1st timer Euro road trip: ADVICE PLEASE Napoleon, Swiss pass

[JohnT993]

Hi all,
Me and a few friends are planning a euro road trip, and its coming up faster than an E63s on an autobahn!
We are leaving May 21st, so just over 5 weeks away.
I'm 'route-master' so, pressure is on! Fairly happy with most of the route, but in a bit of a muddle about the middle bit. Any advice from you lovely people would be grand.



Day 1: Tunnel to Lyon - Mainly 'slog' but with a fun bit above dijon.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Eurotunnel+Calais+...


Day 2: Route Napoleon (via Harry's Garage Countach route)

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Dock+Ouest,+39+Rue...


Day 3: Nice to Lake Como (we do have an extention to this planned as an option, taking in some M-carlo rally stages early on).

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/16+Avenue+Durante,...


Day 4: Lake Como to Andermatt - THIS IS WHERE IT GETS SKETCHY - hoping to take in a few alpine passes, but hard to plan as google thinks all the roads are closed!

????????????????



Day 5: Andermatt to Strasbourg - most of this is sorted, via german derestricted autobahn, but I'd like to hit a few alpine passes in the morning as well!



Day 6: Strasbourg to Tunnel, via spa and some more derestricted autobahn.



oh, and nearly forgot the most important bit the cars...
997.1C2s // 997.2 GT3 (lucky b@st@rd) // Aston v8 vantage // New style Mustang 5.0 V8 with a 'sure to annoy the Swiss' loud exhaust.



Any advice, in particular on day 4+first half of 5 much appreciated!

Ta.

[steve51800]

Can't really offer much in way of the route, but would say take the time to visit one of the war cemeteries in Belgium, we stopped at an American one last year, very humbling experience. Also don't count on all the autobahns having no speed limit. Other than that, enjoy.

[blueg33]

If you have spare time in Switzerland go to Wilderswill and get the mountain railway up the Jungfrau. Or go to Grindelwald and get the cable car up the Schilthorn, it takes you to a revolving restaurant on a mountain summit used in a bond film.

[Dannythemusicman]

Enter Switzerland via Simpson pass (it’s rare it is closed especially at this time of year)
Head on to Nufenen Pass, get yourself over to Furka & Grimsel. They are some of the best Switzerland has to offer. View and roads are epic and plenty of places to pull over for a snack & coffee.
Word of warning: I was there last year in the 2nd week of June and they had literally only just opened Furka and Nufenen. The snow drifts were big (think big and then think bigger...).
Also, like anywhere really but more so... the best way to experience the Swiss passes is to have a stop over right next door, get up at 5am and jump straight in. Otherwise you will be fighting campers & real tourists all day long. Cyclists will be up at 5 too, they’re a crazy bunch.
If you fancy some further inspiration, check out slawterch on YouTube.
Final piece of advice is dont get too playful in Switzerland until you’re actually on the passes themselves.

[dcb]

JohnT993 said:

Hi all,
Me and a few friends are planning a euro road trip, and its coming up faster than an E63s on an autobahn!

Swiss motorway tax is CHF 40, about £32.

The Swiss are punitive on speeding and it is one of the most
expensive countries in Europe to buy anything.

Austria is far cheaper and the mountains are very similar.

If you get yourselves to somewhere like Lindau or Memmingen,
then you could cut west through the Black Forest,
via Riedlingen and Freudenstadt and go west from there.

Failing that, take the autobahn via Ulm and Stuttgart.

[Kewy]

May or may not help much, but I'm currently planning my own trip (leaving a week or so before you). But here is my Google Map I've been adding mountain passes and POIs to in order to plan our route – https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DjoZUM4IZ1GbnqIL...

Blue pointers are mountains passes, green are passes that I believe to be open at this time of year.
Yellow pointers are interesting places to see or things to do.

Hope that helps a bit.

[JohnT993]

Great tips guys, I'll look into them ASAP! Excited.

[gsewell]

If you're doing toll roads in France, get the windscreen tag. The toll is cheaper and you don't need to bother with cash/cards through the passenger window or the queues for the booths.

[Pericoloso]

You might want to avoid Genoa as your route has to use the broken bridge diversion ,which wastes a lot of time.

[CarbonXKR]

If you are staying overnight in Andermatt, you can do all the passes in the "Andermatt loop". Head West from Andermatt on the Furka pass, then take the Grimsel pass. At Innertkirchen turn right on to the Susten pass. At Wassen, head towards Luzern and you'll be on your way North to your next stop. Great roads..... here's the Furka… https://youtu.be/PJVxNg0qjqc

[plenty]

Andermatt loop won't be open in May.

[JohnT993]

https://www.myswissalps.com/car/trafficinfo
using this for 'passes open' info...
seems to be a fair amount 'should' be open, but I've planned a bunch of options, so will just have to check the week leading up to it I think!

