OK, as promised here are a few more ideas for your list.
I’ve organised a few motorcycle tours for friends over the years and have found John Hermann’s
Motorcycle Journeys Through the Alps and Beyond to be a really useful resource. Although it’s written from a motorcyclists perspective, it works for cars as well
BTW, I had a quick look at the site that DITTRICH linked to in post #13 and it looks like Dietrich and Corinna are fans of the book too
I don’t know how many days you’re planning to take, nor whether you’re more interested in the journey or the destinations, but clearly both those factors will influence how much you can fit in to the trip. Personally I like a mixture of great roads and great destinations so I tend to avoid motorways unless they’re the only viable way to get the journey done in a sensible time. I like to be able to “stop and smell the roses” while I’m travelling too as there’s nothing worse than seeing something spectacular that really warrants a look around and having to blast past it to get to a destination. I therefore tend to plan for anything between 4 and 6 hours of driving time in a day, remembering that average speeds on mountain roads can be quite slow at times, so sometimes distances covered aren’t that great. Quality rather than Quantity is my general motto.
It’s quite possible to cover the three main lakes (Garda, Como & Maggiore) quite quickly but you’ll really miss out if you do. Also be aware that depending upon how late in spring you’re planning to go, some of the higher passes (e.g. the Stelvio) may be closed due to snow so you could miss out on some spectacular scenery. Tuscany is undoubtedly beautiful, but so is Umbria and that tends to be cheaper too as it’s not quite so well established on the tourist trail (yet). Perugia is a fascinating place worth a couple of days, and you can easily visit Assisi and Gubbio from there.
Another area worth a visit is the Dolomites, which have some truly spectacular roads and lots of good hotels at sensible prices. I can recommend
Hotel Gran Paradis in Campitello di Fasa which is a pretty central place for access to some of the best passes in the area and is run by a brother (who’s a bit of a petrolhead) and sister and their families. If you do choose to stay at the Gran Paradis ask for a copy of their route cards which will help you have some great drives on the best roads in the area.
One particular two-week trip we did that worked really well was:
- Cross France by whatever route you prefer and stop at Colmar for a night. We stopped at Ste Menehould for the first night and then went cross-country (Bar-Le-Duc – Neufchateau – St Dié – Colmar) the next day, but if you need to get to the interesting bits quickly, then Colmar is doable in a day, especially if there are two of you driving.
- From Colmar, cross into Germany and past Frieburg then alongside the Bodensee, cross into Austria and take the Bödel pass (1148m), Hochtannbergpass (1675m), Flexenpass (1773m) and finally the Arlbergpass (1793m) to Landeck where we stayed at the Tramser Hof for three nights. This gives you two days to explore, and I recommend one of them is spent driving a loop that takes in the Reschenpass, the Finstermünzpass, the Passo dello Stelvio, then back via the Bernina Pass to Landeck which is just shy of 200 miles of some of the most scenic high passes in Europe.
- From Landeck, head south over the Timmelsjoch (the descent to Merano has some truly memorable views), then head towards Bolzano and pick up the A22 south to Torri del Benaco on the east of Lake Garda. We stayed for three nights at Hotel Gardesana where I recommend you book a room which has lake view and balcony overlooking the mediaeval harbour and castle. There are some great drives around the lake (e.g. head anti-clockwise around the north, through the tunnel and up into the hills then back down to the west side and get the ferry back to Torri del Benaco), or brave the crowds in Sirmione to the south. It’s also a great location for a day trip by bus to Verona, or by train to Venice.
- From Torri del Benaco, head back to Annecy via Torino and the Frejus Tunnel for a night, then back through France by whichever route you like.
If you choose to travel via Austria then you will need to buy a Motorway / Expressway vignette which are available at petrol stations near the border. If you choose to travel via Switzerland it’s possible to avoid their motorway network if you have a good map and are prepared to do some detailed planning, but it would probably be easier to buy a Swiss Motorway Vignette. Note that the Swiss have the concept of a “semi-motorway” which can vary from a single carriageway up to motorway standard dual carriageways and you need the vignette for them as well. Swiss roadsigns will invariably point you via a road that requires a vignette, and the alternative routes are either unsigned or poorly signed so it can be a bit of a minefield if you don’t have one.
Radar detectors are illegal in France, Germany and Switzerland; GPS-based speedcam warning systems are illegal in Germany and Switzerland. The Swiss have recently passed a law that prohibits publication of speedcam locations on the web too, which should prove interesting
Italian speedcams are often difficult to spot but their location is normally given away by the traffic around you suddenly hitting the brakes hard. They like using manned radar traps too. As others have said, ZTL’s can be a pain in Italy and some seem to be designed to deliberately catch out the foreign tourist (no, you don’t say...
). Unless you’re out in the boonies then it’s best to select a hotel with a gated and locked carpark too.
