Really Sorry - Yet Another 'Road Trip to Monaco' Question.

[Freddie328]

Now honestly, I have looked at every page of this section and read every thread on this topic and I have learnt quite a lot. BUT - I'm still going to ask anyway! We are hoping to do a road trip to Monaco mid to late September this year. We will have about 6 days and what I would like to know is what can we feasibly do and see in this time without having to do totally ridiculous amounts of driving each day. Wouldn't mind being in Monaco for the yacht show, but does that restrict the roads you can drive on? Would also be nice to catch the car show at Reims too. Everyone seems to say the Route Napoleon is a must. Stelvio Pass gets mixed reactions but is it one those things you just 'have to do', or given our time restraint is it totally out of the question. Any ideas on nice accomodation would be great too. Basically we would like some great driving roads, some stunning scenery and some nice places (preferably with secure parking) to stay. Am I asking the impossible?!

[G Man]

6 days isn't much time, if you want to do the shows fine, the first 300 miles in France is boring, I tend to head to Baden Baden day 1 long boring day, Day 2 via the B500 to Andermatt the rest is up to you there are 5 or 6 good passes to drive there, then east to Stelvio, must do the Gavia and Passo de Mortirolo ( crazy)

Stuck in a car jam in the south of France isn't my thing
There are great web sites alpineroads.com etc I mapped the passes into google maps to easily play with roads http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&am... and included video of some passes

[Davey S2]

Depends how long you want to stay in Monaco.

I've been there 4 times (and going again in the summer for the Monaco Classic) and to be honest 2 days is plenty. Once you have seen 1 superyacht they all look the same. Same goes for the cars.

On the way down I would either go to Reims then take the D996 to Dijon which is a great road.

Or you could miss out Reims and go straight to Dijon via autoroute on day 1 then on day 2 take the Autoroute to Grenoble then pick up the Route Napoleon all the way into Cannes. Short hop then to Monaco.

I would do the Reims - Dijon - Grenoble - Monaco run over the first 3 days, have the 4th day in Monaco then head back up via some of the Swiss passes. The last day would probably be a boring motorway slog back to Calais.

For that distance you could really do with 8 days if you can stretch to that.

Here is a link to my old trip report http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

Edited by Davey S2 on Thursday 11th February 14:08

[Gad-Westy]

How about:

Day 1, Early morning crossing, Boring roads north of Paris to Reims. Stop at GP track for a picnic and soak it all in. Then head to Dijon where you could stay for the night. I hear there is a good road between Reims and Dijon but somebody else would have to tell you which one it is. We did this leg in reverse in August (albeit finishing in Cambridge) and its easily doable in a day and you'd still have time to relax a little.

Day 2, Head down the Nice/Cannes/Monaco, wherever you want to stay via the Route Napoleon. You could maybe take in a blast up the Col de Vence if you have time though this would be quite long day of travelling and you'd probably want to start early so that you can do the Route Napoleon (N85) justice.

Day 3, Mull about in Monaco and have a drive around the coastal area, its a nice place to just drive around taking in the secnery, particualrly looking down over Nice seafront from the hills above.

Day's 4-6, head back the long way via, Italian/Swiss Alpes.

You'd be doing a lot of driving each day but a lot of it would be on great roads.

[Davey S2]

Gad-Westy said:

How about:

I hear there is a good road between Reims and Dijon but somebody else would have to tell you which one it is.

Perhaps its the D996 I posted about above?

[Gad-Westy]

Davey S2 said:

Gad-Westy said:

How about:

I hear there is a good road between Reims and Dijon but somebody else would have to tell you which one it is.

Perhaps its the D996 I posted about above?

Oops! Named after a Porsche as well. Must be a good road.

[Freddie328]

Thanks guys, really helpful so far. I think we will be able to have an extra day or 2 now too which will make it easier.

[AJI]

appology for the hijack...
when are the busy times of year in Monaco...in terms of traffic congestion?

[Gad-Westy]

AJI said:

appology for the hijack...
when are the busy times of year in Monaco...in terms of traffic congestion?

I was there in august and traffic wasn't an issue. In fact I'd almost say it was quiet. Avoid gp weekend obviously

[Rockape]

I always blast down the motorways to Frejus where the family have a property. I wouldn't bother with the yacht show, very expensive, for what you get. I would just have a wonder round before or after the yacht show. The gin palaces that will be left will be equally impressive.

[heebeegeetee]

I recommend crossing the channel on the evening before your trip starts proper - fill up with fuel in England to save faffing around in the morning. Bed down in Calais or Boulogne or nearby - and have a nice breakfast before starting.

Then hit the road, and either Annecy or Grenoble is an easy 8 hours. It's easy to do this - just drive for 250ish miles, stop and refuel and have lunch, then do it again.

So long as you don't make any other stops (because the day can start to drag if you do) then it is easy to do these distances in France, and once you've done this, you really have broken the back of the journey, in terms of getting the dull bit done with.

For a place to say not far from Grenoble, up in the mountains and on the edge of really big gorge, I can recommend this place: http://www.hotel-coldelamachine.com/

But from here or Annecy, you have a choice of wonderful routes to Monte Carlo.

[mg_dot]

There's the Route Napolean, parts of the Monte Carlo rally route, and a few alpine pass routes to take in, see:
http://www.hazelnet.org/roads/maps/euro.htm and
http://www.hazelnet.org/roads/maps/alps.htm

[Freddie328]

Still planning to do this trip but we now have to change the dates and go the last weekend in August (28/29). Just wondering if this is going to be horrendous in terms of traffic? Good news though is that we can now do 8 or 9 days.

[Davey S2]

Traffic in Monaco and the surrounding area will be pretty much the same all summer.

If you want to have a quick drive of the Route Napoleon either hit it earlu morning or late afternoon otherwise it can be clogged up with campervans.

[Jetset Rich]

Hi
I am lucky to work in the Cote D'Azur region quite often so feel I can advise on roads & traffic here - the latter is total madness!
As said by many here avoid Monaco unless early (Pre 0730)
The motorways are busy but generally fast flowing
I was working in St Tropez last week (which has a single access road even slower moving than traffic into Monaco)
I found a nice(& very quiet) alternative route back to the motorway from there - the D558
I would estimate prob 200 sweeping corners over 20k - an ideal sportscar road. The views weren't up to much but on the plus side I saw no Police the whole way but they can hide!
Rich

[heebeegeetee]

Freddie328 said:

Still planning to do this trip but we now have to change the dates and go the last weekend in August (28/29). Just wondering if this is going to be horrendous in terms of traffic? Good news though is that we can now do 8 or 9 days.

I personally wouldn't want to go then. Go in October, it'll be much better. Or next March/April

[Freddie328]

In the midst of planning right now! Our first stopover will now be in Beaune. Found a lovely hotel in Besancon www.hotel-charlesquint.com but although it has rave reviews everyone seems to comment on how the parking is only suitable for a very small car Anyone stayed there?

The next place we'd like to stopover is Annecy, but it seems to be about an hour from Annecy to Grenoble to pick up the Route Napoleon and then another 6 hours or so down to Cannes, so I'm wondering if we'd be better off to go a bit further than Annecy. Can anyone offer any advice on this and/or suggest anywhere else to stay?

Thanks