Europe from Brussels to Venice and more

Unless you consider the trip (by car or train) as part of the experience, I think you should consider flying - at least from and to Brussels.

Brussels to Prague is 928 km (9 hours by car; 10 hours by train) according to Google maps.

Venice to Brussels is 1166 km (12 hours by car; 14 hours by train) according to Google maps.

The whole round-trip by car is 3.353 km - about the same as Chicago - San Francisco

Check the map to see if it looks doable/pleasant/relaxed to you. Not to me.

Yes, you can drive it all, but it will be a lot of driving. The roads are as safe as anywhere else.
The question is, is driving the best way? You need to flesh out your plan a bit more to decide. If you are doing big cities, then train is a more comfortable option, with air for the longer hops (Brussels-Prague or Venice-Brussels). If you are visiting small towns or rural areas, a car is an advantage.

I suggest using https://www.viamichelin.com/ to calculate routes. As well as routes, it gives you driving times (which assume NO stops, add 10-25%), and fuel and toll costs.
You will have to return your rented car to the same country you picked it up in, but that appears to be your plan.

In cities you will not be able to use your car (Brussels, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Venice). You will have to park and use public transport. Do not assume city centre hotels have parking, always ask, and never assume parking is free.

A Vignette is a form of road toll for Autobahn/autostrada etc. Instead of paying per Km you pay per month or year. Different Vignettes in each country. You need to buy this before you get on a Autobahn/autostrada, usually at the border. Not just Eastern Europe, Switzerland and Austria have Vignettes as well. Italy has conventional "per Km" tolls.

Crossing the Alps is not a problem. The high passes will be closed (usually Oct/Nov to Apr/May), but there are long tunnels through the Alps, paid for by the Vignettes.

In conclusion: 15 days (14 nights) ÷ 6 locations (Brussels counts twice) = 2-3 nights per location. Venice to Brussels is, according to viamichelin, 12h16 (+ stops), 1141 km. That I would say is 2 days travel
Most of your trips will take a full day, I think this is too much travelling for the amount of time you have.

BTW. Why are you going back to Brussels?

Wouldn't it be easier to go home directly from Venice with a multi city ticket?

Wouldn't it be easier to go home directly from Venice with a multi city ticket?

But not with a rented car, that would have to be returned to Belgium.
Fly to Brussels (fly) Prague (train) Vienna (train) Budapest (fly or train) Venice (fly home) is an optrion.

If driving in tne Rocky Mts scares you, then DO NOT drive in the Alps.
Fly and take train as recommended above.

Your question is about safety driving, and I think you got your answer. What you didn't ask was if it was reasonable to try and visit six (or is it seven) countries in two weeks.

The recommended route (both viamichelin and Google) from Venice to Brussels involves going through the Gotthard Road Tunnel.
You can Google it, or read the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Road_Tunnel
Passage through the tunnel is included in the CHF 40 Swiss Autobahn Vignette.
No way I would want to do Venice to Brussels in one day.

Ladies, you will have to do some preparation for this mega road trip:

1) Each driver will need an International Driving Permit (IDP). This is required in France, Italy and possibly other countries if you have US licences. This translates and certifies your licence. Without this, your licence will not be valid in those countries. If you are stopped by the police you must show both your licence and the IDP.

2) Research the traffic laws and road signs in each country. Road signs are similar in all European countries, with some differences in each. Road laws can be very different.
In particular learn the speed limits, they are enforced. In many countries the town name sign as you enter a town also acts as a speed limit sign. Past that point the "in town" speed limit applies, usually 50 Km/Hr.

3) I would like to emphasise what I said above:
You will not be able to drive through city or town centres. In most cases they are pedestrianised (+ public transport + deliveries).
Do not assume a city centre hotel has parking, many do not.
And never assume parking is free, it usually isn't.

4) Don't forget to tell your bank you will be using your credit and debit cards in foreign countries. Otherwise they are liable to block the transactions.

5) And finally . . . . Enjoy yourselves.

I think the itinerary is too agressive by far. It would be OK but not generous if you were just going to Prague, Vienna and Budapest. You have twice that many destinations and are going to subject yourself to significant travel time on 6 of your days in Europe (8 days if you count the transatlantic-flight days). The destinations you have chosen (with the possible exception of Brussels) each deserve more than one full day plus a few hours of your time.

Is October 16 the day you board the plane in the US or Canada, or is it the day you arrive (probably zombie-like) in Brussels?

