touring to eastern Italy

[carol_374418755]

Has anyone toured from calais to the eastern side of Italy? We ar going to Pescara in Italy in May, have a route from AA - calais to mulhouse- to Luzern by passing Milan and over to bologna and Pescara.The route seems ok 1087 miles - hoping only 2 days travel. Any advice appreciated. (concerned about mountains!!)

 

[MikeA]

Hi Carol,

We have done Calais to Rome, to Florence and to Lake Garda a few times so whilst I don't know the final part of your journey I am pretty familiar with most of it.

First, the mountains - shouldn't be a problem at all unless your car struggles already with your van on lengthy inclines in the UK. For the most part, the mountains you will meet will be in Switzerland and as you will discover, the Swiss have a habit of driving through mountains rather than climbing them in their cars. There is of course a long (but not steep) ascent up to the St Gottard tunnel - and an even longer one on the way back home but very few outfits I see in the UK would find it a problem. Stand by for some lovely scenery. Travelling over the Italian central mountains was no more exotic or difficult an experience.

Second, two days and 1087 miles. Well it is very doable, depending upon your driving arrangements and stamina. Sue and I have a system where we drive for an hour each in turn. That way we once drove just over 650 miles in a day coming back from Lake Garda with the van and two very good children (that day). The roads are certainly good. If you are very unlucky, the queue for the St Gottard tunnel can cost you anything up to 2 hours in the middle of the day in high season - but in May you should be OK. There is the tricky problem of speed limits - as Lutz might have reminded you, after France the limit is 80kph (50mph) for a car and caravan in Switzerland and italy. However, in practice if you drive at that speed you will be the slowest vehicle on the road by some way. Most continental outfits seem to drive around 100kph. I offer no advice on the matter.

A couple of stray thoughts.

Buy your vignettes for the swiss motorway system in advance - you will need two, one for car and one for the van. You can order them online from the Swiss Travel Centre -

http://www.switzerlandtravelcentre.co.uk/vignette.html
Service areas in Switzerland and Italy are spaced much more like the distances in the UK rather than the more frequent aires in France. If you stop in Switzerland you will find them very happy to take your euros (at probably not a very good exchange rate) but you will be given change in Swiss francs.

Have a fantastic trip,

Mike A

 

[Ben_374375354]

Hi Carol,

Pescara is a great place I am sure you won't be disapointed.

Personally I would go through Austria over the Brenner pass and down to Verona It is a slightly longer route but a lot cheaper.you will only need the Austria Viginette and then the Italian tolls.

Once you get into Italy and start following the coast down if you want a break you can jump onto the SS16 there is some great Gelateria's and restaurants.

 

[Guest]

We have done this trip (in fact all the way to Bari) 3 years ago We went Calais Lille Reims Metz Strasbourg into Germany crossed into Switzerland at Basel then Luzern Altdorf Lugano into Italy, Milan Parma Modena Bologna Rimini and down to Pescara. Landing at Calais at lunchtime Wednesday, Reims first o/night Basel 2nd o/night, Rimini 3rd o/night but You could get to Pescara for that, as I said we were going further south. Milan was a nightmare but otherwise Italy was great driving,want to know anymore please ask.

 

[Percy1]

I go to Pisa every year,I suggest at Mulhouse you carry on over the rhein and into Germany then head south on the E54 this is all autobahn plus you can by your vignettes from the Service station at badbellingen(www.badbellingen.de)they take visa etc its 55 euro for 2 vignettes this year. If you head south at mulhouse on E25/E60 this takes you off motorways through basel center and can be frustrating. Be aware of queues at the border crossing the border police make sure you have your vignettes visable. Dont forget there is no reason you cant resell your vignettes they run from January to December just stick them in the windows with sellotape.

Have a safe trip

Percy

 

[Alison_374400153]

2 days from Calais would be tight. There is a good overnight stop at Camping International Lido in Luzerne ( take your own beer - very expensive ).but we make this our second night stop. The St Gotthard tunnel is scary but the pass is a good road, particularly down into Italian side. You often have to use the pass anyway as the tunnel seems to be blocked a lot.Lorries are the probelm but I don't think there are any on Sundays.

AG