The Long and Winding Road

[Canon]

Hi Guys N Gals, looking for some good tips and advice

Me and the missus are driving down to Italy in the summer towing a teardrop trailer. I dont really want to drive as the crow flies i want to make the road trip part of the holiday, oh and im not to keen on toll roads
So as anyone made the trip to Italy by road and if so which route did you take?
any recommended detours to see interesting places?
Shall i fill up with diesel before leaving UK?
Cost of vignettes for car and trailer, shall we go via Austria or Switzerland

At the moment ive got a blank map waiting to be filled with a nice route

Ant help will be greatly appreciated

[thechrism]

Last year i drove to Salzburg, Venice, Lake Garda and Maurach. Was the best thing ive ever done without a doubt to be honest i didnt mind the toll roads just DON'T go through france!!!!

We mainly stayed on the motorways mainly because if you do go off them it can take ages to get anywhere!

The Vignettes for Austria are easily available at petrol stations and services.

The Germans have a great motorway network everyone obeys the rules none of this middle lane hanging like we have over here aslong as you obey the traffic signs and gantry speed limits then you cant go wrong.

dont no if thats any use probably not but hey all info is good i guess

[thechrism]

The other thing you need to look out for is especially in italy i think it was you dont no its a toll road until you come to a toll booth at the end we got on the motorway at venice and went all the way to Lake Garda and it was only till we got to the end of the motorway we realised it was a toll road!

The Germans on the other hand had a Big sign as you enter the country that says All Motorways are Toll Roads but i drove the length of germany and didnt once pay a toll or anything, which was a bit confusing really

[Canon]

Originally Posted by thechrism

Last year i drove to Salzburg, Venice, Lake Garda and Maurach. Was the best thing ive ever done without a doubt to be honest i didnt mind the toll roads just DON'T go through france!!!!

We mainly stayed on the motorways mainly because if you do go off them it can take ages to get anywhere!

The Vignettes for Austria are easily available at petrol stations and services.

The Germans have a great motorway network everyone obeys the rules none of this middle lane hanging like we have over here aslong as you obey the traffic signs and gantry speed limits then you cant go wrong.

dont no if thats any use probably not but hey all info is good i guess

Yep just the kinda thing im looking for. A few peeps have said to avoid France and head through Luxembourg (fill up with cheapish diesel) Germany and Austria. This will be the route im taking. Once in Italy ill be stopping at Lake Garda and onto Verona, then thinking of heading south along the west coast as far as Naples (time permitting ferry to Sicily) then head north up the east coast

Thanks for the vignettes i thought you had to get it like our road tax at an office

[thechrism]

yeah i went eurotunnel belguim then germany i missed out luxembourg on the way down as our over night stop was more that way.

I stayed in bardolino in lake garda and it was a stunning place the whole lake garda area was, also Verona was very nice aswell we just stopped there for a couple of hours between Venice and Lake Garda

This is the Vignettes you get for Austria we just got them for 7days i think it was thee window cling so just stick them to the passenger side of a rhd car.

[Jezzer 1]

Originally Posted by Canon

Hi Guys N Gals, looking for some good tips and advice

Me and the missus are driving down to Italy in the summer towing a teardrop trailer. I dont really want to drive as the crow flies i want to make the road trip part of the holiday, oh and im not to keen on toll roads
So as anyone made the trip to Italy by road and if so which route did you take?
any recommended detours to see interesting places?
Shall i fill up with diesel before leaving UK?
Cost of vignettes for car and trailer, shall we go via Austria or Switzerland

At the moment ive got a blank map waiting to be filled with a nice route

Ant help will be greatly appreciated

We do the journey every year. Firstly, I would avoid Switzerland like the plague - you will get charged at the border for a Carnet to use the motorways and it's £20+ regardless of how long you are in the country.

Also avoid Paris and the Peripherique - not sure which channel crossing you will use, but if it's Dover or Folkestone make for Reims. If you like wine, then the Champagne cellars in Reims are interesting, and the First World War sights around Ypres are very moving.

Burgundy and the area around Dijon is good for food, and you can then take either the coastal route though the south of France (Monaco, Nice etc) or travel to Annecy and its lake and use either the Mont Blanc or Frejus tunnels.

In Italy, try Sienna rather than Florence, and the Tuscan Hills towns of San Gimignano and Volterra shouldn't be missed.

Don't however underestimate the distances. I personally don't know how you will manage to avoid motorways. Travelling on the French Routes Nationales is not always great in a RHD car 'cos you can't see to overtake, hence journey times will be a lot longer.

We usually end up travelling in excess of 2000 miles for the round trip and sighseeing, but if you are making for Naples you'll do more than this.

Good luck.

[Ken]

We went through Germany and Switzerland but didn't realise about the £20 payment in Switzerland until we got there it was worth it though as its a lovely country

We only paid one toll there and back which was in Germany and if I remember correctly it was about seven euros each way. I have no idea if that's the quickest route as we were doing a grand tour and seeing Europe. We did Belgium, parts of France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and finally over to the Italian lakes.

We didn't book any overnight accommodation at all, we stopped when we wanted and never had a problem getting hotel rooms. The only place we didn't like was Paris as it was dirty, dusty and full of undesirables. No offence to the French members as I consider London as being even worse

A wonderful holiday but a lot of miles and yes I would do it again but next time I would take longer to do it We did it all in fifteen days but twenty one days would have been better.

Don't ask the actual route as we never really had a set route we just drove in the rough direction needed and turned up where we turned up

Edit....... Should have said it was about six years ago so tolls will probably be higher now

[berkshirelad]

Buy your diesel once across the channel - it's cheaper.

[Le Titien]

Originally Posted by thechrism

The Germans on the other hand had a Big sign as you enter the country that says All Motorways are Toll Roads but i drove the length of germany and didnt once pay a toll or anything, which was a bit confusing really

Toll in Germany is only for trucks.

[wutang]

did a driving holiday last year down to sorento coast in southern italy, via lake garda, venice, padua, piza ect and then the south of france and back.

I love french motorways they are great for covering large distances quickly, have great rest areas and services.

I drive all over europe for work and germany is my least favorite place to drive motorway wise and in my opinion has by far the highest number of accidents.

I personaly use the motorways to get places then go onto the smaller roads to explore, also the wife and I tend to book accomodation as we go, never had a problem finding anywhere and the sean DD is great in europe as it is loaded up with the full POI database so you can tell it to find you a best western for example near such and such a town then just give them a ring or if you have a smartphone book online.

Great fun just cruising around with no set destination, as said above on the route nationale in france and non motorways in italy it can take ages to get around.

Richard