Roadlegs

Road trip ideas › By car

Winter and shoulder-season road trips in Europe by car

The passes are shut but the south is open. These seven trips are better in the cold months: fewer people, lower prices and, in the south, weather that is simply pleasant.

Published 6 October 2026 · facts fetched from Wikipedia on 6 October 2026

Plan this trip

  1. 1 Andalusia

    Andalusia
    Photo by kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

    Andalusia is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. Wikipedia

    Seville, Córdoba, Granada and the white villages. Winter is 15 degrees and sunny; the Alhambra is empty.

    Written about in 150 languagesStart a trip here

  2. 2 Sicily

    Sicily
    Photo by sikeliakali, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

    Sicily, officially the Sicilian Region, is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea and one of the twenty regions of Italy, situated south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe. With over 4.7 million inhabitants, including 1. Wikipedia

    Palermo to Syracuse by Agrigento and Etna. Oranges on the trees in January.

    Written about in 164 languagesStart a trip here

  3. 3 Algarve

    Algarve
    Photo by Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

    The Algarve is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of 4,997 km2 (1,929 sq mi) with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelhos or municípios in Portuguese). Wikipedia

    Portugal's south coast off-season: cliffs, Sagres, and a loop inland through the Monchique hills.

    Written about in 62 languagesStart a trip here

  4. 4 Provence

    Provence
    Photo by Robert Brink, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

    Provence is a geographical, cultural region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Wikipedia

    Avignon, the Luberon and the Verdon gorge in March, before the lavender crowds.

    Written about in 84 languagesStart a trip here

  5. 5 Crete

    Crete
    Photo by ISS Expedition 28 crew, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

    Crete ( KREET) is the largest and most populous island of Greece, the 89th largest island in the world, and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Wikipedia

    Fly in and rent: the White Mountains, the south coast and almost no tourists from November to March.

    Written about in 134 languagesStart a trip here

  6. 6 Lanzarote

    Lanzarote
    Photo by NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

    Lanzarote is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, 125 kilometres (80 miles) off the north coast of Africa and 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.94 square kilometres (326. Wikipedia

    Volcano roads at 20 degrees in February. A small island, two days of driving, a week of sun.

    Written about in 68 languagesStart a trip here

  7. 7 Bavaria's Christmas markets

    Bavaria's Christmas markets
    Photo by DALIBRI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

    Nuremberg is the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria and the largest city in the cultural region of Franconia. Its 546,397 (2024) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany. Wikipedia

    Nuremberg, Regensburg, Munich and Rothenburg in December: a 600 km loop between markets.

    Written about in 129 languagesStart a trip here

Riding or driving it

In winter the sunset matters. Add a start date in Roadlegs and each day shows how much daylight is left when you arrive, with the latest time to leave to get there before dark.

Open the plan in Roadlegs How the planner handles this vehicle.

About the facts and photos

The descriptions in italics are the opening sentences of the Wikipedia article for each place, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, fetched on 6 October 2026. Photos are from Wikimedia Commons under the licence named beside each one. "Written about in N languages" counts the Wikipedia editions that have an article, from Wikidata; it is a measure of how well known a place is, not a rating. Everything else is the author's own opinion. Roads close with the seasons: check before you go.

More ideas