Road trip

[adam_shaw]

Hi all,

Am planning a little continental road trip with the girly at the start of next month.

We have a little more than a week to drive down through Germany, Switzerland and into Italy and of course come back.

I seem to remember some of you doing this sort of thing, so any recommendations / advice on breathtaking routes, places to avoid etc.

Plan at the moment, (pending a fun evening with Autoroute) is down to Stuttgart, on to Lausanne, over the Alps, Pisa, Florence, Venice (without the wheels ) and then back, maybe through Austria.

Big on scenery, trying to plan a maximum of 5 hours driving a day.

Be good,

A

[Brunty]

Can't offer much advise but would like to say:

• Sounds like a fantastic trip.
• If I was doing something like this I'd try a squeeze a crossing on THIS into the itenary.
• Please do a write-up when you get back.

EDIT> I know he's not going anywhere near the bridge - just stating what I'd do

[adam_shaw]

Thanks, I think whatever we do it will be a memorable one.

The bridge is awesome, but I think a little out of the way.. again have to check with Autoroute.

Write up is a good idea as well, a little journal of sorts. Have to see what web access is like. This is definitely a budget trip so hotels with hotspots are out, gonna be more of the family hotel sort of thing.

Just saw the edit..... doh!

Alps should be cool though, digital camera is gonna take a beating

A

[Brunty]

Just saw the edit..... doh!

Thought I'd sort it quickly before my knowledge of geography was ridiculed

Be aware that budget accomodation in the Alps might be a tough order - if you can get away from the ski areas you might be able to find something reasonable. Cheapest stuff will be in the valleys, besides your VR4 should be able to get you most places with a great view! Additionally you should be able to take chairlifts with the skiers should you want to get to (or even dine at) the mountain tops.

I'll follow this with interest as part of the reason for getting a VR4 was to spend plenty of time during coming winters heading to, and driving around, in the Alps.

Cheers

Steve

[adam_shaw]

It might be that we have to fork out serious wonga for a couple of the nights, but how often do you find yourself on the top of the world (humming it now are'nt you :$ )

Ski lifts are a good idea, and I think a set of winter tyres as well... (I'm still on summer tyres, haven't had much snow at all this year )

[Roadrunner]

I drove to Italy and back last summer. Took the ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge, then drove from there. Left Zeebrugge around 11:00 on Friday and drove motorways all the way to Basel, arriving around 19:00. Left Basel at 07:00 on Saturday morning and drove motorways all the way to Lake Trasimeno (around an hour east of Florence), arriving at 16:00. That's 17 hours elapsed, including stops every 2/3 hours for refreshment or whatever, but the rest of the time was spent at, or near, 100mph and the Milan to Bolgna motorway was mostly near 120mph.

I'd say your itinerary was tight (but not impossible) to do in a week but, if you only want to drive for 5 hours a day, you'll need to spend most of the time on motorways. If you want to drive some of the old Alpine passes, you probably need more time. After all, you'll want to spend at least a whole day in each of Pisa (the bit around the tower is amazing), Florence (great architecture, nearly impossible to park, bizarre one-way systems, and TomTom Navigator had all the one-ways the wrong way ) and Venice (get to St Marks Square as early as you can (pre-9:00am) as it fills up very quickly thereafter). Also, you need to pre-book trips round the Doge's Palace at St Mark's Square if you want to do that, and avoid buying drink in the square (at around €10 for a bottle of beer).

North from Venice, heading for Austria, Cortina is spectacular and the drive through the Dolomites has awesome scenery (real mountains!), but you'll not want to do it at 100mph or you'll miss most of it.

If I were doing it again, I'd fly to Venice and hire a car, thereby maximising the touring time and minimising the motorway time. If you like driving, motorways are fine, but it's pretty tedious on the passenger. Italian motorways are great - arrow straight from Milan to Bologna, but the bit through the Alps from Basel was like being in Gran Turismo on the Playstation, but for real! Absolutely manic.

Look forward to reading about your trip.

[enigma]

avoid buying drink in the square (at around €10 for a bottle of beer).

Spent nearly £50 at Florians last year for a sprite, a glass of wine, a plate of biscuits and an apple pie thing..............worth it for the atmosphere though!

Would be really cool to have a pic of the VR4 in the square :$

[adam_shaw]

Remember I'm starting in Germany, not the UK.

