So, a few of us are heading down to the 24h Finale Ligure in late May. Having taken the train before (which is handy practice for 24 hours of sleep deprivation), we’re getting a mate with a van to drive us. I’m guessing he’s going to want to stop at some point, so has anyone got a recommendation for a stop-off somewhere in mid/southern France?

As far as riding goes, we’re all more on the XC side of things than the uplift-assisted stuff. It doesn’t even have to be a riding spot, it could be somewhere with a stunning view, lovely well-kept campsite, pig that micturates single malt, etc. Whaddya got?

Me and my dad drove to Italy 30 years ago and stopped at Baden Baden,seemed reet spa town as far as I can remember.

you will be driving through the best wine making regions of france

champagne, then burgundy, then beaujolais then Provence

my pick would be the cave at vinzelles, just outside the town of Macon – the pouilly loche, the cremant de bourgogne and the beaujolais villages are all good, and not ridiculous prices

Depends where you are in the UK but we tend to do a night in a cheap F1 style place in norther France or get a super early crossing then spend a nice night in Northern Italy.

Some cracking hotels just over the boarder, have always found the Italian hotels offer better value with better food and were much friendlier than the hotels in France.

We always stop in Epeney.

many southbound dutch/belges stop around bourgogne as it’s a sensible drive’s distance from a mornign start.

http://www.aquadis-loisirs.com/camping-des-sources/ is a good campsite in Santenay, open in May, and used to stopovers of southbound travellers.

It’s easy to get to off the Autoroute du soleil at Beaune and back on again at Chalon-sur-Saone
http://goo.gl/maps/4Og8v

Bookmarking this as doing something similar.

Burgundy stop over for us in late September last year, staying in Dijon.
Balladins Superieur Marsannay Dijon, Dijon
Though if you want to avoid tolls I would suggest a route going though Germany and Austria.

Really depends where you have to start from in the UK. From up here in Northumberland I can just about make the southern periferique & usually end up in the Ibis Porte D’Orleans. If I meet up with mates in London & grab an early ferry, a non-stop run is just about doable with two drivers. Otherwise Lyon, or Chambery would be sensible.

Whenever I’ve driven to Italy, I head towards Luxembourg. Driving on the E42, E420,E411 then E25 to Metz. A35 towards Zurich. There’s a great place to camp at Churwalden a couple of hours past Zurich. At Churwalden, there is a toboggan run that’s worth doing. IT’s relatively easy getting to Italy on the E43 to Como from there.
This misses most of the toll roads that you get through France.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZVky0is-Co[/video]

Your profile suggests Bristol based (as I am too), you can easily get to Grenoble or AdH in a day (i’ve done it twice) with a chunnel about 11am and arriving sometime around 11pm.

So there’s a decent hostel in grenoble:

https://www.hihostels.com/hostels/grenoble-echirolles

Where it’s ok to arrive fairly late, or if you want to stop 2 nights and get some riding in, try les bergers (you can call them and arrange to get keys left in a safe if late) in Alp D’huez – search my previous posts on AdH threads for route suggestions. If you’re racing 24hrs you can presumably handle some climbs, I can recommend some good big loops.

Alternatively I’ve stopped over in Freiburg (near Baden Baden as suggested above) and in nearby villages when going to Italy via ferries to Bruges.

Cheers all. Toboggan is winning so far, closely followed by booze cruise.

Get someone else to do a bit of the driving so the main driver can have a little sleep, just stop for fuel and drinks. You’ll be there quicker and have more time to relax before your 24h of madness!

Works for us driving from Bristol, Chunnel around 1-4am, arrive late afternoon. As for the route, I have no idea, but we get there without a map or TomTom. 😆

Im going to be following asbrooks directions at least as far as Metz on early Saturday morning. Will report back.

Stopped in Dijon last year while on the way to Liguria, prolly could have gone a bit further but a nice place to stop nonetheless.

Lyon, I do the journey from london to Finale (well 45mins before Finale) in one sitting, it takes 10-12 hours from Calais if you head straight towards Marseilles..

The journey is boring as £$%& mind…but the quickest route.