I think driving is not a good idea. A vacation in Europe is not the same as a domestic trip where the goal is to go fishing, lie on the beach or visit family. In Europe you will be a lot more active, zipping back and forth across those cities from sight to sight. There won't be time to rest up from exhausting drives in a cramped car.

jckjbow, you have about twelve in-country nights for six or more cities, on your first trip to Europe. Having a car will cost you at least two hours extra in each city, as well as parking expenses. How did you select these destinations? Why did you buy tickets to Brussels if your first destination is Prague? I would like to have some assurance that this is a real post about a real trip. One problem is that this is your first post ever on this board. Another is that you misspelled Rocky mountains with two characters at the end in place of a single character. It's a problem.

This plan is a recipe for disasters (actually, multiple disasters). Please reconsider.

At the top-level...

1. Too far to go, too many places included, for the time you have.
2. Doing this all by car (snowy mountains or not) is crazy.
3. Flying in and out of the same city is the opposite of efficient.

Items 2 and 3 above only make item 1 worse.

Start over with a clean sheet of paper. Fly open jaws - in to one city, return from another, don't waste money (and time, which is even more constrained for you) by circling back to your arrival city. Reduce the number of places you're going.

Did you map out the route before you set your plans in motion?

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Brussels,+Belgium/Prague,+Czechia/Vienna,+Austria/Budapest,+Hungary/Venice,+Metropolitan+City+of+Venice,+Italy/Brussels,+Belgium/@48.0759705,7.2067,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m38!4m37!1m5!1m1!1s0x47c3a4ed73c76867:0xc18b3a66787302a7!2m2!1d4.3517103!2d50.8503396!1m5!1m1!1s0x470b939c0970798b:0x400af0f66164090!2m2!1d14.4378005!2d50.0755381!1m5!1m1!1s0x476d079e5136ca9f:0xfdc2e58a51a25b46!2m2!1d16.3738189!2d48.2081743!1m5!1m1!1s0x4741c334d1d4cfc9:0x400c4290c1e1160!2m2!1d19.040235!2d47.497912!1m5!1m1!1s0x477eb1daf1d63d89:0x7ba3c6f0bd92102f!2m2!1d12.3155151!2d45.4408474!1m5!1m1!1s0x47c3a4ed73c76867:0xc18b3a66787302a7!2m2!1d4.3517103!2d50.8503396!3e0

Driving through the Alps will be very much different than cruising the flat land from Minn. to Tex. If you dislike driving in the Rockies, there is no reason to expect the Alps will be any more enjoyable

Hopefully you still have the flexibility to modify your on the ground time in Europe to make for a reasonable and enjoyable trip and fit your flights in/out of Brussels

Tim,
Yes this is a real post and sorry about the spelling of Rocky. Leaving Brussels on the 18th and returning the 29th. The reason we are flying into Brussels and leaving from there is my cousin has her 88 yr. old father living there and has not seen him in 3 yrs. she has traveled the area close to there and wants to go some where she hasn't been, that's the reason we aren't touring Germany but just driving through. We don't want to spend hours on a train and not be able to stop and see things along the way. I think we have changed the trip so we won't be going to Venice so hopefully we don't have to go through the high part of the Alps. At least we think we won't have to go through them, you people may add insight on that. At this point we will see Brussels and maybe shoot over by train or car to Lille France and back to Brussels, hopefully her dad will ride with us there, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Ljubjlana Slovenia up to Sazlburg then head back to Brussels with a stop at Neuschwanstein Castle then back to Brussels. It's to expensive to rent a car in Brussels and drop off in another country. A friend told us it isn't safe in Budapest and he has been there, I don't know why he thinks that but does anyone else think the same way. Once again thanks for all the info.

Sorry, but this doesn't look like fun at all-just an endurance challenge with little time(or probably energy) to enjoy the destinations. You need to cut out more than just Venice!

Because I have taken the train from Brussels to Lille, FR, I'm not going to urge you to do that. I found the connection annoying and time consuming. But in general, trains are a cheap and ideal way to travel around Belgium. (Lille is barely, into France.) However, it is the wrong direction for the rest of your trip. I remain mystified why you would drive over two hours (with traffic) to Lille and then back, when you didn't even mention it on your original itinerary. Why on earth have you added Lille to your itinerary? I went there specifically for the art museum, but you can't afford this indulgence on a schedule that is already impossible. I see that you have added Innsbruck and other cities to the route. Have you thought about how you know you are passing a great spot when you are on a high-speed, divided highway? Can you spare 20-30 minutes in and out of that great spot? Do your hotels have garages? It can be a hike rolling luggage on cobblestones, and through subterranean intersection crossings with fences keeping you away from the street.

