Mini euro trip planned

[likesachange]

Hi all.

Me the wife, a pal and his misses and my bro in law are heading to Le Mans in June then on to milau and then up to the south to port grimaud .

Now am not certain which way to head back to Amsterdam for ferry.
Will have 3-4 days possibly 5 spare to do it and don't really want to be doing more than 6 hours driving in one day...

I have made a provisional route below.
Just wondering if I should be avoiding anything or if there are any other roads near our route that I should definitely be driving on.

Also if you know of any nice stop offs worth seeing is love to hear what they are.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/54.898132,-2.934...

[DickyTVR]

Hi,

Just a couple of thoughts really having done a few trips in that area:-

• Near Tours is Chateau de Chenonceau which is quite stunning and well worth a visit.
• After Millau you go through Arles. This is well worth a visit if you're interested in roman history. There's a very well preserved amphitheatre etc.
• I can see you're doing the Route Napolean. This is great fun - a couple of interesting sights along this are Gorges du Verdon and Lac de Saint-Croix.
• If you have some spare days in the south of France, have a look at the Route de Grand Alps. You're not far from the Col De Turini etc and could pull some of that into your route. You could go via Monaco to access this, but be warned that the traffic is a bit slow (but the coastal route is quite pretty in places and there's some interesting cars!)
• On your way back through Germany, not far from Strasbourg is Sinsheim Auto and Technick Museum (the place is called Sinsheim). This really is a fantastic museum - they have Concorde in the take off position on stilts on the roof (and you go up a spiral staircase at the back and can walk up it! Amongst various other exhibitions includes a Bugatti Royale etc etc).

Ferry. For your journey out, we went similar last September, and found the DFDS Newhaven to Dieppe great value and a very pleasant journey.

Hope this helps?

Rich

Edited by DickyTVR on Monday 22 February 22:50

[likesachange]

Rich

That's exactly the kind of info we were looking for.

Thanks for taking the time to write that up.

I'll do some investigating.

Much appreciated

[si_xsi]

Hi OP,

Looks like Looks like good route, I've done the top half of the Napoleon before before it is a lovely Road. Mount Ventoux is worth a detour, amazing views from from the top. Annecy is also a great place to stay a night. I'm going back to Provence again this June and looking to go back via Clermont-Ferrand and Le Mans as I've not travelled up through France on that side before. Also heard Arles is lovely.

Hope you have an enjoyable Road trip!

[likesachange]

Thanks

Mount Ventoux looks great but it would be a detour on what will be one of the longer days unfortunately

Gassin to Geneva and the the following day up to Nurburgring will be long days.. mainly for my brother in law in his cerbera... ill have the comforts of a f10 M5 so will be a doddle for me this year, But ill certainly be mentioning them and we can discuss on the day..


next question is whats the best budget CB's on the market for the trip be easy to have one of those in each car to communicate....

[likesachange]

Oh and how much of the route in germany is autobahn ?

[Rosscow]

There are some cracking château to see in that part of the Loire, Villandry is stunning.

[Wolff]

likesachange said:

Oh and how much of the route in germany is autobahn ?

Nearly all of it - only bit that doesn't look like autobahn is the bit around the Nurburgring. On Google Maps, any road in Germany with a blue road number is autobahn.

Just remember that they are not all unrestricted - quite a lot of that stretch will have 130km/h (80mph) speed limits.....

[likesachange]

Wolff said:

Nearly all of it - only bit that doesn't look like autobahn is the bit around the Nurburgring. On Google Maps, any road in Germany with a blue road number is autobahn.

Just remember that they are not all unrestricted - quite a lot of that stretch will have 130km/h (80mph) speed limits.....

thanks for that, so i presume there is some sort of sign to tell you speed restrictions re lifted?

[Wolff]

From what I remember, although this was quite a few years ago when I lived there, if there is a speed limit, there are repeater signs - no signs, no limit (on the autobahn at least!)

Am sure a resident from there will be along soon enough to confirm

As a side note, Dad only let me take his 530d ('99 ish) up to 130mph before telling me no faster, but when we caught up with my sister doing 80mph in her Punto, it felt like a crazy speed differential! Fun though, and German drivers in the main are fantastic at getting out of your way (especially in a BMW heading in the direction of Munich! The VW behind didn't have as much success, so just sat safely behind me letting me move the traffic over!!). Ahhh memories!

[davest4s]

I agree with previous comments. Two of mine - if your doing Switzerland try and incude the alpine passes and Stuttgart is not far from Strasbourg, unlimited autobahn getting there and you got Mercedes and Porsche museums.

Have a good trip.

[likesachange]

Thanks Wolff

davest4s said:

I agree with previous comments. Two of mine - if your doing Switzerland try and incude the alpine passes and Stuttgart is not far from Strasbourg, unlimited autobahn getting there and you got Mercedes and Porsche museums.

Have a good trip.

Yeah Dave I think we need to leave the south a day earlier to fit more in on way back... The wife found this

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OVcwcvwzRPs

It's not too far off our route...

[jamiebae]

That route through Switzerland is a bit dull really, just motorway and not much scenery. To drive on Swiss motorways you need to buy a 'Vignette' which is 40CHF and valid for the calendar year - for 2016 it's a very fetching lilac coloured sticker.

Don't forget it's zero tolerance for speeding in CH, I've been fined for doing 51kph in a 50kph zone, and big speeding means really big fines. I agree that if you're coming through CH you should do the mountain passes, otherwise I'd just hop across from Grenoble towards Lyon, Dijon and across from there.

It's not on your route, but do make sure you avoid the A5, on the German side of the border from Basel up towards Strasbourg. There are de-restricted bits but the traffic is almost always terrible so you're better off staying on the French roads instead.

Looks like a great trip, I've been to a lot of those places before and would happily re-visit all of them.

[likesachange]

Thanks for your input jamie, have just had a quick look at the route with the advice taken aboard and altered it to include a few passes

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Geneva,+Switzerl...

it just means i will have to take a night away from the south of France and stop over at Lucerne maybe....

found this for inspiration

http://www.newlyswissed.com/top-6-most-unique-road...

[jamiebae]

Lucerne is really nice, lots of good places to stay and eat there. There's a hotel in Beckenried called 'Seerausch' which has a beautiful restaurant and bar area and a really good wine selection, I've not stayed there but have been for coffee and drinks and the view across the lake from the bar is fantastic.

The Chedi in Andermatt is worth a look too as a place to stay, it's a super luxury hotel but in summer you might get a deal, it's normally 750CHF+ per night in ski season but I've stayed at similar places in Davos during summer for more like 200-250 a night.

[likesachange]

jamiebae said:

Lucerne is really nice, lots of good places to stay and eat there. There's a hotel in Beckenried called 'Seerausch' which has a beautiful restaurant and bar area and a really good wine selection, I've not stayed there but have been for coffee and drinks and the view across the lake from the bar is fantastic.

The Chedi in Andermatt is worth a look too as a place to stay, it's a super luxury hotel but in summer you might get a deal, it's normally 750CHF+ per night in ski season but I've stayed at similar places in Davos during summer for more like 200-250 a night.

Thanks again, we have booked into the Seerausch.

this route looks like it just misses out the furka pass... presume its worth diverting just to go over it and then come back over the grimsel pass??

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Chamonix,+France...

[jamiebae]

likesachange said:

Thanks again, we have booked into the Seerausch.

Great, I assume it's decent as Tesla did their Swiss launch there, there are two 'Superchargers' in the car park which is a little incongruous in rural Switzerland and I couldn't work out why they were there when I first saw them.