Am thinking of Driving Down to the Italian Lakes

[whitenemesis]

Any advise, opinions, experiences members care to share?

 

[Blobcat]

I've driven twice down to Slovenia, best advice is just do it

Are you planning to get there as fast as possible or enjoy the tour on the way down?

 

[whitenemesis]

Plan a leisurely drive down, only got 10 days but don't want to break any speed records. Would love to find a great "driving" road, like those you see on "Top Gear" et al.

 

[Myros]

route yourself

through Austria, and Salzburg, take the A10 south to the Grossglockner pass and enter Italy through that. Just like the Italian job.
Watch out for mad German bikers intent on meeting their maker though

 

[keefysher]

From the ferry/chunnel to Luxembourg to fill up on cheap diesel, then down to Germany, past Stutgart, Ulm, onto Austria via Fernpass (scenic low level pass) across to Inntal (Inn valley) at Landeck, at Prutz visit the Glescher Glacier (Kaunertal), back down into Inntal, then up to Samnaun (CH for tax free diesel and shopping), back into Austria, into Italy then follow to Stelvio [the pass that the automotive exotica are tested on], Through to Bormio and onto Lake Como / Garda

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelvio_Pass

http://www.tiroler-oberland.com/at/...14705at,curr,EUR,selectedEntry,home/home.html

http://tirolatlas.uibk.ac.at/places/images.py/show?lang=en;id=1250009

http://www.samnaun.ch/en/welcome.cfm

We did a similar route in 2003, but went onto Naples. On the return we drove through the night leaving Naples at 23:30, no traffic as it was a public holiday, went through the Brenner pass at 04:30 as the dawn broke, fantastic!!

Enjoy your trip

 

[jp williams]

Take Eurotunnel,Buy/use a sat nav system which has street mapping of the countries you intend to pass through,avoid the toll roads if possible,have your car serviced on the continent if you have the time--it is significantly cheaper and you have an official Merc Dealer stamp in your book and most important of all enter "Driving on the Continent" into Google and read as much as you can,as soon as you can, of what comes up.
Have a safe journey and enjoy yourself.
John

 

[whitenemesis]

Keefysher..
Many thanks, that sounds ideal! Spent many a summer (as a child) around Ulm and now around Stuttgart (on business).

jp, got Comand so wont be a problem

 

[johnmc]

Hi ,
I've driven to Italy from Edinburgh the last three years. It's a piece of cake.
Sounds like you're not in a hurry!

The only thing to watch out for are queues at the alpine tunnels. In the summer at midday you can easily spend 3-4 hours just waiting to go through, especially on weekends. If going near Milano, add at least an hour to what you'd allow in the UK for the M25 during the day. From Milano to Bologne there's a serious bottleneck if you're heading towards Rimini. Three lanes converge to one. Cost me four hours last year, hit it at 10am on a Saturday. Progress through Switzerland can be slow, not all roads are "as advertised" on the map.

Try to be at the tunnels early in the morning (7am) mid-week if possible. St Bernard tunnel (Grand St Bernardo) is free, and that's why it jams up the worst. I usually go through Mont Blanc tunnel, but it's a little out of the way for the lakes. But, the roads are far quieter that way. You pay for the Mont Blanc, but if you go through the Swiss routes you pay the swiss motorway taxes anyway. It evens out.

Enjoy, it's fantastic. Just got back from Trieste and Venice on business, great stuff!
John

 

[shadowninja]

Drive on the right.

 

[R2e]

Drive on the right.

Isn't that dangerous? Just because these continental types want to insist on driving on the wrong side of the road d oesn't mean we have to conform. Two wrongs don't make a right. Insist on driving on the correct side of the road, teach Johnny Foreigner a lesson or die trying!! That's the British thing to do.

 

[kth286]

johnmc

You have good experience and wondered what route you would take to Venice in June time travelling conventional daytime hours.

I do not mind taking longer route, if it avoids sitting in traffic.

Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Blobcat]

johnmc

You have good experience and wondered what route you would take to Venice in June time travelling conventional daytime hours.

I do not mind taking longer route, if it avoids sitting in traffic.

Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi David, The route I have taken to Slovenia would probably suffice.

From Calais north on the A18 then onto the A10 towards Liege then A27 towards Mannheim. I've stayed twice at the Ramada inn in Ludwigshafen (45 euros B&B)
A8 south east towards Stuttgart then at Ulm you can cut south on the A7 towards Memmingen then Innsbruck then A13/A22 south to Verona then A4 to Venice

or at Ulm carry on the A8 around Munich towards Salzburg then Villach then A23 round to the A4 and Venice.

A4 and the toll booths can be a long wait depending upon too many variables.

Do you have autoroute?


My only issue with these threads is that everytime I see one I want to be out in the car or on the bike doing it not sat here typing.

 

[johnmc]

Hi David,
Sorry for taking a while to reply, long hours and holiday.

I was actually just in Venice and Trieste. Blobcat's route looks fine. The roads to Venice are very busy. 2hours jams near Venice are commonplace, with the A4 now a major trade route in the East. From Milano allow 4.5hours to get to Venice and you won't be disappointed. It's worth a drive up to the Dolomites, amazing scenery! Venice is pretty interesting, good for a 3-4 day visit. Plenty to do around the area.

My personal preference for getting into Italy is the Mont Blanc tunnel. It's been a consistently good route for us, minimum delays. The drive through the Aosta Valley and Courmeyer is impressive. We stopped there for a couple of days. Outbound we head from Calais via Reims and Troyes to Dijon, turn left near Dijon (A39) towards Geneva and use the A40 towards Geneva and the tunnel. Try and stay south of Milan and it's ring road if you can. It looks shorter going other routes but the traffic soon fixes that! Dijon has lots of place for stop overs, small villages like Nuits St Georges with nice restaurants, and also hotels near last supermarkets etc towards to North of Dijon. It's a good stop for the way home, 320miles from the ferry.

Enjoy! I really like Italy, and my current job takes me there a lot.

Cheers!
John