Driving holiday this summer starting from UK

[havoc]

Well, looks like I've permission for another driving holiday this summer from SWMBO!

So...after doing the Cote d'Azur (via Alps/Rte Napoleon) last year, where can people recommend?

Duration uncertain - at least 9 days, maybe 2 weeks. Don't want to spend the whole time driving, ideally stay at 3-4 nice places, possibly with a stop-over either or both ways somewhere closer to the UK. But must have some fantastic roads for me, and good food/climate for both of us. Plus a bit of sightseeing.


Ideas so-far:-
- Pyrenees and either Pays-Basque or Perpignan-area coast.
- Black Forest and (if I can sell it) a trip over the Alps to Italy for a few days - maybe Lake Garda?
- Somewhere a little closer in France? - Pyrenees and Italy are a hell of a slog and they'll be harder to sell to Becs...

So...where am I forgetting about?

Cheers,

Martin.

[hesnotthemessiah]

Perpignan = Non. I work with a lady from Perpignan and even she says it's rubbish.

If your down that way....why not visit Andorra? Then pop back over the border into Fance....up to Marseille....Monaco.....then off into Italy.

Lake Garda = Si. Fantastic place. Definitely a place you could spend a few days.

[havoc]

Thanks for the advice re: Perpignan.

Re: the whole Med coast - nice idea, but too much - would be more wanting to do a straight-line there and a small detour back, which will still be ~2k miles to the Pyrenees and ~2.5k to N. Italy. 2.5k miles is about as much as I could talk Becs into over a fortnight, more like 1.5k to 2k over 9 days.

[hesnotthemessiah]

Wha about;

Paris - Chamonix - Geneva - then into Italy for Lake Garda?

On the way back;

Monaco - Lyon?

[Ali2202]

Avoid Lake Garda. Lake Como for a stop-off is far more beautiful and North from there are where it's at from a driving roads viewpoint. (unless of course you want to go visit Supercar Central!)

[maser_spyder]

Montpelier is nice.

[smifffymoto]

My neck of the woods is good for mountain roads and cols.

[oblio]

Martin

I'v just been through the same process regarding the summer drive. I thought about the trip down over the Alps/Lakes and back but in the timescale I have (similar to yours) it would have involved 2 or 3 7/8 hour driving days in order to get the 2-3 night stop overs.

This is what I decided on

Bruges
Koblenz (2 nights)
Wursburg (to drive the Romantic Road)
Fussen (2 nights) (Castles and Germany's largest mountain)
Baden-Baden
Luxembourg
N France

Hopefully will get some unrestricted Autobahns in as well...

PM me if you want any details. If you decide on the Alps trip I can recommend a hotel near to the Timmelsjoch as a starting off point and also one the other side which looks good.

cheers

Graham

[havoc]

Many thanks for the info Graham - will have a look at that route and chat to Becs.

The long-distance days ARE a bit of a problem, esp. for Becs. We have looked at the Bilbao/Santander ferries, but they're a lot of money (>£400, or at least 2x the petrol cost), and the Bay of Biscay isn't supposed to be particularly pleasant, so that might exclude that particular option...

[hornetrider]

Ferry > Santander

Blast through Northern Spain, across the Pyrenees then up via Millau bridge and Frances awesome D-road network.

[havoc]

Good timing on the crossing of posts there. What IS the Santander crossing like - as above, heard it can be quite rough...
(Also, how safe is the car on there for 24hrs, esp. when boot is full of holiday stuff...)

[hornetrider]

We went on the bikes in 2009 and it was fine. Good crossing actually, plenty of beer was had by all - nice start to the holiday. Cost us about 150 iirc (bike).

[bobt]

I can't think why you want to sit on that awful ferry for 24 hours when for less money you could be putting the NSX through its paces, and staying in a great little hotel somewhere with first class food.

If you choose to the Pyrenees, then a night or two in San Sebastien is a must, as is Pau, and Toulouse. You won't find better drving roads, why not even mix it with an event like the Pau historic GP (mid May) or one of many other events, depending on exactly when you want to travel.

