Driving times

Unfortunately a lot of us dont have the ability or luxury of planning a trip 2 days prior. That would limit the available flight and hotel possibilities and make both very expensive. And yes, some trips you gotta figure out the whole route to know when to leave and where you are sleeping each night.

If you go to Google Maps and put in a future date it will give you "Typically 3 hours to 4 hours 20 minutes" (Vienna to Hallstatt). For planning thats the best you can do. Even 48 hours before you dont know if the road will be closed because of snow or flooding like last year, or the big traffic accident or my ex-mother-in-law in her 63 Chevy half ton doing 20mph. But you gotta use something to figure out where you are sleeping that night. I always take the high number and round it to the next hour for the master plan. if I show up 2 hours late on one leg of the trip .... so be it. Life goes on. But you gotta plan the plan and 48 hours prior just doesn’t work (for me).

Never reject a tool. Just understand its limitations. A crescent wrench is lousy for watch repair.

I agree basically with KGC although traveling more in the Northern parts of Germany and Europe by car.

The German ADAC (similar to AAA) published the 2024 traffic jam report. The total length of traffic jams last year on German Autobahn(en) only was 859,000 km - this is 20 times the Earth circumference. Drivers were standing together more than 51 years in these traffic jams. Link to source article in German language.

Some of them are very foreseeable, e. g. by announced maintenance event or by start / end of school vacations (see part "Stau-Höhepunkt vor Pfingsten" in linked article). Weather impacts are not planable by an exact date but renting winter tires in cold months can be expected from travelers as normal intelligence performance.

Example for announced maintenance event: in Austria a bridge of the famous Brenner motorway will be renewed. Therefore travelers can expect that the sometimes dozen of kilometers long traffic jams may happen more often and might be longer.

And in Germany I guess we need to talk about trains as well. The DB Störungskarte is a good tool to filter planned disturbances in German rail network.

KGC, you're right. Most of these trips take enough longer than those projections that one really needs to add some time in to get a more realistic picture.

Actually, I have had good experiences using Google Maps to work out driving times in Yellowstone/Tetons and Turkey. Admittedly, I use it as a rough guide, I am careful to adjust for and season and time of day, and I build in a lot of cushion. I am prepared to drop or curtail a stop if I get hung up in traffic, and I usually have a couple of places where I will stop only if time permits. As Mr. E says, it's generally good enough to figure out where I am going to spend the night, which is all I really need.

Taking a different perspective on this topic: beware Google Maps (and probably most automotive-based GPS systems) when plotting routes and estimating driving times in rural France.

I don't know how such tools are programmed, but they seem to consider distance, some information on typical traffic delays, and speed limits to recommend routes and estimate travel times.

In a place like rural France, where the principle of "priorité à droit" (yielding to drivers entering the roadway from the right) this can lead to very poor recommended routes and inaccurate driving time estimates. Many times I've requested a route between point A and B and the GPS recommends a shorter route, where indeed the posted speed limit is 80 or 90 km/h, but completely ignores the presence of blind curves caused by hedgerows, single lane roads or roads 1.5 lanes in width, with muddy shoulders most of the year, and priorité à droit on many roads, which requires a careful driver to slow at almost every oncoming crossroads to ensure no one is approaching from the right, which would risk a collision without slowing.

In other words, it's usually better on time, and far less stressful, to favor major roads that have priority over entering roads, that are wider, and lack the blind curves found on smaller, perhaps shorter routes.

Google works very well in Texas. We have very god all weather roads and enough traffic that Google maps has good averages by time if day. Even out in the boonies.

During a trip from say Houston to Dallas (an afternoon jaunt) its not uncommon for Google maps to update the route a few times to get around traffic and delays. Works well. In town it does the same and can save a bunch of time routing around rush hour traffic. With out it, I think we would have to build more roads and make current roads wider. A $$$ saver. But okay, not good enough? Your suggestion?

We have used the Waze app on our phone to find a go around. They say they are Global. They give driving directions, live traffic & road conditions updates. It took us through a part of town we hadn't been in and out the other side, which got us in front of the backup traffic. Give it a try to see if it works for you, too.

A case in point KGC--a few years ago I was driving back to Central NJ from my son's house in Nassau County, Long Island when my gps announced, "There is a 90-minute delay on the RFK Bridge." "You are still on the fastest route."

It's not that the apps don't give you good current info. It's the idea that way too many people are planning schedules for their vacations based on timeframes that are totally unrealistic. The closer you are to the actual time you're traveling the better it is, but dplanning in December for a trip in May the times the apps give don't meet reality. And when someone plans these minute by minute trips to squeeze in every last "must see" they're bound to fail.

You also have to think about the fact that it's not just the driving time. It can take some time to find a parking space at your destination. Then most likely you will have to look for the ticket machine :-) If you visit several destinations a day, you add up a lot of time. And don't forget, it's often a bit of a walk from the parking lot - you also lose time there.

I would be stressed the entire vacation if I planned everything minute by minute....

When we drove through the UK, we would pick end destinations each day. I would study a small AA map book at night to visualize the whole route. Then I would look thru an actual guidebook to see what we could see. Now it is easier to read up on things on your phone. I think most rental autos have navigation, but a map book can give the big picture and more roads if you get a large map grid book. We joined the National Trust as Overseas Tourist Members and received a book and a Pass to all their 100s of listings to view. This includes Free Parking. Web Site www.nationaltrust.org.uk can give you a lot of more current info. There may be similar things available in other countries, too. Sometimes you can find accommodations if you just ask a local. We always found one if we looked for one before dinner. This works best driving off the main roads. We loved staying on farms. Staying in a city, may require reservations, so stay on the outside of town instead.

I think we are creating problems that dont exist. I wouls say sloving a problem that doesnt exist, but no solution was offered.
he argument was:

I am consistently amazed by the number of people trying to build an
itinerary with their calculations for the time to travel between
locations via automobile based on sites like Google.

And I havent seen a reasonable alternative than building an itinerary using the calculations form Google Maps or something similar. The argument here if there is a logical one, is recognizing the benefits of remaining flexible, relax and enjoy the detours and dont try and cram too much into a day. Maybe hold a few things back for a plan B if all goes faster than anticipated.

A tip for using google maps would be to be certain to enter the departure date and time. If you do a multi stop route Google wont give you a time range, but often does if you do individual legs. So always search the individual legs. Then round up and maybe throw in 25% for the unknown; or what ever you feel comfortable with. Keep the final activity for the day flexible. "walking the canyon" doesnt matter if its 1 hour of walking or 2 hours of walking. But, heck, thats common sense. Its silly to say this to people who were sucessful enough in life to be able to afford travels to Europe, but you gotta park the car and you might want to stop for lunch. Oh, stopping for lunch. Google Maps find restaurants on this route feature is great.

Now, since google maps and the like are terrible things and you have no idea why anyone would use them. Your suggestion?

Mr É, is it possible that you miss the relevant point of the original post?

Statement by OP: "Those times are ... failing to take into consideration weather, traffic, and other seasonal variations that can only be guessed at 3-4 months in advance."

Recommendation by OP: "Don't fall victim to planning based on times that are not more than 48 hours out." and later "The closer you are to the actual time you're traveling the better it is, but planning in December for a trip in May the times the apps give don't meet reality."