Great Driving roads to the east side of Lake Geneva

[Marty V8]

Hi,

My wife and I are spending a week in this area, unfortunately not when the Villars hillclimb is on (as its very near to where we are staying), and would be grateful for any ideas for great driving roads or passes to climb.


Thanks

Regards

Marty

[snowmuncher]

Lots of nice roads and small passes in the area

Area on Googlemaps

If you want serious alpine roads then consider visting The Col du saanech and Lac de Derborence

[snowmuncher]

ps

If want to visit some little alpine lakes with mountain cafes and local food, a) Lac Retaud, b) Sanetchsee (via cablecar), c) Arnensee lake

pps

If you need accommodation in the area and would like to rent a chalet, I might just know of somewhere ....

[Marty V8]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Stupidly I posted this too near to my hols to take advantage of the info.

Just returned today after a week in Gryon which is halfway between Montreux and Martigny on the east side of the valley. We managed to do a couple of tours as follows:

1. Gryon - Villars - over the Col De la Croix - over the Col Du Pillon - up to Gstaad - then past Chateux D'Oex to Gruyeres - Bulle and then back to Gryon on the motorway past Montreux and Villeneuve.

2. Gryon across to Monthey then to Chatel - into France to Abondance and down into Evian Les Bains and back via the south side of Lac Leman.

3. Our third short run out took us down to Martigny and up the Col du Gran St Bernard (2450m high) and then on over the border to Aosta. hen along to Courmayeur - through the Mt Blanc road tunnel to Chamonix and then to Argentiere and the Col de la Forlaz and down back to Martigny and then back to Gryon.

4. We also went up from Aigle to the col des Mosses and back again.

I didnt know until after I booked my hol that there is a hillclimb between Villars and Ollon due in a couple of weeks time. We travelled the course but didnt set a time

If I had a hat, I would take it off to those hard cases who pedal bikes up and down these passes. I was out of breath just thinking about doing this.

Cheers

Marty

[LeroyLoser]

Some good suggestions, thanks.

We’re in montreux for a few days and we have an Aventador arriving whilst there to have a test of..

Are the passes mentioned ok for something like the AV?

Any other suggestions?

[psi310398]

LeroyLoser said:

Some good suggestions, thanks.

We’re in montreux for a few days and we have an Aventador arriving whilst there to have a test of..

Are the passes mentioned ok for something like the AV?

Any other suggestions?

I don’t know that area well but those seem like good routes. I’ve done all of them in the past without incident in an Alfa 115 Spider (which has the very low slung sump guard that can normally be relied on to catch on steep inclines here or there).

Forgive me if I’m telling you things you know, and I’m not preaching, but I assume that you are aware of the Swiss rozzers’ attitude towards noisy cars and the means testing of offenders? Even my rather more modest V8 Panamera S was the focus of some hostile attention when I “forgot” to disengage the loud button on the exhaust system going down a Swiss mountain.

And Swiss citizens often think nothing of ringing down the valley to dob in those who might be being a bit enthusiastic thinking that they are out of sight.

[Bucketlist]

Those roads by Marty V8 are absolute minters. Anything heading to Villars, Chateau D'Oex (especially from, Gruyeres) are some of the top winding roads I've done - albeit suggest to do it in something compact and with some clearances.

Also road up to Morgins can be quite good.

And most of these I've been lucky to have never encountered rozzers. Said that it was over 10 years ago but I was there for quite a few years, hooning it in a MINI Cooper every couple of weekends. (Gunning up the bumpers of the faster stuff on corners and got left for dead on the straight - fun cat and mouse).

For cars with longer strides - the Verbier road is not bad after the initial valley (watch for cameras and rozzers on the wide bits at the bottom).

[LeroyLoser]

psi310398 said:

LeroyLoser said:

Some good suggestions, thanks.

We’re in montreux for a few days and we have an Aventador arriving whilst there to have a test of..

Are the passes mentioned ok for something like the AV?

Any other suggestions?

I don’t know that area well but those seem like good routes. I’ve done all of them in the past without incident in an Alfa 115 Spider (which has the very low slung sump guard that can normally be relied on to catch on steep inclines here or there).

Forgive me if I’m telling you things you know, and I’m not preaching, but I assume that you are aware of the Swiss rozzers’ attitude towards noisy cars and the means testing of offenders? Even my rather more modest V8 Panamera S was the focus of some hostile attention when I “forgot” to disengage the loud button on the exhaust system going down a Swiss mountain.

And Swiss citizens often think nothing of ringing down the valley to dob in those who might be being a bit enthusiastic thinking that they are out of sight.

I wasnt aware they were ‘that’ bad, thank you, this is really a try before you buy rental so i’ll want to give it some, maybe a re-think on the delivery location then, we’re moving either down into italy or up into germany so could move delivery to either of those countries (not bothered about the homage to italy thing though)

But thanks for heads up, my tvr was ok through there but that was 12 years ago, like this thread!

[LeroyLoser]

Re-arranged so we do italy first, getting it delivered there instead, then onto switzland in our car, i’ll remember to keep the exhaust quiet.. looking forward to the drives in our car round there now, we’re thinking of buying a place around the lakes somewhere so should be fun.

Thanks for heads up.

[psi310398]

LeroyLoser said:

Re-arranged so we do italy first, getting it delivered there instead, then onto switzland in our car, i’ll remember to keep the exhaust quiet.. looking forward to the drives in our car round there now, we’re thinking of buying a place around the lakes somewhere so should be fun.

Thanks for heads up.

Have fun.

We have a place on the Stresa (west) side of Lake Maggiore. It makes getting to and from London in a long day feasible in a way that Varese, Como or Garda are not really that easy. And, timed properly (and in normal times), I can also do Italian door-to-London door on the train in twelve hours flat. Malpensa and Linate are both easy connections, too.

Look at Lakes Orta and Mergozzo as well - beautiful and quieter but less touristy than Maggiore or Como and there are great driving roads around. That said, Mergozzo village itself hosts rather too many campsite visitors for my taste.

Anyway, drop me a DM if you need the SP on Lake Maggiore.

[LeroyLoser]

psi310398 said:

LeroyLoser said:

Re-arranged so we do italy first, getting it delivered there instead, then onto switzland in our car, i’ll remember to keep the exhaust quiet.. looking forward to the drives in our car round there now, we’re thinking of buying a place around the lakes somewhere so should be fun.

Thanks for heads up.

Have fun.

We have a place on the Stresa (west) side of Lake Maggiore. It makes getting to and from London in a long day feasible in a way that Varese, Como or Garda are not really that easy. And, timed properly (and in normal times), I can also do Italian door-to-London door on the train in twelve hours flat. Malpensa and Linate are both easy connections, too.

Look at Lakes Orta and Mergozzo as well - beautiful and quieter but less touristy than Maggiore or Como and there are great driving roads around. That said, Mergozzo village itself hosts rather too many campsite visitors for my taste.

Anyway, drop me a DM if you need the SP on Lake Maggiore.

Very kind, thanks, I may well pm you once we’re into the leisurely side of things nothing better than local knowledge imo less touristic would be a win for us.

[eyebeebe]

When you’re in Switzerland; I wouldn’t worry so much about the noise as the speed. In an 80 zone anything above a 100 starts getting painful and anything above 110 starts a daily income based punishment starting at 20 days of income. This applies for foreigners/tourists as well as locals.