Just got back home from a spontaneous and unplanned roadtrip to Paris with my family. I've been driving through Europe myself before, but this was the first longer roadtrip since having Martin so it was a bit different.

We left late afternoon on Christmas Eve, driving down to Helsingborg. It's just a two hours drive, but it felt good to be able to start early next day and make it down to Germany. We stayed at Scandic Oceanhamnen which is located right next to the ferry terminal which was convenient.

After a long good breakfast on Wednesday, we boarded the ferry for a 20 minute ride over to Helsingør. Driving non-stop through Denmark for two hours and catching the next ferry from Rødby to Puttgarden.

Continuing through Germany with a stop in Hamburg for some Vietnamese dinner and stopping in Bremen for sleeping. We stayed at Ibis Budget which was better than expected. Simple but clean and with a surprisingly good breakfast. Only downside was that the parking garage felt a bit unsafe.

Setting off early next day as we wanted to cover some distance and arrive in Amsterdam early afternoon. We immediately noticed the better road quality and calmer driving when entering Netherlands. For lunch we had salad at restaurant Waanders in the small town of Staphorst, where Martin made friends with a very strange animal.

Arriving a few hours later and checked into Four Elements Hotel in Ijburg in the eastern part of the city. Had a nice view of the water:

After relaxing a bit in the room we took the metro to the central station and walked around Amsterdam before having a nice dinner at Cau Steakhouse.

We had booked two nights so Friday was all about exploring Amsterdam. Getting some really good Pancakes for breakfast and then walking around the city the whole day. Martin also really enjoyed going with the metro and trams everywhere we went. More fun for him than driving for sure.

Bringing the stroller along for the trip turned out to be a good idea. It was a bit of a challenge to fit it in the car, but it was worth it. Martin also ran a lot by himself, but it's hard to keep up for a whole day. He also made friends with the bull outside the Amsterdam stock exchange:

When in Amsterdam we of course also had to go on a trip along the canals. It was a one hour boat trip which we and Martin enjoyed every second of. Having just two nights in Amsterdam is of course not enough to explore the all of the city so we'll definitely go back and stay longer next time.

Back to the road on Saturday with our aim set for Belgium. Since the trip was unplanned we also underestimated the amount of clothes we needed to bring. We decided to stop at an AirBnB for the next night to do laundry. On the way there we stopped by in Antwerpen for a absolutely amazing lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant called Hoi An. One of the best Vietnamese meals I've had outside of Vietnam.

The weather was great so we spent most of the day walking around Antwerpen, enjoying the sunset from the top of Museum aan de Stroom.

Driving another hour past Brussels we arrived at our AirBnB outside a small town called Linter. Very friendly and social host so we spent a bit more time than planned doing laundry and chatting.

On Sunday we continued driving to the main destination of the trip: Paris. We arrived in the afternoon and checked into Ibis Styles in Bezons. It was over expectations and reasonably priced (for being in Paris...). Train stop for line T2 was just outside the hotel so it was easy to get to the city center. Which was great since the traffic in Paris is intense.

Going with the stroller in Paris was a bit of a challenge. It's not easy to push it around in the metro and the streets are not always stroller friendly. But we managed. Many of the subway stations are not wheelchair accessible so we often had to carry the stroller up and down stairs or taking the escalator.

As always, Martin loved taking the subway and was getting along really well with the busy city life.

We had a hidden agenda for the trip as well: Visiting Millys cousin who lives in Paris since a few years back. She was out of town the first day so we spend most of the Monday checking off a couple of must see places such as the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées and the Eiffel Tower.

On Tuesday, new years eve, we finally got the chance to meet up with Millys cousin Bambi. Spent the whole day outside jumping between coffee shops and more sightseeing. Here are us getting an old fashioned Vietnamese coffee before heading up the Montmartre.

We had dinner together with Bambi and her boyfriend, best crêpes ever at Le Cidre d'Or! Also took the opportunity to celebrate the new year together by the foot of the Eiffel Tower. First planned to go to Champs-Élysées but it was way too crowded for Martin.

We all woke up late on Wednesday after a long intense new years eve and had late breakfast at the hotel before checking out. Today's goal was driving to Luxembourg where we already booked the next stay. It was a four hour drive, which ended up being eight hours with all the breaks. Made it to Threeland Hotel just across Luxembourg border and a few kilometers outside of the city. Very old-school hotel, felt like travelling back in time 40 years, and breakfast was no great. But we had a good nights sleep and ready to explore the city of Luxembourg!

Looks gray and boring in the photos, but it was a really cosy city. Quite a change from the crowded streets of Paris.

Leaving in late afternoon again to make it to Germany. We had booked a night at Prizeotel in Münster to which we arrived late in the evening. It was simple but good and our plan was just to stay the night before continuing to home to Sweden. We didn't have any plans for the day after, just driving as long as possible and stopping for the night. We took the ferry back from Puttgarden to Rødby, had some thai food at Panya Thai in Maribo.

Taking the ferries on the way down went well, but the return trip from Puttgarden to Rødby was a bit of a challenge. It was very windy and we all got a bit seasick. Ended up taking the bridge from Køpenhavn to Malmö to avoid another ferry trip.

We decided to stay the last night at Scandic Segevång in Malmö. It was a good choice to stop for sleeping, but not as calm as we hoped for. Had the slowest breakfast of the whole trip the next morning to make the most of the vacation before returning home.

Summary

With a total distance of 3,327 km and an average speed of 86 km/h we spent 38 hours driving. Checking off six countries in 12 days. Might sound like a lot of driving but wasn't that bad, we took a lot of breaks and no car sickness this time.

Another thing we realized after a few days was that studded tires are forbidden in most places in Europe. We had studded tires on the car but decided to take the risk. Luckily we didn't have any problems, and happy we had them when driving home through Germany as it was snowing and icy roads.

Cost of travel

Since we didn't use any cash during the trip, it was easy to calculate the spendings by just checking our bank accounts. This ended up being:

• Transportation: 11,265 SEK
• Accomodation: 15,599 SEK
• Food and attractions: 15,009 SEK

We drove 3,327 km in total with an average fuel consumption of 5.1 liters per 100 km so the fuel cost was around 3,000 SEK, the rest was cost of ferries, tolls and parking. This is of course a bit underestimated since we didn't take wear and tear on the car into account.

Accomodation

We were gone for 12 days totally, sleeping in seven different places. The hotels in Paris and Amsterdam were the best, newly renovated and very fresh. Breakfast was best at the Scandic hotels in Sweden. Staying at the AirBnB in Belgium was a great experience, even if it was a bit more socially intense.

Getting around

Bringing the stroller was great, but it's not that easy to fit it in the car. We're using a Thule Glide which is absolutely amazing when running and going to the forest, but it's also a bit bulky when navigating through the city, going on buses and trams etc. We're planning a trip to Japan later this year so we might bring the backpack carrier instead then.

It was nice to book the places to sleep late as it gave a lot of flexibility on how long to drive and which road to take, but it also meant we spent some time searching for hotels.

All in all a great trip and we're already planning the next one!

Follow along for the journey!
0 / 3327kilometers
travelled so far