European road trip advice please (again!)
Discussion
Hi guys,
Apologies in advance as I know this has been covered in the past. I’ve looked through the old threads, but I’m still a tad confused.
I’m planning on taking my old Alfa 105 to Puglia in the middle of May. The only time constraint is the accommodation in Puglia which is booked from the 17th till 24th of May, and the reliability of the Alfa!!
I’m having a complete brain freeze on the route to take, but would like to include, in no particular order- Reims, Strasbourg, B500 Black Forest, Bruges and a couple of mountain passes. A visit to the Alfa museum would also be good.
On the return I would probably take in some of the Amalfi coast, but open to all and any suggestions, especially if there are some “not to be missed sights” to include.
Thanks in advance.
Rainer.
Apologies in advance as I know this has been covered in the past. I’ve looked through the old threads, but I’m still a tad confused.
I’m planning on taking my old Alfa 105 to Puglia in the middle of May. The only time constraint is the accommodation in Puglia which is booked from the 17th till 24th of May, and the reliability of the Alfa!!
I’m having a complete brain freeze on the route to take, but would like to include, in no particular order- Reims, Strasbourg, B500 Black Forest, Bruges and a couple of mountain passes. A visit to the Alfa museum would also be good.
On the return I would probably take in some of the Amalfi coast, but open to all and any suggestions, especially if there are some “not to be missed sights” to include.
Thanks in advance.
Rainer.
Rainer2859 said:
Hi guys,
Apologies in advance as I know this has been covered in the past. I’ve looked through the old threads, but I’m still a tad confused.
I’m planning on taking my old Alfa 105 to Puglia in the middle of May. The only time constraint is the accommodation in Puglia which is booked from the 17th till 24th of May, and the reliability of the Alfa!!
I’m having a complete brain freeze on the route to take, but would like to include, in no particular order- Reims, Strasbourg, B500 Black Forest, Bruges and a couple of mountain passes. A visit to the Alfa museum would also be good.
On the return I would probably take in some of the Amalfi coast, but open to all and any suggestions, especially if there are some “not to be missed sights” to include.
Thanks in advance.
Rainer.
The missus and I often drive from SE england to Munich. Our usual way to do it is set off in the evening get the train overnight, arrive at baden-baden in the black forest for breakfast just around 10am and continue on to Munich by the afternoon.Apologies in advance as I know this has been covered in the past. I’ve looked through the old threads, but I’m still a tad confused.
I’m planning on taking my old Alfa 105 to Puglia in the middle of May. The only time constraint is the accommodation in Puglia which is booked from the 17th till 24th of May, and the reliability of the Alfa!!
I’m having a complete brain freeze on the route to take, but would like to include, in no particular order- Reims, Strasbourg, B500 Black Forest, Bruges and a couple of mountain passes. A visit to the Alfa museum would also be good.
On the return I would probably take in some of the Amalfi coast, but open to all and any suggestions, especially if there are some “not to be missed sights” to include.
Thanks in advance.
Rainer.
I would recommend the breakfast at chocolatier.de (the Königs cafe in Baden Baden, run by the Gmeiner family).
They may well have invented the black forest gateaux, which is great, but that's a small part of the place.
Have a lovely time!
Channel tunnel, straight to Reims, stop off at a few WWI memorials if that's your bag. Have a glass of Champagne. Worth taking in the Ardennes too, if you have time.
Over into Luxembourg for some cheap fuel and castles, then straight down to Baden-baden to join the B500 Schwarzwaldhochstrasse. You could do Strasbourg just before that, or afterwards, and there are loads of beautiful towns in Alsace if you fancy it. The Vosges mountains are fun too.
There are some stunning roads to take you over the border to Geneva (just look on Google maps for the wiggliest ones) and then a nice cruise around the shore of Lac Leman.
Make sure you've got plenty of coins in the piggy bank if you plan to stop in Switzerland for food or fuel.
The Stelvio Pass is the obvious one after you cross into Italy, but check it's open before you go - it's sometimes closed for cycling events and other stupid stuff. The Munt La Schera tunnel is a lovely road just before that, unless you're claustrophobic.
