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Afternoon all,
Looking at driving to the Alps next year and wanted to know what routes you all used and the pros/cons, I have noted that different route maps come up with different routes and does anyone have any horror stories etc.
I do not mind doing a few extra miles if this means easier motorway driving etc. Will probally make a stop but not fussed where and it will be a cheap hotel.
Thanks
Reggie
Calais - Reims - Troyes - Dijon - Alps.
Isn't that the obvious route? I'm sure there are variations but they probably won't detract from the mind-numbing tedium of 500 miles of autoroute. Thankfully I was distracted by whining children who barely 1 hour out of Calais began to ask if we were nearly there yet 😀
I drove out to Alpes last year on my own, I took the toll road all the way. 9ish hours on tolls or 14 hours on non toll which is ok if you want to look around and sample decent coffee etc but I just wanted to get there and be on my bike. I stopped when I needed to refuel (me or car) and sometimes just to stretch. If you have someone with you that will help quite a bit especially at the toll booths which of course are on the left. Good luck !
+1 for dazh's route. That's the way we went every year for about a decade when we had a timeshare at Belle Plagne. Takes about 10 hours at a steady pace. Only busy bit is the Rocade Est around Lyon, and it's not that bad unless you hit it at rush hour on a weekday.
Can't remember the exact route we went, but stopped at the Formula 1 hotel just outside Troyes - it was cheap, they were fine with us having the bikes in our rooms and there was a great little diner next door.
We stayed in Epernay on the way out and back this year. It must be popular with the likes of us because the Hotel Premiere Classe had lots of signs saying bringing bikes inside was strictly 'Interdit'. The Campanile in Dizy were cool about it though so I would recommend them. It's right next to a real vineyard and everything!
That's the way we did it this year, drove overnight took around 10 hours from Calais shared driving so everyone slept. It's a long, long drive total cost was around 150 each way in a galaxy diesel.