Italian Road Trip

[bitofayank]

Planing a road trip for October now that I'm on parental leave in Germany. The wife and I are thinking of about a month, and wanted any great roads (have always looked on PH first whenever I go somewhere, now its time to stop lurking!)

I was going to try and hit the Stelvio pass, drive through the marches and do a lap of Sicily al a targa florio, but all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks and I'll make sure and post pics and share the expirence of wherever I end up!

[mr pg]

By all means try the Stelvio but don't expect it to be great. Head past it and onto the Dolomites, where there are many better passes to enjoy.

[bitofayank]

Thank you for the opinion!
I have heard it could be more trouble than it’s worth, but they have all not be petrolheads. I’ve gotten a copy of curves magazine for north Italy, so I will have to find a superior path

[Finlandese]

After driving Gavia pass based on recommendation from the Curves magazine, I want a second opinion on anything they say... The road condition was pretty rough..

[Puggit]

The Splugenpass is worth a small detour. We used it to get from Como to Munich, so may well be on your route. The bigger climb/drop is on the Italian side.

[Pericoloso]

Is October too late for some of the higher passses ?

[cherryowen]

I'd imagine, quite possibly

Last time we drove to Italy in June 2013, there was still plenty of lying snow at the top of Grimselpass and the lake at the top was still frozen

[bitofayank]

Thanks for the thoughts, glad I stopped being a longtime lurker!
The Missus did want to see Liechtenstein so the Splügen Pass is possibly on the cards. I won't put the winter tires on yet so I will have to keep my eyes on the weather!
We are planing to go to Pompeii / the Amalfi Coast for a week, but from my 2 decade old memories of my school trip in a bus, I don't know if I want to drive the SS163 (even in the low season). Maybe once early in the morning...
Additionally a side trip to the Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, might be added, but I have no idea if the roads there are worth exploring.
I'm looking forward to just having a wander due to the baby time

[bitofayank]

The road trip post on the front page spurred me to update my plans, since my little man has dominated my days lately. I’ve gotten a roofbox to help raise the 1 series’ CG, and made some AirBnb / hotel stop points for 3 weeks and then we see if we high tail it home or continue on for more touring.

So we are staying in Liechtenstein on the way down from Germany, as we’ve never been, and everything is expensive at the 4 hour drive (what we are trying to do the whole trip so not to complicate the baby travel). Our next stop is the truffle festival in Alba and if the weather cooperates the route will be the Spluga pass past lake Como and through Monza. From there we overnight in Tuscany and then a week south of Naples where we will explore the area mostly by public transport then on south stopping on the cost in Calabria for a few days on the way to Syracuse Sicily, for 9 days of relaxing and exploring.
Not excited about the Italian gas prices, but am excited to get out of germany!

We’ve started to plan a Grand Canyon trip for just before Christmas when we go visit our families, maybe I’ll post on that when I’m listing about my days upcoming

[cocomerc]

My advise if you go to Tuscany, is not to miss Florence, amazing city been there many times, and just 3 weeks ago, the best ice cream in Italy, from there check the country site, very nice, and you have so many small villages to check, Pienza is amazing to, and of course just under 2 h drive the Internal City of ROME. A city you need to visit a least once in your life time....

Edited by cocomerc on Tuesday 25th September 12:13