MORNING BIRD TRAIL

Are you ready for an epic Thematic European Road trip? Do you want to explore Europe from west to east and visit some of the most incredibly Halloween adventures? In this blog post, I’ll try to inspire you with this 11-day road trip, exploring beautiful cities, spooky places and the best Halloween activities in Europe.

If you want to explore more or get other ideas of what to do this Halloween in Europe you can learn more about Halloween traditions in Western Europe or Eastern Countries. Besides that, you can also get inspired by this list of the 15 spookiest things to do in Europe this Halloween.

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Overview

• Day 1 – the catacombs of Paris
• Day 2 – A day at Disneyland Paris
• Day 3 – The Sorcerers Festival in Chalindrey (October 23rd)
• Day 4 – Stop in Strasbourg before getting to Germany
• Day 5 – the biggest pumpkin festival in the world at Ludwigsburg
• Day 6 – Getting to Prague
• Day 7 – Bratislava
• Day 8 – Budapest
• Day 9 – Hoia Baciu Forest or Timișoara
• Day 10 – The big Halloween party at Bran Castle (October 30th)
• Day 11 – Bucharest

Day 1 – the catacombs of Paris

This adventure will start in Paris, the biggest city belonging to the European Union. You can get to Paris through one of three airports:

• Charles de Gaulle International Airport – this is the main airport of the city of Paris. It is located 45 minutes away from the city centre. Since it is the main one of the three, it is more likely for you to land there, especially if you come from another continent. Car Rental from this airport can be done here.
• Orly Airport – This airport is a bit smaller but is the second international airport in the city. It is also located around 45 minutes away from the city centre. Car Rental from this airport can be done here
• Beauvais-Tille Airport – The last airport is more dedicated to budget airlines such as RyanAir and Wizz Air. It is the furthest one of the three from the city centre, taking around 80 minutes to get there. Car Rental from this airport can be done here

You can search by flight and get the best deals at Skyscanner. You should buy your tickets at least one to two months in advance to get the best deals. However, the current situation and restrictions are always changing and this may not be the best or safest way of doing things.

It shouldn’t be too hard to rent your car in any of the three airports. When renting you should, make sure that you can drive the car to several countries, since we will almost go from one side of Europe to the other. Besides that, you should also see if you can return the car to another country, in particular, Romania, where we will finish this epic Halloween themed Road trip in Europe.

The objective for today is to visit the catacombs of Paris. This well-known tunnel maze below Paris has some of its walls covered with the human remains of more than 6 million people, making it quite spooky and Halloween worthy. This is the reason why it is our first stop on this Halloween Road Trip in Europe.

To visit the catacombs, you can buy your ticket at the official website or here to skip the line. The access can be done from 9:45 to 20:30 from Tuesday to Sunday. To get there, you need to head to 1 av. du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy. The tickets are close to 30€ however you can buy them for half the price if you wait to buy them on the same day that you are visiting!

The entrance for the catacombs are located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris and are relatively close to other must-sees of Paris such as the Luxembourg Garden and the Pantheon (less than 30 minutes away, walking).

The catacombs are also located close by to the Denfert-Rochereau metro stop, which makes it quite easy to go anywhere in the city through the metro connections. Because of this, and mostly if you don’t want to use your car (because if you do then you can get everywhere by car), you can stay in several places all over the city and you can choose the best place to spend your night. You can choose your place to stay through Booking.com or Hotels.com.

Day 2 – A day at Disneyland Paris

Are you ready for a bit of adrenaline running in your veins? You should start your morning early so that you can get to the park around its opening time, at around 9h30. From Paris to Disneyland Park you’ll spend a bit less than an hour driving, this is why you need an early start.

Disneyland is on this Roadtrip because it is a super fun amusement park. However, more than that, on Halloween, during the month of October, the park transforms into a Halloween dream world with spooky activities and mysterious decorations. The different ambients on the park will proportionate amazing multi-national traditions such as the colourful Mexican festival that you can find in Frontierland.

Besides these special and temporary activities, you can also get to the usual attractions in the park. Some of these are quite spooky such as the Tower of Terror (obviously) and the Phantom Manor.

To finish this incredible day full of adventure, adrenaline and potentially some lines (for the most popular attractions), you can spend the night at one of the amazing Disneyland hotels. The advantage of these is that they usually have transportation between the park and the hotel included. You can also opt to stay in one of the Disneyland hotels so that you don’t need to leave the bed as early as if you choose accommodation in Paris.