[hman]

did this back in 2004 in a brand new a4 quattro which was nice- but a lot of motorway...

Aylesbury- Paris
Paris to Le-mans to Bordeaux
Bordeaux-Barcelona
Barcelona-Calpe
Calpe - Madrid
Madrid-Royan (seriously if its raining go somewhere else but if its sunny the beach is huuuge)
Royan to Aylesbury

we did this in 10ish days

[havoc]

bobt said:

If you choose to the Pyrenees, then a night or two in San Sebastien is a must, as is Pau, and Toulouse. You won't find better drving roads, why not even mix it with an event like the Pau historic GP (mid May) or one of many other events, depending on exactly when you want to travel.

Cheers.

Paul HGP had occurred to me (I'm a big fan of the S'stone Classic), but that's probably a little early for our plans (shame, as Catalunya GP is the week after)...
...will have to research other events around whichever destination we pick.


Ferry - to be honest we're not people for living out of suitcases, so the drive down there would be just autoroutes. Will happily do detours via D-roads one way (last year did fun drive down, quick way back), but not both - so ferry would have the benefit of keeping miles off the NSX and not wearing ourselves out with ~15hrs of driving over a day and a half.

[havoc]

Making progress...Italy is now in contention, although I need to find a decent (and not ruinously expensive) beach resort within a short-ish drive of either Modena/Sant'Agata or the northern lakes (do Como/Maggiore/Garda have beaches?).

Any suggestions?

[chopper602]

havoc said:

Making progress...Italy is now in contention, although I need to find a decent (and not ruinously expensive) beach resort within a short-ish drive of either Modena/Sant'Agata or the northern lakes (do Como/Maggiore/Garda have beaches?).

Any suggestions?

If you want beaches, then it'll have to be the Lido de Jeselo which is closer to Venice than the northern lakes. I haven't been there for a LONG time, so no idea what the area is like now. Lago de Garda is about 90 mins from Modena, as minime and I went there for the day a few years ago.

Lake Garda is very nice, especially around Sirmione (the peninsular at the bottom), but not sure you'd find a 'resort'. Plenty of camp sites with static caravans or chalets, but I've been looking for this year and they are NOT cheap!

[havoc]

chopper602 said:

...but I've been looking for this year and they are NOT cheap!

That's what worries me - N. Italy is supposed to be rather £££ (similar to Cote d'Azur). Would like to watch the pennies a little more this year...maybe the Pyrenees might be a better option. Thing is, I'm not sure when I might get another opportunity to hit the supercar towns...

Choices choices...

[Bill]

bobt said:

I can't think why you want to sit on that awful ferry for 24 hours when for less money you could be putting the NSX through its paces, and staying in a great little hotel somewhere with first class food.

If you choose to the Pyrenees, then a night or two in San Sebastien is a must, as is Pau, and Toulouse. You won't find better drving roads, why not even mix it with an event like the Pau historic GP (mid May) or one of many other events, depending on exactly when you want to travel.

Stop off en route in Epernay (Champagne capital) for a couple of nights, big push to the Pyrenees, 10 days pottering about in the mountains then blast up the west coast stopping somewhere like the Ile de Re.

Or (and this is what I'd push for) work out where's cheapest to fly to out of San Sebastian, Barcelona (or there's a charter airport just north who's name escapes me atm Girona IIRC), Bordeaux or Perpignan and meet her there

[PlaneFan]

Offer a bit of supreme retail therapy...south of Florence at themall.it and then on to the Prada Outlet store....both very good. And a 1 night stay north of there in Florence, or south of there in Cortona, and spend the next day east in Assisi.

Italy would be my choice....but each to their own.

Would like to see the itinerary when you've made your decisions

Oh and definitely stop in Epernay (Ay is a superb place to stop) to stock up on some fizz.

Edited by PlaneFan on Tuesday 8th February 14:33