London to Locarno by car - advice please

[JAGS]

Hi all. Hopefully going to have to drive over to Locarno, Switzerland next month and looking for a bit of advice…

I know these types of threads have been done to death before, but was wandering what I would need to take with me to cover myself against French plod IF I am stopped.

Never driven on mainland Europe before, and although it shouldn’t be an issue, I would just appreciate a few pointers and heads up in terms of driving tips/do’s and don’ts if possible.

Once off the chunnel in France, what would be the quickest route to take to get to Locarno in the shortest possible time? Aim is to get there and back ASAP over a weekend (Friday evening – Sunday evening). Not bothered about sightseeing or anything, just to get there, do what needs to be done and get back to London without wasting much time.

Thanks in advance

[5potTurbo]

It's around 1,000km ea. way: a lot of driving in a short period

As you're not bothered about scenery, use a SatNav

France: Calais to Reims, Metz, Strasbourg, Mulhouse

Enter CH at Basel (underground tunnel maze of motorways!) - buy Swiss roadtax (Vignette)

then head to Lucerne, then in the direction of Lugano to Locarno....

Easy to do, but around 9hours driving ea. way

French rozzers HATE Road Angels (they'll take them from you)
Try and keep to ~140km/h-150km/h, but you could still get caught/fined

Swiss Police hate cars! They hate speeding cars even more!
Did you see the recent news story about the Swede caught in his SLS AMG at stupid speeds?

Edited by 5potTurbo on Thursday 2nd September 15:34

EDIT TO ADD: Things to take with you ...
- driving license (+ anyone else's who'll drive)
- insurance
- V5
- hi viz vest (ideally for you and every passenger)
- first aid kit
- warning triangle
- spare light bulbs kit for your car
- credit card: quicker at French Péages to pay tolls
- breakdown cover/docs.
- headlight beam benders
- SAT NAV

Edited by 5potTurbo on Thursday 2nd September 15:43

[louiebaby]

We didn't buy any Swiss road tax... We joined the country on a small road though, are they only for Motorway use?

[Puggit]

louiebaby said:

We didn't buy any Swiss road tax... We joined the country on a small road though, are they only for Motorway use?

Yup

[Beardy10]

You can buy a vignette from the Swiss Centre in London which is well worth doing as if you cross the border late at night or at a quiet crossing point the kiosk might not be open. They get VERY upset if you get caught without one. Having said that you would be unlucky to get caught.....I've done a lot of driving on Swiss motorways (5000 miles plus) and maybe seen a marked police car less than 5 times. Swiss motorways now have quite a few speed cameras...they're grey boxes that sit in central reservation....though of course you can't get ticketed on a UK plate.

[e635815]

130km/h sharp in France
120km/h sharp in Swiss
Buy the road tax sticker at the Swiss border (If you pay by card, you'll have to go inside, pay and stick it yourself. That way, you can stick half of it only, remove it afterwards and sell it to someone).

[iluvmercs]

Whenever I've driven to CH, I've taken:

Hi-Viz vest
Europe Map, in addition to the car's built-in sat nav (unlikely, but it might help if the sat nav's a little out of date)
Euros AND Swiss Francs (I've used Euros in CH, but they don't like it very much!)
Passport
Both parts of my driving license, insurance & MOT documents.
If you can, try to buy the Vignetta in advance. I'm not 100% if this can be done from the UK as my brother bought mine, but it meant I just stuck it in the top corner of the windscreen and could forget all about it.

I've removed my Road Angel whenever I've seen a French Plod, although put it back after. I've never had a problem in France or CH. Often sit at around 80-100mph, depending on prevailing weather and traffic conditions, of course! (Having said this, I have been flashed by a couple of CH speed cameras and one in France, although I think I have been VERY lucky to have been traced, despite only being about 10km/h over the limit each time.)

As for the route, my Sat Nav took me the route mentioned above - Calais, Reims (if you have time, make a slight detour to the race track - well, the start/finish straight now), Strasbourgh, entering CH at Basel. By the looks of it, you'll use Route 2 through Altdorf. If this is the case, be mindful that the Gotthard tunnel can get snarled up.

Other than that, sit back and enjoy a leisurely motorway jaunt!

Darren

Edited by iluvmercs on Friday 3rd September 17:17