London to Monza?
Discussion
Trying to think of a route to get to the Monza GP in September, 2 (possibly 3) days max driving to and from Italy. I found this thread www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=59523&f=45&h=0 but it all looks like a bit of a mission for what we have in mind (family holiday), so anyone got any ideas on what to aim for as a more direct route?
Any good sights or scenic (read good driving) roads recommended going through France?
Any good sights or scenic (read good driving) roads recommended going through France?
My parents live in Milan so I'm fairly well experienced at driving to it from London. If you are simply trying to get to Milan as fast as possible then the fastest way is, so far as I can ascertain, Calais-Basel (passing Reims-Troyes-Metz-Strasbourg). Then once in Switzerland, you can either get to Italy via (i) Zurich and the St Gotthard pass or (ii) Vevey, the Grand St Bernard pass and Aosta. The quickest (barring roadworks) is the St Gotthard but the prettier trip is via the Grand St Bernard. That's easily achievable in a day but not hugely exciting unless you take the passes rather than the horrifically long tunnels.
I'm not sure about looking for good roads in France. When going to Milan quickly, France is best dispatched as fast as possible IMHO. Going via the Route Napoleon, whilst marvellous, would assuredly take you several days. It is, I think, physically impossible to get from London to Nice via the Route Napoleon inside one day without serious risk to your licence, life and limb. And then Nice to Milan is a good two and half to three hour drive depending on the traffic which can be appalling at the w/end, especially around Albenga. That's the Autostrada dei Fiori and it snakes and twists at high-speed through over 100 tunnels between Ventimiglia and Alexandria so you'd better have a car with good suspension or your back seat passengers will feel queasy.
The only other route I've taken is Calais-Aachen-Koln-Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Bregenz-Chur-Silvaplana-Chiavenna-Lecco-Milan. But I did that in two days with a stop in Dusseldorf. I estimate 3-4hrs Calais to Aachen, 9hrs Aachen to Silvaplana, 2.5hrs Silvaplana to Milan. The advantages of this route are: (i) lots of high-speed blatting through Germany; (ii) the Stuttgart-Bregenz bit can be done on backroads through the environs of the Black Forest which are sinuous and pretty; (iii) you avoid spending too much time on Swiss motorways; (iv) you get to go over the Julier Pass into the Engadine valley, which is stunning and you can always stop for an overpriced lunch by the lake in St Moritz on your way past; and (v) you get to go down the Maloya Pass and along Lake Como into Italy which is also a great road. Note that this route takes you through a small corner of Austria so you have to buy an Austrian motorway sticker as well as the Swiss vignette. You also pass right by Lichtenstein.
If you're really keen to do France then at Lyons you can take the road to Geneva, go through the Mont Blanc tunnel into the Aosta valley and then onto Milan but I've never done it as it strikes me as a very long and not especially interesting route.
Hope this helps.
>> Edited by RacingTeatray on Friday 28th April 08:08
I'm not sure about looking for good roads in France. When going to Milan quickly, France is best dispatched as fast as possible IMHO. Going via the Route Napoleon, whilst marvellous, would assuredly take you several days. It is, I think, physically impossible to get from London to Nice via the Route Napoleon inside one day without serious risk to your licence, life and limb. And then Nice to Milan is a good two and half to three hour drive depending on the traffic which can be appalling at the w/end, especially around Albenga. That's the Autostrada dei Fiori and it snakes and twists at high-speed through over 100 tunnels between Ventimiglia and Alexandria so you'd better have a car with good suspension or your back seat passengers will feel queasy.
The only other route I've taken is Calais-Aachen-Koln-Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Bregenz-Chur-Silvaplana-Chiavenna-Lecco-Milan. But I did that in two days with a stop in Dusseldorf. I estimate 3-4hrs Calais to Aachen, 9hrs Aachen to Silvaplana, 2.5hrs Silvaplana to Milan. The advantages of this route are: (i) lots of high-speed blatting through Germany; (ii) the Stuttgart-Bregenz bit can be done on backroads through the environs of the Black Forest which are sinuous and pretty; (iii) you avoid spending too much time on Swiss motorways; (iv) you get to go over the Julier Pass into the Engadine valley, which is stunning and you can always stop for an overpriced lunch by the lake in St Moritz on your way past; and (v) you get to go down the Maloya Pass and along Lake Como into Italy which is also a great road. Note that this route takes you through a small corner of Austria so you have to buy an Austrian motorway sticker as well as the Swiss vignette. You also pass right by Lichtenstein.
If you're really keen to do France then at Lyons you can take the road to Geneva, go through the Mont Blanc tunnel into the Aosta valley and then onto Milan but I've never done it as it strikes me as a very long and not especially interesting route.
Hope this helps.
>> Edited by RacingTeatray on Friday 28th April 08:08
RacingTeatray said:
The only other route I've taken is Calais-Aachen-Koln-Karlsruhe-
Stuttgart-Bregenz-Chur-Silvaplana-Chiavenna-Lecco-Milan.
A couple of other possibilities might be
Calais-Brussels-Aachen-Koln-Frankfurt-Karlsruhe-Basel-Luzern-
Lugano-Milano
or
Calais-Brussels-Aachen-Koln-Frankfurt-Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-A81-
Winterthur-Luzern-Milano
Personal tastes vary, but I'd take the German autobahn over the
French autoroutes any day. The French make you pay.
RacingTeatray said:
Note that this route takes you through a small corner of
Austria so you have to buy an Austrian motorway sticker as well
as the Swiss vignette.
Where the Swiss make you buy a whole years' worth of vignette,
the sensible Austrians let you buy it by the week.
Change out of a fiver I think.
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