Road Trip to Monaco and The Alps!

[Ikemi]

A road trip to Monaco, complete with return journey through The Alps and Switzerland - It's something I've always fancied doing, but have never had the chance to actually do! After splitting with my girlfriend earlier this week, I'm now craving an adventure of some kind ...

I'm sure there are a few members on here who have done just this and I was hoping if someone could answer my questions, as well as maybe provide helpful advice?

-The easiest question of all; has anyone got it alone, or is it more fun/just as cheap to go via a driving holiday company? If the latter, which company did you go with? If you went by yourself, did it feel more like an unplanned adventure?
-This is a bit cheeky, but does anyone have any route information e.g. Best driving roads, places to stop overnight?
-Looking at hotels in Monaco, is the 'self parking' fee basically a car park charge? Does it guarantee parking?
-When is the best time to go? I'm thinking June, unless someone says otherwise?

Thanks!

[Ikemi]

Bump! Anyone?

[pbarlow0032]

Do it, enjoy yourself! I can't really help on the routes as I've never done it as a driving holiday, but have driven to south of France many many times via fast autoroutes (not really the ethos of your trip?). I found parking in Monaco dead easy (quite a few multi stories) and relatively cheap ie there didn't seem to be a Monaco weighting on parking like there was on everything else! If you're going as far as Monaco, Cannes is also nice for a visit, and saint tropez is my favourite place, bar none. The coast all the way across has lots of lovely little places to stop, and a lot of the route is twisty cliff top roads if you choose to use them rather than the autoroute

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Here you go;
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

It's a long thread but the swiss/Monaco trip starts on page 9, loads of pics too!

If you have any questions feel free to comment on the thread as I'm notified if someone does

[g3org3y]

Road trip to Monaco and the Alps in a BMW E30 Cabriolet. Write up and pics. Hope it can inspire you and give you some suggestions.

[CarbonXKR]

Here's another. Excellent fun, planned all the Hotels through booking.com ........... http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[DuraAce]

DIY it, don't do too much planning. I've been in the car and on the bike and doing your own thing leads to some great experiences. Have a rough idea of where you want to go but don't prebook everything, it puts pressure on your schedule.

You never struggle to find accommodation so go where you enjoy and make decisions as you travel.

[pbarlow0032]

To add, from investigating the alps for cycling, I'm pretty sure a lot of the highest mountain passes are closed from September to May due to snow so I would say June is your best bet. Also, congestion gets bad in summer holidays so probably sensible to stay away in July/August. If I was you I would do it off your own back, that's all part of the adventure :-)

[cptsideways]

Take some skis this time of year & enjoy the trip

[Bluebarge]

pbarlow0032 said:

To add, from investigating the alps for cycling, I'm pretty sure a lot of the highest mountain passes are closed from September to May due to snow so I would say June is your best bet.

What he said - most of the mountain passes will be closed because of snow until May. You will therefore be using the tunnels - nothing wrong with that and plenty of nice scenery around, but winter tyres would be sensible along with a set of chains.

[Ikemi]

Thank you so much for the replies and links to related threads! It's much appreciated! So far I've booked a room at the Hotel Port Palace in Monaco for one night (Well, it's right on the harbour and not eye-wateringly expensive, so it would've been rude not to!) and I've bought a TomTom with all the relevant maps (Thanks Amazon Black Friday!) ... All that's left is to change the water pump, cambelt, thermostat and oil before departing, which will be mid-June. I'm really rather excited!

I still need to sort out a general route, although I know roughly where I'd like to go. I'm also going to try and borrow a mate's GoPro, so I'll try and put together a 5 minute clip of my journey once home!

Cheers!