I can't help any further south than that.
Other routes are available.
Over into Luxembourg for some cheap fuel and castles, then straight down to Baden-baden to join the B500 Schwarzwaldhochstrasse. You could do Strasbourg just before that, or afterwards, and there are loads of beautiful towns in Alsace if you fancy it. The Vosges mountains are fun too.
There are some stunning roads to take you over the border to Geneva (just look on Google maps for the wiggliest ones) and then a nice cruise around the shore of Lac Leman.
Make sure you've got plenty of coins in the piggy bank if you plan to stop in Switzerland for food or fuel.
The Stelvio Pass is the obvious one after you cross into Italy, but check it's open before you go - it's sometimes closed for cycling events and other stupid stuff. The Munt La Schera tunnel is a lovely road just before that, unless you're claustrophobic.
I can't help any further south than that.
Other routes are available.
Bear in mind if you want to include some roads off the autoroute in Italy that Puglia is a long way south, and traversing the apennine routes will take much longer than you think.
I would suggest, peage from Calais until the Champagne region where the d roads are good. Stay there somewhere. We have stayed here, it's nice.
5 Pl. de l'Église
https://maps.app.goo.gl/XpppGb4R8z6XnXoZ8
Then head via the Vosges and Kaiserstuhl to somewhere around Freiburg, which is a nice old German town.
This will mean to can drive through the Black Forest at the beginning of your day while fresh.
Then the highway through Switzerland until Thusis, then the Julier Pass and Offen Pass will bring you out at Merano, and a short autoroute to Verona, a really nice Italian City. Alternative to Offenpass would be Bernina Pass, and drop down via Brescia to Verona. Many high passes will still be closed I May, so I haven't suggested those, but you can check at the time.
Then either autoroute or explore down through Italy as takes your fancy.
For return, bear in mind you can't drive an oldtimer into Grenoble or Rheims or many French cities, however Germany you're fine with historic on the v5. Also it’s more likely you will have more choice of Alpine passes on your return, in which case you have tons of choice, e.g Cols Lombarda, La Bonette, Galibier and I'zoard will avoid Switzerland altogether. Or Nufanen +Grimsel, Lukemanier+Oberalp, or Gottard, Furka, Grimsel, Sustans..the world is your oyster when the high passes are open.
I would suggest, peage from Calais until the Champagne region where the d roads are good. Stay there somewhere. We have stayed here, it's nice.
5 Pl. de l'Église
https://maps.app.goo.gl/XpppGb4R8z6XnXoZ8
Then head via the Vosges and Kaiserstuhl to somewhere around Freiburg, which is a nice old German town.
This will mean to can drive through the Black Forest at the beginning of your day while fresh.
Then the highway through Switzerland until Thusis, then the Julier Pass and Offen Pass will bring you out at Merano, and a short autoroute to Verona, a really nice Italian City. Alternative to Offenpass would be Bernina Pass, and drop down via Brescia to Verona. Many high passes will still be closed I May, so I haven't suggested those, but you can check at the time.
Then either autoroute or explore down through Italy as takes your fancy.
For return, bear in mind you can't drive an oldtimer into Grenoble or Rheims or many French cities, however Germany you're fine with historic on the v5. Also it’s more likely you will have more choice of Alpine passes on your return, in which case you have tons of choice, e.g Cols Lombarda, La Bonette, Galibier and I'zoard will avoid Switzerland altogether. Or Nufanen +Grimsel, Lukemanier+Oberalp, or Gottard, Furka, Grimsel, Sustans..the world is your oyster when the high passes are open.
I did a trip to Puglia in an unrefined Alfa back in 1990. We spent 2 weeks in Torre Canne and drove there in a 1982 Alfasud Sprint. I was the only driver on the entire trip and we had a printed route from the AA which I sent off for, and petrol vouchers from ACI that gave you discounts on petrol as it was relatively expensive in Italy at that time.
