European Roadtrip

This summer we drove to Switzerland! It was my first road trip and a great experience, (not so great if you don't like sitting in cars for a long time). Driving through different countiries means there was a lot of diversity and culture, as well as being even more to explore! 

THE TRIP ITINERARY 

STOP 1:

Our first stop was a night in the French town Reims. This town is quite cosmopolitan with cafés and shops on every street, and a famous cathedral, which is beautifully ornate with great history. Unfortunately at the moment the cathedral has scaffolding covering most of the front face, but is still worth seeing and is stunning on the inside.

STOP 2: 

 We stayed somewhere in France near the border by Geneva the second night. There was a stunning lake near by named Lake Nantua. It was fairly quiet with mountains surrounding, little huts to buy food and chairs and tables on the lake's edge and next to a small village.

STOP 3: 

Our next stop was Geneva, however we didn't stay a night here. Geneva is an amazing city, it ranges from cosmopolitan to an old town. The old town is well preserved and has a lot of history. An impressive landmark is the Jet D'Eau, in Geneva's harbour, there was a lovely market near here also and cafés to watch it from. We found a park with interesting chairs which looked like bushes and giant chess. 

My brother pretending to be shot by the canon.

STOP 4: 

For the following 4 nights we stayed in a gorgeous chalet in Nendaz in the Valais region of Switzerland. It was set in the mountains looking down on a valley. There was a cable car station from the village to the mountain Tracouet, which had a lovely lake at the top, walking path with stops along the way and a cafe with a view. The town had quite a lot to offer considering its small size, there were a handful of restaurants and taverns and a few supermarkets, there was quite a lot of sport on offer such as tennis courts, swimming pool, beach volleyball and more! There was a walking path that followed a stream and traced around the mountain, perfect for cycling and running. 

From here we visited a few different places, the most memorable being Zermatt. This village is magical: set underneath the chocolate wrapper worthy Matterhorn and is only reachable by train, so is car free.

One of the ordinary things that take place in Zermatt was goat herding, which we were lucky enough to see! If you visit, make sure to ride the Gornergrat Bahn up the mountain, the famous cogwheel train, this is definitely the most impressive way to get to the viewing point of the Matterhorn, there are multiple stops along the way. There are various walks to take if you don't want to pay as much money and are all very scenic.

STOP 5: 

Monteux was our next stop, again we didn't stay here. It is a beautiful lakeside city, set on the huge Lake Geneva. It was again quite cosmopolitan and full of posh hotels, the promenade along the lake was fairly quiet with some market stalls and cafés, but mostly just lake views.

STOP 6:

The next 5 nights were spent just outside Switzerland's capital Bern. This city has a huge old town with a cathedral, town hall and gardens over looking the river, there are rose gardens that boasts beautiful views over the entire old town.

From here we visited multiple different places: such as Trummelbach Falls the site of stunning waterfalls  which fall through caves in the mountain; neighbouring Lake Thun and Lake Brienz were very beautiful with mountains surrounding and the town of the was particularly pretty with towns over the river.

STOP 7: 

The following night we stay in a quaint one street village in France named Ribeauville, after visiting the cosmopolitan city of Basel. The night after we stayed in Strasbourg and visited stunning Colmar earlier. Strasbourg was particularly memorable and very 'chocolate boxey'. The houses were a sort of tudor style but multicoloured and a canal with flowers surrounding ram through the village. We were lucky enough to be there when it was the cathedrals anniversary so an amazing light show was put on!

STOP 8: 

Our final stop was Lille a typical cosmopolitan French city very similar to Reims in my opinion. We visited Luxembourg City in Luxembourg earlier in the day which was a pleasant city with cafés and pubs lining the streets, along with an old town which could be viewed from above.

The next day we boarded the ferry back to Dover 

Go on your own road trip!