Route recommendations - UK to Pisa

[zippy3x]

As per title, will be driving EuroTunnel to Pisa over 3 days.

It'll be my first trans continental journey, and i'm looking for some help from the more experienced.

I'll be travelling with my daughter and our dog. They're both decent travellers, but neither will appreciate the switchbacks of the Stelvio pass at full chat, so I'm looking for a route that is more of a lazy grand tour rather than a list of the best driving roads.

Any hotel or more general locations to stay would also be appreciated.

[omniflow]

zippy3x said:

As per title, will be driving EuroTunnel to Pisa over 3 days.

It'll be my first trans continental journey, and i'm looking for some help from the more experienced.

I'll be travelling with my daughter and our dog. They're both decent travellers, but neither will appreciate the switchbacks of the Stelvio pass at full chat, so I'm looking for a route that is more of a lazy grand tour rather than a list of the best driving roads.

Any hotel or more general locations to stay would also be appreciated.

Working backwards, the route from somewhere like Nice or Cannes to Pisa is pretty cool. The motorway follows the coast and is an endless combination of viaducts and tunnels.

To get to Nice or Cannes - try the Route Napoleon - it starts in Grenoble. Maybe do something like Calais -> Macon (Chateau Ige is nice, or at least it was 20 years ago when I last stayed there) day 1, then Macon -> Cannes on day 2, then Cannes -> Pisa on day 3.

[MarkJS]

Not really route advice, but I wouldn't stay in Pisa (you only really need an hour or two there). I'd look towards Lucca or Florence.

[DeejRC]

Echo what Mark said. It’s 90mins give or take on the FI-PI-LI between Firenze and Pisa. Pisa is a half day kind of place. Lucca is much nicer to stay. Firenze is bigger obvs, but utter chaos if you don’t know the place. Back in the day I could navigate the place without a GPS, but I’d struggle now and frankly you don’t want that hassle. So stay in Lucca, train it in to see Firenze and a quick drive down to Pisa.

[KarlMac]

MarkJS said:

Not really route advice, but I wouldn't stay in Pisa (you only really need an hour or two there). I'd look towards Lucca or Florence.

Agree with this. We flew there years ago and stopped outside the more popular parts and it was quite grim. The centre and the usual tourist traps are really nice though so if you have the option of staying further afield and then driving in I’d definitely consider that.

[RizzoTheRat]

Northern France can be quite dull but it's a bit prettier if you head along the French/Belgian border. If you fancy ticking off a few extra countries Luxembourg and Lichtenstein are both doable that way, but don't forget you'll need a Vignette for Switzerland and thier speeding fines are nasty. Then you enter Italy round lake Como which is pretty but the traffic in the valleys can be bad so it's more fun to stay in the hills, where the roads are generally empty but without too many hairpins if you plan appropriately.

[TO73074E]

Agree with what everyone else has said, I went by train a few years ago all round Italy. We went to Pisa and only spent a couple hours there and it's probably somewhere I wouldn't really bother with again. Would recommend Florence instead as thats where we had come from. We were on our way to Genoa which isn't a million miles away but I wouldn't recommend there either. Portofino is closer and also on the coast, a much nicer place.

[Deesee]

We travel to the east coast..

Favoured route is Black Forest / Swiss / Lugano-Como

Easy drive on the autoroute/Bahn/Strada.

Simplon pass is also nice and very picturesque, without the hairpins!

Get toll pass/vignettes in advance

www.tolltickets.com

(Worth it for the milan ring road on its own).

[zippy3x]

Firstly, thanks for all the suggestions, Pisa sounds awful

We're not staying in Pisa, We've got a Villa between Pisa and Florence.

My other daughter and her boyfriend are flying to Pisa, so I will be picking them up en-route.

Omniflow's route through France sound like just the ticket for the journey there, where i need to be in Pisa at. a certain time, but my route back is more open and less time constrained.

I want to go to Milan on the way back and visit the Alfa museum, so any suggestions on good alpine passes and beautiful german forests and autobahns would be much appreciated.

[zippy3x]

Deesee said:

We travel to the east coast..

Favoured route is Black Forest / Swiss / Lugano-Como

Easy drive on the autoroute/Bahn/Strada.

Simplon pass is also nice and very picturesque, without the hairpins!

Get toll pass/vignettes in advance

www.tolltickets.com

(Worth it for the milan ring road on its own).