We went Portsmouth -> Caen, then Le Puy, Grasse, Pisa, Rome then south towards Naples before heading across the country to Bari and then on to Cisternino to pick up the keys to our "Villa". We had one fairly major mechanical failure about 30 miles north of Rome - the bearings in the cooling fan seized which then blew the fuse. The car was fine on the open road, but as we hit the city, we had to have the heater on full and the windows open to keep the engine cool(ish). We managed like this until we got to Cisternino, and then we found a replacement fan in a breakers yard. I took a toolkit with me, so fitting it was straightforward. We took a week to get there, spending 3 nights in Rome.
Going home was a different story. Cisternino to London in 2.5 days. Day 1 was just motorway all the way. One straight road. We eventually stopped in a place called Piacenza - I just couldn't drive any more. Day 2 was 6 countries - Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Luxembourg (cheap petrol) and then finally Belgium. Again, I just couldn't drive any more, so we stopped in a place called Dinant in Belgium. It was pretty charmless, but we needed to sleep. Day 3 was Calais, ferry and then London.
For your trip, it really does depend on where you've been already and what you like. The overnight ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland is an excellent time saver if you're heading down through Germany, but it will mean missing places like Reims. Likewise, Portsmouth -> Caen / St. Malo allows you to take in a different route through France and maybe go via the Millau viaduct on the way. Coming back there is a ferry from Civitavecchia to Barcelona and then from there you could go via San Sebastian to Santander and then get a ferry to the UK. It will be huge fun whatever you decide to do.
We went Portsmouth -> Caen, then Le Puy, Grasse, Pisa, Rome then south towards Naples before heading across the country to Bari and then on to Cisternino to pick up the keys to our "Villa". We had one fairly major mechanical failure about 30 miles north of Rome - the bearings in the cooling fan seized which then blew the fuse. The car was fine on the open road, but as we hit the city, we had to have the heater on full and the windows open to keep the engine cool(ish). We managed like this until we got to Cisternino, and then we found a replacement fan in a breakers yard. I took a toolkit with me, so fitting it was straightforward. We took a week to get there, spending 3 nights in Rome.
Going home was a different story. Cisternino to London in 2.5 days. Day 1 was just motorway all the way. One straight road. We eventually stopped in a place called Piacenza - I just couldn't drive any more. Day 2 was 6 countries - Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Luxembourg (cheap petrol) and then finally Belgium. Again, I just couldn't drive any more, so we stopped in a place called Dinant in Belgium. It was pretty charmless, but we needed to sleep. Day 3 was Calais, ferry and then London.
For your trip, it really does depend on where you've been already and what you like. The overnight ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland is an excellent time saver if you're heading down through Germany, but it will mean missing places like Reims. Likewise, Portsmouth -> Caen / St. Malo allows you to take in a different route through France and maybe go via the Millau viaduct on the way. Coming back there is a ferry from Civitavecchia to Barcelona and then from there you could go via San Sebastian to Santander and then get a ferry to the UK. It will be huge fun whatever you decide to do.
ferret50 said:
Breakdown insurance that includes repatriating both yourself and your passengers but also your vehicle.
...and then double check that it definitely covers repatriation of the vehicle, some policies only cover vehicles up to 10 years old.One option if you want to save a few miles is a Motorail service through Germany. Never tried it myself but a colleague took her motorbike on the Dusseldorf-Innsbruck one a reckoned it was worth it to trade a day travelling down for an extra day in the mountains. Probably only worth it if taking a ferry to Rotterdam though rather than Eurotunnel and having to drive a lot further East.
https://www.autoreisezug-planer.de/motorail-servic...
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Wednesday 14th February 12:21
Rainer2859 said:
I have a 105 series Alfa, albeit totally standard suspension and everything, it is an extremely comfortable long range tourer. If you use them regularly, also extremely reliable. We did 3,800 miles in ours last September with about 2.5 hours on motorways during the whole trip, including Alps (lots) and Sardinia and Corsica. The only issue was we wore the tyres outbecause I pissed around with the front toe setting.Some photos here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Edited by courty on Wednesday 14th February 15:44
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