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A car built for adventures
Whether it’s skiing in Chamonix or speeding along a Mediterranean coastline, you’ll find your Macan GTS is the perfect winter travelling companion. Here are five adventurous holidays that’ll put your new wheels to good use:
A brewery tour of the Bavarian Alps
With their powder-covered slopes, fairy-tale castles and mountain-top breweries, travelling through the Bavarian Alps epitomises driving pleasure. After exploring the beerhalls and rich history of Munich, head south along the gentle curves of the alpine crest towards Rosenheim and Lake Chiemsee, home of Herrenchiemsee Palace, known as the Versailles of Bavaria.
From there, head into the mountains proper to test drive the engine of the Macan GTS. By the time you navigate the Oberjoch Pass you’ll be 2000 metres above sea level.
Tracing the Mille Miglia
Rarely has a race captured the imagination of the world than the Mille Miglia endurance race. First run in 1927, the Mille Miglia followed a figure-eight pattern all the way from Brescia to Bologna before heading south to Rome and back again – a distance of about 1,500 kilometres. Drivers from all over the world would come to try their luck, sweeping through a landscape of rolling foothills, zigzagging mountain roads and narrow village streets. Today you can drive the famed route in luxury, sit back in your seat and feel advanced body control as you tackle the winding hill roads.
Skiing in Chamonix
Host to the world’s first Winter Olympics and still considered by many to be the best ski resort on the planet, Chamonix, France, at the foot of Mont Blanc, is one of the world’s indisputable winter wonders. The travel guides will tell you to take the direct autoroute up the mountain, but for the discerning driver, we suggest heading for the winding mountain back roads for a more adventurous option. Start at scenic Lake Annecy and head up the mountain via Megève, where the world’s notables have spent their winters since the 1920s. There are plenty of hairpins and dizzying inclines to put the heightened GTS handling through its paces.
Circumnavigating Iceland
Arguably the world’s most picturesque road trip, Iceland’s Ring Road runs for more than 1,300 kilometres - passing an endless parade of mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, lava plains and geysers. There are opportunities to trek up glaciers, spot an active volcano, bathe in sulphurous hot springs and go whale-watching, but the real star is the Ring Road itself. It’s a drive of gentle curves and gradually revealed pleasures offering plenty of opportunities to let your engine roar.
Racing the Circuit des Ardennes
In 1902, the town of Bastogne hosted the world’s first closed circuit Grand Prix – an 86-kilometre endurance race through the thickly forested peaks and valleys of the Belgian Ardennes. Beginning in Bastogne, famous for its role in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge, the track sketches out a rough triangle, hurtling down to Longlier before veering left towards Habay-la-Neuve and then returning to Bastogne along the long, flat run of the N4. Once you’ve relived racing history, head north to the official Spa-Francorchamps Circuit, where the Belgian Grand Prix takes place each September. Time your trip right and you’ll be able to take your Macan GTS out on to the track itself during one of the circuit’s bimonthly open days.
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