Roadtrip to Monaco & Route Napoleon (Photo heavy)

[Medic-one]

We've not long returned from our third European roadtrip and as the previous two were received positively I've done another little write up.




First one (Germany, Luxemburg, Italy and the Swiss alps) is here : https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

And then 2 years ago we did we did part of the Pyrenees and Andorra, which is here :

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...


And for this year I wanted to drive the Monaco grand prix circuit in my own car as well as doing Route Napoleon, so I sepnd a few weeks researching where to go, what route I wanted to drive, and where to stop, ideally finding hotels with private parking and a swimming pool.

The itinerary was :

• Home (Essex) to Portsmouth and take the night Ferry to Santander in Spain.
• Drive the Pas D'arlas and the Col de la Pierre Saint-Martin, end up (just outside) Arette and stay the night.
• Drive 5 of the big Col’s through the Pyrenees (listed below), stop for lunch in Arreau, and finish in Narbonne.

- Col De Marie Blanque
- Col D’Aubisque
- Col De Soulor
- Col du Tourmalet
- Col D’aspin

• 2 nights in Narbonne, then head to St. Tropez, stop for lunch in Marseille on the way there.
• Spend the night in St. Tropez and explore the Marina and famous beach clubs.
• Drive the coastal route of the Cote D'azur, all the way along the water to Antibes (Jean le Pin) and stay there for 3 nights.
• Continue along the coast to Monaco, drive the Grand Prix circuit in my own car, stay for 2 nights, sightseeing and car spotting.
• Start route Napoleon, and take a detour via the Verdor Gorge, finish in Trigance (just outside Castelle) and stay overnight in a stunning castle.
• Do the 2nd part of Route Napoleon, end up (just outside) Grenoble and stay another night.
• Head towards Troyes, taking a detour via the lovely D996 route and stop for lunch in Djion, stay overnight in Troyes.
• Troyes to Calais, back home via the Eurotunnel.

2.5 weeks, 8 hotels and just over 2000 miles in total.




I don't have/want a dashcam, but most of the road photo's (bar a few made with our mobiles) are made with this little Go Pro I mounted next to the rear view mirror with the remote switch next to my steering wheel so anytime the road/scenery looked pretty I could just snap a picture without having to ask my wife every 2 seconds to get her phone out






Spot of lunch in Portsmouth's Marina, watching our ship come in.






Couple other petrolheads who were driving to Portugal, might look at that for our next trip :




Both times we've used the ferry for this crossing we booked the C-club lounge, which serves not only breakfast, lunch and dinner, but also has snacks throughout the day and unlimited drinks (including wine) throughout your crossing, well worth the money every time!









































Our first stop of the trip, this lovely B&B with pool & jacuzzi and secure parking :











































Narbonne hotel, with roof terrace and private garage








Beautifull Narbonne :

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Lunch stop in Marseille, on the way to St. Tropez
















St Tropez, great for car and yacht spotting! Feeling rather poor in my little Porsche Boxster here...



















Looking at the yachts, playing millionaire or billionaire...






Coastal drive to Antibes










Antibes hotel with private underground parking :
















And on the beach the Gopro ('dashcam') goes into a waterproof case and along into the sea, before going back on the windscreen :



















Coastal route to Monaco

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Arriving in Monaco, going over the start line of the Grand Prix circuit and following the preplanned Satnav route to drive the entire circuit, prior to going to our hotel.








Fairtmont hairpin :








Great car spotting here...





Ok, not quite an exotic, but I'm a paramedic so it's the obligatory holiday shot...

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Heading to the Starting point of route Napoleon, which was lovely and quiet. Detoured via the Verdon gorge which was stunning as well :
























From google: "The Gorges du Verdon is a stunning 25-kilometer long and 700-meter deep river canyon in southeastern France, often called the "Grand Canyon of Verdon." Famed for its striking turquoise-green water, it offers world-class hiking, kayaking, and scenic driving between limestone cliffs.





























Overnight stay in this stunning castle, https://www.chateau-de-trigance.fr/














Made a friend the next day, and even stopped for a chat (being Dutch myself helped) and followed him for another little local blast before continueing towards Grenoble.








Going over the bridge in the background








Next stop, another little Chateau just outside Grenoble





Grenoble :











Final overnight stop in Troyes, also a very pleasant town with enough to see and do, and perfect to break up the journey to Calais.













First time we booked that Flexiplus lounge at the Eurotunnel as well, so you can just turn up and take train and don't have to worry about getting there for a certain time but I still think I prefer the Ferry over to Spain, as it just cuts out a large chunk of the boring French tollroutes.

Having done the pyrenes twice now I think I definitely prefer them over the Swiss alps, mainly before they're so much quieter, the longest stetch (on a fun road) without having anyone in front of me was over 1.5 hour, it was brilliant!

Route planning started on google maps, and then copied across to the Tomtom website so I tweak them, and then save the individual routes and sync them to the Tomtom app on my phone.

[M11rph]

Great Trip Report The perfect car for roadtripping.

GT40 looks classy compared to the modern supercars IMO.

Love the Elephant Cocktail glass holder, I've never seen one of those before.

