The Best Rest Stops in Europe

Motorway services in Britain

Formula Premier in Ellesmere Port is a truck stop with clean facilities, massage chairs, games rooms and a cinema room, all offered free. Gloucester Services, on the M5, has a farm shop and café with locally sourced produce, cakes and a pond-side terrace. The Stockyard Truckstop in Rotherham has a pub bar and a home-cooked carvery, and its showers and toilets are clean and modern. Leeds Skelton Lake Services sits beside the M1 at Junction 45 and opened in 2020 with many chain restaurants, a lake with a walking route and a canal at the rear. Tebay Services on the M6 in Orton has a farm shop and restaurant serving local produce, with views over the Lune Gorge. Moto Rugby near Rugby has Greggs, Pret, Costa and M&S, plus indoor and outdoor play areas. Colsterworth Truck Stop, beside the A1 in Lincolnshire, has a large tarmac lot and a new restaurant. Rothwell Truck Stop in Kettering has HGV parking, a gym and free showers.

Rest areas in Poland

MOP Strzelce, near Niedrzew Drugi, lies on the road to Gdańsk and Toruń and has a large car park, benches and a playground. Its floral decorations and humorous rule posters are shown on the site. MOP Przywieczerzyn is a motorway rest area with toilets, showers, a snack van and a playground, and its toilets are decorated with flowers and humorous posters. ILO Ludwinowo, on the A1 near Łódź, has toilets, showers and parking, with flowers on the grounds and humorous poems about tidiness on the walls.

Motorway stops across the continent

Bauli in Autostrada, in Sommacampagna, is a service area on the A4 between Milan and Verona, with a Bauli shop and Minuto sandwiches. Area di Servizio Villoresi Ovest in Lainate has a circular 1958 building with a large central chandelier and Pavesi signage. Aire du Poulet de Bresse, near Dommartin-lès-Cuiseaux on the A39, is known for Bresse chicken sold as meals and as whole birds. Port Lauragais Service Area, on the A61 south of Toulouse, has a boat port beside the Canal du Midi and serves regional cassoulet at La Dinée. In Switzerland, Gotthard Raststätte in Schattdorf is a wood and glass building in an Alpine setting near a suspension bridge. Rastanlage Im Hegau in Engen has a terrace with views over the Hegau volcanoes. Trofana Tyrol in Mils, beside the A12 near Innsbruck, has carved wooden buildings. Rastland Nassereith sits beside the Fernpass road in Tyrol. Autohof Kolb in Sinsheim is a truck stop open around the clock, with a technology museum nearby. Euro Rastpark Pfaffenhofen/Schweitenkirchen, on the A9, has an open kitchen serving pork knuckle. Leubinger Fürstenhügel Rest Area, on the A38 in Thuringia, has historical displays and a burial mound walk nearby.