While it is very convenient that Belgian cities display big signs showing the count of open-places in (pay) garages around the city, you will be startled by how small the stalls and passages are, and will spend a lot of time on "medieval" streets getting in and out of some garages. A car is a real millstone around your neck in big European cities. As you noted, it's expensive to return a car in another country, and Eastern Europe scares many rental companies. I've never rented from Sixt, but people online either love it or hate it. I use Avis or Hertz, usually. Have you checked gasoline prices in Europe today? You may find that driving the car back is no bargain! Have you got a chip and PIN card that might work in unattended gas stations? You also have to think about International Driving Permits, a decision about insurances, and fees for multiple drivers. What is your GPS plan?

I suggest that you make some alternate plans for when you find that you cannot do all this driving in the time you have available. We found that our time in Prague was barely enough, and missed many of the usual daytrips to famous cities nearby. We stayed three or four nights in Budapest and had a great time. I wonder if the fear-factor you are mentioning has more to do with political (I mean, democracy and liberty) problems for citizens, rather than imaginary personal-safety issues for American tourists? (Some years ago, you still regularly met cabdrivers in Budapest who revered the U.S. for intervening on their side. There's a street named after Bill Clinton (like him or hate him ... ) for exactly that reason.) We flew in and out of Budapest. That was a two-week vacation that was roughly Berlin-Budapest-Prague w/train to-Berlin. We really wanted to see Cesky Krumlov, so we dedicated a whole day to that-not necessary for all travelers. I also had an international academic conference in Prague which my wife skipped.

Because you mentioned Innsbruck, I will say that our fourth trip to Europe was using Austrian Air and trains, to Innsbruck by plane (best views I've ever had from a plane, if scary between the mountains) via Vienna, then train to Salzburg, Munich, and Vienna. Another full two weeks. Are you seeing a pattern?

A friend told us it isn't safe in Budapest and he has been there, I don't know why he thinks that

Why not ask him?

We already have international drivers permit., we will use google to get us places with sim card and will get maps as needed in country, already contacted bank and credit card co., have downloaded currency converter and google translate to phone. Will ask friend about Budapest when I have a chance, he travels and is VERY busy man. We are open to changes and most likely itinerary will change along the line. Can you cancel hotel reservations as easily in Europe as here in the states? Yes it sounds like whirlwind trip and it is but we are very flexible except for flying in and out of Brussels, that is already bought and paid for, I looked at flights for each city and prices weren't bad but traveling partners want to drive. Our husbands have left it to us to go where we want. Is it easy to get safe hotels on spur of the moment over there. So trip has changed some what already, we will stay north side of Alps and not cross them. Can check out different cities and go back with husbands some day. Our ages are 63, 50,40 so it will be a fun vacation and we want to stay safe and have a great time other than that we will be flexible, we figure with a car we can do that. Like I said before the journey is as fun as the destination.

You keep saying you want to drive so you can stop and see things along the way. You do not have enough time to see even the major cities on your itinerary, much less stop along the way. If you were making a first trip to Chicago and had only 2 days to see the city, would you stop off for 3 hours in Cedar Rapids? If you think you'll enjoy small places more than big cities, that's fine; cut a bunch of those capital cities out of your itinerary (preferably the ones that are farthest from Brussels). That will free up time to see some small towns.

Like I said before the journey is as fun as the destination.

Excellent attitude. I suspect you will be doing more of the former than the latter

Come November let us know how it went.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/sleeping-eating/reserve-accommodations

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips

Do they have rest areas or public bathrooms at gas stations in Europe as here in the states

Yes, there are toilets on European service areas, but they are different from country to country.

I don't know about all the countries you will be driving in, but here's my experience.

Belgium - rarely seat thieves, always a cost between €0.70 and €1.00, with usually a €0.50 wertbon against purchases in that chain for a few weeks,

France - seat thieves everywhere, some small aire will have squats, bigger aire will have proper toilets, small ones self clean like the Starship Enterprise, gents have a urinal right outside, also toilets at every toll booth

Luxembourg - eat off the floor clean, plus very cheap fuel and cheap liquor, cigarettes and all other tobacco products

Germany - very clean, tips expected at least €0.50, some have machines for more and a wertbon of around €0.50

Italy - varies widely, but food at the Autogrill excellent, extra points if you can actually find the toilet but often if you can it is halfway decent. Don't leave anything in the car.

Austria - good, sometimes free usually very clean.

