Dave1980

Off on holiday to switzerland for a week or so with the other half in a few weeks.

Unsure weather the drive to geneva from calais is doable in a day, bearing in mind that i probably wont get into france till 2pmish after the ferry.
Tomtom is predicting 7 hrs but that is at the 70mph speed limit i presume so can knock a bit of time off .

Anyone done it?. Was debating about stopping halfway but would rather get to switzerland asap.

Whilst i am here, anyone know how to pass the time in geneva?. Only there for a few days then off to Zermatt and Interlaken so know whats about there but never been to geneva before.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

we used to go skiing every year in villars.
used to drive all the way from newcastle to felixstowe..about 6 hours
ferry
the about 8-9 hours from zeebrugge to villars (close to geneva)

but that was years ago and we were in a daihatsu fourtrack

I think 7 hours or less is doable, but you will need quite a few stops.

Dave1980

thanks, plan to stop for half an hour every few hours, sharing the driving anyway so may not be too bad.

Mungo

7 hours is about right by the time you've stopped for petrol, a **** and a sandwich a couple of times. Depends on time of day too - not always possible to maintain too high a speed.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

if the ferry arrives at 2 p.m, then unless the accomodation at geneva is open late, then with all the stops, you wont be in geneva till very very late..


2 p.m arrive
1 hour to find your way off the ferry, out of calais and onto the roads.

3 p.m hit the roads..french ones so speed limits

might make up some time in germany

at least 3 stops all around 30 mins each

driving estimated at 7+ hours


arrive at hotel geneva anytime after midnight and knackered

Dave1980

might get the earlier ferry then, can get one that leaves at 10am from dover so may do that.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

2000TLondon

I've driven to Geneva a few times, but never direct from Calais.

I did London to Lyon in a day on one trip, similar distance, took me about five and a half hours from Calais. Then Lyon to Turin, and back up to Geneva the long way round.

It'll definetly be do-able, but I always find driving at high speed for that long very draining!!!

You can do a day trip to Mont Blanc, about an hours drive out of Geneva, and there is plenty of shopping and plenty of lake based activites depending on weather! I would definetly recommend heading through the Mont Blanc tunnel into northern Italy, and then coming back across the St Bernard Pass. Fantastic roads and scenery, but take plenty of film as I ran out and there's nowhere to buy more up there!!!

Make sure you leave any radar detectors at home!

http://www.rac.co.uk/web/routeplanner/

2000TLondon

On one of my trips I headed to Cologne from the ferry and was the other side of Belgium within an hour!

The French speedlimits seem only to be strictly enforced if it is raining...... I've never been stopped over there, touch wood...... Speeding not recommended or endorsed, though!

If you don't have to rush, I wouldn't, as there are hundreds of great places to stay in France or Germany, depending on your route, and makes the trip a lot more memorable IMO.....

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

by the sounds of it, i dont think he will notice one of europes biggest's lakes at that speed

STi-Frenchie

Lots of things to do in Geneva. As mentioned, a trip through the (11kms) Mont Blanc tunnel and down into Italy (Courmayer or Aosta) and a return via the Col du Petit Saint Bernard is worth doing but check to see if the Col is open (the toll booth at the entrance to the tunnel will tell you) as it's getting to that part of the year where snow is starting to lie on the ground at 2000 metres. Boat trips round the lake may already have stopped. Plenty to do/see around the old town in Geneva or for the *extremely* wealthy a trip to the Griffin Club in the evening to hang out with the stars. The weather at the moment is crap so bring warm clothes. Go to Annecy in France (50kms from Geneva) or stay around Geneva and visit the artistic corner of Carouge. Eat a fondue at the Cafe du Soleil, or try the local perch from Lac Leman (that's Lake Geneva to you). Go to Montreux or spend some time in the casinos. Depends what you want to do/what floats your boat and what your budget is -- Geneva can seriously damage your wallet and wipe out your credit cards in the blink of an eye.

Frosty The Snowman

Done the Calais - Chamonix trip a few times and would say 8 hours including stops is a good estimate to Geneva.

From what I've heard they are getting a lot more serious about the speed limits, above 100mph and you will be in big trouble apparently.

