I'm going to drive to Tuscany- any route suggestions?

[m3jappa]

I've got a wedding to attend next June and i think a few are driving, sadly not everyone is a petrol head and i may have to detour from The a1 route i have seen is the most obvious.

So Essex to Tuscany (sounds like a new ITV4 program) any ideas?

[Buzzmeister]

It depends what you are after! Personally I would avoid France and Switzerland if poss. Take the Belgium - Germany - Austria route down to the Italian border. From there you have 2 options; Stelvio or Autostrada. The Stelvio is a good crack, depending on car but will significanly lengthen the drive not least because the route out on the Italian side is off the beaten track. A lot of Italian A roads are dogged by heavy traffic and (recently) overtaking restrictions both of which hamper progress.

[m3jappa]

Tbh the journey there will likely be a case of just get there asap, but the journey home may be a different story.
I have always wanted to drive these beautiful mountain roads and this could be a perfect excuse. I'd be using my Tuscan so should be fun.

The actual wedding is in sienna if that has any baring on the route at all.

[speed8]

Maybe an option....

Belgium, Germany, head towards somewhere like Interlaken. Grimsel Pass, Furka Pass, head east and end up at San Bernardino. Join up with the autostrada/autoroute north of Lugano and make up some time by heading down to meet up with the A7 Milan to Genova. Bit boring for a while but gets more interesting the closer you get to Genova. Tunnels for a bit of added noise. Then A12 south to finish off the run to Sienna.

I'm usually pressing on when I head down that way so I go Chamonix, MB Tunnel then south but I'll be taking the more interesting route after Le Mans this year.

[Chris Stott]

I drove to Perugia (Umbria/Tuscany boarder) a couple of years back... Calais, Strasbourg, Basel, through the mountains (tunnel) then down through the lakes, Milan, Bologna, then on to Perugia.

Set off from Surrey at 5.30am and managed to get to Bologna by 8pm, before completing the journey the next day.

It's not an exciting drive, but you can make very good time through Northern France and once you're out of the tunnel through the Alps... I was respectful of Swiss speed limits having heard some frightening stories about the size of speeding fines from friends who live in Switzerland.

We returned from Florence using the same route, setting of at 8am and arriving back in Surrey by 11pm.

[Synchromesh]

Stelvio Pass

Or Monaco if you're going the other way round.

[StuB]

Get there as quick as you can and enjoy the Tuscan roads

[tr7ster]

Mrs tr7ster & I did this a few years back - Edinburgh to southern Tuscany and back.

We wanted to take it relatively easy so planned a few overnight stops along the way. The route I eventually settled on was:

Day 1: Edinburgh to Folkestone; overnight stop.
Day 2: Early ferry Dover-Calais; straight in to Belgium, then Germany; nipped back in to France for overnight in Strasbourg
Day 3: Back in to Germany, into Switzerland at Basel, to St Moritz then into Italy via Julier and St.Bernadino pass. Past Lake Iseo to overnight in Brescia (to satisfy my Mille Millia thang...)
Day 4: To Tuscany, via Maranello (for Galleria Ferrari and Fiorano) and Modena (for vinegar!).

Tuscany for two weeks. Way back:

Day 1: Tuscany to Aosta; overnight
Day 2: In to Switzerland via St Bernard's Pass (over the coll, not through the tunnel), lunch in Montreaux, around north coast of Lake Geneva, in to France via Coll de la Faucille; overnight in Beaune
Day 3: boring drive from Beaune to Chichester
Days 4, 5 & 6: Goodwood Revival!
Day 7: Home

It was a good holiday.

This is a very handy website if you're heading that direction.

Enjoy!

Edited to add some photos - it was 2006 we went. Also if you have the opportunity for hoonage, some of the roads around Radicofani are epic.

Edited by tr7ster on Monday 5th December 12:43