4 day Trip to Swizerland - Travel Tips?

[db1]

Hi,

I am planning a 4 day trip from the UK which needs to end up in Ascona, Switzerland. I would like to take in some sights and had planned to drive through some French villages (off the motorways) and then down to South of France before turning North again and heading to Ascona. I was wondering whether anyone would recommend particularly pretty stop offs for the overnight and or any sight seeing areas we should include.

Any recommendations gratefully received.

Thanks

DB1

 

[wemorgan]

On your way to/from Switzerland you could stop off in Beze, just north of Dijon.

In Switzerland I can recommend, Grindelwald for views of the Eiger.

 

[st13phil]

My wife and I recently rode back from Verbania on the western shore of Lago Maggiore (just a bit south of Ascona) and I'll happily reverse the route we used for you if you're interested. We did the journey over three days, but in reality it was half a day's ride + a full day + half a day so you could turn it into 4 days and have plenty of time for sightseeing. The route is mainly away from motorways and dual carriageways as they're boring as hell on a bike and was slightly complicated in Switzerland because I had no intention of buying a Vignette

If you want to get an idea of the route, it was basically:

Day 1: Verbania > Domodossola > Simplon Pass > Grimsel Pass > Brienz and then along the northern lakeshore through Interlaken to Thun

Day 2: Thun > Wiggen > Wolhusen > Olten > Cross border at Rheinfelden > A98 > A95 > A36 into France > A35 > Ribeauville > Ste Marie-aux-Mines > St Die > Luneville > Nancy > then N/D-Roads to Ste Menehould

Day 3: Ste Menehould > Reims > A26 Calais

Days one & two went through some spectacular countryside and on some stunning roads I also have a superb back-roads route from Domodossola to Locarno, so that would pretty much get you to Ascona.

Personally, I'd not bother going right to the south of France as it'll just add driving time to the trip without any real benefit. The Alsace & the Vosges have some stunning roads and scenery, and the passes twixt Interlaken and Maggiore are not to be missed, imo. You could even pop in to see the Schlumpf Collection in Mulhouse.

Give me a shout if you want anymore info.

 

[db1]

Phil,

That sounds great - right now we are considering:

Caen (via Ferry)
Chartres
Chateau de Chambord
Millau (to see bridge - something I wanted to do for ages)
Arles
Monaco / Nice
Torino
Ascona

But we are v open to alternatives...We are planning a very slow leisurely drive, so good scenery would be great....also any interesting museums, esp famous artists/painters etc.

thanks again

DB1

 

[Matt45]

We were down there earlier in Jul and it was fantastic driving. As a note, the tax for driving in Switzerland cost us 27 Euros which you buy from the border and lasts all year until Jan [Jan to jan]. You put the sticker in the windscreen and then you can come and go as you like. There are no further tolls on Swiss roads unless you consider the compulsory purchase of chocolate en route!

 

[st13phil]

Looks like a pleasant enough route but although you have four days to do it you'll have to use the Autoroutes a good deal to cover the distance if you don't want to spend all day every day behind the wheel.

Chartres is quite pretty and the Cathedral is well worth a look. If you're going to head to Chateau de Chambord then I'd also advise visiting Amboise and spending (at least) a couple of hours looking round Leonardo da Vinci's house there. It's a fascinating place and includes reconstructions of some of his inventions in the garden, and also a large number of models of further inventions in the house. There's also a somewhat whacky "museum" on one of the roads twixt da Vinci's house and the river that is full of sculptures made from old car parts. Quite surreal.

On your way to Millau, it would be a bit of a diversion but Le Puy-en-Velay is worth a look around. The monastery(?) on top of one of the volcanic spikes is a sight to behold! You could then drive through the Gorge du Tarn on your way to Millau.

After Arles, as you head east the road from Marseille through Cassis to Bandol is quite pretty (and Bandol wines are pretty special, too) but while the road along the Corniche past Port Grimaud, Ste-Maxime & St-Raphael has some great views in places, it also tends to be pretty busy.

Finally, as you head north-east to Torino the road is pretty flat and dull, and also be aware that the road along the lakeshore of Lago Maggiore is v-e-r-y slow going.

 

[st13phil]

Looks like a pleasant enough route but although you have four days to do it you'll have to use the Autoroutes a good deal to cover the distance if you don't want to spend all day every day behind the wheel.

For info, I just plotted your current plan using the quickest route between all points (i.e. lots of motorway) and it comes out at about 1,110 miles and 19.5 hrs driving. By contrast, my route from Calais via the Alsace and across a couple of Swiss passes is about 684 miles and 15 hours driving.

 

[jpwilliams]

Phil,

That sounds great - right now we are considering:

Caen (via Ferry)
Chartres
Chateau de Chambord
Millau (to see bridge - something I wanted to do for ages)
Arles
Monaco / Nice
Torino
Ascona

But we are v open to alternatives...We are planning a very slow leisurely drive, so good scenery would be great....also any interesting museums, esp famous artists/painters etc.

thanks again

DB1

You must see the Millaeu !!

Regards