I am planning a road trip with 2 of my friends to Barcelona, Spain. We are based in Lahore, Pakistan. We have no idea how to start and go about this trip. Google Maps shows a 100 hour drive from Lahore to Barcelona, but ofcourse we don't want to drive continuosly, we want to visit and enjoy the countries in our way as well. What I want to know is, which car should we rent? What are the average/general charges? What will be the fuel costs? What are the visa regulations? Will we have to get the visa for all the countries in our way from Pakistan? How much in total do you think it would cost us, including the hotel stays?
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1Welcome, please have a read of the help center. We generally avoid asking 'travel-agenty' questions, and keep the questions to one per post. The fuel costs, visa questions etc are great, but it's a better idea to split them into individual questions. Also cost is soo subjective - some people spend $10 a night on hostels or couchsurf, others spend $500 a night - that's not answerable :/– Mark MayoCommented May 25, 2014 at 23:44
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2I have the feeling you are not very used to international travel. As it is probably more complex for Pakistani than for european like me, I suggest you choose a more simple plan. Fly to Italia, Denmark or Poland, then make a road trip to Barcelona. You will need only 1 visa and the car rental will not make problems– MadlozozCommented May 26, 2014 at 1:28
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1 Answer
Wow! That might be epic. Especially administrative wise.
Hill ride
Unless you really want to make it legendary, I imagine you will skip the Hymalaya and Afghanistan.
Are you planning to cross Iran, then Turkey and south Europe (Hymalaya, Caucase and Alps) or to do the wide trip through the plains of China, Russia and north Europe?
As a side note, I myself had fantasy of doing Paris- Singapore on bicycle. Making the journey through the plain quite tempting.
Visa
If you have Pakistani nationality, I am afraid to tell you it will make things complicated.
Here is a website telling ou which country require a Visa. Almost all of them require Visa prior to arrival.
You will probably need to go to Islamabad, for this.
Typically a visa last X days and is valid Y days. It means that you can wait Y days to reach the border and then, you can stay X days in the country.
One good new is that you probably don't need to make all the visa prior to departure.
Usually (i.e. I always could do it) if you want a visa for a country, you can get it from any embassy of this country.
For instance, you could make visa to cross Iran, Turkey and Greece -that is a Schengen Visa - while in Pakistan then all the visa to cross ex-Yougoslavia while in Athens.
This can be helpful as some country will ask the date of your arrival. Plus there is maybe no Slovenian embassy in Pakistan.
Time
Another crucial problem is knowing how long is the visa will last. If you have only 2 weeks to cross China, Iran or Russia, you will have to rush.
You Schengen visa will last 3 months (Double check this). So, if need 1 month to get for Greece border to Spain, you will have to shorten you stay in Barcelona.
Schengen
Schengen visa is very convenient (yet difficult to get) but may add some constraint.
For example, once you are in Greece, you will either need to take the boat to Italia (you won't get out of Schengen space) or to cross ex-Yugoslavia. In the later case, I am not sure the visa allow you to re-enter.
Car related problem
I am totally ignorant about car travelling and about Pakistan. So some of the following can be stupid.
Yet, you may consider this:
* Is your driving licence valid everywhere. I heard that beyond the general rule, France police can make problem if your licence was issued in a country were a bribe is all you need to pass the test
* If you hire a car in Pakistan, can you exit the country? I mean... it would be so easy to steal car this way
* Does the fuel in Pakistan have the same specification as in Europe? If not, you may need to twitch the car engine.