Hiya guys.

I fancy taking a weeks driving break down through Europe in a couple of months. Maybe down through France to Switzerland. Any suggestions on a good way to go?????

I have never done it before

 

Just head for Le Mans in a couple of weeks, everybody should do it at least once.

 

would love to mate but i dont intend on going away till August i dont think. Only just got back from Majorca last week so gotta save some more pennys first

 

Route Napoleon through the Alps is great.

 

Where does that start???

 

me too, me too, I am interested in this thread

I'm off on the 14th June for two weeks and will be doing the same thing (driving through Europe), Swiss and Austrain Alps

there's a guy on here, IainYoung his name is I believe, who was very helpful when I was asking about this a while ago --> maybe he'll see your thread!

 

French have motorway tolls. Consider going across to Luxembourg for petrol 30% cheaper than everyone else's, then down through Germany to try bouncing off the limiter in top.

 

Which way are you looking to go Dave?

Where are you from?

 

I'm based in London

looking to be in Salzburg for a wedding on the 21st but have a week either side to lark about on mountain roads in Austra and Switzerland. Ian whom I mentioned recommended the Grossglocker area in Austria, and other people I know have been banging on about the awesome vistas around Interlaken/Eiger/Mattherhorn....

it's going to be a blast --> just got my brakes uprated so the mountain roads don't defeat me

 

Just a word of warning when crossing the Swiss border: Swiss border police *thoroughly* searched my Scoob for a radar detector at Schaffhausen a few weeks back. They are famous for being humourless bast*rds so beware.

Suresh

 

thanks for the tip Suresh, I'll remember to leave that at home then!

 

Depends which way you're crossing?
If it were me, I'd go into Belgium, down through the Ardennes, into Lux for the cheap petrol, across the NE corner of France, and down Germany through the Black Forest....even if you only do the Autoroute bit, it's amazing.
Alcazar

 

I am planning on doing this soon too, i fancy going through France, Switzerland, Italy etc and taking in roads like the stelvio pass and doing some of the mille miglia route. If you have info on a good European road atlas that has the old passes etc on i would be gratefull.

 

Likewise planning on visiting a friend in Montpelier in the next few months. Was going to go from plymouth, down through central / western france, stop in montpelier, do the whole length of the south coastal roads (via monte carlo), then into switzerland and up to germany then back across to SE England.

Looking like costing a fortune though.

 

How much does it cost to take ya car through the tunnel????

 

I was making enquiries for rally germany in a few weeks and it was about £140?

 

Not tooooooo bad then.

 

Nah its the fuel and 'payage' going through France thats the killer

 

what sort of cost is the 'payage' you mention Ed?

 

My friend is doing the plymouth - montpellier route tomorrow so I will let you know. I'm sure he said at least a couple hundred quid but I will know definitely on Thursday.

 

Log onto www.mappy.com , enter France as country, put in start and finish places, and click on Express route. It'll give you times for the journey, estimated fuel use, (but not in a Scoob: ), and autoroute tolls.
Alcazar

Edited to say: CORNER!!!:

[Edited by alcazar - 5/27/2003 5:51:19 PM]

[Edited by alcazar - 5/27/2003 5:52:09 PM]

 

a good website for Switzerland ( in English ) is www.myswitzerland.com if you click the little map of Switzerland on the top left you get a good overview. If you come after june all the passes in the Alps should be open. A few good ones are Susten pass, Grimsel pass, Furka pass just to name a few, and a drive through the Engadine valley is damned nice. You will find yourself waving to quite a lot of Subaru drivers here and ( when you see them ) the EVO drivers are just as friendly.

A few tips are do not speed in towns, Tunnels or Roadworks as they are usually loaded with Gatso's and they dont paint them in bright colours here Radar detectors are a definate no-no in this country, totally illegal ( shove it in your suitcase before you get to the border if you bring one ). you can buy 98 octane ( super plus ) at all garages and German Shell is rolling out the V-Power 100 octane at the moment.

You will need to buy a little sticker that costs about 15 quid to drive on Swiss Autobahns that can be bought at the border and another for Austria ( 20 quid ) but Austrians also like to charge tolls. Brendan may have a good point about the tolls in France as they do start to add up, Heading to Luxemboug and then head to Germany to watch the fuel gauge plummet on an Autobahn



[Edited by swaussie - 5/27/2003 6:31:00 PM]

 

yikes!!!

and I thought the petrol was going to sting.....

oh well at least I'm camping not hotelling!!

 

Head south-east from Calais to Lyon. Branch off east to Grenoble. Route De Napolean starts here and winds down to Grasse and then into Cannes.....astonishing roads! Also Col De Turini 30km north of Monte Carlo........motoring Nirvana.......esp in a Scoob!

 

Also in that area is the Cime de la Bonnette, actually the highst pass in Europe, and they ride bikes up it in the Tour de France