Hi Lesley
We have been to Italy for the last 2 summers with our largish outfits - 7.2M+ length. In 2006 we went to Lake Como (Camping La Riva and then continued on down to Camping Cavallino near Venice. That year we travelled down the toll free motorways Dunkerque through France, Belgium and Luxembourg and France again then took the N66 road through the the Ballon de Vosge south of Nancy and on into Switzerland France. Going in from France meant that we encountered the centre of Basle with its many roadworks -ugghhh.
We stayed mainly at Aires on the way down. We have tended to do this over the years. We drive until tired and then find a safe looking aire where we pull in for the night - no need to find a site or unhook the 'van. Never had any security problems.
We stopped at an aire near Lisle for an early morning sleep after getting off the 4.00am ferry and then drove all day and got just south of Nancy where we stopped overnight at another aire. We then decided to have a proper break and stayed at Camping Les Acasias in Cernay, near the Swiss border. We had a very pleasant few days there. Cernay is a pleasant smallish riverside town with a variety of shops including several supermarkets and the campsite is next a stork reserve - (very interesting) and next to the local swimming pool and sports centre. The site is pleasant and well shaded with new sanitary facilities. The friendly warden is very obliging but doesn't speak English. The nearby Route de Crete (along the ridge which overlooks Germany and has WW1 and WW2 military sites) and the Wine Route (lots of wine tasting opportunities) are good drives out.
We drove through Switzerland in one day having unfortunately to pay for the motorway vignettes for both car and caravan. We went over the Gotthard pass as tunnel had long queues and then stopped at the aire at Aerolo on the south of the Pass for the night before continuing on to Lake Como and Camping La Riva. A very pleasant site on the banks of the river where it flows into the northern end of the lake. After a couple of weeks we went on to Camping Cavallino on the Jesolo Peninsula which gave easy boat access to Venice as well as being on right on the beach of the Adriatic sea. A very well equipped site.
On the homeward route we drove the same route stopping at aires until we got near Luxembourg where we broke down big-time - autogearbox burnt out. We chose Camping Chenefleur nearby run by a very helpful and were towed there by the breakdown truck. Fred the Dutch owner met us at the gate and towed us to a lovely pitch by the river with his tractor. He went out his way to help us try to get the car sorted out but we had to get it repatriated - another story!!! Camping Chenefleur is in a small rural village, one shop and on a small river. It has good sanitary facilities and a small bar and shop. We travelled onwards from there by hire car leaving the 'van and car to follow later by lorry.
This summer we followed a similar route going down and stopped for a couple of nights at Camping Chenefleur. We then drove on down into Switzerland although this time we crossed the Rhine and entered from German thus avoiding Basle city centre. Stopping at Italian aires for a 2 seperate nights we drove down Camping Roma Sporting Flash on Lake Bracciano and stayed there for a week whilst visiting Rome.
On the way homewards from Rome we experienced, another breakdown, UNBELIEVABLE. The Caravan Club Red P insurance provided us with a hire tow car and we drove up to Lake Iseo. We stopped at Camping Riva di Sant Pietro a lovely lakeside site.
Then as the hire tow car was rather underpowered we opted for the gentler route of the Brenner Motorway into Austria. There is a toll for the Brenner motorway and a vignette for other Austrian motorways but this is much cheaper than the Swiss one as only one is needed for the car (not 'van too) and a 10 day is available. We stopped one night at Lech Camping near Augsburg. A Pleasant wooded site on the outskirts of a small town. Good facilities and a small lake with picnic tables. It, also, had a camping shop and restaurant but we did not fully appreciate the facilities as we arrived quite late and left the next morning quite early. We then drove up the free German motorways and into Belgium, stopping for a night an aire on the Belgian Border. We then rejoined our outward route near Luxembourg.
I have reviewed Riva di San Pietro and Camping Roma Sporting Flash recently on this website. I would recommend buying the Alan Rogers Guides for Italy and France and Europe if you go through Germany/Austria and the Caravan Club's Caravan Europe Vols 1 and 2. The latter contain a lot of background info on the different countries, their motoring law, passes and tunnels, et. All these books can be bought at a discount from Amazon.
Hope this helps
Tim
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