Day 3 – The Sorcerers Festival in Chalindrey (October 23rd or 24th)

We’ll leave Disneyland early in the morning and make our way to our next adventure. Around 2 two hours away from Paris, you’ll get to the town of Troyes. Just like Paris, this town is located on the Seine river. In the city you can find several beautiful and protected historic monuments, including half-timbered houses from the 16th century, making the town looking like a fairytale land. Besides appreciating the beautiful buildings, In Troyes, you can also visit the town’s cathedral and museums such as the musée des beaux-arts et d’archéologie.

After this lunch stop, we’ll keep moving, for 1h30, in the direction of Chalindrey. The objective of today is to visit the town of Chalindrey and experience the amazing Sorcerers festival. This festival has been held for almost a century and remains true to its Celtic roots.

You can see many exhibitions where you can learn more about the local arts, legends and culture. The festival also has a witch contest, parades, workshops for the kids and shows.

The festival usually is held on the weekend before Halloween, so you may need to adjust this Epic Halloween themed Road trip in Europe to the day of this festival (so that you can stop here and be on the October 30th or 31st in Romania…).

[The 2020 and 2021 festivals were cancelled because of the health risk associated with the party.]

Day 4 – Stop in Strasbourg before getting to the biggest pumpkin festival in the world

Today won’t be too spooky or even Halloween related. However, we will get closer to the biggest pumpkin festival in the world, located in Germany. Besides that, everything in the spooky season has a more mysterious feel than in the rest of the year.

From Chalindrey we’ll get to Nancy. This is a 2 hours drive north. In Nancy, you can relax at the Place Stanislas square, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This square has a beautiful view of the Opéra national de Lorrain, to the City Hall and to the Museum of Fine Art. This square is also a great place to people watch.

Near the square you can walk, for 5 minutes, to Place de la Carrière, passing through the arc Héré. Right by the Palace, you’ll also find the Basilica of Saint Epvre of Nancy. There is a bunch of things that you can do in Nancy, most of which are within walking distance, which makes this city an incredible place to spend a couple of hours before going back on your road trip.

The next stop in this Epic Halloween themed Road trip in Europe, and also our last stop in France is Strasbourg. From Nancy to Strasbourg, you’ll spend around 2 hours driving.

Strasbourg is a beautiful medieval city with incredible half-timbered houses by the river Rhine. The city is also the official seat of the European Parliament, which you can visit. This is another beautiful city to explore on foot. You can visit the beautiful old town with the half-timbered houses by the river, visit the Strasbourg Cathedral which was the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874. You can also visit or just enjoy the beauty of Place Kléber from outside. One of the most picture-perfect places in Strasbourg is Petite France. Because of this beauty, however, this is where you’ll find more tourists.

This town is the perfect place to stop and get ready for tomorrow’s adventure.

Day 5 – the biggest pumpkin festival in the world at Ludwigsburg

The objective of today is to explore the biggest pumpkin festival in the world, however, if you wish to spend a couple of hours in the morning in Strasbourg you can easily do so. This festival occurs in Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart. To get there, you will spend around 2 hours driving from Strasbourg. This festival takes place every year from August to December in the town. Every week, a giant pumpkin is graved into some extraordinary artwork and exhibit in the park. Besides that [on September 25th and 26th, so it is not relevant for the road trip but it’s still interesting to know], you can also taste the biggest German pumpkin soup. There are so many different activities (that change through the months of the festival) to try in this festival, the best you can do is to explore the official website and see for yourself which of them you wish to explore the most.

The exhibition opens at 9 am and closes at 8.30 pm. You should take your time and explore all of what the festival has to offer on the day that you get there, even if you get there after lunch like I suggested. After that, you’ll head towards Nuremberg, where you will spend the night. It is expected that you’ll get to the city at night and won’t see much, however, half of the day of tomorrow will be used to visit the city.

Day 6 – Getting to Prague

Nuremberg is the second-largest city in Baviera, after Munich, and is located in a central point between Ludwigsburg and Prague. This town looks like straight out of a fairy-tale. It is a beautiful city to stop by and take amazing postcard-worthy photographs and enjoy the incredible views. 

One of the most famous things to do is to explore Nuremberg Castle, even if only from the outside (if you don’t want to spend the entire day in the city). This castle was built in the 11th century and was almost completely destroyed in WWII. This castle also provides some of the most beautiful views of the city centre. 

There are other places to visit in the city besides the castle. Some of them are the Schöner Brunnen, a 19 meters high 14th-century fountain and the Holy Spirit Hospital, a beautiful building by the river. Every street where you wander in this city will amaze you but some say that the Weißgerbergasse is the most charming of them all, so don’t forget to spend some minutes walking there and appreciating the beautiful half-timbered houses. 

