The strange little map inside Europe
Continental Europe is scattered with tiny countries most people barely think about visiting: Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino and Vatican City, plus slightly less tiny Luxembourg. Add Malta out in the Mediterranean, and you have a surprisingly strange little map of Europe hiding inside the familiar one.
There are others farther north — Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, the Faroe Islands and Svalbard — but those deserve a trip of their own.
Almost nobody sets out to visit the micronations on purpose, which is exactly why we want to. String the continental ones together and you get an absurdly good road trip: across the Pyrenees, along the Riviera corniches, over the Alps and down through the Apennines, with a new country appearing every few hours.
The driving is part of the trip, not dead time between destinations: proper mountain roads, good cars, great conversation, and everyone taking turns choosing what gets played too loudly. And there's plenty to do when we stop. Andorra has serious hiking above 2,400 meters. Liechtenstein has a spectacular ridge walk above the Rhine Valley. San Marino has three medieval towers perched on a mountaintop with views stretching to the Adriatic.
We're aiming for early summer, once the high mountain passes have opened but before Europe hits peak summer chaos. We're still working out the exact route — including which direction to drive it and whether Monaco deserves a night or just a very long lunch.
Wherever we end up for the final dinner, we'll have driven across a ridiculous number of countries to get there.
The morning drive
Out early on the day's big mountain road, coffee at the top, and everyone in the car belting out road trip songs.
A whole country before lunch
Cross into a country the size of a town, park the cars, and walk most of it before noon.
Depends on the country
A hike in Andorra, the casino in Monaco, the old town of San Marino.
Down for dinner
Out of the mountains to wherever we're sleeping, another border or two behind us.
It'll change with the season and with who comes.
North
Land in Frankfurt, pick up the cars, and drive south — Luxembourg, then Liechtenstein for a ridge walk above the Rhine, then down through Lyon for dinner.
Andorra
Into the Pyrenees for a full day of hiking, above 2,400 meters.
The coast
Down to Monaco and a day on the Riviera, then east to San Marino.
Rome
The towers of San Marino, then Rome and Vatican City.
Malta
Fly south, drop the driving, and sit still — Valletta for the food, then a few days on Gozo.
Still tentative. We haven't settled how many nights each stop gets, or how long we stay in Malta at the end.
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