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Euro Trip Planning - Alps


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I did a road trip round California and Nevada last Summer, with an awesome rag top Camaro for company. Not the most refined, but certainly the most fun car I'd ever driven, I think it was heavily responsible for my decision to buy a Zed. This year I can't rustle up enough support to do another road trip in the States (I was planning Houston to Key West but it'll probably have to wait) so I got all inspired by reading Dan's Euro Jaunt diary and in particular, the bits about mountains.

 

I've got relatives in France, I want to see the Millau Bridge, I've always wanted to drive Monaco and I've never been to Italy or Switzerland either, let alone seen an alp. So I dreamed up this route, with some pretty heavy influence from here http://www.ultimated...roads/index.php

 

Route_zpsf0c8a03d.jpg

 

I've managed to work in 7 of their top 10 in my route, plus the aforementioned Monaco (who doesn't want to drive Monaco???) and some bits of northern Italy (I've heard Florence is quite nice) and of course the famous Stelvio Pass. Below are the particularly fun parts of the drive.

 

Map 1

Map 2

Map 3

Map 4

Map 5

Map 6

Map 7

 

Anyway, what I'm after is experience from anyone who know these parts of the world and can give me tips and advice on things to see and do along the way, maybe even places to stay. I got loads of great tips on my Scotland Road Trip thread, so I'm hoping for more of the same. I'm thinking just short of a couple of weeks should be enough, so there is some slack in this plan.

 

PS - Don't tell my Zed but I'm also considering flying into Geneva and renting a vehicle there, if I can find something fun enough. Preferably German with a big unit. probably going to take her once I figure out the costs of flights and rental.

 

Any and all comments appreciated. Ta.

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A few weeks ago I went down for the Monaco GP, we hired a car and did the route de Napoleon from Grasse up into the mountains was honestly some of the best roads I have ever seen, roads were smooth and hardly any traffic but most of all beautiful scenery. Plenty of little towns to stop off at for breaks. Would definitely recommend taking some time out to explore some of the roads there of you get the chance.

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The Millau Bridge is impressive but you get the best view from either the valley underneath or the viewing areas near to each end.

The toll across is quite expensive and once you are on it you could be on any bit of elevated motorway.

 

I would suggest going to see it :thumbs:

 

Paying to cross it :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

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50 next year so planning to drive to lake Orta in Italy to take the other half to lunch.

Gonna take a few days to get there and back and enjoy the zed and the scenery.

First trip but looking forward to it.

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A few weeks ago I went down for the Monaco GP, we hired a car and did the route de Napoleon from Grasse up into the mountains was honestly some of the best roads I have ever seen, roads were smooth and hardly any traffic but most of all beautiful scenery. Plenty of little towns to stop off at for breaks. Would definitely recommend taking some time out to explore some of the roads there of you get the chance.

 

We camped that road out of Monaco back in 1999. Did a six month tour of Europe, 9,000 miles. Monaco is a tad boring but you have to drive the roads which represent the track although you'll have to do it in 3 stages as its made up of one way roads, as the circuit isn't linked correctly for every day use. We drove the tunnel, harbour, start line, casino and the hairpin in the camper van. I had to make my own v10 noises with my mouth :lol:

 

A long trip you have planned and take into account heavy toll costs.

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Got to see my Mum and step Dad in France (point B), she'll go bananas if I drive round Europe and don't drop in. It gives me an excuse to see Millau too. If I do fly into Geneva though, I'll probably cut it down to more like a week and sack off France and Florence, but then no Zed :(

 

Edit: Why has my B become shades? Anyway, it's the second stop.

Edited by SuperStu
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Well timed thread. I will keep an eye on this for comments too :)

We leve for our Europe trip in a little under 2 weeks.....starting to sink in now and still lots to plan, do and fit to the Zed. We are doing a similar ish route - down through france to monaco, via the Route Napoleon. Over to Italy to stay in the famimly house where my grandad grew up :) then on the home leg we will take in the Ferarri Factory/museum, venice, Lake Garda, Stelvio Pass :)

 

Looking at your map there are two things you pass VERY near to and should be a worthwhile detour (or alteast they better be as we are doing them).

 

1. Near Modena is the Ferrari factory, museum and test track :) we have booked the full tour for around £50

2. As you leave Monaco heading to Italy, head north and drive the Col De Turini :)

 

For places to stay I cant really help as we are camping most of the trip. Got a good deal on a Novotel in Monaco though - €125 :)

 

Matt :)

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Do it! :D

 

 

Take the Zed, would be my first bit of advice. Whilst hiring an AMG or similar car would be fun, you'll want something nimble on those mountains to make the most of them. Get a good geo before you go to get all the understeer dialled out and you'll have a blast.

 

As above, do the Lambo, Ferrari and Pagani tours if you can, they're all pretty close to each other so would seem a shame not to.

