My Alpine Road Trip
Discussion
I've just spent the last week having a blast around the Swiss, French and Italian Alps with a group of friends. Had an amazing time and would really recommend this to anyone that hasn't done so before. I thought I'd share my experiences as I've enjoyed reading similar threads from others, and also how useful they were to me with the planning aspect.
I've spent the last two months looking forward to this trip, the planning and discussions of what routes to take almost became a way of life. I actually really enjoyed the planning part of it. Our route changed so many times before we left, depending on how we were all feeling that particular week about how much mileage to push each day. Also hearing that the Col de Turini was closed, drastically changed our route (for the better I'd say) and we ended up staying in the Alps the whole time.
The aims of the trip were basically to drive around the Alps in convertibles (the Lexus being the only exception), and drive as many Alpine passes as possible.
Day 1: London - Reims - Champagnole
The line-up - E46 M3 (mine), IS250, Mk1 MX5 and a Boxster S
After a quick 45mins on the Channel Tunnel, we stopped off at the old Reims GP Circuit to take pics and do a couple of laps
Other than Reims, Day 1 was an easy but boring journey to get down to the foot of the Alps. Most of it was motorway driving. Only good thing was the fact that the toll roads were practically empty! We hardly saw another car during the day. The downside was that they were bloody expensive!
Day 2: Champagnole - Geneva - Combloux, Mont Blanc Tunnel, Chamonix, Martigny
Let the fun begin ;-)
Mont Blanc
I had high expectations of driving through the Mont Blanc tunnel and having a 12km long tunnel run. But in reality, it's boring after the first minute of driving. There is a slow speed restriction and it cost 35 euros per car. I would avoid it if possible. You'll get your tunnel run kicks from the 60 other tunnels you come across that are free.
Day 3: Martigny, Brig, Gletsch, Andermatt, Chur
Stopping on the Furka Pass (road on the left). In the background on the right you can see the Grimsel Pass.
Being chased by the M3
Day 4:Chur, San Bernardino, Lake Como, Lake Garda
Sufner See - Lake on the border of Switzerland and Italy
Stunning!
Starting the climb up the St Bernardino Pass
Top of the St Bernardino Pass. Good Coffee up here!
There were hundreds of tiny piles of rock everywhere...
This was the view coming down the St Bernardino Pass. It was such an incredible road and is one I highly rate. We pushed our cars really hard coming down the pass on the southern side. Everyones brakes were smoking by the end of it... Had one or two hairy moments where I thought I wasn't going to slow down enough for the next hairpin.
Heading cross country to Lake Como.
On the ferry crossing Lake Como. Wish we could have spent longer here, but we had to get to our overnight stop at Lake Garda.
Day 5: Lake Garda, Bormio, Stelvio, Schweizer National Park, Davos
Early morning at Lake Garda finalizing the days route.
Leaving the lake and heading for the mountains.
The road leading up to Bormio
Hmm, single track, 4000ft drop to the right, no barriers and a car coming the other way... I'm scared of heights, and I did not like it one bit when I had to put both my right wheels on the edge in order to let this guy through.
Rush hour in Northern Italy ;-)
Found a nice place to stop on that same road to take the sights in.
Looking up at the western side of the Stelvio
A playground for cars and bikes! The surface was really nice and smooth. Not the most involving drive, but good fun none the less.
We ended up parked at the top while each of us took it in turns to do a run up and down it with everyone watching from the top. Awesome sight! My Eisenmann exhaust sounded awesome from the top apparently.
Looking down the eastern side. This side was not so good. The road surface was a bumpy and coming down you really had to take it slow.
It was getting late after playing on the Stelvio, we headed over to Davos which was our next over night. Surprisingly we had our best drive on the way over. First off was a beautiful flowing winding road through a forest. I think this was the Ofen Pass. Ultra smooth tarmac with a mixture of 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear corners, combined with some nice straights where I could stretch the M3. It was a nice contrast to the hairpins on the Stelvio. Absolute heaven!
The sun had now set and it was pitch dark. We were getting a little concerned that we still had the Flüela pass to do. However, this was amazing in the dark. The whole pass has little roadside posts with reflectors on the top. Having your full beam on lit up the markers a long way down the road. I rated this drive during night as the best of the trip, which I think everyone agreed. It was very surreal. There were no other cars on the road, and due to it being pitch dark, I presume that made you focus on the road more.
