Driving to Italy

[mgoliver(aka Beermeister)]

I am planning to drive to Lake Garda at the end of September on new white A5.

There are tow main options:

1)When looking at the map I can drive through France, Switzerland to ge to Italy

2)France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy.

Even though option 2 is longer, it is only 78 more miles. What i find attarctive of option 2 is no Swiss road tax, and speed-limit-free German Autobahns. Not sure how scenery compare between them.

Any suggestions or advice?

[scooby_simon]

Just plugged it into my GPS software and it suggest (80 MPH on main roads, 50 on others )

[ QUOTE ]

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13. Board ferry Dover-Calais 4.3 mi 382 ft 0:00:36 176° true

14. Get off of ferry onto E15 29.7 mi 25.4 mi 1:56:57 110° true

15. Take exit 4 to the right onto N4 416 mi 387 mi 4:48:25 196° true

16. Keep left onto N4 ramp 417 mi 0.3 mi 0:00:36 161° true

17. Exit right onto ramp onto A5 427 mi 10.6 mi 0:14:01 103° true

18. Take exit 9 onto A2 512 mi 85.1 mi 1:05:24 67° true

19. Take exit 45 onto A2 530 mi 17.5 mi 0:14:56 176° true

20. Take exit 47 to the right onto A2 535 mi 5.4 mi 0:04:19 123° true

21. Keep left onto Road 709 mi 173 mi 2:22:31 128° true

22. Exit right onto ramp 792 mi 83.0 mi 1:01:40 99° true

23. Turn right onto Via Valeggio 792 mi 0.6 mi 0:01:19 297° true

24. Enter roundabout Roundabout 793 mi 0.6 mi 0:01:08 354° true

25. Take the 1st right onto Via Venezia 793 mi 46 ft 0:00:05 46° true

26. Turn left onto Via Venezia 793 mi 296 ft 0:00:10 105° true

27. Turn left onto Road 793 mi 0.2 mi 0:00:31 78° true

28. Turn right onto Via Monte Baldo 793 mi 290 ft 0:00:22 357° true

29. Enter roundabout Roundabout 798 mi 4.8 mi 0:07:23 345° true

30. Take the 2nd right onto Strada Statale Gardesana Orientale 798 mi 176 ft 0:00:08 349° true

31. Enter roundabout Via Guglielmo Marconi 801 mi 3.1 mi 0:05:46 356° true

32. Take the 2nd right onto Via Guglielmo Marconi 801 mi 83 ft 0:00:07 314° true

33. Garda 803 mi 2.0 mi 0:03:00 93° true

[/ QUOTE ]

[mgoliver(aka Beermeister)]

I you want to replan it, start it in Bath.

Its 1008 miles. I am planning to do it in no more than 14 hours. I estimate minutes = (miles x 0.85). Departing at about 2 am crossing th Chunnel Tunnel early in the morning, avoiding traffic on the British side as well as a cheaper ticket on Eurotunnel.

[scooby_simon]

mapsource suggests using the ferry, but as requested, via the tunnel:

[ QUOTE ]

