Art Of 1-Day Driving In 11 European Countries

We wish to enjoy and share with readers the excitement of driving in wise style through 11 beautiful European countries in one calendar day.

During our summer holidays sailing on a yacht in Croatia in the Mediterranean Sea, my Young Lady and I decided to reach our home in Maastricht, the Netherlands, in one calendar day, visiting 11 countries along the way.

We drove in a luxury fast car (plug-in hybrid), so we drove in a moderately environmentally friendly way, without being very polluting the nature.

In the early evening, we went to sleep in a private pier at our catamaran near Rijeka. We woke up early Sunday morning and after coffee and fruit snacks we started driving.

Sunday was a conscious choice, as the EU motorways are less loaded with lorries and therefore less congested.

Without trying the patience of the readers, I am writing a list of the countries visited and, as you can see above, a rough map of our "Personal Record Ride":

? Croatia (starting)

? Slovenia

? Italy

? Switzerland

? Liechtenstein

? Austria

? Germany

? France

? Luxembourg

? Belgium

? Netherlands (ending)

We were lucky enough to have sunny and starry skies during the ride, so we enjoyed the beautiful views and took some nice photos to remember and share with our families and colleagues.

Of course, we were a bit speeding on the highways so that we could make it to the Netherlands by midnight on the same Sunday. It wasn't like a full-time racing-style trip. We had stops in nice places where we could refresh bodies and refuel the car.

To prevent one driver from getting tired, we changed drivers about every hour and a half, while stretching our muscles and walking at the same time. That way we could sleep in the passenger seat (when needed) until the next driving shift.

We were also lucky not to get stuck in traffic jams because of roadworks or accidents on motorways. In most cases, we used Google maps information about the traffic flow in front of us, which allowed us to avoid a few minor traffic jams.

And we successfully reached our final destination - a nice house in Maastricht, Netherlands, late on Sunday evening. The drive took about 21 hours. In our opinion, only in charming Europe can we visit 11 countries in one day by car in a nice sightseeing style.