Calais - Zurich - Help me pick the route?
Discussion
Hi,
The Mrs and I are off on a Euro-hoon and we are visiting friends in Zurich. I will be leaving work Thurs night and getting a 19:20 Euro-tunnel.
So my original plan was to strike into France in SE direction and stop about 11ish and then get up and do the rest via the classic Reims route, maybe cutting the corner off at Nancy as I am doing Strasbourg on the way back.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&a...
However with the tolls and the gendarmes my new route is looking like get to Ghent / Leuven ( even better as past the Brussels ring road) and then down Das Autobahn into Zurich so I can open up the M3 for fun and also getting there quicker purposes.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&a...
What thinks the PH collective? I would like to be in Zurich about 5pm -ish on Friday so detours not a massive option
I'll be getting to the lakes via various passes etc so its just this bit that is more about getting there than the journey.
The Mrs and I are off on a Euro-hoon and we are visiting friends in Zurich. I will be leaving work Thurs night and getting a 19:20 Euro-tunnel.
So my original plan was to strike into France in SE direction and stop about 11ish and then get up and do the rest via the classic Reims route, maybe cutting the corner off at Nancy as I am doing Strasbourg on the way back.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&a...
However with the tolls and the gendarmes my new route is looking like get to Ghent / Leuven ( even better as past the Brussels ring road) and then down Das Autobahn into Zurich so I can open up the M3 for fun and also getting there quicker purposes.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&a...
What thinks the PH collective? I would like to be in Zurich about 5pm -ish on Friday so detours not a massive option
I'll be getting to the lakes via various passes etc so its just this bit that is more about getting there than the journey. What a nice decision to have to make 
My first thought, before I hit those links you posted, was to go through Germany. But looking at the map, the France route (so your first link) looks better.
-ve for Germany route:
Traffic around Bruxells can be very bad. The motorway circumnavigates the city like a big ring road like the M25 (but it's not as huge) and has a 70 or 90 km/h limit and plenty of jams which can pump time into your journey. My parents drove Frankfurt to London a couple of weeks ago and lost 2 hours there! Secondly, despite the derestricted German autobahn, they can get pretty heavy with traffic and there seem to be loads of roadworks all over the place which brings the limit down to 80km/h.
+ve for France route:
French Autoroutes are normally very clear of traffic and you can do 130km/h very comfortably for hours. I'm sure it will be a less stressful route. But the -ve point is of course that you have to pay the tolls and these do add up. If that cost isn't an issue, I'd lean more to this route.
Happy travelling and stay safe
My first thought, before I hit those links you posted, was to go through Germany. But looking at the map, the France route (so your first link) looks better.
-ve for Germany route:
Traffic around Bruxells can be very bad. The motorway circumnavigates the city like a big ring road like the M25 (but it's not as huge) and has a 70 or 90 km/h limit and plenty of jams which can pump time into your journey. My parents drove Frankfurt to London a couple of weeks ago and lost 2 hours there! Secondly, despite the derestricted German autobahn, they can get pretty heavy with traffic and there seem to be loads of roadworks all over the place which brings the limit down to 80km/h.
+ve for France route:
French Autoroutes are normally very clear of traffic and you can do 130km/h very comfortably for hours. I'm sure it will be a less stressful route. But the -ve point is of course that you have to pay the tolls and these do add up. If that cost isn't an issue, I'd lean more to this route.
Happy travelling and stay safe
Greetings from Switzerland. This thread covers everything you need to know:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
France is the way to go, depsite the tolls on the autoroute. Speed cameras are very well signed, you can't really miss them.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
France is the way to go, depsite the tolls on the autoroute. Speed cameras are very well signed, you can't really miss them.
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