Planned your 2017 road trip(s)yet?

[Bobby Dazzler]

Another Grand Tour this year taking most of June

First leg via Euro-tunnel and down through France via A roads (and as few toll roads as possible) for a first night at Grenoble. Then down via the Route Napoleon through the Alps and into Monaco. a slow trundle along the Italian Riviera coast road through to Genoa; then via Pisa and Lucca across to Mugello for the MotoGP race. This followed by a three weeks based in a villa just south of Monterchi (south East of Arrezo); enjoying good food and wine in locations all around the area of Tuscany and Umbria. The journey back begins with a stopover in Verona, then up through the Stelvio to Fussen and a visit to the Castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. A quick blast up the autobahn to Affalterbach and a visit to AMG, and possibly the Mercedes Museum the following day. Then the mad dash across Belgium etc to catch the last Euro-tunnel train back to the UK.

Meeting up with other AMG nutters for the last part - as you do

That sounds fantastic. We did something very similar last year, but our extended stop was in Riva del Garda on the lake. The return leg via Affalterbach was great fun. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I don't know how long it is since you've driven through Lyon, but you might be pleasantly surprised. Lyon is not the horrendous bottleneck that it used to be - thanks to new motorways that spread the load. For sure there'll be rush hour traffic, but it's not the grind that it was 10+years ago.

Again, you may well know it, but if you're based in Cannes, the coast road along the Esterel is still a great drive. Fabulous views and lots of attractive stopping places.

Along the Riviera, apart from the usual suspects, places like Beaulieu, Villefranche, Cap Ferrat, Cap d'Antibes, Sanary-sur-mer, and Cassis are all little diamonds for walks, lunch and the markets.




Enjoy the trip!

Thanks Mike. As you say better than it has been, but I always seem to pass Lyon in the early evening, and have got caught up there every time. Fingers crossed we get lucky next time

Thanks for the tips regarding the Riviera. We've never really explored East of Monaco, which is part of the reason we're staying in Cannes, to force us to! Any specific recommendation are appreciated, thank you!

 

[Red C220]

I am doing these 2 trips this year

Petrolhead Tours - Driving holidays for the discerning petrolhead ? UK, Europe, and beyond.

Petrolhead Tours - Driving holidays for the discerning petrolhead ? UK, Europe, and beyond.

These look fantastic, getting to go with a group of like minded people seems like a great idea.

The idea of driving off alone puts me off, so a group organised tour looks like an ideal solution.

 

[Evoluzione]

I have a 2 week Road trip all planned and booked, taking the A45 for a good run leaving the end of April, rough route and things we'll be seeing doing along the way.

Hull to Nurburg Nordschleife lapping.
Nurburg to Munich BMW Museum, Olympic Park, Dachau, oompah and beer.
Munich to Garmisch Partenkirchen Zugspitze, Neuschwanstein Castle and beer.
Garmisch to Stuttgart Mercedes Benz World, Porsche Museum, AMG Factory tour.
Stuttgart to Nurburg more Nordschleife lapping
Stuttgart to Bruges Beer, lots of Beer
Bruges to Zeebrugge Ferry home

 

[carnut]

I try to do a European road trip every year in the sl

Northern Spain paradors via boat to Santander

France Switzerland to lake Como staying in Lenno

Alpennestrasse road in Germany

Moselle and nurbergring

Last year to the paradors and Andorra travelling through France and mugged by gendarmes!

This year along the German castles route to Prague ( avoiding France as much as possible!)

I try to take the old roads and see as much as possible of the local towns rather than autoroute blasts but the sanef toll tag is a good idea,makes life a lot easier

 

[st13phil]

We've never really explored East of Monaco, which is part of the reason we're staying in Cannes, to force us to! Any specific recommendation are appreciated, thank you!

There are a number of great roads to explore north of Cannes.

If you haven't seen it, I put down a few notes about places we visited and roads we drove in that area on page 2 of my SLK55 French Odyssey thread.

 

[Meldrew2]

I am doing these 2 trips this year

Petrolhead Tours - Driving holidays for the discerning petrolhead ? UK, Europe, and beyond.

Norway has amazing scenery. We are touring there next year, when we will be powered by 36,000 kW (instead of my turbocharged 2 litres).

Advantages : no packing and unpacking, plenty of restaurants and bars, with beer at UK prices.

Disadvantages : disappointing 0-60 performance, limited turning circle.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

There are a number of great roads to explore north of Cannes.

If you haven't seen it, I put down a few notes about places we visited and roads we drove in that area on page 2 of my SLK55 French Odyssey thread.

Thanks just the ticket. Some beautiful photos too

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I try to do a European road trip every year in the sl

Northern Spain paradors via boat to Santander

France Switzerland to lake Como staying in Lenno

Alpennestrasse road in Germany

Moselle and nurbergring

Last year to the paradors and Andorra travelling through France and mugged by gendarmes!

This year along the German castles route to Prague ( avoiding France as much as possible!)

I try to take the old roads and see as much as possible of the local towns rather than autoroute blasts but the sanef toll tag is a good idea,makes life a lot easier

Some nice looking trips there, what happened with the gendarmes?

 

[C240Sport97]

Norway has amazing scenery.

pics from Norway tour in 2013

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/1735980-post64.html

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/1735980-post64.html

 

[BEJ]

Norway has amazing scenery. We are touring there next year, when we will be powered by 36,000 kW (instead of my turbocharged 2 litres).

Advantages : no packing and unpacking, plenty of restaurants and bars, with beer at UK prices.

Disadvantages : disappointing 0-60 performance, limited turning circle.