Thanks for taking the time to upload all of that. Your hotel accommodation looks rather smarter than I tend to go for, but nice to see how the other half do it.

[MattS5]

Looks awesome, many thanks for taking tthe time to share

[Imasurv]

Another great trip and report!

So in the Pyrenees did you prefer the route over the Cols or the N260?

[cliffords]

Great write up and pics . Wife and I with two friends ate in the restaurant in the final picture a couple of nights ago . It's a great little town we have stopped there maybe 5 times now .

As a bit of a practice question. What do you do for breakdown cover and repatriation in the event of a problem.
It's always in the back of my mind on these type of trips .

[normalbloke]

Where did you stay in Monaco?

[DoubleSix]

So do they group sports cars together on the ferry or something?

Planning a trip but nervous about door dings and general twatery.

[vikingaero]

Nothing like a fab roadtrip report. Thank you for sharing.

[NDA]

Really enjoyed that - thanks for taking the time to do it.

I've just come back from nearly a month in Provence in a 911 cab... great cars for the tour!

We stopped near Troyes on the way down - and had lunch in the centre, right where you took one of the pics. A lovely town, although parking was tricky - I found somewhere but it took a while.

[Mr Tidy]

Fantastic photos from what looks like an epic trip - thanks for posting them.

[Medic-one]

M11rph said:

Great Trip Report The perfect car for roadtripping.

GT40 looks classy compared to the modern supercars IMO.

Love the Elephant Cocktail glass holder, I've never seen one of those before.

Thanks for taking the time to upload all of that. Your hotel accommodation looks rather smarter than I tend to go for, but nice to see how the other half do it.

I've found by booking nice hotels it keeps the wife happy after a day of spirit driving...

The elephant cocktail holder was a bit of a surprise to me as well, the bar and that particular cocktail had like an African jungle theme, but I was not expecting that

[gazza5]

Great write up - really enjoyed that - should do a few of my holiday write ups - but probably out of date now a bit (or memory cant remember).

Nothing better than a road trip imho.

[DoubleSix]

OP, do you have all accommodations mapped out and booked in advance or just rough destinations?

I like the idea of being free to change course at will but it presents some logistical issues around accommodation and parking I guess…

[NDA]

DoubleSix said:

OP, do you have all accommodations mapped out and booked in advance or just rough destinations?

I like the idea of being free to change course at will but it presents some logistical issues around accommodation and parking I guess

I can't answer for the OP, but before the internet, I would regularly drive through France without any reservations. Lots of adventures. Plus, of course, paper maps. Eeeek!

These days it's easy to book ahead and I want a guaranteed reservation when I get there.

[DoubleSix]

NDA said:

DoubleSix said:

OP, do you have all accommodations mapped out and booked in advance or just rough destinations?

I like the idea of being free to change course at will but it presents some logistical issues around accommodation and parking I guess

I can't answer for the OP, but before the internet, I would regularly drive through France without any reservations. Lots of adventures. Plus, of course, paper maps. Eeeek!

These days it's easy to book ahead and I want a guaranteed reservation when I get there.

Yeah, it’s just i often finds thw best roads, sights, villages are not where i thought they were… so you may want to detour off…. But then parking overnight gets interesting…

Haven’t quite got my head around the logistics.

[NDA]

DoubleSix said:

Yeah, it s just i often finds the best roads, sights, villages are not where i thought they were so you may want to detour off . But then parking overnight gets interesting

Haven t quite got my head around the logistics.

You won't need any lessons from me, that's for sure, but our month in Provence every year needs a little planning - four days down and four days back. I plan on roughly 200 - 300 miles a day on the motorway or the main roads.

I enjoy the planning - and it doesn't take me long at all... but I learn something every year. This year I learnt that if a chateau looks like a wedding or conference venue, don't stay! We managed to hit one wedding and one conference this year which meant we had 40% of the service for 100% of the cost. I use satellite and street view to check out properties, I don't always get it right, but very nearly.

I use booking.com - their platform is very easy and the app keeps it all in one place - I really can't be bothered ringing up places directly and trying to negotiate with a receptionist to save a few quid.

Being in France for a month is definitely one of the highlights of the year - always enhanced by having a decent sports car too.

[MarkGArgyle]

Looks fantastic, thanks for taking the time to share.

We are doing a combination of this and your previous trip in September in the new to me f-type albeit not touching Spain but going tunnel, Luxembourg (2nights), black forest to stay on the Swiss border for a night. 2 nights in andermatt for passes and then on to lake Maggiore (3nights), across to Antibes (3 nights to visit Monaco, drive the f1 circuit etc). Then north via route napoleon to stay in a chateau near Grenoble, 2nights in Dijon, 2nights in Reims and home via Caen to Portsmouth.

17 nights in total, mix of hotels and an apartment overlooking the coast in Antibes as hotels in Monaco and Cannes were difficult to book for good parking and expensive,

I think a slightly lower budget looking at your photos, max hotel was €200 for the radisson in andermatt. I travel for work quite a bit so was able to use all my hotel points but still managed £2.8k in hotels and crossings.

Thanks for the inspiration and to generate even more excitement if that is possible