Day 6: Davos, Andermatt, Gletsch, Grimsel, Interlarken
After the 58th tunnel run, was it getting boring? Nah, pull the left paddle, drop it into second and floor it ;-)
The Grimsel pass.
Day 7: Interlarken, Bern, Basel, Cernay, Munster, Gerardmer
Didn't take many photos on this day. The first part from a drive north back into France from Switzerland. Was pleasant but not too many great roads. We ended up in the Vosges mountains. There were some nice passes, but the traffic was a little heavy to enjoy them fully. Shame.
Day 8: Gerardmer, Luxembourg, Brussels, Calais, London
Early morning oil checks before our long drive home. It's a sad day. We had a stop off in Luxembourg for lunch before heading through Belgium. We had decided to avoid all toll roads as we had spent a good part of £200 between us using the toll roads on the first day.
Driving home through Belgium...
The trip was a total of 2,200 miles over 8 days.
We stopped twice a day for petrol (not always full tanks, but some of the places were rather remote, so we didn't want to take a chance.
I spent £560 on petrol. France and Italy were really expensive for petrol because of the exchange rate to Euros. It was averaging £1.30 per litre! However, in Switzerland, petrol was just around £0.95 per litre!
Euro tunnel was £133 per car.
Accommodation was average £40 per night per person (2/3 star hotels).
I can not rate this site enough when it came to planning and information on all the passes. We basically headed for all the Gold, Silver and Bronze passes they listed. Excellent site! www.alpineroads.com
We're all really down to be back at work. It's not quite the same is you can't see a huge mountain while driving to work. Now considering a road trip to Scotland.... ;-)
I've spent the last two months looking forward to this trip, the planning and discussions of what routes to take almost became a way of life. I actually really enjoyed the planning part of it. Our route changed so many times before we left, depending on how we were all feeling that particular week about how much mileage to push each day. Also hearing that the Col de Turini was closed, drastically changed our route (for the better I'd say) and we ended up staying in the Alps the whole time.
The aims of the trip were basically to drive around the Alps in convertibles (the Lexus being the only exception), and drive as many Alpine passes as possible.
Day 1: London - Reims - Champagnole
The line-up - E46 M3 (mine), IS250, Mk1 MX5 and a Boxster S
After a quick 45mins on the Channel Tunnel, we stopped off at the old Reims GP Circuit to take pics and do a couple of laps
Other than Reims, Day 1 was an easy but boring journey to get down to the foot of the Alps. Most of it was motorway driving. Only good thing was the fact that the toll roads were practically empty! We hardly saw another car during the day. The downside was that they were bloody expensive!
Day 2: Champagnole - Geneva - Combloux, Mont Blanc Tunnel, Chamonix, Martigny
Let the fun begin ;-)
Mont Blanc
I had high expectations of driving through the Mont Blanc tunnel and having a 12km long tunnel run. But in reality, it's boring after the first minute of driving. There is a slow speed restriction and it cost 35 euros per car. I would avoid it if possible. You'll get your tunnel run kicks from the 60 other tunnels you come across that are free.
Day 3: Martigny, Brig, Gletsch, Andermatt, Chur
Stopping on the Furka Pass (road on the left). In the background on the right you can see the Grimsel Pass.
Being chased by the M3
Day 4:Chur, San Bernardino, Lake Como, Lake Garda
Sufner See - Lake on the border of Switzerland and Italy
Stunning!
Starting the climb up the St Bernardino Pass
Top of the St Bernardino Pass. Good Coffee up here!
There were hundreds of tiny piles of rock everywhere...
This was the view coming down the St Bernardino Pass. It was such an incredible road and is one I highly rate. We pushed our cars really hard coming down the pass on the southern side. Everyones brakes were smoking by the end of it... Had one or two hairy moments where I thought I wasn't going to slow down enough for the next hairpin.
Heading cross country to Lake Como.
On the ferry crossing Lake Como. Wish we could have spent longer here, but we had to get to our overnight stop at Lake Garda.
Day 5: Lake Garda, Bormio, Stelvio, Schweizer National Park, Davos
Early morning at Lake Garda finalizing the days route.
Leaving the lake and heading for the mountains.
The road leading up to Bormio
Hmm, single track, 4000ft drop to the right, no barriers and a car coming the other way... I'm scared of heights, and I did not like it one bit when I had to put both my right wheels on the edge in order to let this guy through.
Rush hour in Northern Italy ;-)
Found a nice place to stop on that same road to take the sights in.