 

A combination of Expedia and Trip Advisor is a good way to pick hotels, I didn't get a crap one at all on my trip. For me, things like wifi and free parking were a must, and Expedia does mention if it has those.

 

Choose your time to go carefully. Go too soon and the passes will still be closed (some are still closed today for this year), go too late and they'll be heaving with traffic and you'll hate it.

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Cheers Matt. Good to know it's affordable to stay in Monaco, without having to be one of those high-powered, shape shifting lizards who control world finance. I'll scope Col De Turini if I get 10m at work today. :thumbs: Factory tours seem to be a must, glad I posted, as it hadn't occurred to me.

 

Dan, it looks like I'll have to go later in the the year due to work, it's super expensive for me to take time off as a contractor. It's going to be a fine line on timing between open passes and not too busy, but I'm hoping the driving gods will be smiling. Im not averse to getting up before the sun if it means a clearer route. As the inspiration behind this it's a honour to have you on the thread :notworthy:

 

Good tip on the geo, ta.

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Don't miss out on the Gorge du Verdun, if you hit it at the right time of day, coming up from Monaco, around 5-6ish, when most are off the roads for tea, it's a belter. You might recognise it from when Top Gear test drove the Audi RS4 and raced the two free climbers up a cliff face. We've stayed there on Lac sur Mer, close to Moustiere St Marie (beautiful village)

 

The Italian Lakes are gorgeous, and offer a not to far drive to Stelvio, also take in Livorgno (tax free haven).

 

On the Stelvio, watch out for bikers, they don't seem to give a f%*k about cars, from the Italian side it's a pretty hairy drive up!

 

Good luck, hope all goes well

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As said above, Monaco is a nightmare to drive around but has to be done. There are some incredibly tight hill starts that you will come across if you venture down some of the side streets. The number of supercars I saw driving along the Cote D'Azur was incredible. Only ever seen 1 458 in Britain on the roads and I must have seen atleast 7 when I was there for the week. Il upload some pictures from my trip tonight when I get in.

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French Grand Canyon added, great tip thanks, it's so close to my route it would be rude to miss. I'll see what I can do about a bull bar for the Zed to deal with bikers. I'm looking into Livorgno. Cheers G Man.

 

Hill starts are easy with the Zed's rock solid handbrake George! Looking forward to photos.

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So I only have a couple of decent photos that I took on my iphone, rest are still on the camera.

 

View from Grand Stand

 

IMG_03151_zpsa67790c4.jpg

 

2 458 side by side on Monaco Streets

 

IMG_03331_zpsa0779313.jpg

 

 

View of Nice on way up to Route Napoleon

 

IMG_0402_zpsde6edfe2.jpg

 

View from Eze (also on Route Napoleon)

 

IMG_0406_zpsb15aa3d9.jpg

 

View of Monaco

 

IMG_04091_zps869f425e.jpg

Edited by georgerobertfreeman
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Those prancing horses will have the shits when my Zed rocks up beside them and looks all mean and triad while they're all like designer shoes and latte art.

 

Great pics, only further whetted my appetite :thumbs:

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If I actually knew you guys better, I'd love to do a massive road trip like this. Maybe I need to get my arse down to some of these meets.

 

That's interesting my mates are talking about bailing on me. Something to do with girlfriend wants to blah blah blah...

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I'm just in the last week of a four week trip. Six of us went to the Le Mans test day then on through Burgundy to Annecy on a Jackal recommended route, did the Furka pass on the first day of opening. Susten and Grimsel were closed. Other passes were the St. Gotthard, the Oberlap, the Stelvio, the Petite and Grand St. Bernard, the Route de Napoleon, the Gorge du Verdon. At the moment I'm near St. Tropez and will be working my way homeward next week.

 

The Stelvio was the most disappointing for us going up. Packed with every conceivable vehicle. But it was Saturday. Going down was curiously empty. Maybe they were having a siesta.

 

As there were 6 of us initially our hotels were chosen and booked in February. The others went home after 9 days but my wife flew out to join me and we just book our hotels from day to day using Booking.com or the Auberge and Logis guide. No problems so far.

 

It's been a great trip and the Zed with 95k miles on it has performed flawlessly (touch wood).

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If I actually knew you guys better, I'd love to do a massive road trip like this. Maybe I need to get my arse down to some of these meets.

 

That's interesting my mates are talking about bailing on me. Something to do with girlfriend wants to blah blah blah...

Typical isn't it. Problem I have is very few of my mates care about cars in the slightest, and very few can drive and like driving. So road trips just don't happen for me.

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Yeah, I get that. I tried to include Milan, Florence, Monaco, Geneva to cater for the less enthusiastic drivers and add some culture but it doesn't appear to enough. Looks like I'll be able to sing along to my tunes though.

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