1. Bath 0 ft

2. Get on George Street and drive northeast 7 ft 7 ft 0:00:00 333° true

3. Enter roundabout Roundabout 1.5 mi 1.5 mi 0:03:13 32° true

4. Take the 1st left onto A46 ramp 1.5 mi 31 ft 0:00:01 0° true

5. Enter roundabout Roundabout 5.8 mi 4.3 mi 0:03:25 358° true

6. Take the 2nd left onto A46 5.8 mi 90 ft 0:00:10 90° true

7. Enter roundabout Roundabout 9.3 mi 3.5 mi 0:02:45 7° true

8. Take the 3rd left onto M4 ramp 9.5 mi 0.2 mi 0:00:21 87° true

9. Take exit 10 to the left onto A329(M) 78.7 mi 69.2 mi 0:51:19 85° true

10. Keep right onto A329(M) ramp 78.9 mi 0.3 mi 0:00:12 32° true

11. Enter roundabout Roundabout 83.3 mi 4.3 mi 0:03:27 72° true

12. Take the 1st left onto Berkshire Way 83.3 mi 68 ft 0:00:02 46° true

13. Enter roundabout Twin Bridges 83.9 mi 0.6 mi 0:01:13 88° true

14. Take the 2nd left onto Downshire Way 83.9 mi 249 ft 0:00:07 124° true

15. Enter roundabout Roundabout 84.5 mi 0.6 mi 0:01:10 63° true

16. Take the 4th left onto Bagshot Road 84.6 mi 474 ft 0:00:14 152° true

17. Enter roundabout Roundabout 85.1 mi 0.5 mi 0:01:03 170° true

18. Take the 2nd left onto Bagshot Road 85.2 mi 354 ft 0:00:09 168° true

19. Enter roundabout Roundabout 86.0 mi 0.9 mi 0:01:45 143° true

20. Take the 2nd left onto A322 86.1 mi 171 ft 0:00:05 122° true

21. Enter roundabout Roundabout 89.6 mi 3.6 mi 0:02:43 166° true

22. Take the 1st left onto M3 ramp 89.7 mi 80 ft 0:00:02 101° true

23. Take exit 2 to the left onto 2 96.3 mi 6.6 mi 0:05:08 63° true

24. Take exit 11A to the left 179 mi 83.0 mi 1:01:17 99° true

25. ChannelTunnel 199 mi 19.7 mi 1:29:33 270° true

26. Get on Channel Tunnel and drive southeast 199 mi 0 ft 0:00:00 90° true

27. Turn right onto Road 218 mi 18.8 mi 1:26:56 55° true

28. Keep right onto A16 ramp 219 mi 1.4 mi 0:01:53 6° true

29. Keep left onto A16 222 mi 3.2 mi 0:02:33 100° true

30. Keep right onto Road 223 mi 0.6 mi 0:00:26 76° true

31. Take exit 4 to the right onto N4 605 mi 382 mi 4:42:33 196° true

32. Keep left onto N4 ramp 605 mi 0.3 mi 0:00:36 161° true

33. Exit right onto ramp onto A5 616 mi 10.6 mi 0:14:01 103° true

34. Take exit 9 onto A2 701 mi 85.1 mi 1:05:25 67° true

35. Take exit 45 onto A2 719 mi 17.5 mi 0:14:56 176° true

36. Take exit 47 to the right onto A2 724 mi 5.4 mi 0:04:19 123° true

37. Keep left onto Road 897 mi 173 mi 2:22:31 128° true

38. Exit right onto ramp 980 mi 83.0 mi 1:01:41 99° true

39. Turn right onto Via Valeggio 981 mi 0.6 mi 0:01:19 297° true

40. Enter roundabout Roundabout 982 mi 0.6 mi 0:01:08 354° true

41. Take the 1st right onto Via Venezia 982 mi 46 ft 0:00:05 46° true

42. Turn left onto Via Venezia 982 mi 296 ft 0:00:10 105° true

43. Turn left onto Road 982 mi 0.2 mi 0:00:31 78° true

44. Turn right onto Via Monte Baldo 982 mi 290 ft 0:00:22 357° true

45. Enter roundabout Roundabout 987 mi 4.8 mi 0:07:23 345° true

46. Take the 2nd right onto Strada Statale Gardesana Orientale 987 mi 176 ft 0:00:08 349° true

47. Enter roundabout Via Guglielmo Marconi 990 mi 3.1 mi 0:05:46 356° true

48. Take the 2nd right onto Via Guglielmo Marconi 990 mi 83 ft 0:00:07 314° true

49. Garda 992 mi 2.0 mi 0:02:56 93° true

[/ QUOTE ]

[jwo]

We did similar but did take in switzerland, stayed in closters overnight, went to davos and then took in the stelvio pass! well worht doing (we were going on to firenze, so much further than lake garda). did drop onto autobahn in germany for the lead into basel (much quicker this way than going through france into basel too)

[Brabus]

[ QUOTE ]

What i find attarctive of option 2 is no Swiss road tax

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a bit silly, you'll spend much more on the french highways. It's only 40 chf you cheapskate!

[Scotty]

What a crying shame you have to blast through.

There's so many nice roads that could be used if you have more time.

In fact it took me two weeks to get to and from Italy last time!

[mgoliver(aka Beermeister)]

[ QUOTE ]

What a crying shame you have to blast through.

There's so many nice roads that could be used if you have more time.

In fact it took me two weeks to get to and from Italy last time!

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to blast through on my way to Italy, but can take a few days on my way back... what do you recommend?

[EssFour]

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

What a crying shame you have to blast through.

There's so many nice roads that could be used if you have more time.

In fact it took me two weeks to get to and from Italy last time!

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to blast through on my way to Italy, but can take a few days on my way back... what do you recommend?

[/ QUOTE ]

Try this webpage Alpine Routes . It is the Minitourismo webpage and every year memebers head off on their hols to take on some great Alpine passes. Great write ups and they detail the routes taken.

[RedRobin]

Thanks for that link, EssFour . I'm off with the car to Bavaria next weekend and am planning to continue to Austria and along the Alps - We don't have to be back to the UK until later in August and so have an open road map .

To answer the original post: I'd suggest coming back to Calais via Stuttgart and the German autobahns. I went to Southern France via Reims (shown on the posted route map) the week before last and the road was good and not much traffic until much further south.

[Scotty]

I agree with the above. Get some mountain passes in.

They can be sensational!

[paulhaines]

Hi,

We did exactly this last September.

