Advice please. Anyone driven to northern Italy?
Discussion
Behemoth said:
Don't imagine for one moment that you can get away with speeding in Germany. I've had more tickets there than anywhere, including the UK.
iandc said:
I think given they let you do any speed on the unrestricted bits the "quid pro quo" is you keep to the limits when in force. Not a bad trade off. They were pulling over (mostly German) cars speeding in the roadworks last time I was on the autobahn.
http://youtu.be/JGOOSIz6Tgk
Agree with most of the opinions posted here.
Avoid under any circumstances the time when
the Italian holidays are on. Best time should
be 2nd half of june/1st half of july: weather
is (usually) stable then and traffic all in
all is OK as well. You will most certainly
come across many bikers and cyclists. Watch
out for them, especially when taking sharp
curves as they can be around every corner!
Switzerland spells danger for your wallet.
Nothing more to say than stick to limits.
Austria is another place to watch out. They
are allowed to laser-gun you with just ONE
officer alone (unlike other EU countries),
plus they pocket the fine on site (cash!).
Never been to France with my Fezza, pass.
Italy is best. The lakes are wonderful to
drive around but the REAL pleasures are the
smaller hill and mountain routes: nothing
beats echoes of an angry motor sound in a
remote valley. Plus: italians will LOVE
your car when you behave like a normal guy.
Enjoy your life and your car. That's what
BOTH are meant to be.
Best,
Ulli
P.S.:
Some pics from former trips (sorry, gotta click)
http://abload.de/img/grossglocknerwzj7r.jpg
http://abload.de/img/formationsflug51rj2.jpg
http://abload.de/img/flug2yjjs8.jpg
http://abload.de/img/sbmarktejsp4.jpg
http://abload.de/img/parkplatzx4ana.jpg
http://abload.de/img/italy1otln4.jpg
http://abload.de/img/italy2ezz53.jpg
Avoid under any circumstances the time when
the Italian holidays are on. Best time should
be 2nd half of june/1st half of july: weather
is (usually) stable then and traffic all in
all is OK as well. You will most certainly
come across many bikers and cyclists. Watch
out for them, especially when taking sharp
curves as they can be around every corner!
Switzerland spells danger for your wallet.
Nothing more to say than stick to limits.
Austria is another place to watch out. They
are allowed to laser-gun you with just ONE
officer alone (unlike other EU countries),
plus they pocket the fine on site (cash!).
Never been to France with my Fezza, pass.
Italy is best. The lakes are wonderful to
drive around but the REAL pleasures are the
smaller hill and mountain routes: nothing
beats echoes of an angry motor sound in a
remote valley. Plus: italians will LOVE
your car when you behave like a normal guy.
Enjoy your life and your car. That's what
BOTH are meant to be.
Best,
Ulli
P.S.:
Some pics from former trips (sorry, gotta click)
http://abload.de/img/grossglocknerwzj7r.jpg
http://abload.de/img/formationsflug51rj2.jpg
http://abload.de/img/flug2yjjs8.jpg
http://abload.de/img/sbmarktejsp4.jpg
http://abload.de/img/parkplatzx4ana.jpg
http://abload.de/img/italy1otln4.jpg
http://abload.de/img/italy2ezz53.jpg
Edited by Relaxed on Friday 23 January 12:09
Lake Garda and Como are very busy in the summer holidays. But the roads in Northern Italy, if you stick to the main ones, are on the whole, good quality.
Stray off the beaten path and it can be a lottery.
But the tourist areas are usually kept in good condition, obviously to keep the money rolling in
Took the Gallardo there a year or two back and was fine.
I did avoid Switzerland though, they seem to hate performance cars and you can actually feel the anger as they stare at you with piercing eyes wishing that your money wan't being used to explode the inner core of the planet with all those carbon molecules.
As others have said the best route down is via Germany and Austria. Also Dover-Dunkirk to avoid all the illegals attempting to get in to Blighty. I had some relatives last year have a few issues with road closures at Calais due to illegals causing security issues.
Stray off the beaten path and it can be a lottery.
But the tourist areas are usually kept in good condition, obviously to keep the money rolling in
Took the Gallardo there a year or two back and was fine.
I did avoid Switzerland though, they seem to hate performance cars and you can actually feel the anger as they stare at you with piercing eyes wishing that your money wan't being used to explode the inner core of the planet with all those carbon molecules.
As others have said the best route down is via Germany and Austria. Also Dover-Dunkirk to avoid all the illegals attempting to get in to Blighty. I had some relatives last year have a few issues with road closures at Calais due to illegals causing security issues.
I organise a euro road trip with a bunch of friends every August. We go late August though, usually the last Saturday.
