Driving to Italy

mark66

mark66

mark66

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Hi all,

I am considering driving to Italy for our summer holidays next year and wondered if anyone has any experiences of doing it? The reasons for thinking of driving are:

Flights for family of 4 are quite a lot (~£900)
Car hire for 2 weeks for a Golf size car is quite a lot (~£700)
We are less restricted in the amount of stuff we can take.
Avoid flying Ryan Air!!
Thinking that the road trip could be quite an experience!

The nearest city is Ancona on the east coast. Google maps states the journey as 1105 miles from Aylesbury, via Calais. The journey will send us through the middle of Switzerland.
I expect we would need to allocate 3 days for driving with 2 overnight stops en-route? Does this sound reasonable or could it be done comfortably in 2 days?

Are there any other factors I am missing that would discourage you from this drive?

Cheers

Mark
 
Don't forget to add in the cost of toll roads in France, and I think you need a permit before you can turn a wheel in Switzerland.
 
My step brother and his 5 kids drive to Croatia 4-5 time a year I think they do it in 2 days there and 1 back seems to be OK
 
I'd be tempted to cross from France to Italy below Switzerland. Possibly do it in 2 days with a single night stop in Annecy which is a lovely town on a lake in the French alps. It'd be a pretty long first day but you could have a look around Annecy on the second morning if you felt like it.
 
I've been passenger in a car while driven to the border of spain, did that in two stops, wasn't bad at all, french roads are awesome :p
 
going through Switzerland maybe the most direct route, I would personally go through the mont-blanc tunnel route instead. From experience, its an easier drive with very little traffic by English standards.

Tolls and petrol/diesel will add up quite a bit on top of the £700 hire charge, and I assume you checked they don't mind the car going abroad.

Switzerland you need a motorway pass to drive on any of their motorways, its a one off fee that covers you for the year.
 
Having just done a trip through France and Italy. I can highly recommend it. We took it easy and stopped off several times on the way down.

The only thing I can recommend is to take lots of stops and allow for high fuel prices and toll charges. I would imagine you will spend a similar amount on those to the flight costs. The fuel in particular varies drastically even with garages that are next to each other!?!?

One thing that amazed me was the lack of traffic jams on any of the major routes. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the UK.
 
I'd do it in one hit, but then I don't tend to get tired behind the wheel.

I do Manchester > French Alps every year in one hit, and have done Manchester > Patizánske (Slovakia), which is 1210 miles, in one hit too.

I'd rather spend my holiday at my destination rather than drag it out on the way there and back.
 
burns said:
I'd be tempted to cross from France to Italy below Switzerland. Possibly do it in 2 days with a single night stop in Annecy which is a lovely town on a lake in the French alps. It'd be a pretty long first day but you could have a look around Annecy on the second morning if you felt like it.
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Thanks, sound nice I will check it out :)

TomO said:
going through Switzerland maybe the most direct route, I would personally go through the mont-blanc tunnel route instead. From experience, its an easier drive with very little traffic by English standards.

Tolls and petrol/diesel will add up quite a bit on top of the £700 hire charge, and I assume you checked they don't mind the car going abroad.

Switzerland you need a motorway pass to drive on any of their motorways, its a one off fee that covers you for the year.
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We are not looking to hire a car rom the UK!. The drive will be in our own car and is the alternative to paying ~£700 for a hire car in Italy.

Talbs13 said:
Flights for £900?!?! Where the hell are you looking????
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Its difficult to get an accurate price at the moment due to the holiday being 11 months away and no airline I have found quotes prices that far in advance. I did get a quote a few weeks ago from BA earlier in the year and it was around that price, however I have just gone through Ryan Air and they are only charging £325 for the family to fly to Ancona from Stanstead, but that is end of November. I would imagine prices will go up substantially for summer holidays 2011? If we did fly we will also need to factor in airport car parking charges too.
 
My dad drives down to Sicily pretty much every year.

He did the route you have posted once just to visit the countries but has never done it since. Its a lot easier to go through Dijon, Lyon then Chambery onto Turin.

This year he did Sicily to Calais for with one stop. The crossing to Turin is easily done in one day.
 
mark66 said:
Thanks, sound nice I will check it out :)

We are not looking to hire a car rom the UK!. The drive will be in our own car and is the alternative to paying ~£700 for a hire car in Italy.