We have just booked a trip to the Norwegian Fjords for next year with Fred Olsel. Not as much bhp as you though, but still looking forward to driving free alcohol.

:bannana::bannana::bannana::bannana::bannana::bannana:

 

[carnut]

Some nice looking trips there, what happened with the gendarmes?

Apparently I crossed a white line exiting a village. I didn't because I am very aware of the rules however who can argue with 4 men with guns

They had most obviously targeted an English couple on tour with a brand new sl:

They spoke very good English and seemed only slightly embarrassed when I queried the offence. One actually said I could afford the fine looking pointedly at the car

Rather soured my pleasure of touring in France. My Michelin guide map of many years is highlighted with the routes I have taken and it's like a plate of worms!

PS route Napolean is a great road

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Ahhh, I find the toll tag(s) is the key to avoiding stress and arguments

I contacted Sanef to check whether my tag account was still active as we haven't used it since last Easter, and they recommended ordering a new tag as ours has seen 4 years service, and they have an expected life of 5-7 years.

The new one has arrived today

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Another Grand Tour this year taking most of June

First leg via Euro-tunnel and down through France via A roads (and as few toll roads as possible) for a first night at Grenoble. Then down via the Route Napoleon through the Alps and into Monaco. a slow trundle along the Italian Riviera coast road through to Genoa; then via Pisa and Lucca across to Mugello for the MotoGP race. This followed by a three weeks based in a villa just south of Monterchi (south East of Arrezo); enjoying good food and wine in locations all around the area of Tuscany and Umbria. The journey back begins with a stopover in Verona, then up through the Stelvio to Fussen and a visit to the Castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. A quick blast up the autobahn to Affalterbach and a visit to AMG, and possibly the Mercedes Museum the following day. Then the mad dash across Belgium etc to catch the last Euro-tunnel train back to the UK.

Meeting up with other AMG nutters for the last part - as you do

Any top tips on how best to force COMAND to stick to a specific route, like Route Napolean?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I'm not sure of our plans this year but, for those going to France without an agenda, I recommend the Luberon and, specifically, Lourmarin for a night or two.

 

[st13phil]

Any top tips on how best to force COMAND to stick to a specific route, like Route Napolean?

Which version of COMAND do you have?

If it will store and read routes from an SD card then there's a neat little conversion program that a chap wrote (posted in a thread here) which will allow you to convert a route created on Google Maps or with Garmin's MapSource or BaseCamp. I used this for our trip to France in Angie's SLK last year and while there were a few quirks due to the cartography not being a perfect match, it worked pretty well.

Let me know if you want more details and I'll search out the post(s) for you.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Which version of COMAND do you have?

If it will store and read routes from an SD card then there's a neat little conversion program that a chap wrote (posted in a thread here) which will allow you to convert a route created on Google Maps or with Garmin's MapSource or BaseCamp. I used this for our trip to France in Angie's SLK last year and while there were a few quirks due to the cartography not being a perfect match, it worked pretty well.

Let me know if you want more details and I'll search out the post(s) for you.

Ooh, not sure, NTG 4.7 maybe?

Thanks Phil, I came across those threads earlier. I don't have a Windows PC any more, maybe I need to get hold of one.

On a related subject...

This evening I worked out that the Mercedes Me app will send directions from my phone to COMAND, even though we don't have the "full" Mercedes Me Connect, which is handy and much easier than using COMAND

 

[gr1nch]

What kind of route/schedule do you have for the South of France?

Over one Christmas for 10 days I took my wife and our nice Saab convertible through a long loop of France, which I'll share in case it gives you some suitable ideas.

One long run through the south of England via Calais to the small medieval village of Vezelay. Then down to Le-Puy-en-Valee, where we had our first ever meal in a Michelin star restaurant, by accident as it as soon after boxing day and the town was very quiet. Then across the, then, snow-bound Massif Centrale (sometimes no other car for an hour or more) over the stunning Millau bridge, hanging in the clouds, pushing onto Carcassonne where we stayed a couple of nights in an old Demure. If you get the I highly recommend the Cassoulet at Chez Fred! Then we made our way up the West side of France with New Years Eve in Toulouse at a nice hotel in town, then small B&Bs through the Languedoc (visit a chateau or two and buy wine), post Bordeaux to our last night spent in Rouen, then back. We a lot of driving but we have many good memories. Lots of quality sights, stats, for and drink. And of course the driving, with barely any other traffic around. Never once in a jam or queue outside town.

Enjoy your trip when you have it!



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[gr1nch]

We are driving to Stresa on Lake Maggiore in May. Route is overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, one overnoght stop in France south of Tours and then on to Chateau D'Oex in the Swiss Alps for another overnight. I flew a light aircraft out to Gruyere last year for some Alpine mountain flying experience, so want to show the other half where I stayed.

Gruyère is a lovely place, where avoid is the landing strip? I hope you sampled some of the fantastic Gruyère d'Alpage, quite possibly the best cheese in the world A farmer and worldclass cheese maker the offered me a job a few years back as a cheese cowboy farmer for their 5-month season. Was tempted




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[gr1nch]

With only a few months left in Belgium and plenty of time on hands, I plan on making the most of it with multiple yours planned, long and short

* Northern Portugal, especially Porto, the Douro, Guimaraes and interesting routes through the Spanish interior

* Sindelfingen for a factory tour, Stuttgart and maybe Munich

The rest are pie in the sky at the moment and depend on finances as we've bought a new car and just about to buy a house!
* The Jura and French-speaking Switzerland, surround Lake Geneva

* Lake Como, then over the passes to Austria

A few long weekends
* Amsterdam and Groningen to see friends
* Colmar and the Alsace

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