Hull to Rotterdam, Stuttgart (Merc and Porsche museums are worth a visit or two), St Moritz and then the route changes every year. Last year we did 8 countries in 10 days. We've built up a list of the best passes (by best read good roads and less traffic/cycles) so we tend to avoid the tourist spots (i.e. first couple of times we hit the stelvio but its full of cycles and tourists although the more open back end is better).
Traffic was fine, roads were epic, the Italians were the most welcoming and enthusiastic (I'll never forget when we pulled up in an italian town in a procession of 7 cars including 2 458s and a cafe went wild), watch out for Swiss Police.
My favorite two weeks of the year.
If you want routes, hotels or any other info, private message me.
There's a thread on here somewhere in my history with videos of the trips.
Hull to Rotterdam, Stuttgart (Merc and Porsche museums are worth a visit or two), St Moritz and then the route changes every year. Last year we did 8 countries in 10 days. We've built up a list of the best passes (by best read good roads and less traffic/cycles) so we tend to avoid the tourist spots (i.e. first couple of times we hit the stelvio but its full of cycles and tourists although the more open back end is better).
Traffic was fine, roads were epic, the Italians were the most welcoming and enthusiastic (I'll never forget when we pulled up in an italian town in a procession of 7 cars including 2 458s and a cafe went wild), watch out for Swiss Police.
My favorite two weeks of the year.
If you want routes, hotels or any other info, private message me.
There's a thread on here somewhere in my history with videos of the trips.
I have to say I don't understand all these stories with the French Police. Can you speed at crazy speed unpunished? No. Can you speed reasonably? Yes.
I have been stopped 2x on French motorways and both times I was happy to hand over my extra toll of 90eur cash. They apply 10pct speed correction on recorded speed. And on dry motorway it gets problematic above 50kph over the limit. So as long as you cruise below 180 (and you have the safety margin of the 10pct remember) you get fined 90eur cash. It's actually nominally 180 discounted at 90 if you pay within 2 weeks but as a foreigner you don't really have a choice but to cough up on the spot.
Both times the gendarmes were very polite and we chatted about the car, top speed etc etc. compared to England for me it's still paradise.
What I found was lots of speed checks in rural towns where now they have an absurd 30kph limit with speed bumps all over. And on A roads like road napoleon they will be around unfortunately. On B roads I have rarely seen them.
Bear in mind French love WAZE so if you have that running on your iPhone you have some sort of defence.
I have been stopped 2x on French motorways and both times I was happy to hand over my extra toll of 90eur cash. They apply 10pct speed correction on recorded speed. And on dry motorway it gets problematic above 50kph over the limit. So as long as you cruise below 180 (and you have the safety margin of the 10pct remember) you get fined 90eur cash. It's actually nominally 180 discounted at 90 if you pay within 2 weeks but as a foreigner you don't really have a choice but to cough up on the spot.
Both times the gendarmes were very polite and we chatted about the car, top speed etc etc. compared to England for me it's still paradise.
What I found was lots of speed checks in rural towns where now they have an absurd 30kph limit with speed bumps all over. And on A roads like road napoleon they will be around unfortunately. On B roads I have rarely seen them.
Bear in mind French love WAZE so if you have that running on your iPhone you have some sort of defence.
Doppelkupplung said:
I am thinking of organizing a trip to lake garde and I would like to return via norther Italy. What's it like in mid May? I wouldn't mind driving the Stelvio pass but it seems a bit hit or miss whether it'll be open. Can anybody recommend s nice route from lake garde to Munich?
http://goo.gl/maps/CdYdfBasically this route takes you up towards the Brenner pass but instead of just motorway over the Alps you divert off eastwards just before the Austrian border.
This will take you over towards the famous Grossglockner pass, which is stunning.
Edited by AA999 on Monday 26th January 08:53
We do a Euro trip or two every year.
Northern Italy is lovely but ideally you'd want to avoid the summer holidays, late June or September being a lot quieter but still warm. The roads are generally good, better than the UK.
If you want a bit of a diversion on the way down the Black Forest is lovely and the 500 from Baden Baden south is a great road. You can head over the Stelvio into Bormio and down to the lakes but the Stelvio is very busy, ok if you can get their early in the morning.
This hotel in Garda is nice, great location and secure parking http://www.regina-adelaide.it/index.cfm/en/hotel/ and this is a nice hotel in Bellagio, Lake Como http://www.belvederebellagio.com/en, best to phone ahead and get them to reserve the parking though.
Once a year we have a boys trip to Europe and decide roughly where we want to go and then get these guys http://www.sceniccartours.com/ to book our hotels and crossings. They have a good knowledge of hotels across Europe with decent parking and have been brilliant booking our trips.
Northern Italy is lovely but ideally you'd want to avoid the summer holidays, late June or September being a lot quieter but still warm. The roads are generally good, better than the UK.