Its difficult to get an accurate price at the moment due to the holiday being 11 months away and no airline I have found quotes prices that far in advance. I did get a quote a few weeks ago from BA earlier in the year and it was around that price, however I have just gone through Ryan Air and they are only charging £325 for the family to fly to Ancona from Stanstead, but that is end of November. I would imagine prices will go up substantially for summer holidays 2011? If we did fly we will also need to factor in airport car parking charges too.
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Ryanair pricing doesn't work like that. The earlier you book is usually the cheapest tickets. When my parents do the journey as a family of 4. Its a hell of a lot more to drive than it is to book a flight. They do it because he enjoys driving, likes to have his own car and they can decide to stay on holiday for longer periods of time if they feel like it.
 
ah sorry, thought you were comparing the prices between hiring a car to do the travelling in compared to airfares.

£1600 goes a long way to fuel and tolls. Although There are so many nice places on route that I personally would be stopping in switzerland for more than an overnight stop if going that route and maybe a few other places, but it depends what you are after from the holiday I guess.
 
I've done Surrey to Southern Switzerland in a (long) day before and my father used to do it regularly. He took the Eurotunnel and then through France, Belgium (quickest route to the german autobahns), Germany and then through the middle of Switzerland. He needed his car over there for months at a time so was the only choice but by the time he added up the channel tunnel crossing, tolls and fuel prices, it wasn't cheaper than flying. The Swiss motorway pass however was cost effective as he did it multiple times a year and was there for a long period of time.

Now with a family on board you might not want to peg it down the autobahn at 120mph and they will not be as patient sat in the car for long periods of time I'm sure. So you'll need to add those stop-off hotel costs as part of your like-for-like travel price comparison too. I don't think financially it will make a great deal more sense, but the adventure, having your own car at the destination and seeing one or two other venues en-route might make up for it. Only you can tell.
 
Lopéz said:
I don't think so mate, that's got to be something like 24 hours of solid driving surely?
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That does strike me as absolutley bonkers!

i don't think you'll see any benefit at all cost wise, and if i had a family with me i'd stop at least once overnight. If you're doing the french toll roads though you can easily get to the border in a day, it'll be pretty much 85mph all the way from calais. The Italian motorways are pretty good but the regional roads can be variable, but looking at your routes you should be fine.

Personally I'd stop off en route as part of the trip - why not spend a few nights in a few different places en route? Maybe around the lakes in Italy and somewhere in france? One there/one on the way back?
 
Lopéz said:
I don't think so mate, that's got to be something like 24 hours of solid driving surely?
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I am assuming hes taking regular breaks. I've driven to central Poland in about 23 hours which clocked at a touch under 1,000 miles. Obviously stopping every so often for a strech and leak.

And am doing it again first week of October :D Am actually thinking of coming back via the Stelvio pass this time, bit of a detour though and would like to stop over at a few places if I do take that route so need to see if I can swing the time at work.

To the OP - I love driving in Europe but if I was gonna do it with a family (not that I have any kids etc) I'd probably plan a few nice city stops along the route rather than just try to get to Italy as quickly as possible.
 
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My parents used to drive us all round europe on our summer holidays, normally when doing southern France/Italy we would stop off for a night somewhere in the south/middle of France.

How long are you going for, 2 weeks or 3? I'd suggest ignoring the motorways and taking the main roads parallel to them, a little longer but much cheaper and more scenic. Stop off at a couple of nice places en route and get to the place you want to stay after a nice 3 day drive.**

Personally I'd go down to somewhere like the Dijon/Lyon area on the first day, spend an evening there and then head down to the south coast and along the motorway along the Italian "riviera" and then across. The problem with flying is we all now see the journey as a way to get to your holiday, driving doesn't have to be, make it part of the holiday.

As for including hotels on the way down in travel costs, well no, because you're saving money not staying in hotels (if you are staying in hotels, not camping) at your end point! :p Could always drive back over 3 days another route as well (say through Germany). Think our record was about 6 countries in 2-3 weeks. :p*

*France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Swizerland, Italy and Germany

**For example instead of eating lunch at a boring service station, stop at a small village shop on the way through on the main road then find a nice river to picnic beside. :)
 
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Calais to the tunnel entrance took us about 9 hours flat out with a few leg stretch stops. The we realised we were about to end up in Italy and we weren't going there so had to make an emergency detour :D
 
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