bosbeer Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 I am planning a trip to make a round trip to Italy - Tuscany , Venice etc mid July I'm planning to Calais, through Austria to the Northern part possible return through France. Any suggestions ,advice would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlykepower Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 I would go from Calais, through the Champagne region, towards the Alps. Spend a couple of days doing this, you wont really need more. Try and stay off the motorway's & toll roads (peage) for a more interesting drive. Its a bit flat & boring through a lot of Northern France, but there are some lovely towns & villages worthy of a stop-off. Once you hit the Alps, it gets very interesting! Perhaps a night or two in Chamonix? From Chamonix, it is a matter of a couple of miles to Switzerland or Italy. A drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel is strangely enjoyable, and your out the other side into Italy. There are some wonderful places to visit almost immediatley after entering Italy, and the roads are brilliant drivers roads. Basically, just keep a road map of Europe next to you, and follow your nose. I went as far as Cenral Italy, then turned towards the west coast and came back up through Monaco. There are some amazing places on that coast. I have a Lonely Planet book somewhere that describes the West coast of Italy as one of the top ten drives of all time. Once you re-enter France, go through Monaco to see how the other half live (a day in Monaco, is STILL cheaper than a day out in London ) then follow the coast round through Nice & Cannes, then turn North through the Verdun Gorge. My trip amounted to around 4000 miles return when I did it, and the highlight was the Verdun Gorge. I simply cannot tell you how awesome it is there! For a great place to stop in the gorge, it has to be Digne les Bain, the biggest town by far that you will pass. The roads are fantastic too, very bendy & sweepy, with rock walls hanging right over you in places. Dont drive very fast here... 1. Because its bloody dangerous. 2. Because your head will be moving around like the Churchill dog, trying to look at everything. There is ample opportunity to get off-road in the gorge too. The golden rule is to keep off the highways though. If you do this, you cant really go that wrong. If you need any more advice/suggestions, just ask. HTH Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Edited to add: Martin types faster than me, I started typing before he posted.... I did a trip rather like this last year, July/August. My daughter and I went Dover-Dunkirk as it was cheaper. We drove down to Grenoble to see a stage of the Tour de France and then had a couple of days in the Alps driving green lanes. We drove the Petit St Bernard pass into Italy, the road from the beginning of The Italian Job and then met my wife from Milan airport before spending a couple of weeks driving down through Tuscany visiting Florence, Sienna etc, and down to the Amalfi coast before delivering wife to Naples airport for the trip home. The plan was to drive home the long way via more lanes and Gorge du Verdun. My observations and thoughts are something like this: It was extremely Effing HOT! Really, uncomfortably so. Temperatures in the high 30s and humid. The further south you get the worse the standard of driving. Overtaking on blind bends is common and, especially in urban areas, scooter riders seem to have no care that they are vulnerable. Often there will be three or more on a 'ped, often mum or dad will have a helmet but their offspring will not. As a brit this all seemed highly unusual and concerning. My first taste of this was in Florence, by the time we got to Naples it was extreme. Tuscany really is beautiful. I can see why people flock there. The Autostradas are lined with derelict farmhouses that could be so lovely if only there were not six lanes of 80mph traffic going by. Autostradas cost about the same as French Autoroutes. The MontBlanc tunnel is a really impressive feat of engineering but at €28 (IIRC?) is not nearly such good value as the much cheaper and IMHO more impressive Autostrada leading up to it. Once in France you are onto a twisty D-road. Next time, I will go over the top! The whole Naples area suffers smog, this was so bad that there was NO view from Vesuvious. There is only one tap in Pompeii and it is over subscribed, take plenty or water with you. I drank over 4l in a morning there. There are no water shops. What have the Romans ever done for us eh? No sign of Frankie Howard either. We avoided the big cities. It is so cheap to fly there that it is better to take a Roman or Napolitan city break than to drive in. Though public transport is excellent and inexpensive. We did too much. Too much driving, not enough relaxing. I would urge you to take it easier. For me it ended up being like a route march. Don't allow your wife to fly home with the house and car keys still in your car in Italy. Naples to Trowbridge is 1300odd miles and takes 27 hours non-stop. HTSH. If you have any specific questions, ask away. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Jenkins Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Thanks - this is very useful, as I am travelling in Italy this July also.... Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michele Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Should you want to meet for a beer, if coming from Switzerland towards Milan from Como/Chiasso (motorway/autostrada A9), let me know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pathfinder Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 nice one bosbeer one life live it! just wish I could do the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landy andy. Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 To cross the Alps the best drive is the Cross Glockner Pass, Stunning Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJIbex Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 If you stop at a skiing resort in the Alps, and want to try a bit of roading with a difference; hire a downhill mountain bike and associated gear, buy a lift pass and hurl youself down the nearest mountain. It provides an instant high, and is a great way to spend a day or 2!! Mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 To cross the Alps the best drive is the Cross Glockner Pass, StunningAndy Yep, another vote for Gross Glockner... one amazing drive... did it on my way to Bosnia a few years back. If you go down as far as Naples in Italy, do a day trip to Capri, its an amazing place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towster Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Hi Bosbeer, as my Mrs and I live in Italy we have done this trip a few times. We unfortunately always seem to be in a rush and we go from Modena to Blackpool in around 26 hours ish. This is WAY too quick to enjoy the trip and you could very easily spend a week each way stopping at different places along the route. If you can stay off the French motorways, do so, if only to avoid the annoying, one-every-5-mins motorway tolls. We have been Portsmouth to Le Havre (£80ish but free sleep) but usually Dover Calais (£50-£60 return). We now drive through Switzerland just because it is so beautiful, the only downer being that we look out of the window and pine because we don't have time to stop (An annual motorway pass is around €30 so this might work out a bit expensive for a holiday. As we do the trip several times a year the cost is relatively low) GBMUD is right about the driving in Italy. Just treat every road in every direction on a roundabout as a give way and you'll be fine. After a while you will probably join the using every lane and not indicating club, otherwise you just look and feel really foreign. You will have a great trip, let us know how you get on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpman Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 hi Bosbeer, we did it last year in our 110 XS: Portsmouth - LeHarvre over nighter (23:00 UK to 08:00 France) then you have the whole day to get out of northern France. We went via Champayne region, thru Geneva then back to Chaminox (good campsites and hotels here). Like the others, thru the tunnel and you are in Italy, don't think you are near Tuscany, it will take a good few hours to get near Florence / Firenze and in August it gets hot! If you are travelling with children, think about morning and evening drives, afternoons are baking, we had A/C on most of the way in Italy (38/40C) Greve (central Tuscany) is full of tourists, Ruffina (n/w of firenze) is real Italy (don't tell anyone!) - although Greve, Siena are well worth visiting. Florence - get the train in from where ever you are staying, don't even think about driving around it, we did it 6 or 7 times, but last time they have days where no cars are allowed. Best thing, enjoy the fantastic scenery, take lots of photos, enjoy the wine, food and people! have a great time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlykepower Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 Hmm, would it not be better to drive from Portsmouth to Dover, then quick (cheaper!) ferry to Dunkirk or Calais? I really dont care very much for overnight ferries myself, and the extra distance in England is less than the difference in distance in France. If you time the ferry right, you can still be out of northern France in a day. Can I also add, if you are near Pisa, and are expecting wonders; be prepared to be sorely disappointed. I almost hated Pisa. The campsite was actually really nice, but the town itself is a bit of a tip. To get to the leaning tower, you have to run the gauntlet of pikeys selling fake handbags & watches and stupid bloody wind-up Action Men that crawl all over the ground. The tower is worthy of a look, but I would move on after an hour. We went looking for a Carrefour or Le Clerc supermarche, and the roads are non-sensical! It took us 3 hours to cover a 10 mile loop. Now, the complete opposite of Pisa, if you are coming up the west coast, make an effort to see a place called Portovenere. Drive up into the hills, and there is a 360 degree view into the Med - stunning! Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jil6939 Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 I would worry more about taking some spare cash than the standard of driving as italy is a bit like europe 15 years ago in that you struggle to find cash machines /petrol stations / toll booths that will take your card and it becomes a bit annoying. Thats not to say its a really big problem just not something that is a problem in the rest of europe where card use is as easy and common as the uk. It can quickly burn a hole in your cash if you fill the car up a couple of times and have to pay out your pocket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 There are some nice tracks around the Suza area. We crossed from France via D'Isere and it was very nice. There are lots of good gravel tracks leading up to forts and suchlike (if you're into that sort of thing). There is a nice long track via Rochemolles to the Sommeiller Glacier. We rough camped just north of Lake Rochemolles, then drove up to the glacier the next day. Beware though that the road is closed to cars over the weekend (cycles, motorcycles and cars needing access to properties on the road excepted). If you like rough camping, there are plenty of places that are out of the way. I can also recommend the campsite at Gran Bosco - very clean and tidy and the showers sing to you! It also does quite nice food in the restaurant. There is a campsite in Fennestrelle here that I would recommend avoiding - we couldn't tell the difference between the showers and the toilets (not nice). If you enter or exit Italy via the north west, I would also recommend visited Briancon in France - a very picturesque town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosbeer Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 Planned the route to Italy- working on the return . I am considering entering Slovenia and driving along the SOCA river for a while. Problem I'll be towing a bloody caravan- Anyone know if the route from Villach route 206 is suitable etc. Route to Italy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Rebel Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Its nice to hear that Shire members still enjoy the sites we showed them Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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