If you want a somewhat spooky story from this city, you can visit the Hangman’s Bridge. This bridge used to connect the city to an island where the executioner used to live to avoid contact with the citizens, which considered his profession dishonest.

After this incredible stop, we’ll keep moving in the direction of Prague. Prague is located around 300 km away from Nuremberg. As a result, to get to the capital of the Czech Republic you’ll spend 3 to 4 hours driving.

In Prague, you’ll walk in beautiful cobblestone streets and will see idyllic buildings. One of the most famous photo-worthy places in Prague is the beautiful Charles Bridge. This bridge dates back 600 years and is adorned with statues (that are copies of the original ones). If you want spooky stories about this bridge, since it is part of this Epic Halloween themed Road trip in Europe, one of the statues in the bridge represents St. John of Nepomuk, who, according to legend, was wrapped in chains and thrown to his death from this bridge. Maybe if you go there at night you can meet its ghost? 

There are a lot of other incredible buildings, squares and streets to visit, such as the fairytale-like Tyn Church, the commercial heart of Prague, Wenceslas Square, the Castle complex with the Old Royal Palace & Vladislav Hall and the Golden Lane.

Day 7 – Bratislava

Today is another day when you can spend a few hours where you left yesterday, in Prague, before going back to the car and heading towards Bratislava.

Before getting to Bratislava however, we’ll stop for lunch in Brno, 2 hours away from Prague. This city is the second biggest in the Czech Republic and is quite close to the Austrian and Slovakian borders.

The city centre of Brno is incredible and full of charming squares, streets and monuments. If you want to have an incredible view of the city get to Spielberg Castle and if you wish to climb the watchtower (with a ticket). There are several other towers in Brno if you want some different perspectives of the city, such as the St. James Church tower, the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul tower and the Old Town Hall tower.

A spooky thing to see in Brno is the underground tunnels with the Ossuary, discovered in 2001, with bones of people that died in the Thirty Years’ War. Some of the bones even have bullet holes… In Brno, you can also visit (and spend the night) in a Bunker, the Bunker 10-Z.

From Brno, you’ll get to Bratislava 1h30 after leaving. You will probably get here at the end of the afternoon, depending on how much time you spend in Prague and Brno.

This city is a hidden gem of Europe and mildly undiscovered for many tourists. Here you can explore the medieval architecture in the old town, the beautiful squares and streets such as Michalska, Venturska and Panska, and see one of the most popular attractions in Bratislava, the St. Michael’s Tower. If you want to engage in some ghost hunter adventures for this Halloween themed Road trip stop, you can try to spot the Black Lady that is said to haunt the tower. The legend says that she killed herself in the tower, after accusing a friend of being a witch, with lead to her death in the fire. 

Another ghost hangout place in Bratislava, in the Main Square, is the Green House. This used to be the most famous pub in town. The story says that at midnight, the white lady Lucia appeared there and a tapster gave her a barrel of Malvasia (to the ghost) and she helped him to become rich.

On a less ghosty note, you can also see a beautiful panoramic view of the city at Bratislava Castle, especially at sunset.

Day 8 – Budapest

You’ve been for one week on this epic Halloween themed Road trip through Europe. Today, we will leave Bratislava, after lunch so you can enjoy the city for a little longer.

Budapest is a pretty walkable city while also having an affordable metro that you may prefer to use. You can start your visit to the city at the Buda Castle District. Here you can explore several medieval buildings such as the Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion. You can also enjoy beautiful views above the city. 

You can also visit the Terror Museum or the Houdini House, with an exhibition about the Hungarian magician that died on Halloween night in 1926. Besides that, you can also explore the Labyrinth under Buda Hill.

Besides this, you probably will also want to explore the incredible buildings such as the Hungarian Parliament (which you can visit) and St. Stephen’s Basilica. You can also relax on the Heroes’ Square, or even better, in the Thermal Baths.

After that, we will drive to Budapest. These two cities are quite close to each other, and you only need to drive for 2 hours. Budapest may be your final destination of today, but if you are planning to visit Hoia Baciu forest tomorrow (the most haunted forest in the world), instead of Timișoara (an adorable Romanian town), I would advise you to leave Budapest a little earlier and head to Debrecen (2 h 30 away from Budapest) or Oradea (3 hours away from Budapest). Instead, if you prefer to stay in Budapest for the night, since the city has so much to explore, this evening sighseeing boat might be a great idea for your evening.