If you want a bit of a diversion on the way down the Black Forest is lovely and the 500 from Baden Baden south is a great road. You can head over the Stelvio into Bormio and down to the lakes but the Stelvio is very busy, ok if you can get their early in the morning.
This hotel in Garda is nice, great location and secure parking http://www.regina-adelaide.it/index.cfm/en/hotel/ and this is a nice hotel in Bellagio, Lake Como http://www.belvederebellagio.com/en, best to phone ahead and get them to reserve the parking though.
Once a year we have a boys trip to Europe and decide roughly where we want to go and then get these guys http://www.sceniccartours.com/ to book our hotels and crossings. They have a good knowledge of hotels across Europe with decent parking and have been brilliant booking our trips.
Big E 118 said:
If you want a bit of a diversion on the way down the Black Forest is lovely and the 500 from Baden Baden south is a great road.
This a a good road but it is very heavily policed in the summer and it goes past Titisee which is just hellish in the summertime. Plenty of other good roads to use in the area.I drove from near Basel to Nice 2 years ago and left at 5.30 am. By the time I was nearing the Gottard tunnel, I heard that there were 10km of stationary traffic so took the Susten, Grimsal and Nufenen passes which worked out quicker and was good fun. The queue for the Italian boarder was chaos and took a long while as they were checking everyone's passports. Italy was also s
t. The 'queueing' for the toll booths was something that you had to see to believe and each one took about 40 minutes to get through. Having said that, I did latch onto a few Italian cars after Milan and was cruising at around 240kph and no one batted an eyelid but then came more toll booths. Italian driving is also shocking. Being tailgated by and RS4 while travalling at 200 odd was disconcerting, indictors are just for decoration and undertaking on the hard shoulder were some of the highlights. However this all paled into insignificance compared to the coast road on the way to Nice. I think the journey should have taken me just 6.5 hours was nearer to 12.
Having said all that, I driving down to the Provence at the end of July and will be driving through CH to Chamonix, Courmayeur, Bourg San Maurice, Susa, Briancon, Saint Vincent-les-Forts, Digne, Castellane and La Bastide. I would post a map but Google is being a b
h at the moment. krallicious said:
Big E 118 said:
If you want a bit of a diversion on the way down the Black Forest is lovely and the 500 from Baden Baden south is a great road.
This a a good road but it is very heavily policed in the summer and it goes past Titisee which is just hellish in the summertime. Plenty of other good roads to use in the area.I drove from near Basel to Nice 2 years ago and left at 5.30 am. By the time I was nearing the Gottard tunnel, I heard that there were 10km of stationary traffic so took the Susten, Grimsal and Nufenen passes which worked out quicker and was good fun.
Gottard, Susten Grimsal, Furka passes are great, the tunnel can have terrible queues. Always worth a stop of on the Furka pass to have a walk on and in the Rhone glacier.
I regulary drive down in the Summer to go to Corsica. I normally get the ferry from Savona. I have been in the LP560, 430 and Elise. This summer (end of August beginning of September) will be going down in the Speciale. I find this the best time to go as it is the end of the school holidays but before all the OAP coach tours start and the weather starts to change. No point going down in the pouring rain! Coaches are a real pain even worse to get by than campers and caravans due to their size.
As others have said avoid Switzerland at all costs. Apart from being incredibly expensive, as others have said they hate speeding in any form. I recently met someone who was overtaken by another car on a motorway and then violenyly brake tested by it becuase he had dared to go 5mph over the speed limit. No he was not in a flash car just a normal family saloon. Also I have always found Swiss hotels to be expensive with poor and rude service.
As others have said the Italian lakes get incredibaly busy and not really fun driving roads.
I always go through France to Italy. As anywhere if you take the p**s speeding you run the risk of getting caught. You probably would not do it in the UK so why think just because you are in France you can do any speed you want?
As with anywhere you need to find the quiet roads in the middle of nowhere to have your fun. Even then respect the limits in the villages.
As others have said avoid Switzerland at all costs. Apart from being incredibly expensive, as others have said they hate speeding in any form. I recently met someone who was overtaken by another car on a motorway and then violenyly brake tested by it becuase he had dared to go 5mph over the speed limit. No he was not in a flash car just a normal family saloon. Also I have always found Swiss hotels to be expensive with poor and rude service.
As others have said the Italian lakes get incredibaly busy and not really fun driving roads.
I always go through France to Italy. As anywhere if you take the p**s speeding you run the risk of getting caught. You probably would not do it in the UK so why think just because you are in France you can do any speed you want?
As with anywhere you need to find the quiet roads in the middle of nowhere to have your fun. Even then respect the limits in the villages.
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