Driving Holiday in May
Discussion
Looking for suggestions of somewhere to drive to in the May half term. We are able to leave Friday morning at around 8am once the children have left for school, and we need to be back by the end of the following Saturday, so in theory that gives us 8 nights, 9 days.
Was thinking Como and the mountains and lakes, but does that give us enough time? I’ve worked out the earliest we could get to France would be 1pm on the Friday, and Como is at least 11 hours so isn’t realistically doable that day.
Is there somewhere else we should look at? Black Forest maybe? I want some good driving roads for my 911, the other half would like some sunshine and good food. She doesn’t want to spend the whole week driving. It’s either that or we go on a cruise, but that involves no driving.
Was thinking Como and the mountains and lakes, but does that give us enough time? I’ve worked out the earliest we could get to France would be 1pm on the Friday, and Como is at least 11 hours so isn’t realistically doable that day.
Is there somewhere else we should look at? Black Forest maybe? I want some good driving roads for my 911, the other half would like some sunshine and good food. She doesn’t want to spend the whole week driving. It’s either that or we go on a cruise, but that involves no driving.
Huzzah said:
How about a ferry to Spain? I've found the ferry trip great for unwinding, and planning the rest of the trip. Picos de Europa provide some great driving roads and less congested than Como.
I looked at that briefly. The Bilbao ferry doesn’t go until Sunday, the Santander ferry leaves Friday night but doesn’t get in until Sunday, and then the return ferry would be Wednesday meaning we only get 3 days there. Oh, and it’s £1200 return!ThunderSpook said:
Looking for suggestions of somewhere to drive to in the May half term. We are able to leave Friday morning at around 8am once the children have left for school, and we need to be back by the end of the following Saturday, so in theory that gives us 8 nights, 9 days.
Was thinking Como and the mountains and lakes, but does that give us enough time? I’ve worked out the earliest we could get to France would be 1pm on the Friday, and Como is at least 11 hours so isn’t realistically doable that day.
Is there somewhere else we should look at? Black Forest maybe? I want some good driving roads for my 911, the other half would like some sunshine and good food. She doesn’t want to spend the whole week driving. It’s either that or we go on a cruise, but that involves no driving.
Can you not split the journey over 2 days?Was thinking Como and the mountains and lakes, but does that give us enough time? I’ve worked out the earliest we could get to France would be 1pm on the Friday, and Como is at least 11 hours so isn’t realistically doable that day.
Is there somewhere else we should look at? Black Forest maybe? I want some good driving roads for my 911, the other half would like some sunshine and good food. She doesn’t want to spend the whole week driving. It’s either that or we go on a cruise, but that involves no driving.
Head towards say Reims and then over the border into Germany, you could even go to Stuttgart and the museum before heading down to Como?
There are plenty of sites with route trips around the black forest and I recall doing some of these, the fairy tale routes and also the castle routes, you can link sections together for the interesting road stuff you asked for.
brianmorrison said:
We did Ramshackle Rally a few years back and the route was great.
Dover - Calais - Annecy - Bormio (via Stelvio Pass) - Innsbruck (via Grossglockner) - Llubljana - Munich - Calais
The roads and experience were amazing :-)
While I agree there's fantastic roads all around there, if the OP's going in May some of the passes might still be closed. I think Stelvio usually opens late May so you might be ok but it could still be closedDover - Calais - Annecy - Bormio (via Stelvio Pass) - Innsbruck (via Grossglockner) - Llubljana - Munich - Calais
The roads and experience were amazing :-)
RizzoTheRat said:
While I agree there's fantastic roads all around there, if the OP's going in May some of the passes might still be closed. I think Stelvio usually opens late May so you might be ok but it could still be closed
Second this. End of May 2018, heading down to Italy through Switzerland, pretty much all the passes were still shut. The main one we needed was the Simplon, which thankfully is kept open pretty much all the time. The good driving ones will likely all be touch & go.Dannythemusicman said:
Second this. End of May 2018, heading down to Italy through Switzerland, pretty much all the passes were still shut. The main one we needed was the Simplon, which thankfully is kept open pretty much all the time. The good driving ones will likely all be touch & go.
That’s useful to know, and definitely affects my thoughts on heading towards Italy. It’s a long way to drive just to go through some expensive tunnels.ThunderSpook said:
Dannythemusicman said:
Second this. End of May 2018, heading down to Italy through Switzerland, pretty much all the passes were still shut. The main one we needed was the Simplon, which thankfully is kept open pretty much all the time. The good driving ones will likely all be touch & go.