This sounds awesome, will check it out - thanks

[PaulW100]

If driving in Lucca or Florence then be aware of the emissions zones in the cities.

Goes for most large towns/cities in Italy.

[The Leaper]

Pisa is not awful, it's great for a few days as long as you know where to be! I agree that Lucca and Florence are better, although the latter is now Italy's most visited city apparently (more than Rome?) and always seems overrun with tourists when we've been.

The drive from Pisa to Florence is no problem. The train service is excellent too.

As well as emission zones, watch out for the dreaded ZTLs in most Italian towns, so easy to get caught and therefore fined.

R.

[omniflow]

zippy3x said:

Firstly, thanks for all the suggestions, Pisa sounds awful

We're not staying in Pisa, We've got a Villa between Pisa and Florence.

My other daughter and her boyfriend are flying to Pisa, so I will be picking them up en-route.

Omniflow's route through France sound like just the ticket for the journey there, where i need to be in Pisa at. a certain time, but my route back is more open and less time constrained.

I want to go to Milan on the way back and visit the Alfa museum, so any suggestions on good alpine passes and beautiful german forests and autobahns would be much appreciated.

Check out the opening times for the Alfa museum - it may have improved in the past year or so, but when I looked into visiting it was only open 1 or 2 days / week (weekends I think).

I'd stay on Lake Como, and then trek into Milan from there.

[DeejRC]

And I think we came back over the Gatthard or Bernardino. It was empty, cracking weather and we were top down.

[Griffith4ever]

I've done this drive over two days but my target was the lakes, then I moved south, so it would stretch to three days if you want a relaxed journey.. We decided to avoid most of France as it's a dull drive and costly on the toll roads. Now it's also seemingly a swamp of speed traps.

We went Calais, Belgium, Luxembourg, Strasbourg. Stayed at Strasbourg ,then down through to Switzerland , through the tunnel,and on to Italy. Only toll you pay is the Swiss road tax .

It's a varied drive , beautiful, no tolls, and a route my English / Italian friend always took to his home in northern Italy.

This is it roughly. Strasbourg is a fantastic city to visit. Worth the trip alone!



Obviously bear in mind our goal was the lakes, but we did then carry on down, and it makes little difference which way you go. This route takes you through the Gotthard Tunnel which avoids the twisties over the top.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 20th April 09:02

[omniflow]

omniflow said:

Working backwards, the route from somewhere like Nice or Cannes to Pisa is pretty cool. The motorway follows the coast and is an endless combination of viaducts and tunnels.

To get to Nice or Cannes - try the Route Napoleon - it starts in Grenoble. Maybe do something like Calais -> Macon (Chateau Ige is nice, or at least it was 20 years ago when I last stayed there) day 1, then Macon -> Cannes on day 2, then Cannes -> Pisa on day 3.

Or - you could take the route I'm planning for this September.

Harwich -> Hook of Holland (overnight ferry)
Innsbruck
Brenner Pass
Verona
Take your pick

Has the advantage that it avoids France completely, and gives you loads of German autobahn. The Brenner Pass takes you over the Alps on a motorway - so no hairpins.

[Griffith4ever]

omniflow said:

Or - you could take the route I'm planning for this September.

Harwich -> Hook of Holland (overnight ferry)
Innsbruck
Brenner Pass
Verona
Take your pick

Has the advantage that it avoids France completely, and gives you loads of German autobahn. The Brenner Pass takes you over the Alps on a motorway - so no hairpins.

If I wanted Autobahns that looks like a superbly efficient route.

[matrignano]

PaulW100 said:

If driving in Lucca or Florence then be aware of the emissions zones in the cities.

Goes for most large towns/cities in Italy.

Yep and any fines you get from Tuscan towns/city municipalities will arrive to your address in the Uk.

Whereas average speed cameras on the main
Motorways don’t…

[zippy3x]

Thanks to everyone who's contributed. Plenty to think about

[rolster]

Hi just a little word on going along the south cost route through France into Italy. The autoroute between Vingtimeillia and Genoa is like a massive car park recently with all the road and bridge upgrading works going on after the Genoa bridge colapse a few years ago. Some colleagues driving from Genoa and back have not been very happy with the extra time its taking as can add three to four hours on to a usual two hour journey. Also in case using a sat nav it will be useless in the Genoa tunnels so make sure you make a route plan before the trip to get you through those, then its plain sailing down to Piza and beyond. Enjoy which ever route you choose to take.