Dublin to Bratislava by car

capefear

Hi guys

Bit of a long shot, but has any one driven from Dublin to Bratislava.

we fly there a couple of time a year to see the in laws and normally stay a week or ten days and normally have to put our two dogs into kennels. So we were thinking of going by car next time around. Has any one done this route.

looking at Google maps it’s a day and a bit, so we would probably spread it over 2-3 days there and the same back. We both can work remotely so we were thinking off staying a couple of weeks to a month.

thanks in advance for any advice giving

munchkin_utd

I do Ireland to southern Germany so not the same but there’s still a few things that might help.

firstly, when planning you might want to do a spreadsheet with the various scenarios , factor in travel time, breaks , and overnights and put in real departure times to see if that plan makes sense and also see if you’re passing cities at rush hour and add extra time for that (mightn’t be the worst though during summer though)

the direct ferry via Cherbourg is the handiest option but at peak times can be expensive. Going via England is a little more driving but if driving across the continent isn’t as bad as many make out (some want next to no driving, for you that’s not going to happen so is it such a massive issue if it’s 1700km vs 1900km?)

If taking the ferry to Cherbourg, it’s possible to avoid paris by going via amiens. The traffic in paris is bonkers so avoiding there is normally worth it.

I would add that driving across France on the toll roads is not cheap but is an easy drive if you avoid Paris. In Germany there’s more roadworks and congestion.

off the direct ferry, I’d normally try and get as far across France as possible if not into Germany so southern Germany can be done comfortably with 1 overnight stop. Depending on your arrival into Cherbourg you then could make Bratislava with a similar schedule. On the other hand if you took advantage of passing nice places like Nurnberg, Salzburg, munich etc, you could take it at a slower pace and do some touristy stuff on the way through and add an extra night or 2 for comfort. There’s premier inn, ibis and hotel b&b in Germany so the overnights can be very cheap if you get lucky

munchkin_utd

Just to add, for the "landbridge" via England thats also something you need to work out timewise.

We have done it various ways, got a late afternoon ferry getting into Hollyhead at 6 or 7pm and then stay somewhere south of Birmingham and by the time youre up and had breakfast you miss the rush hour at London and you can head straight to the continent. If you get an early (8am) ferry on the irish sea, you can make it to the continent that day but its hard to time when you get a ferry/ tunnel crossing so we always just stayed the far side of London at Ashford or Dover (theres a premier inn right by the ferryport) and then you can get a really early crossing with no stress.

We have friends who prefer the late ferry from Dublin landing at about midnight to Hollyhead and with the empty roads you can drive straight to Dover in a predictable time, but thats not for us (with kids a problem, but staying awake and not crashing also a problem)

You can get the landbridge as a combo package from Stena . The channel tunnel is not all that much more but is far more reliable.

https://www.stenaline.ie/europe-by-car