Essential tips for a successful road trip in Europe

I thought my husband was unflappable. Then we went on a road trip in Europe this summer, and I realized he’d never truly been tested.

There were the tiny Slovenian villages where the roads were barely wide enough for our boxy Ford Tourneo Courier to pass through unscathed. There was the gargantuan VW camper van I made us rent in Croatia, and promptly scraped on the way out of a tight underground parking garage. Then there was the recurring terror of being passed by drivers on blind turns on Albanian single-lane highways.

It was during these harrowing moments, and dozens more like them, that I discovered the true depth of my husband’s patience and resilience. Lesser drivers would have handed in the keys, but not Dan. Our marriage survived the test, and we learned a few things about driving in Europe along our four-country adventure. Here are some takeaways.

Get an International Driving Permit

Getting an International Driving Permit (IDP) is incredibly easy, but you may not always need one to drive in Europe. The rules vary from country to country; you can check the embassy websites of the places you’re visiting to learn more. In our case, we needed one for Slovenia and Albania and didn’t for Croatia and Montenegro.

In places where an IDP is required, rental car agencies may ask you for it and your U.S. license (and may deny you a car if you don’t have one), but not always. When we picked up the rental car in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the counter agent took our U.S. license and never asked to see the IDP.

Still, it’s a good idea to follow the rules when an IDP is required. In some countries, you could be fined hundreds of euros for not having one or your license officially translated into the local language.

Stick to a small car

Like many Americans, we envisioned spending our road trip taking in Europe’s spectacular natural beauty and quaint, historic towns. We didn’t envision the stress of navigating 90-degree turns through tight alleyways and over single-lane bridges. To take some of the edge off, rent a small car — and one with an automatic transmission, unless you really know your way around a manual — even if you prefer a big SUV at home.

We’d tried renting a compact sedan in Slovenia for this reason, but a Sixt employee surprised us with an upgrade to a larger vehicle. It sounded like a nice gesture, but we should have declined.

If you want to go the camper van route, try renting one before your trip so you can get used to its heft. Then take it on the narrowest roads you can find and pretend like you have busy Europeans inching — sorry, millimeter-ing — behind you while you navigate hairpin turns. #VanLife is exciting, but it comes at a cost.

Beware of map apps

Google Maps may work all over the world, but it’s not always the best tool for navigating the roads you’re traveling.

Petar Janković, who owns the camper van company Eagle’s Path Campers, recommended Apple Maps for our trip from Croatia to Albania. Tamara Štekar, the owner of our farmstay Kmetija Štekar, said Google Maps is her go-to in Slovenia — but with a caveat. Drivers should still be discerning of the routes the app suggests; Štekar said (and we confirmed) Google Maps can often suggest gravel roads as the shortest route, which end up making for slower (and bumpier) driving.

Lane Nieset, a freelance writer in Paris, also warns that Google Maps may not always flag local driving rules. In Italy, for example, drivers can get fined for entering limited traffic zones (or zona traffico limitato, ZTL, in Italian).

"Google Maps had me driving illegally near Ponte Vecchio," she said. "Waze is the only thing that’ll get you out of Florence alive."

Susan Plaggemars, an interior designer in Florence who manages the Casa Bruciata guesthouse in Chianti, said she relies on a combination. She says Waze is much better at pointing out speed cameras and navigating highways, while Google Maps seems to have a better grasp of winding roads in wine country.

And lastly, make sure you download whatever map tool you have for offline use, should you find yourself service-less on the road.

Pay your traffic tickets

Speed traps. Ambiguous parking signs. If you get hit with a ticket abroad, pay the fine (yes, even if you don’t have plans to go back anytime soon). Following local laws is the right thing to do, and the issue can snowball if you ignore it. Travel experts have said some countries may charge late fees, send your bill to collections or prevent you from renting a car from the same company, among other headaches.

Get the good insurance

Part of the appeal of renting the van was financial. It was more economical to camp our way from Croatia to Albania than to drive a traditional rental car and stay at hotels. On the morning we picked up the van, Janković asked whether we wanted to upgrade our insurance.

I’d already paid for the basic package, which required a $580 deposit at pickup. It seemed comprehensive, covering just about everything except any damage we caused ourselves, and why would we cause any damage?

For the sake of frugality, I declined to add more coverage. It was my second mistake of the van reservation. The first happened a month ago at booking, when I used my airline loyalty program credit card (for the miles! Fool!) instead of the one that has rental car coverage. (Although, Nieset said, some international rental car companies may not honor credit card insurance.)

Then we grazed a concrete beam in a parking garage — making an expensive shredding sound, like the iceberg ripping into the Titanic. We sent Janković the bad news and photos of the damage. It would cost our security deposit plus $929 to fix.

When I think back to the rest of the trip, it feels like a miracle we didn’t cause any more damage — that an errant rock didn’t crack our windshield on gravel roads, that we didn’t bang into more concrete structures.

If I could do it all over, I would still rent the van. But I would have gone with the better insurance.