Taking a road trip through Europe has long been a rite of passage for travellers across the globe, and for good reason.
The idea is proven and the possibilities are endless. Properly done, a European road trip can be one of life’s great journeys. A week of mountain passes and coastal roads, pausing for long countryside lunches, staying in a different town every night. Having dinner somewhere excellent that you found totally by accident.
The execution is where things get challenging. That’s because somebody has to plot the route, plan vehicle logistics, book multiple hotels across multiple destinations, and discern through a mix of careful research and intuition, whether their plan will end up being a life-changing journey, or a slog.
A boutique industry does in fact exist to meet this travel goal, and many people are still unaware of it. It’s worth knowing about, though, because the space has become far, far more compelling than the phrase “driving tour” may suggest.
The basic idea
A luxury driving tour is a trip built around a journey, not a destination. You move every night or two, staying in a series of handpicked five-star hotels dotted across the map. Driving between them is a genuinely joyful part of the trip, rather than the price of getting to each one.
What separates it from simply hiring a nice car — or going through the hassle of taking your own, is that somebody else has done the work. And, crucially, they have driven the route first, to verify its worth as a travel experience in its own right.
Anyone can draw a line between two towns on a map. Knowing that the line involves 90 minutes of dull motorway when a far better back road exists a few miles away, or that certain mountain roads are either not open or worth driving at specific times of year.
The other difference is the cars themselves. And it’s a big difference.
Three common formats
Small-group driving tours
An exclusive group of likeminded travellers move in a loose convoy along a set itinerary, with tour durations running from a few days to a week or more. The distinguishing feature of a luxury driving tour is a fleet of stunning supercars that are rotated between guests, allowing them to drive something different each day. Each vehicle is genuinely special, too. No generic hire cars here, instead, a collection of the world’s most desirable machines.
This also completely changes the experience compared to travelling in a single vehicle, where you end up in the same car on every road, every day. Instead, picture yourself waking up and being handed the keys to a Porsche for a mountain pass in the morning, then finishing the day in a vineyard town behind the wheel of a Bentley.
Self-guided driving tours
This format centres on one vehicle, complete privacy, a route and a set of bookings curated for you in advance. You explore at your own pace with nobody else’s schedule to accommodate. It’s less social than a small-group tour, and suits couples, or to anyone whose idea of a perfect week away favours seclusion over making new friends.
Tailor-made itineraries
The fully bespoke option, built around whatever you actually want. Your vision might centre on a particular region, a specific occasion, or tying together multiple destinations you have always dreamt of visiting. Of the main options, this one offers the most flexibility, arguably the most reward, and typically requires a longer lead time for all the meticulous curation and planning to happen on your behalf.
Who goes on luxury driving tours?
Not only the people you would assume, while this concept was born of demand from motoring enthusiasts, the audience has broadened significantly, with increased interest among women and solo travellers.
Non-driving guests are welcome on these tours, and a reasonable proportion of any group is made up of partners with little interest in cars, and a great deal more interest in northern Italy, the Alps or Provence. The one genuine prerequisite is a tolerance for movement. If your idea of a luxury getaway is a swim-up bar and a couple of novels, this is not it. That said, downtime and various lifestyle excursions are typically built into the itinerary.
Judging an operator
The field is relatively small, which helps. The best operators share a few traits: tours that have been running successfully for years, a proper reason for every stop on tour, and concierge-level service that’s pre-emptive, not reactive.
Longevity also matters. Some operators have been running luxury driving tours for over a decade, and sit among a small handful with enough seasons behind them to have learned which country roads justify the detour, which hotels are worth the extra hour of driving, and which of Épernay’s champagne maisons are worth visiting rather than simply well marketed.
The case for touring Europe by road
The objection could be made that a driving tour is an elaborate solution to a problem you could solve with a hire car and some initiative. That view fails to account for the peace of mind and focused enjoyment that a hosted and curated tour provides.
As a travel category, luxury driving tours exist because a certain kind of traveller worked out that the road between two places was the part they remembered, and decided to organise the whole trip around it.
If luxury driving tours appeal, start your research now. Tours in this space tend to book out long ahead of time; 12 to 18 months in advance is common.