That’s useful to know, and definitely affects my thoughts on heading towards Italy. It’s a long way to drive just to go through some expensive tunnels.ThunderSpook said:
That’s useful to know, and definitely affects my thoughts on heading towards Italy. It’s a long way to drive just to go through some expensive tunnels.
You don't need to rely on the high passes to find great driving roads.Some my favourites heading to/from Italy include the D996 from Troyes to Dijon, and the N10 from Belgium to Trier that follows the Luxembourg border. If you head to the south of France you can go via Route Napoleon.
Switzerland is such a beautiful country and well worth driving through even if you stick religiously to speed limits, as you should. It's even worth doing just on motorways as Swiss motorways are more twisty and scenic than most, although I like to stay off the vignette roads and stick to the old roads that usually run alongside the motorways.
Harry Metcalf has just created a wonderful advert for the North West of Scotland
https://youtu.be/XpxS7lOxAjQ?si=84FrdndCIfFgE5GW
The weather in May is generally fairly decent, no Midgies, out with peak season, so the traffic shouldn't be too bad.
https://youtu.be/XpxS7lOxAjQ?si=84FrdndCIfFgE5GW
The weather in May is generally fairly decent, no Midgies, out with peak season, so the traffic shouldn't be too bad.
I do more mainland Europe miles than UK miles. I'm currently in Epernay en route to Spain.
You can absolutely get to Como and back in that time, I drove a 'Police' 1.8 Vectra (banger) to Tremezzo in three days in 2022 via five countries.
My recommendation would be to take in at the very least the following:
Vianden Luxembourg (make time for a lap or two locally, amazing roads).
Swiss alpine passes (I can do you a five in one day route) that ties in.
Bruges for a beer. (Not on a Saturday as all the roads are closed and they shout at you for driving down the main market street
)
Rapallo because it's nice and a taxi ride (don't drive) from Portofino.
The black forest is all beautiful. Once you're an hour or two south of Normandy and off the motorways, some of those roads and towns are fantastic. The area round Givet for example has fantastic roads.
Opinions and a
holes and all that. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic trip. 
ETA: Other posters are correct, most of the passes open in June, I think! Nightmare.
You can absolutely get to Como and back in that time, I drove a 'Police' 1.8 Vectra (banger) to Tremezzo in three days in 2022 via five countries.
My recommendation would be to take in at the very least the following:
Vianden Luxembourg (make time for a lap or two locally, amazing roads).
Swiss alpine passes (I can do you a five in one day route) that ties in.
Bruges for a beer. (Not on a Saturday as all the roads are closed and they shout at you for driving down the main market street
)Rapallo because it's nice and a taxi ride (don't drive) from Portofino.
The black forest is all beautiful. Once you're an hour or two south of Normandy and off the motorways, some of those roads and towns are fantastic. The area round Givet for example has fantastic roads.
Opinions and a
holes and all that. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic trip. ETA: Other posters are correct, most of the passes open in June, I think! Nightmare.
Edited by Baldchap on Thursday 10th April 20:59
We’re off to Bad Hofgastein in Austria in May. We love the area and you have the Grossglockner just down the road. Easy train connections to Salzburg for a day trip if you fancy it. All the mountain cable cars are open so easy to get to the top of the mountains. And if you’re into it, there’s a few places to do some paragliding. We’ve done it a few times now and the views are breath-taking.
ThunderSpook said:
Looking for suggestions of somewhere to drive to in the May half term. We are able to leave Friday morning at around 8am once the children have left for school, and we need to be back by the end of the following Saturday, so in theory that gives us 8 nights, 9 days.
Was thinking Como and the mountains and lakes, but does that give us enough time? I’ve worked out the earliest we could get to France would be 1pm on the Friday, and Como is at least 11 hours so isn’t realistically doable that day.
Is there somewhere else we should look at? Black Forest maybe? I want some good driving roads for my 911, the other half would like some sunshine and good food. She doesn’t want to spend the whole week driving. It’s either that or we go on a cruise, but that involves no driving.
Alsace is stunning,(riqwihr / eguisheim / colmar) then easy to pop over mountains to Italy, I’d go Lago Maggorie (stresa) or Garda (Sirmione) over Como.Was thinking Como and the mountains and lakes, but does that give us enough time? I’ve worked out the earliest we could get to France would be 1pm on the Friday, and Como is at least 11 hours so isn’t realistically doable that day.
Is there somewhere else we should look at? Black Forest maybe? I want some good driving roads for my 911, the other half would like some sunshine and good food. She doesn’t want to spend the whole week driving. It’s either that or we go on a cruise, but that involves no driving.
Or ferry from Portsmouth, aim for cognac, then San Sebastián by second night - stunning place. I’d do this.
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