Anyone driven to Lake Garda or Northern Italy

[stephendutton]

Has anyone done the above drive from the U.K. What are the best routes, ferry departures or the tunnel etc, did you stop over ? Basically I am thinking of doing the trip over a two week period would ideally like to spend three to four days in Garda two to three days at Lake Como. Are there any must not miss places, both on the way there and way back, which preferably would be a different route. Any advice and tips welcome. Thanks in advance for your replies Steve

 

[shawna]

We've just done it last week but we flew there and rented a car.

Are you travelling with kids?

 

[CornishRob]

What about sticking your car on a train and then you don't have to drive all the way.

Drive on, bottle of wine and a meal, go to sleep and wake up and you're there.

Haven't done it myself, but am interested in doing it at some point!

 

[domsz4]

drove from milan to riva once. as you look at the map the west side of the lake is lovely but slow the east side has a motorway so quick. that part of italy is lovely. have fun. getting to that region from milan was easy too as its all motorway. if your in the z it will be great. i was in a lancia ypsilon thrashing the balls off it and it was still fun on some of the twisty roads.

cant comment on the south of the lake but the riva is a really nice place to be although i was at a conference so only saw a little bit of it.

 

[Number5]

What about sticking your car on a train and then you don't have to drive all the way.

Drive on, bottle of wine and a meal, go to sleep and wake up and you're there.

Haven't done it myself, but am interested in doing it at some point!

I'd be interested to know the cost and logistics of doing that, if anyone has previous experience ?

 

[Taz]

the tunnel is so easy. i did 3 lakes near lake garda then went south to France along the coast. fantastic trip

 

[Paulwirral]

Tunnel every time , easier , quicker and flexible times , also you park nose to tail rather than side by side so your not risking dented doors .

 

[CornishRob]

What about sticking your car on a train and then you don't have to drive all the way.

Drive on, bottle of wine and a meal, go to sleep and wake up and you're there.

Haven't done it myself, but am interested in doing it at some point!

I'd be interested to know the cost and logistics of doing that, if anyone has previous experience ?

http://www.seat61.com/Motorail.htm#Map%20of%20European%20motorail%20routes

Never done it, but would be interested as well

 

[Lance]

What about sticking your car on a train and then you don't have to drive all the way.

Drive on, bottle of wine and a meal, go to sleep and wake up and you're there.

Haven't done it myself, but am interested in doing it at some point!

I'd be interested to know the cost and logistics of doing that, if anyone has previous experience ?

Done it, but by motorbike in 2009. Motorail goes from Dusseldorf to Italy, although we got off in Austria. Very easy, very efficient, on late afternoon off at your destination the following morning. Food and drink are available on board, but would highly recommend taking plenty yourself.

 

[jamiez]

What about sticking your car on a train and then you don't have to drive all the way.

Drive on, bottle of wine and a meal, go to sleep and wake up and you're there.

Haven't done it myself, but am interested in doing it at some point!

I'd be interested to know the cost and logistics of doing that, if anyone has previous experience ?

Done it, but by motorbike in 2009. Motorail goes from Dusseldorf to Italy, although we got off in Austria. Very easy, very efficient, on late afternoon off at your destination the following morning. Food and drink are available on board, but would highly recommend taking plenty yourself.

I've drive from Barcelona way upto Guarda via monoco and Nice - in an old limo

Road trip report here - you might not get all our stupid jokes!!

http://swissavoidanceroadtrip.wordpress.com

 

[zedwheels]

I did a trip last August with two other zeds. We met up near Folkstone to catch the train, that's much better than the ferry!!. Drove off and our first stop was in Rheims. Next drive down to Mullhouse, did want to visit the car museum which I'm told is fantastic, but didn't get time ! Next morning we then went on into Switzerland for a night. Following morning we went down to Lake Como for a four night stay. Bloody great time there because we went out every day and over the four days did about 10 of the mountain passes, awesome!! After Como my mates then drove off down to Spain, me and Mrs zedwheels though drove over to Vincenza for three nights in a nice spa hotel and drove to visit Lake Garda one day, and into Venice for another one of the days. A place worth seeing.

I had set my route back home from Vincenza, headed north back into Switzerland and then Germany to Lake Konstanz for three nights, beautiful place, then my next promise to myself was the Nurburgring so had booked two nights there. That's an experience!! From there made our way to Bruges, had two night there before making our way back home.

We want to go again soon, top down driving all the time. I cant remember all the names of the passes but i don't think we missed many.
Did all the hotel accommodation through Booking.com and found them great, we had booked with the option of cancelling the day before arrival, just in case! All in i think it cost about £2500.
It's a must do journey and to have some good company as well, even if it was only for the first week was good.

 

[Lance]

Crossing the Channel I would go the tunnel route, much better and quicker than the ferry, albeit usually more expensive.

Hotels on route? I've been doing European road trips well in excess of 20 years and never ever booked in advance. Drive until you're ready to stop then start looking for a hotel. I've never struggled to find one, plus it means you're not commited to being somewhere at a given time. Most reasonable sized towns have hotels, find the town square as there's usually one or two very nearby, plus you're now where the bars and cafes are. Having said that we often come across hotels in stunning locations and just use their bar/restaurants as there's little else about locally.

Do less on the trip and enjoy more. Passes look great in photos, but hairpin after hairpin can become tedious, think about it, straight, uturn, straight, uturn.........the climb/drop is great a few times but the flowing mountain roads are where the fun is.......isn't it? Trying to fit too many passes in will take up lots of time as the going is very slow on these roads. You can always return another year and do some of the others.

The Motorail is really worth a look and saves you lots of time, plus you get off in the sunshine and within a stones throw of your destination, leaving you a week at the lakes and a week to enjoy stuff on the way home. Downside, it is fairly expensive but consider your cost of driving there and the finance gap narrows considerably.

Whatever you choose, road trips are great, enjoy!