Dave1980

some good info there, sounds like a trip to the mont blanc area first then and head to geneva the day after.

wont be going to many casinos though, i expect the missus will spend all my money on shopping anyway. Didnt think geneva would be that cold but i am packing plenty of warm clothes for interlakken and zermatt.

thanks for the info (especially sti frenchie).

KiwiGTI

Recently got done for 160kph (100mph) and given on the spot fine of €90, which was worth it because a trackday in the UK costs at least double. Mind you it was near Calais, returning from Rouen, and they were only stopping UK plated cars. (and suspiciously the only cars stopped with me were an RS4 and an M3 - so obviously targetted)

Drove 2000km on French roads in the last few weeks in a French plated rental and never saw a single police car.

STi-Frenchie

When you are coming down to Geneva through France you might want to jump off the motorway and take in some of the scenery in the Jura. If your trip is a couple of weeks away from now the colours in the Jura should be just about right. Take the RN5 down to La Col de la Faucille and if you are in a scoob you'll be loving the twisty bits and the view of the alps is stunning. You'll get to Geneva before you reach Mont Blanc/Chamonix (don't forget the glacier there). A bunch of scoobynutters from the photo forum came over here earlier this year and there's a stack of information -- and pics that we took -- in this thread: https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...m-t460651.html

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Takes me about 7 hours from Calais to Stuttgart and that is not hanging around either and stopping only twice in Brussels and Luxembourg.

Geneva is about 2 or 3 hours further on.

Shark

Germany - What part of the relatively straight line from Calais to Geneva goes through Germany?

David

Shark

Sorry, should have replied to the question first.

It's 510 miles according to Van Mich, so that got to be 8 hours. Also have you considered the tunnel? It's so much quicker than the ferry. Last time we drove to Geneva we arrived at the Tunnel and were in France in just over an hour. None of that waiting around in lanes at the ferry.

Enjoy your trip,

David

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

yes exactly

if he wanted to do a detour and get on some faster roads, germany would do it

Dave1980

germany is for next year, on the way back and fourth to the ring again.

Group N

7 hours to Geneve in a car is no problem - just be careful on the A26 just north of Reims as the boys in blue often have a speed camera set up just before you get onto the A4 to go through Reims. Never had any trouble with plod in France for speeding - anyway if you have a half decent car they can't catch you anyway!!!

It usually takes me 7 hours to Chambery from Calais which is a bit further south than Geneve.

Good Luck
Rob

STi-Frenchie

Not quite true -- these days they have a fleet of WRX's

Dave1980

well i am going in a diesel renault so wont be doing too much over 120 flat out (not that i would do that of course)

RJDS

7 hours no problem, done it in just over 6 hrs in a soot chuckin Range Rover.
Watch out for the fixed camera's in Rhiems. Chamonix is good with plenty going on.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

And toll booths, and border checks, all they need is your reg numebr and you will get stopped sooner or later.

Edcase

I did Calais to Les Gets in less than 8 hours in the RS6.

I reckon I must have passed Geneva around 6-ish hours in. It's a very straightforward drive, I've done it about 5 times now, passing through Reims and Dijon. Certainly wouldn't cut through Germany.

Try and tag behind another fast-moving car. We convoyed with a new Bentley at about 140, unfortunately he got speed-trappped but they obviously didn't have time to get my reading too. No warning either, they were hiding behind a bridge.

Dave1980

i dont think my car will go that fast, or not the renault anyway, the scoob might but would probably pop the engine .

a more sedate 90ish is on the cards, sounds like its doable in a day though.

2000TLondon

I was late for my speedcat thing a couple of years back, and was really making up time heading in to Calais, had started off in Dijon so had had quite a run. It was very daft in hindsight, but I came over the brow of a slight hill at about 110mph to see a french police man beside his Citroen ZX with a radar gun. He was about half a mile ahead of me but I figured there was now no point slowing, he actually dropped the radar as he was running around his car!! I was over the next slight hill before he'd got in his car, so decided I'd just bat on, I was only about 15 miles out side of Calais. Didn't see him again, but was very paranoid the entire Calias force were going to pounce on me at the port!