First european roadtrip - help needed!

Luke

Luke

Luke

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Location
S. Yorkshire
I'm going to be staying in Italy in August and would love to drive it if possible.
In working out the costs I have taken into account fuel, Eurotunnel and a couple of hotels on the way. In working out the tolls using the viamichelin route planner.

Is that planner even remotely accurate? Between Calais and Panicale it suggests tolls of approximately £133 return. It also mentions €33 road tax which I'm not sure of the meaning of.
Breakdown cover, wear and tear on the car etc are already considered.

Are there any costs I've not taken into account?

My proposed route is straight down to Nancy where I plan to stay the night, then to Milan for another hotel. The 3rd day will be a short hop to Panicale.
The return journey will dispense with the Milan stop.

This isn't a whimsical fantasy trip, the villa is booked!

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Don't want to put you off too much but I found the Italians to be absolute lunatics anywhere near big towns / cities - I'm not sure I'd want to take my own car.
 
Drive via Germany and Switzerland instead. Better scenery, no tolls (Bar the Swiss motorway tax of about 25 quid) and no speed limit in Germany either.
 
Can you suggest a route at all? Sorry to appear lazy but my navigational skills will likely end up with me coming up with something insane!

Regarding the city driving, I rode my motorbike in central London for several years and am confident in cities. Concern noted though!

Even just the best point of entry and exits along the way would be enough to help me a lot.
 
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Yeah they do it at 80mph though, obviously a cultural thing whereby indicating a manoeuvre (not alwaus by actually indicating, sometimes just by lane positioning) means "I am doing this regardless". You learn to anticipate it but it's worth at least being mentally prepared for it
 
The OH and I did London-Paris-Burgundy-Como-Zurich-Luxembourg-Brussels-London in 2013. Tolls were a bit steep at times, but I don't remember them being that high. Mont-Blanc tunnel is about £40 though! I'd go over the top if I were to do it again. Swiss motorways have a fixed yearly tax (vignette) that you need to buy before joining a motorway. I spent an hour driving round a small town near the italian border on a sunday afternoon trying to find one!

Fuel was disgustingly cheap in luxembourg, may be less cheap now! Also disgustingly expensive in Italy!

Remember:
Hi-Vis in cabin for all passengers
Drive on the right
2 Disposable Breathalyzers
Warning Triangle
Drive on the right
Full Set of Spare Bulbs
Check insurance covers you abroad
Don't speed in Switzerland
Drive on the right.
Certain bits in Germany are unrestricted, they will get you for tailgating though.

And drive on the right!

We did about 2000 miles over 10 days and had a blast!
 
[TW]Fox;27477314 said:
Drive via Germany and Switzerland instead. Better scenery, no tolls (Bar the Swiss motorway tax of about 25 quid) and no speed limit in Germany either.
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This - even the motorways in Switzerland are stunning, and if the weather is nice you can detour off and take in a few passes, which is surely the point of doing a road trip.

We did Bruges to Lake Como over 3 days on the bike via the Black Forest, and only did about 200 miles of that on the motorway, the rest was cross country including a lot of very minor roads. much nicer to actually see some of the countries you are driving through
 
Fox has it right, well nearly get out of France quick as, so maybe down to Lille, then head to Luxembourg City, then on to Basle, right down through Switzerland to Milan.
The scenery is immense.
Like fox said it's abit longer but cheaper in the long run.
I have been to Italy many times and many different routes it's the one I prefer
 
[TW]Fox;27478069 said:
You don't need these.
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Even though you can't officially be fined for not having them, isn't it better to spend the £4 on a couple to stick in the boot so if you do get stopped you can wave them at the officer and be on your way? Rather than giving them a reason to look for any other reason to get you? :p
 
Haggisman said:
Even though you can't officially be fined for not having them, isn't it better to spend the £4 on a couple to stick in the boot so if you do get stopped you can wave them at the officer and be on your way? Rather than giving them a reason to look for any other reason to get you? :p
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No, not really. It's really funny how few ****s the police in France give about british cars. Unless you're going very very fast, obviously drunk, or don't have your insurance/licence they just don't care. I've probably done over 30k in the last few years in France and the one time I was stopped, they only cared about seeing my licence, and thought a gearbox service receipt was my insurance documentation.

It is a good idea to have a high viz jacket though, not because they'll fine you for not having one (technically they can but none of my French friends have ever heard of it happening), but because a lot of the motorways are unlit and if you do break down or have to change a tyre, it's obviously best to be as visible as possible.
 
Italy I would avoid driving - absolute nutcases. Over a week period I nearly had 4 accidents - they drive on the wrong side of the road constantly, dont care about sharp corners, giving you space or indicating. Someone said to me was because they are quite religious over there and a 'what will be will be' attitude exists. Again not sure if that was BS or not, but regardless it was not a pleasant experience driving around there.
 
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geekman said:
No, not really. It's really funny how few ****s the police in France give about british cars. Unless you're going very very fast, obviously drunk, or don't have your insurance/licence they just don't care. I've probably done over 30k in the last few years in France and the one time I was stopped, they only cared about seeing my licence, and thought a gearbox service receipt was my insurance documentation.

It is a good idea to have a high viz jacket though, not because they'll fine you for not having one (technically they can but none of my French friends have ever heard of it happening), but because a lot of the motorways are unlit and if you do break down or have to change a tyre, it's obviously best to be as visible as possible.
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Fair enough - I got a kit which had everything in anyway, so I have a couple just in case :p

iamtheoneneo said:
Italy I would avoid driving - absolute nutcases. Over a week period I nearly had 4 accidents - they drive on the wrong side of the road constantly,
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You do know they're supposed to drive on the right over there don't you...? :p
 
iamtheoneneo said:
Italy I would avoid driving - absolute nutcases. Over a week period I nearly had 4 accidents - they drive on the wrong side of the road constantly, dont care about sharp corners, giving you space or indicating. Someone said to me was because they are quite religious over there and a 'what will be will be' attitude exists. Again not sure if that was BS or not, but regardless it was not a pleasant experience driving around there.
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I have a few memories have Italian roads.

My strongest memory was on the way back to the airport from the hotel, in a traffic jam on a 3 lane motorway...6 cars abreast. Drivers were just driving into any space you could fit a car in as it opened up ahead of them. Then a golden retriever came merrily trotting along through the traffic!

On the way to the hotel from the airport our driver spent almost the whole journey looking back at us chatting, only casting occasional glances forward, driving straight through most red lights without a single care in the world.

Finally, in the town centre on the Friday night as it begun to get busy, people just abandoned their cars literally anywhere (even the inside lane of a roundabout). There was a police lady there doing her best to maintain order, but all the drivers just argued with her and eventually just wondered off.
 
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If you are driving in France make sure you get an English language Condat D'Accord form from your insurer. Otherwise you could end up being talked into signing something you don't quite understand in French by a very pretty girl driving a beaten-up Renault Clio who hit your car while you were static but you ended up having a Fault claim logged against you and you can't do a damn thing about it because it's a legally binding document in France.

That could have happened to someone I know....

Just get the form in English. Just in case...
 
Don't rely on a prepaid mastercard to pay tolls if you go via France. Ours were useless in most of them.
 
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