We went from Amsterdam, via the German Autobahns (Stayed at Heidelberg on the way), down to Fussen, Innsbruck and over the Brenner to Garda.

If you go via Austria it can get very busy, not sparing the beans on the Autobahns the trip from Heidleberg to Sirmione to 11, yes 11 hours on a Sunday.

The Autobahn across from the West round Stuttgart is like the A1 - two lanes and very very busy, we hit a lot of traffic and road works which slowed us down.

I would do it again - far better than flying! This year we are going to Austria, but we are staying at more places on the way down.

Regards,

Paul

[RedRobin]

We're going Eurotunnel > past Brussels > Frankfurt > Nurnberg to friends, and then later to Munich and Salzburg and later Innsbruck and along Alps to Freiburg and wherever else takes our fancy according to weather and traffic. So, a similar area to some of you guys.

I guess that August will be pretty busy with tourists (and Tyresmokers! ). Look out for cars with stickers .

[mgoliver(aka Beermeister)]

Will probably do the following: cross channel, Châlons-en-Champagne, Metz, Strasbourg, Basel, Zurich and from there cross to Italy through the Stelvio Pass to Gardone by Lake Garda.

Any suggestions as to where to stop for a night along this route?

[jwo]

wes stopped off in klosters - nothing booked in advance - just turned up and found a hotel. from there it is about 2hrs (i think) to stelvio (up a gravel track to stelvio - don't let it put you off - it is only gravel for the last few clicks, the s3 was fine going up there. From memory i think it took about 8 hrs from calais. from strasbourg go over into germany and drop on to the autobahn south into basel (it cuts out driving through basel city which is a slum)

[NunchukHamster]

I'm off on Sunday evening to Bavaria....

I route France-Belgium-Luxembourg-Germany (Cross into Germany near Zweibrucken)

Completely cuts out all French Toll roads! The final destination is Garmisch (about 40 miles south of Munich), total distance I drive going this route according to Co-pilot is 616 miles (includes a brief visit to Austria to get round a mountain LOL)

And I don't have a Tyresmoke sticker on the Volvo Red so you'll have to look out for a dark C70 with a black grill, but it will be wearing it's Nurburgring sticker soon!

[RedRobin]

[ QUOTE ]

I'm off on Sunday evening to Bavaria....

I route France-Belgium-Luxembourg-Germany (Cross into Germany near Zweibrucken)

Completely cuts out all French Toll roads! The final destination is Garmisch (about 40 miles south of Munich), total distance I drive going this route according to Co-pilot is 616 miles (includes a brief visit to Austria to get round a mountain LOL)

And I don't have a Tyresmoke sticker on the Volvo Red so you'll have to look out for a dark C70 with a black grill, but it will be wearing it's Nurburgring sticker soon!

[/ QUOTE ]

....I'm off to Bavaria Saturday morning - first stop Regensburg. Your route sounds interesting - We plan to visit Munich, Garmisch and Innsbruck later. I hope there aren't too many (other) tourists.

Safe Journeys,

Robin

P.S.- I'm tempted to pop into Italy from Innsbruck just for my daughter's experience. We'll see how the whole trip goes.

[NunchukHamster]

Garmisch Partenkirchen is good, if you have the time head up the Zugspitze (180 km view over 4 countries on a clear day!)

Tourists shouldn't be too bad, is more a Winter holiday destination...but the hill/mountain walking is good (especially the bars on top of the mountains)

[paulhaines]

Our plans are:

Oberwessel

Staufen im Bressagu

Fussen

Zell am See

Heidelberg

[RedRobin]

[ QUOTE ]

Garmisch Partenkirchen is good, if you have the time head up the Zugspitze (180 km view over 4 countries on a clear day!)

Tourists shouldn't be too bad, is more a Winter holiday destination...but the hill/mountain walking is good (especially the bars on top of the mountains)

[/ QUOTE ]

....My German (sorry - Bavarian!) travelling companion (giving her a lift to Regensberg - She's paying petrol) has already told us to include Zugspitze . We've got loads of time - Don't have to be back until 22nd August. This trip started out as a request from a Bavarian friend living in the UK asking me to give her a lift to Heathrow! She came with me to Berlin last November so she's a cool passenger.

Thanks for the info about tourists

[NunchukHamster]

Oh, and forgot to mention, if you are headed to Munich, the Dachau concentration camp is located just north of the city, a very thought provoking place to visit.

[RedRobin]

[ QUOTE ]

Oh, and forgot to mention, if you are headed to Munich, the Dachau concentration camp is located just north of the city, a very thought provoking place to visit.

[/ QUOTE ]

....Just reading your post is thought provoking enough thankyou! I've already seen so much documentary and film footage of the concentration camps to get the message loud and clear. My travelling companion's father was one of Hitler's drivers and previously used to race at the 'Ring.