[blueg33]

Having done a whole bunch of Euro road trips I reckon 4 hours driving per day is the sweet spot with 5 hrs at a push. So some of your days look a bit long.

Our days go like this

Leisurely breakfast
Leave hotel circa 9.30 am
Driver for an hour
Stop for coffee
Drive for an hour, stop in a nice place for lunch
Drive for an hour
Stop for a drink
Drive for an hour
Arrive at hotel sround 4pm
Look around Carefully chosen destination.

Repeat

[JohnT993]

blueg33 said:

Having done a whole bunch of Euro road trips I reckon 4 hours driving per day is the sweet spot with 5 hrs at a push. So some of your days look a bit long.

Our days go like this

Leisurely breakfast
Leave hotel circa 9.30 am
Driver for an hour
Stop for coffee
Drive for an hour, stop in a nice place for lunch
Drive for an hour
Stop for a drink
Drive for an hour
Arrive at hotel sround 4pm
Look around Carefully chosen destination.

Repeat

yep we are packing a lot in...
ignoring the first and last day slogs (7-8hrs) the days are; 7hrs, 5hrs, 2-5hrs (depending on how many passes), 3-5hrs, so I hope it will be ok, but am a bit worried we'll be shattered after the third day! 3/4 drivers have young kids so I'm hoping our 6am wake up calls will help, 8am is a lie in for us!

[jbaddeley]

Just my 2 penneth. I think you are possibly going a bit too far for the time you have and will spent long periods on motorways. I did a Eurojaunt for a week last summer and we didn't go anywhere near as far south as you, still did 300o miles though. First stop was Baden Baden and then we were up early to explore the Black Forest. Brilliant roads here and very quiet before heading toward Lucerne. Day 3 we did lots of passes including Susten, Furka et al but they were very busy by 9:30. We hit them as soon as it came light. We then stopped at Chur and did Oberalp, St Benardino and others before heading Italy and theninto Austria where we also explored the great Passes here. Very little of this was motorway after Baden Baden but we were in the cars from 6am until 5pm most days with lots of stops for photos etc. we stopped and Munich and did the Porsche Museum Stuttgart on the way to the Nurburgring for a night. Final overnight stop was Bruges before Chunnel home. I'm sure you'll have a great time but try to avoid the long motorway slogs if you can.

[akadk]

Whilst the Route Napoleon is good, I really wouldn’t bother going further south than Geneva....it’s one hell of a shlep to Monaco.

You also definitely need to do the Nurburgring on your way back up

[akadk]

Here is a trip I did

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[plenty]

OP hasn't said what type of roadtrip he's planning, whether WAGs will be in attendance, whether there are specific destinations they wish to spend time seeing, etc.

If you're there to drive not to sightsee and the drivers have experience then 6-7 hours of driving per day is feasible, which translates to 230-270 miles of twisties per day when driving at pace. On our Euro jaunts we are on the road by 9 and usually checking in by 6, including coffee, fuel and lunch stops. Mind you we're pretty shattered by the end of the day so if going out and enjoying some nightlife is a priority then dial back the miles.

I agree with the posters above who are questioning whether it's necessary to go all the way south. Unless Monaco and Milano are bucket-list destinations, much better roads and more interesting regions are to be found along the way. For example: Ardennes in Belgium, the Moselle valley Eifel area (the N10 that follows the river and straddles the Lux/Germany border is a fantastic and low-traffic drive), Vosges mountains (Route des Cretes), Black Forest (although only early and late in the day as it suffers from traffic), D996 Troyes to Dijon, Parc du Verdon around Castellane and Moustiers, etc...

[blueg33]

plenty said:

OP hasn't said what type of roadtrip he's planning, whether WAGs will be in attendance, whether there are specific destinations they wish to spend time seeing, etc.

If you're there to drive not to sightsee and the drivers have experience then 6-7 hours of driving per day is feasible, which translates to 230-270 miles of twisties per day when driving at pace. On our Euro jaunts we are on the road by 9 and usually checking in by 6, including coffee, fuel and lunch stops. Mind you we're pretty shattered by the end of the day so if going out and enjoying some nightlife is a priority then dial back the miles.

I agree with the posters above who are questioning whether it's necessary to go all the way south. Unless Monaco and Milano are bucket-list destinations, much better roads and more interesting regions are to be found along the way. For example: Ardennes in Belgium, the Moselle valley Eifel area (the N10 that follows the river and straddles the Lux/Germany border is a fantastic and low-traffic drive), Vosges mountains (Route des Cretes), Black Forest (although only early and late in the day as it suffers from traffic), D996 Troyes to Dijon, Parc du Verdon around Castellane and Moustiers, etc...

Think he has said some have kids with them. Personally I think he had too much driving in each day.

[JohnT993]

Hi guys,
No, no kids, just blokes who are up for a driving trip, used to doing occasional track days and ring trips, so whilst we don't want to shatter ourselves and not enjoy it, we're not going to be doing too much sight seeing and latte drinking tbh!