OK Here we go. Depends how you are planning to stay, we went with all our camping gear so I can recommend campsites if thats any help,anyway We left Swansea about 8am on the 16th June and headed to Dover. Crossing was at 2pm so we had time in Dover to get some food before check in. Lovely smooth crossing and headed to Reims in France. Got to Reims about 9pm so searched for a hotel. First mistake was going in to Reims to find a hotel. Cheapest we could find was 50 euros and basic is doing it a favour, well you live and learn. Set off next morning towards Dijon and through Chambele and from there towards Turin. One thing to be very mindful of is the road tolls as they can be quite expensive. The autoroutes in France and the Autostrades in Italy are charged similarly but be prepared to shell out regularly. They do accept cards but I always had cash for these. This route takes you through Mont Blanc tunnel which is fantastic from any engineering acheivement but also very hot ( I read 42c on the outside temp gauge)over 30 kms long and cost you 35 euros. You know you are into Italy by the small Italian flag you pass and also the road quality deterioates significantly. The roads around Turin are bloody busy and you really need your wits about you (esp for us as we hit this about 5pm). From Turin we headed towards Savona which is on the coast close to Genova.
We stayed in a campsite right on the beach front from thursday to sunday ,which was nice but the weather forecast wasnt good for the coming week so we decided to head South. Headed on the autostrade past Genova and Pisa and down as far as Follonica where for a change of scenery we took the coast road down to Citavecchia where we rejoined the Strade and around the Rome ring road. There is a campsite in the hills above Rome in a place called Fianno Romana which was lovely. We stayed a week there because the weather was good, it had a lovely pool, loads to see, and close to Rome.
You could spend a fortnight in Rome and not see it all, its a beautiful city but on the day we went in it was about 38c which was a tad warm to walk through a city.
On the following sunday we headed back up towards Firenze to another camp in the Tuscanny hills which was truly stunning, over night stay and then through the Tuscan hills to Lucca.
Stayed there till thursday and decided to go to the South of France to Monaco.
Cant begin to describe Monaco as it is so georgous, found a campsite 5kms out of Monaco towards Nice which had the most beautiful views ever of the med.
Would have stayed here much longer but i've got a hospital appointment today as I'm waiting for spinal surgery so had to head back on Saturday lunchtime, over the french alps to Dijon,overnight in a hotel and on to Calais, getting back to Swansea 6:30 monday morning. Brilliant trip loads of lovely food,photos, wine and sites ,weather was fantastic and we cant wait to go again when funds allow tbh. If any wants to know anymore any more then we'll be glad to share.
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