Looking up at the western side of the Stelvio
A playground for cars and bikes! The surface was really nice and smooth. Not the most involving drive, but good fun none the less.
We ended up parked at the top while each of us took it in turns to do a run up and down it with everyone watching from the top. Awesome sight! My Eisenmann exhaust sounded awesome from the top apparently.
Looking down the eastern side. This side was not so good. The road surface was a bumpy and coming down you really had to take it slow.
It was getting late after playing on the Stelvio, we headed over to Davos which was our next over night. Surprisingly we had our best drive on the way over. First off was a beautiful flowing winding road through a forest. I think this was the Ofen Pass. Ultra smooth tarmac with a mixture of 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear corners, combined with some nice straights where I could stretch the M3. It was a nice contrast to the hairpins on the Stelvio. Absolute heaven!
The sun had now set and it was pitch dark. We were getting a little concerned that we still had the Flüela pass to do. However, this was amazing in the dark. The whole pass has little roadside posts with reflectors on the top. Having your full beam on lit up the markers a long way down the road. I rated this drive during night as the best of the trip, which I think everyone agreed. It was very surreal. There were no other cars on the road, and due to it being pitch dark, I presume that made you focus on the road more.
Day 6: Davos, Andermatt, Gletsch, Grimsel, Interlarken
After the 58th tunnel run, was it getting boring? Nah, pull the left paddle, drop it into second and floor it ;-)
The Grimsel pass.
Day 7: Interlarken, Bern, Basel, Cernay, Munster, Gerardmer
Didn't take many photos on this day. The first part from a drive north back into France from Switzerland. Was pleasant but not too many great roads. We ended up in the Vosges mountains. There were some nice passes, but the traffic was a little heavy to enjoy them fully. Shame.
Day 8: Gerardmer, Luxembourg, Brussels, Calais, London
Early morning oil checks before our long drive home. It's a sad day. We had a stop off in Luxembourg for lunch before heading through Belgium. We had decided to avoid all toll roads as we had spent a good part of £200 between us using the toll roads on the first day.
Driving home through Belgium...
The trip was a total of 2,200 miles over 8 days.
We stopped twice a day for petrol (not always full tanks, but some of the places were rather remote, so we didn't want to take a chance.
I spent £560 on petrol. France and Italy were really expensive for petrol because of the exchange rate to Euros. It was averaging £1.30 per litre! However, in Switzerland, petrol was just around £0.95 per litre!
Euro tunnel was £133 per car.
Accommodation was average £40 per night per person (2/3 star hotels).
I can not rate this site enough when it came to planning and information on all the passes. We basically headed for all the Gold, Silver and Bronze passes they listed. Excellent site! www.alpineroads.com
We're all really down to be back at work. It's not quite the same is you can't see a huge mountain while driving to work. Now considering a road trip to Scotland.... ;-)
Edited by lazy surf on Sunday 4th October 00:35
Lancs Dave said:
It's great doing a roadtrip with other different cars. I can't stand this "my car is better than your car bull$hit".
I've done all the roads on your trip.
Nice report, thanks for sharing
yeah I agree. everyone was very happy with their respective cars as the trip meant something slightly different to each driver.I've done all the roads on your trip.
Nice report, thanks for sharing
my mate in the MX5 bought his car mainly for drifting, and ended up going sideways round most bends ;-) the boxster S was great through the corners and fast switchbacks, but lost out a little bit on the straights to my M3 once I got into 3rd gear. had great fun chasing each other up the mountain passes. The lexus had plenty of power but was a great cruiser, by far the most comfortable and quiet. he ended up carrying half of the MX5's luggage
Allyc85 said:
great pictures and report. One thing I wish I did on my trip the other week was stop for more pictures but we spent so long trying to get past the dawdlers we didnt want to let them pass again 
yeah, can be a pain sometimes.we were really lucky with seeing very few cars on the roads. we also had walkie talkies, so when the lead car overtook, they would call out when it was clear and all the other cars would simply pull out and over take. was good teamwork.
SimonV8ster said:
Looks like the roads are all clear of snow - wonder when it starts to come down ?? 
not sure, but we were really lucky with the weather... it was clear skies and sunny for nearly all but the first day. we managed to drive with the roof down all but 30 mins of the 8 days 
all the tops of the passes were completely clear, and also very few cars on the road! would have liked to experience some snow, but it would have probably very soon lost it's appeal.
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