Planning a 17 day Euro trip... Leaving this Thursday!

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Hi chaps, I'm looking to plan a 17 day trip to Europe with my wife leaving on Thursday! We were meant to be doing a driving tour of Australia during this time but we found out yesterday that due to an unexpected illness in my wife's family we need to stay within Europe in case my wife needs to get back at short notice. So we've decided to take my recently acquired C63 Coupe on an impromptu European adventure instead

The thought of this is proving quite troublesome given my normal ocd tendencies to plan but if nothing else, recent events have taught me that life is very short and sometimes you just need to get up and do rather than think too much...

This would be my first time doing a trip like this, but I had planned to do a euro trip next year but hadn't really got round to doing any planning, just had a few ideas rolling around. As I'll be with the wife, the focus is probably 80% on destinations and 20% on driving. We're hoping to keep the accommodation costs (B&Bs, hotels, apartments) to an average of £100/night (not easy given the awful pound!) as the fuel costs are frankly going to be horrendous

We're looking to visit three broad areas:

Swiss Alps and main passes (3 days)
Tuscany, Florence to around Orvieto (4 days)
Italian lakes, Como, Maggiore (3 days)

Given the last minute nature of this trip I'd be extremely grateful for any tips on the route and hotel/b&b recommendations you guys may have. I want to get is down to Tuscany asap so the start of the trip has two long travel days (views on whether that is realistic would be appreciated). Given that I've never done something like this before I don't really know how tiring things are going to be and what is a realistic daily mileage to aim for. I've tried to include the mileages below so you can see what I'm planning.

I'm still trying to get to grips with Tyretotravel in order to plan the exact route, but the rough plan is as follows:

• 22 June: Calais to near Annecy via Reims, A26/A39 (520 miles): I picked near Annecy as thought it was a good stopover. This would just be an overnight stop to recharge for the next day. Could I go further on the first day? Would be happy to stay in a motorway hotel (Ibis etc) to ease the journey on the next day.

• 23 June: Near Annecy to Siena, via Mont Blanc tunnel, Milan (442 miles, 7.5hrs)

• 24 - 27 June: Florence, San Quirico d'Orcia, Pienza, Motepulciano, Orvieto. Would it be best to base in once place and drive around, or move from place to place? Any accommodation recommendations appreciated.

• 28 June: Tuscany to Lake Como (possibly Bellagio). 280 miles, 5hrs): Is it worth stopping off in Lake Garda as well? Is it massively different to Como? Tips on where to base and accommodation most appreciated.

• 29 - 1 July: Lake Como/Maggiore: Is Lake Maggiore worth a visit?

• 2 July: Lake Como to Swiss Alps (possibly Andermatt, Obergoms? Advice on where to base/stay appreciated). Plan is to drive the Furka, Susten, Grimsel pass loop. Maybe heard NE from Maggiore to Simplon pass? Would like to get a cable car up a mountain or a similar activity. Is the cable car up the Matterhorn from Zermatt worth doing?

• 3-5 July: Swiss Alps

• 6 July: Swiss Alps to somewhere in Black Forest (is Baden-Baden nice?)

• 7 July: Black forest to Cochem (Adenau)

• 8 July: Cochem to Calais

I know this seems like a scarily undetailed draft given that we're leaving in a few days... so I would really appreciate any tips, insight, recommendations you guys may have.

Many thanks chaps,

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Thanks so much for the thoughts guys. I've now booked our first night stop and Italian Lakes accommodation based on suggestions in this thread. Now need to book Tuscany accommodation and decide where to stay/what to do in the Swiss Alps. Please keep any suggestions coming

I'll update the thread as I get the route pinned down.

Cheers

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That's actually sensible advice as I'm finding it hard to envisage how the trip will pan out having never done something like this before.

Has anyone got any thoughts on what we can do in the Swiss Alps?
I'm going to do the main passes but I quite liked the thought of getting the cable car up Matterhorn from Zermatt. Has anyone done this or similar activities they can recommend in the area?

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lucido grigio said:

Add to above,maybe head down to Genoa and head south beside the Med and through tunnel after tunnel,there's loads on that section down to La Spezia etc.

Thanks. Do I need to take the ss1 road to La Spezia from genoa or does the E80 motorway which runs parallel also take in those sights?

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Hi chaps, currently in Siena and having a lovely time. Thanks for all the input. Think I'll give Stelvio a miss and just do the Andermatt loop.

I was looking at our route from Siena to Lake Como and it takes us past Maranello. Is it worth stopping off at the Ferrari museum? How does it compare to the Mercedes and Porsche museums in Stuttgart? My wife isn't in to cars so think I can only negotiate a visit to one of them