My Stag Do - Nurburgring/Alps May 08

My Stag Do - Nurburgring/Alps May 08

Author
Discussion

ScottMc91

Original Poster:

113 posts

209 months

Tuesday 5th February 2008
quotequote all
Hi guys, i'm new to the forum but i heard that this is the place to come for info on this sort of thing and hopefully you can help me out with ideas and advice.


I'm getting married in July this year and instead of going on a traditional stag night i've decided to take my closest mates across to Europe on a driving holiday (in the style of top gear etc)


We are taking 3x MR2 Turbo's across with 2 people in each car (we already own the cars and use them for trips up to the Highlands).


the route we've planned is as below - budget cost for everything is £750 per person (staying at cheap hostels mostly)
:

Friday afternoon - drive to Folkestone stay in travel inn near the tunnel.

Sat am - channel tunnel, stock up on booze at Calais and then drive to Nurburgring

Sat pm - either drinking or get a few laps done on the ring, stay at local B&B?

Sun am - driving on the Nurburgring Nordschliefe.

sun pm - set off to Munich, check into hostel and then out clubbing

monday am - recover then back in cars. drive to Innsbruck via Neuschwanstein castle

monday pm - drinking at bar on top of the olympic ski jump. cheap hotel nearby

tue am - drive to Milan going across the Stelvio pass (top gear's ultimate driving road)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KMEON6bivZs


tue pm - drinking in milan - stay at hostel?

wed am - set off for monaco

wed pm - drive the GP circuit route at monte carlo and then drinking. stay at Nice in a hostel or maybe a cheap hotel in Monaco?

thu am - set off for Chamonix via the Mont Blanc tunnel

thu pm - drinks at restaurant on top of the mountain (cable car up there)

fri am/pm - long drive back to calais

sat am - ch tunnel back to blighty then drive back to scotland

sunday - sleep all day


i hope this is a plausible route - should only be 3-4 hours of driving each day according to google maps apart from the last big stint driving back from Chamonix to Calais.


everyone will be insured on each car so if someone is feeling a bit worse for wear due to the night before then we can swap drivers.

Reidy10_0

1,123 posts

219 months

Tuesday 5th February 2008
quotequote all
Sounds good to me mate, wish i could go but due to the trappings of marriage i cannot frown

D_T_W

2,502 posts

230 months

Tuesday 5th February 2008
quotequote all
I looked into doing a similar idea, but staying in the alps for 3 nights after the 'Ring. You need to be aware that some of the Alpine Passes will not be open at the time of year, and there is a chance of snow on all of them until June/July time.

In the end i changed the plans, now we're just going to the 'Ring for a couple of days

Marvindodgers

734 posts

231 months

Tuesday 5th February 2008
quotequote all
Hi, sounds great fun, but as a previous entry said, be aware that some of the Alpine passes will not be open in May.
When you are at the Nurburgring, I cannot recommend the Ringhaus enough as a place to stay. It is 400 metres from the entrance to the circuit and is run by a group of Ring mentalists who cannot do enough for you and the bar stays open as long as you can stand!! Reasonable as well.
http://www.ringhaus.com/hotel_en/public/welcome.ph...
Give them a call, and have a great time.

ScottMc91

Original Poster:

113 posts

209 months

Tuesday 5th February 2008
quotequote all
i hadn't considered that some of the passes would be closed even in May (has anyone tried at this time of year?)

we had originally planned on going in march and then i realised that the 'ring would probably be under a foot of snow then.

I can't really put the dates back now as i've already booked some of the accomodation and asked people to book their holidays around it.

If Stelvio is closed is there any other good route we could take between Innsbruck and Milan (although i think we might be better staying somewhere like Como instead of a big city due to traffic etc)?

I'd be pretty gutted if we couldn't do the Stelvio Pass but it wouldn't be the end of the world.




D_T_W

2,502 posts

230 months

Tuesday 5th February 2008
quotequote all
http://www.alpineroads.com/passes.php will give you a very rough idea of the opening times for the passes

ScottMc91

Original Poster:

113 posts

209 months

Tuesday 5th February 2008
quotequote all
Reidy10_0 said:
Sounds good to me mate, wish i could go but due to the trappings of marriage i cannot frown
well i very much doubt i'll get allowed out to do it again after the wedding!

(incidentally - she still doesn't know how much i spent on the MR2 i'm taking over there!)

dcb

5,983 posts

280 months

Tuesday 5th February 2008
quotequote all
ScottMc91 said:
If Stelvio is closed is there any other good route we could take between Innsbruck and Milan (although i think we might be better staying somewhere like Como instead of a big city due to traffic etc)?
The Brenner would be the official boring route.

A little further west is the Oetztal road to
Obergurgl and downto Merano.

I like this a *lot* more than the Stelvio.

South of Merano, I dunno, although a
quick shufti at the map suggests that
Passo del Tonale at 1883m might be ok.
Just east of Ponte di Legno.

Everyone I know who's been to Milan says
the traffic is crackers. *Don't*, whatever
you do, drop below 100 mph on the motorway.

Suggest a nite near lake Como. You could
take in Passo del' Aprica and Sondrio as well.



ScottMc91

Original Poster:

113 posts

209 months

Wednesday 6th February 2008
quotequote all
thanks very much for all the help guys, think i'm going to need to buy a decent map next. Google maps isn't exactly good enough!


ScottMc91

Original Poster:

113 posts

209 months

Wednesday 6th February 2008
quotequote all
this might be of some use to anyone else attempting a trip like this:

i found an italian local government website which gives up to date details of whether or not each of the passes is open. Looks like if i use this i can determine which passes to go through nearer the time and just concentrate on picking a destination rather than a main route to take!

http://www.provinz.bz.it/vmz/report/index_d.asp?Ty...