It's 4-5 Hours down to Stuttgart, and another 3 to Basel.

Stuttgart is a 'maybe' stop - we have friends there we can crash with, but at only 8 hours, and the autobahn, we might just drive the whole lot in one.

It's once we're out of Germany we want to do the leisure thing, the thing in switzerland is definitely about the journey, where italy will be more about the places.

Besides, passenger boredom is not a problem, once in the car - the girl shuts her eyes and is out. We only need to stop for comfort breaks (jacks/cigarette/petrol) [me/her/the car]

Assuming a day out/into germany then we have 6 days for the fun parts.

Like I said, I need a fun evening with autoroute, though I will be using the SatNav for the journey - it's difficult to plan these things without seeing a geographical map (I like Autoroute for the political/geographical/road maps - you can check out what should be good.

[Roadrunner]

Remember I'm starting in Germany, not the UK.

It's 4-5 Hours down to Stuttgart, and another 3 to Basel.

Stuttgart is a 'maybe' stop - we have friends there we can crash with, but at only 8 hours, and the autobahn, we might just drive the whole lot in one.

We only took 8 hours to get from Zeebrugge to Basel ...

[Roadrunner]

Would be really cool to have a pic of the VR4 in the square

Next best thing?

[adam_shaw]

We only took 8 hours to get from Zeebrugge to Basel ...

I'm using times from mappy.de

I hope I could do better, especially at night, on the autobahn, suit you sir!

A

[Physician]

I've done part of your trip in a V12 E Type many moons ago.

Started at Calais and straight to Strasbourg where we overnighted so that we could do the Rhine route south.

So down to Basel then on to Konstanz where we stayed for a few days travelling around the lake ...... fabulous area. Then roughly St Gallen - Wil - Winterthur - Zurich - Lucerne - Thun stopping for night at various places and going up some mountains by cable car and then south to Monaco, Nice, St Tropez etc (looking for Brigette Bardot) and back up the motorway to UK.

We took 3 weeks doing this at a leisurely pace. I'm of the opinion that you are pushing it and will get knackered. You will miss much of the scenery and ability to go 'off route' to get to some of the more dramatic scenery within your time limit.

Having said that ........ you might consider this as a recce trip for a future trip with more time. You'll find certain places/areas that you will want to explore much more at a later date.

If you get the chance - go to Lake Lugano area ..... absolutely fabulous.

Have a great time.

[adam_shaw]

Just checked - 600Km from Elbrinxen to Basel, average speed of 120 (easy) should be 5 hours...?!?

Just realised, last time I went to Stuttgart it did take that long, sat in a stau for a couple of hours ozey:

Planning, planning (when I should be working)

A

[adam_shaw]

We took 3 weeks doing this at a leisurely pace. I'm of the opinion that you are pushing it and will get knackered. You will miss much of the scenery and ability to go 'off route' to get to some of the more dramatic scenery within your time limit.

It's starting to sound like it, we might reduce the italian leg to, say, only Florence and back up....

It's good to get all this feedback, going off-route is really what will happen, just want to start out with an approximate plan - if we like some place we will stay longer.

As always, it's more about the journey - I can well imagine that if the Alpine passes are anything like as beautiful as I think, we will spend much more time there.

[Physician]

I guess Scots are experts at standing at that angle :-D

[Roadrunner]

I guess Scots are experts at standing at that angle :-D

:headsc: That's close to upright! Much more used to horizontal ...

[adam_shaw]

I'm more worried about the legs walking around without a body :rolleyes5

A

[Spirit]

Don't forget your membership card so you can take some pics of it in the foreground with various sights in the background :-b

/recalls Barry's NZ pics of the card on tour

[adam_shaw]

Well that plan is off,

Drove back to the East on friday afternoon to pick up Antje, 'cos she had a little accident on the way home. :eek:

Her Ka went for a little jaunt through the trees, just grateful she got out OK. Pictures show how we missed one tree, the car when it stopped and the lack of front suspension afterwards.

So yesterday we were shopping for a little car, looks like a Golf III - plenty of good ones for about 3000 euro, of course no trip now.

[Physician]

Sheesh ........ lucky you missed the tree - and dare I say, thank god it wasn't the VR4

Glad everyone is OK.