trip. Remember that gas in Europe is sold in euros/liter rather than dollars/gallon. In Bilbao, the average price of gas was €1.647 per liter.

Using the euros-dollars conversion rate, along with converting liters into gallons… the price of gas in Bilbao was $6.76/gallon.

Pretty crazy. And like I mentioned, our rental car took diesel, so that was even more expensive: $7.15/gallon, though of course diesel is more expensive in the U.S. too. But luckily, we only had to fill up our car with gas twice before topping it off for return at the airport. We really had good fuel efficiency. In the end, despite our 18-ish hours of driving through the duration of the trip, gas wasn’t as big of an expense as I was expecting.

5. The Tolls Really Add Up

So gas was a smaller-than-expected expense, but toll payments were definitely more than expected. Being from Missouri, a state that doesn’t have toll roads, maybe I was blissfully ignorant. But I was surprised at the sheer volume of toll roads we encountered over our two weeks. Looking back at my credit card statement, it looks like we passed through about 18 toll booths and paid a total of about €142 in tolls.

Yeah, that was more than I expected. Keep that in mind when budgeting for your road trip.

But when it came to payment, it seems like most — if not all — of the toll booths accepted credit cards, though it’s probably not a bad idea to have some cash on hand just in case.

6. Road Signs Can Be Very Different

Depending on where you’re driving — and how familiar, or unfamiliar, you are with the language — it’s important to know that the road signs are a lot different from what we’re used to at home. First, pretty much all the major directional signs are blue rather than green! But also, there are some signs that speak for themselves, and others that might leave you scratching your head.

Whether they make sense to you or not, be sure to obey them the best you can! Police may not accept your confusion as an excuse if you commit a traffic violation.

Oh, and while some road signs will be similar from country to country, others will be totally different once you cross an international border.

7. Hotel Parking Typically Isn’t Free

I didn’t necessarily expect hotel parking to be free… but I also didn’t expect it to cost as much as it did. Throughout the whole trip, I was feeling nostalgic for the huge, free parking lots outside your local Hampton Inn or Best Western or whatever.

Not only was parking not free, but hotels don’t have their own lots. They may have some sort of relationship with a nearby parking garage — which means you might get a a 10% or 50% discount on the total cost — or they may just tell you to park wherever you can find a spot. And these garages may be a few blocks away from the hotel, so keep that in mind if you have a lot of luggage.

Most places we stayed, the average price per night was between €15-22. Only in one city — Logroño — was there free street parking available. I can’t tell you how good it felt to find a spot there!

 

I think this covers most of what you’ll want to know before you set off on your road trip in Europe! I’m working on another post about how to get started with planning your trip. In the meantime, let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

-Cathy

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