Netherlands - often obscure, never free; even in department stores quite expensive

Good luck on the trip. Hope you all survive

I lived near San Francisco for 8 years and I took a lot of long (1.5-3 weeks) auto trips all over the west. I would often drive for 6 or 8 hours a day, stopping whenever I saw something of interest, staying in a motel wherever I ended up at the end of the day. In the past 10 years I've traveled a lot in Europe, mostly by train but often on a tour bus and even a few times in rental cars.

Let me tell you that Europe is completely different from the U.S. For the most part, if you are on the main limited access highways you don't go through towns. You go past them. There will be pit stops along the way, with full services and you should have coins for the bathrooms, though you may not always need them (the coins! always use the bathrooms, you never know how long it will be until the next one). You won't find motels along the way with "vacancy" signs. Most rooms sleep 2 in a double bed. In fact, it's probably a good idea to do some research now and find places along your route that you may want to overnight.

Lastly, have you checked out the car that you are planning to rent for back seat leg room and luggage room? In general European cars are smaller than US cars. What's considered a compact in the US may be closer to a full size car in Europe. And unless you are all okay with driving a stick shift, make sure that an automatic transmission is available. Best to rent from an airport location where there's a larger selection of vehicles. If you reserve at a local office, you may not get the car you expect, even though you've reserved it

Indeed, when I arrived at Frankfurt last summer, the only automatic at Dollar/Hertz (same counter) was an immense glass-van, almost as big as an Econoline, so I refused it. But they were so busy that I had to wait half an hour for a returned standard-transmission sedan to be turned around and available. I owned a standard for years, but I knew I did not want to park a giant vehicle even in outdoor parking lots. European parking spaces and aisles are much narrower than in the U.S.

Rick makes the point in the link I posted earlier that traveling without a hotel reservation decreases the probability that you'll get the room that best suits your budget or your preferences. I agree completely, but the comment is ironic. If you remember the "old" (that is, "young") Rick, he was big on hostels and bargain places, and on going to the TI in each town to be referred to a room!

Edit: Don't forget Rick's and many posters' advice here to leave nothing visible in the car if you make a stop between hotels. The break-in danger is never zero, however. It can be hard to fit everything under the cover in a hatchback (and once my car was rented without the cover - noted on the rental agreement.)

Chani,
In general European cars are smaller than US cars. What's considered a compact in the US may be closer to a full size car in Europe.
What did you mean by this? Are the cars in Europe smaller or larger when renting a compact car?

Just read the car details carefully - how many passengers, how much luggage space.

jckjbow, The names for the sizes are different. A golf or Ford Fiesta is a medium sized car (they used to be small cars, but have grown over the years). A Ford Focus is a large car.

(Part two)

I grew up in Central Florida. It took 3 hours just to leave the state. At least once a year we'd do the 14-16 hours to DC in one day to visit family. So I understand what you mean when you say you are used to long drives. HOWEVER - We only stopped for lunch and bathroom breaks on those trips (never at South of the Border, no matter how hard we begged). I'm mainly flown or taken trains in Europe. My sole experience on a road trip like you're describing was with my parents in Spain, when I was 26, before my year in Poland. We visited Toledo, Sevilla and Arcos de la Frontera before returning to Toledo so I could fly out of Madrid. We spent 1-2 nights in each place. My main memory of Spain is seeing it from the back seat of the car, squished against the window because my duffel bag was on the seat next to me (cars really are smaller in Europe). We did stop at little towns for lunch, but those were mainly lucky guesses. Looking back, I wish we'd just spent those five nights in Madrid.

I think you need to take a step back and think about what you want to get out of this trip. What do you want to see in these places? WHY these cities? What interests you? If you want to experience the cities, think about what you'll be able to realistically see with just one full day plus an afternoon. Think about the toll days of long driving can have on you. If you just want to wander the road and stop when something looks interesting, great - but that's a very different trip, and you don't need to travel from Brussels to Slovenia to do it. My parents have always enjoyed driving around Provence, or the Pyrenees - maybe you would, too?