Day 9 (two options) – Hoia Baciu Forest, the most scary forest in the world or Timișoara

If you are planning to visit the most haunted forest in the world, Hoia Baciu, in Romania, you will need to drive 3h30 from Debrecen or 2h30 from Oradea. The drive from Budapest is quite long (6 hours), that is why I advised these towns. If you want to explore a bit of them, you can wander around for a couple of hours before going to the forest, but then you’ll spend less time in the spooky forest.

This title of scariest forest in the world was given to Hoia Baciu because of the paranormal activity constantly felt in the area. These phenomena include unexplainable light, odd voices and even a circular dead vegetation zone where nothing ever grows. This place is also called the Bermuda Triangle of Romania because of the “strange happenings” of the forest. The name of the forest, Hoia Baciu, is a homage to a sheepman that disappeared in the region with its 200 sheep. There are also several tours to the forest if you rather go with a group, including tours at night if that is the kind of adventure that you love. If you can get a tour of the forest it may be a good option since you may not find all the little details of the forest. Near Cluj Napoca (where the forest is located) you can also get to the Turda Salt Mine, a salt mine with an amusement park at the bottom, eerie.

If however, the visit to the forest is too much for you, you can drive to Timișoara from Budapest. This drive is around 3h30 long, and if you depart early in the morning from Budapest, you should get to Timișoara by lunchtime.

Timișoara is a charming town with colourful buildings and incredible squares. This is a compact town, easy to explore on foot, especially because it has the largest pedestrian area in Romania. You can explore the majestic Romanian Orthodox Cathedral in Victory square. You can also take a boat in the Bega River in the afternoon, for 3€.

Despite your choice for today (Hoia Baciu forest or Timișoara), you can end your day in the town of Sibiu. This town is 3 hours away from both the forest and the town. You will get here late in the day, and you may end up not exploring much today. However, you’ll have the entire morning of tomorrow to get to know a little bit more this town.

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Day 10 – The big Halloween party at Bran Castle (October 30th)

The first thing that you will do today is to explore a little bit of Sibiu. This town was founded 800 years ago, and you can explore a lot of this heritage in the old town. This city has a german heritage, which means that it has an Oktoberfest inspired celebration, the CibinFest (that happens in September). Another inspiration from outside in the city is the walk of fame, dedicated to the theatre industry and located in the southern part of the Old Town.

In this town, most of the roofs of old houses have eye-shaped skylights, which became one of the symbols of the town. When you start looking at the houses like this, they look quite cute or quite terrifying…

After this exploration, you’ll drive 2 hours for the big Halloween event, the party at Bran Castle. This castle is the most visited attraction in Romania because it is believed that this was the castle that inspired Bram Stoker to write the story about Dracula. You can learn more about the history of Dracula and the castle on the official website of the castle.

On the 30th of October, the castle has an especially Halloween party. You can buy your tickets to the party on the official website. You can visit the castle both at the standard time (9 am to 4 pm) or at night (which is more expensive, from 5 pm to 10 pm).

Day 11 – Bucharest

After the incredible Halloween party, you are ready to say goodbye to this adventure. Today you may want to rest a bit in the morning since it is your last day and leave Bran later in the morning.

From Bran, you’ll drive for 2h30 until you reach Romania’s capital, Bucharest. In this city, you can see one of the biggest buildings (in terms of floor area) in the world, the Palace of The Parliament. Another place to visit is the Calea Victoriei, one of the central veins of Bucharest.

You also have several parks in the city if you want to relax for a bit and maybe even picnic. Some of these are Izvor Park, close to the Palace of the Parliament and the Carol Park just 20 minutes south, which is a little larger and features a pond at its centre.

This is the end of this Epic Halloween themed Road trip in Europe. From here you just need to drive to one of the airports of the city and return your renting car. The main airport is Henri Coanda Otopeni International Airport, 17km away from the city centre. The other airport is the Aurel Vlaicu International Airport, used mostly for budget airlines and located 10km from the city centre.

So, are you a major Halloween lover? Does this itinerary and Epic Halloween themed Road trip in Europe inspired your love for spookiness? Are you ready for this year’s Halloween? Would you follow the itinerary? Do you have any suggestions or advice for someone that would want to have an adventure such as this? Leave your comments below!

In case you are wondering, all these pictures were taking with the following equipment:

• Canon EOS 90d
• Samsung SD card
• Canon EF 50mm F1.8 STM
• Canon EF-S 55-250mm F/4-5.6 is STM
• Canon  EF-S 10-18mm F/4.5-5.6 IS STM
• K&F Concept K-Serie 67mm ND Filter
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G

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