Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Inspired by Top Gear a few weeks ago we've decided to take a two week driving holiday in the Alps to take in the delights of the Stelvio Pass

My rough plan at the moment is to blat down through France to Monaco, then work our way up through the Alps taking in a bit of Italy and a bit of Switzerland.

We'd prefer to stay in small hotels, nothing flashy, just a comfy, clean bed and en-suite will do us.

Any route/hotel recommendations, tips and general help will be greatly appreciated

I *think* I would prefer to have all our accommodation pre-booked but am not sure if it's necessary, we'll be going in June. Probably

Cheers

Sal

RB5_245

Well if it were this time of year my tip would be - don't eat yellow snow.

On the other hand, I have driven across france a fair few times and never booked accommodation in advance, it's never been an issue except in real busy spots. It kind of opens up a lot more choice when you're there rather than have a fixed destination each day, if you find a particularly nice spot to stop, or cover a lot of miles one day.

Enjoy, I love those trips

worley

June you say? make sure that the air con is topped-up and brakes are not prone to fade while decending some of the higher mountain passes.

As stated, fix a few nice hotels (lake sides, etc) and just wing the rest - pack a small tent if you're not fussed with 'roughing it' for the odd day.

I'd take the Autoroute down to Dole (France) and decend to Geneva via Col de la Faucille - used to live in the area! then plan your route towards Nice via Italy.

Beware that some of the routes can be rough on tyres / suspension and switchbacks can be hairy with coaches and lorries coming the other way - particularly in a RH drive vehicle.


Nik

David Lock

Next time your car's in the garage just ask if you might need to make any minor engine adjustments for altitude. I've only driven old cars in the Alps but they do struggle a bit when high up. Maybe this doesn't apply to modern engines?

Any room for a passenger? I'd love to do the Alps again dl

gatty

i would love to do that trip but with 2 little ones it might become a bit of a chaw , i was in the bavarian mountain range a month ago and i would love to go back some day!

good luck you will love it.

v8voodoo

What a fantastic trip..!!

Make sure you do a diary log and list the route, decent hotels etc for those of us who may decide to replicate it....!!

Nige.

gatty

good idea that somthing i would be very intrested in, following a proven route.

v8voodoo

Now there's a nice little business idea for someone....

Scooby driving holidays..!!

Hmmm...

Edited to add:

Seems my millionaire making idea has already been done:

Best Drives, Best drive in Europe

Not a bad route idea in the above place that does the holidays.

noobyscooby

Mind the drop!

STi-Frenchie

And don't forget to say hello on the way past! The Col is great for letting the scoob rip and acts as a little teaser for Stelvio

andys

hmm well don't do what the guy with a Lambo did on Top gear this week.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Alwyn, it's a Focus ST and is fresh out of the wrapper but you can be sure of a visit (as long as you won't be offended by the blue oval ), I'd already thought of popping in to say hello

Thanks for all the advice so far folks, please keep it coming I like the idea of booking certain hotels in the more popular places and leaving the rest to chance. I'm a bit concerned about it being too hot, neither of us are fans of the heat but we have climate so as long as we stay in the car we should be ok, the last time I was in in Monte Carlo it was January and I was too warm

I think we'll be taking a few spares with us, in fact as the other half is an AA patrol man I could get him to follow me down there in his van just in case

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Yes I saw that, rest assured I'll be driving like Miss Daisy :innocent:

STi-Frenchie

Looking forward to seeing you and Bob, Sal. The oval shouldn't be a problem, I used to drive one before I got the scoob and the Focus ST should go well in the twisties June is generally nice, not too hot and not too cold either -- although when the scoobynutters came over to Les Gets for our photo shoot it actually snowed on them!! Still, a fondue always goes down well no matter what time of the year Have a chat with Christine and Chris in the Photo Forum as they did the trip over here and had fun on the roads. There was a big trip to Stelvio which was organized in the International Forum a few years back so if you do a search you should find the thread, there was a lot of useful information in it and you could probably get the road book off one of the guys.

Clarebabes

We went to Switzerland - did a few passes and thoroughly enjoyed driving them. Didn't do the Stelvio as we were staying near Lake Brienzersee and it was a bit too far. Passo della Novena was good - great views from the top!

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Ooh thanks Alwyn, will look in International and speak to Chris & Christine

Please say that it will be a chocolate fondue, please please

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Clare, did you stay in hotels? If so have you got any recommendations?

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

We did it on the bikes a few years ago. We stayed at Interlaken in Switzerland though then road through the passes to Italy, stayed a night there then over Stelvio and a night in Austria.

Interlaken is lovely and all the roads round it are stunning!

we stayed here



It looks like a postcard



From Interlaken follow the Grindleward Pass to Italy



5t.

Clarebabes

Ha, ha, if only! We camped and we stayed at the same campsite for the whole trip and just went out for day trips. We did go to Italy over the Simplon Pass, did the Sustenpass and the Grimselpass too. Great driving roads - check your brakes

STi-Frenchie

OMG quel horreur! Vacherin and Gruyere fondue for me, cheese all the way!

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Oh ok then Cheese is the second big love of my life after my car

Simon 69

When are you thinking about going? Spring comes later in the Alps..... On the Scumball Astraboy tried going over the tops only to find that the passes were all still closed (and completely snowed-up) at the end of April!

Simon

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Clare I have thought about taking the tent but I just don't know, it all depends how much the hotel costs work out at. Most of our budget will be blown on petrol, at the moment we're getting 21mpg but I suspect it will be a bit less on this trip

Mind you if we take David Lock up on his kind offer to be a passenger for us the cost will come down a bit

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Simon - mid June

Clarebabes

Some of the passes in Switzerland don't open until June and then close early October.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

5t - that looks stunning

Clarebabes

We found that eating out in Switzerland is WELL expensive, so we just bought stuff we could cook ourselves on the stoves - meat is expensive there too though, even from the supermarkets, and they only do 2 types of Indian/Chinese Uncle Bens jars - korma or sweet and sour. Got a bit bored with this after 10 days! But I could always rustle up a spag bol... Cooking our own food meant that we could spend more money on doing things during the day. And we were also very tired by 11pm so were in bed anyway - it's all that fresh air you know!

Going up Mount Titlis was great fun! But it cost alot of money to get up there, so unless you have limitless amounts of cash, staying in a hotel and eating out every night would cripple most budgets.

STi-Frenchie

swissinfo - Informations routières en Suisse. L'état du traffic sur route et autoroute - Inforoute. provides a list (in French) of the Swiss mountain passes and whether they are currently open or not so if you can access the web from your hotel it might be useful when you are planning the next day's jolly.

STi-Frenchie

I also found this Le Tour de Suisse en 80 Cols to whet your appetite for the trip

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Clare, I'm not a great fan of eating out on holiday, I prefer to cook my own food as a) I have to eat a low fat diet due to a stupid illness I have, b) I'm a veggie and c) it costs too much and I'd prefer to spend the money on other stuff like you do My favourite thing is to cook over an open fire out in the woods

We definitely don't have limitless amounts of cash so it's cheap and cheerful all the way for us