(Part 1, which seems to have not posted)
It was clean the kitchen or make a fake itinerary, and I chose the latter. You are leaving Brussels on the 18th and want to return on the 29th. That's 12 days. You want to visit 5 (6 if you include N'stein) destinations, and you keep stressing that you want the freedom to explore places en route/between destinations. Based on that, here's what I came up with. Please note, this is based on times from Google Maps and assumes everything goes exactly right. That means no traffic into or out of cities, no traffic jams, no getting lost, always finding your hotel and parking right away.
10/18: Leave Brussels at 8am. It is 8h to Prague (7h45m -7h52m depending on your route). That puts you into Prague at 4pm. BUT - you really want to explore places en route. Part of the issue is that you haven't told us what you want to see/what interests you/why these cities and not others. So I'm making a lot of assumptions here. Wuerzburg is about halfway in between, and while I haven't been I know others here have enjoyed it. So you stop there around 12:30pm, have lunch and explore, leave at 2pm and then arrive Prague 3.5/4h later, just in time for 6:05pm sunset that day. Check in to your hotel and have dinner.
10/19: Prague. Again, not sure of your interests, but if you want to see the Jewish sites and synagogues, you'll need to do it today, as they are closed Saturday. You can also try to do another site - maybe the Mucha Museum? Again, not sure how you'll want to travel. Do you want to zip from site to site, or sit an enjoy a cup of coffee in a cafe? No wrong answer, but knowing can help with advice.
10/20: Prague. Explore Castle Hill, perhaps?
10/21: Travel Prague to Vienna. It takes 3.5h, so if you left at 8am, you could be there by 11:30am. But you want to stop, so you find a small place for lunch (I'm afraid I don't know enough about southern Czechia to recommend a place), and arrive at your hotel at 1pm, say. So you have a few hours to sightsee before dinner.
10/22: You're one full day in Vienna. Now, I will say that the first time I went to Vienna I had two full days there and managed to see a lot. But, I was also 23 years old, traveling by myself, and running from place to place. This is still how I prefer to travel. If that's not how all of your party wants to do things, though, you'll need a plan of attack. One day means Hofburg or Schoenbrunn, but not both. Kunsthistorisches or Albertina, but not both. Again, I don't know your priorities, but realistically you're only going to see your top three in one day.
10/23: Vienna to Budapest. It's only 2.5h, so you have some time. Maybe you spend the morning in Vienna and set off in the afternoon (provided your hotel will let you keep your car parked there). Maybe you get up early and head straight to Budapest with no stops. Let's assume you stop for lunch and again arrive Budapest in the early afternoon. You have a few hours to explore before dinner.
10/24: One full day in Budapest. That means Parliament or Opera, but not both. Probably no time for Memento Park. Great Market Hall or baths, but not both. Again, pick your top three, because that's probably all you'll be able to do.
10/25: Travel Budapest to Ljubljana. 4h, 6 with a stop. Leave at 8am, arrive 2pm. I haven't been to Ljubljana, so I can't help with suggestions.
10/26: One full day in Ljubljana.
10/27: Travel Ljubljana to Salzburg. A little less than 3 hours. You could stop at a small town along the way and again be in Salzburg before 2pm.
10/28: One full day in Salzburg.
10/29: Salzburg to Neuschwanstein is roughly three hours. I would make sure you have a reservation. Leave Salzburg at 8am for a noon tour (wiggle room just in case). Leave around 2pm. 6h40m to Brussels puts you in just before 9pm.
So you CAN do this trip by car. Question is, do you WANT to?

Those times just above also include no toilet stops or leg stretching. Or for filling the fuel tank. Realistically I usually add 20 to 25 percent to Google Maps.

Like I said before the journey is as fun as the destination.

Based on Allison's travel outline you will have FUN

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR ADVICE, it is very much appreciated! The 3 of us are meeting Tues. to hammer out details and compare where we each want to go and if we drive or take train, I'm thinking realistically we will have to cut out a country, maybe Slovenia but we will talk about that.
Allison I'm so glad you didn't clean the kitchen but instead helped me get a grip on the itinerary, it was very helpful as all the suggestions have been. It seems to me it would be less complicated to take train, we just are not used to using train in the States here so it's hard to wrap my mind around that. It does take longer on train but I think less stress.
We are not people to wander around a museum for hours on end and I am not one to sit in a park and look at the trees. When I'm on vacation it"s go go go. I can rest when I'm at home. I personally love castles that's why we are going to Neuschwanstein Castle but I may get burned out from seeing them as it seems every city we are going to has one. I was just told by friends not to miss that one, but they haven't been to the others in Prague, Budapest and Vienna.
My biggest indecision is traveling by car or train I just can't get comfortable with either one so I may let the other two make that decision. I can ride or drive either way. I figure every where I go will be a new experience and seeing places and sights I've never seen before so it"s all good. I'll go with the flow as long as it's safe for us all. My daughter thinks it will be a push for me and it will, but oh well I can rest when I get home. I've had both hips replaced and one didn't work well but I am still walking, sometimes with difficulty but better than before. I told the girls if I hurt they can tour on and I will find something to entertain myself, hopefully that won't happen. Once again thanks for all your comments and help on this.