Hi

Per the title I am driving from London to Lake Garda, and then  the return leg 2 weeks later, with Mrs G and our two kids (5 and 9). The furthest I have ever driven abroad prior to this is the Calais Wine Superstore so there are bound to be a few things I need to learn.

My current plan is to set off early so the kids will sleep for some of the journey, drive around about halfway, stop somewhere and have an afternoon / evening there, stay in a hotel, then drive the second half of the journey starting early the following day.

I have a few questions;

Tolls, where can I find out how much these are going to be, how do I pay them etc?

Will the traffic be horrendous during the day taking the most direct route?

Where to stop? It looks per the routeplanner that I will be going through Basel and near Strasbourg, are these worth a visit, or are there other potential route I can take to stop somewhere else?

Thanks

Steve

Are we nearly there yet? Are we nearly there yet? Are we nearly there yet? Repeat…. You’ll have earned your holiday by the time you get there! Good luck.

We did it… We stopped at Annecy, spent a few days there.

Tolls, i rekon 80 euro each way

Don’t forget the Mont Blanc tunnel which was 45 euro each way too

Roads were fairly quiet mostly…. nice…  We went to Bologna and Maranello.

Rumour has it that Italian drivers are crazy, not my experience a bit enthusiastic but better and less aggressive than here.

It it will be hot so a cool box in the car is essential. Just take your time and enjoy the scenery.

I’ve driven to France several times and onwards to Italy once with the kids, the return journey from Italy was horrendous, everyone was so bored of being in the car on day 2, and without the anticipation of the holiday tempers frayed, if I did it again I would definitely plan better for this part .

Make sure you have some good games planned and loads of stuff downloaded to tablets. Maybe plan a few 30 min times breaks for run around time?

Hi

Thanks, €80 each way isn’t too bad. Do I pre pay or do that contactless or something?

Between books, tablets, the Nintendo switch and breaking it into 2 days with an afternoon off in between I think the kids should be ok. Annency could be a good shout, may also do a different route on the return journey so that the stopover can be in a different place, but yes, fully expect the journey home to be worse than the journey out.

Am buying a roofbox, have a coolbox sorted already, and yes, I am looking forward to the journey and do not intend to rush or put myself under any time pressure so we can stop and see a few things on the way

On the way back we stopped at Chamonix… Don’t do that… it’s crap

We just pay tolls at the toll using a pre-paid CC. I’m sure there’s other ways too.

Done it a few times, last time it took 27 hrs from Calais to Salo due to traffic/accidents – that was the French way and there was an accident in a tunnel which buggered things up.

I prefer the Swiss route but we often stay a couple of nights in either Germany or Lux on the way back to break the journey.

My advice is drive it at night if you can.

For tolls we have a SANEF tag as it saves all the falling out of the passenger window, waking up the passenger, arguing about cash etc as you just drive straight through and get a bill about a month later.

We drove to Verona last June and it was a solid 2 days, we stopped in Macon on the first day and then the next day through the Mont Blanc tunnel.

We’ve returned via Austria going over the Brenner Pass which is pleasant and a bit different, we stopped near Garmisch Partenkirchen on the way back and then in Reims. But it still ends up being a lot of driving.

We do 600 miles non-stop to Cornwall and back every year with three kids.

Invest in an in-car DVD player. They don’t need signal, don’t use data and you  can carry  loads of films in a CDwallet without using up all the memory on the kids tablets.

Keep a bag handy with a change of clothes for the kids and plenty of baby wipes……there might be puking, especially if the kids aren’t used to sleeping in the car and then eating breakfast.

Also some big sealable food bags for puking in. Get ones that are suitable for holding soup.

Also have a wide necked empty drinks bottle ( Oasis or some such ) for emergency motorway pee incidents.

……and more baby wipes. You can never have too many baby wipes.

We have done this a few times.  French tolls are best done with the automated tag system – I can’t remember the name, but it is much easier!   I did not look for a similar one for Italy, but I will be searching this year.

You plan seems fine, certainly similar to our own approach.  I would recommend stopping somewhere with something to do – e.g. a pool, as this can really help you unwind and relax the body as well as the mind.  Annecy as mentioned above is a good choice of stop over.  If you stop in Folkestone the night before, you could stop somewhere like Dijon and then a second stop in Annecy.

Have a wonderful time and make sure you go to Bardolino!

Hotels with swimming pools can make a short stop into a great one especially if it really has been boiling.  Some of the Ibis hotels have them and aren’t too expensive.

There are plenty of kids in Italy. Sell the ones you have and buy some more when you get there.

Europa Park.With an overnight in Freiburg.

The outward journey will be OK because… well… you are on your holidays with 2 weeks of fun and sunshine to look forward to. The return journey will be less fun, as you will only have work and a long drive to look forward to. There is no way around this…..

Via.micehlin website will give you toll details.

Make a cool bag with lunch and snacks. Stop at aire rest areas every couple of hours so the kids can have a run around. Using the main toll roads means that traffic shouldn’t be that bad although on a trip of that distance, you’ll hit a contraflow and an hour queue somewhere.

Leaving early will help but you’ll be fine. Driving in Europe is way better than here and relatively stress free.

For the overnight, I’d look to stop somewhere smallish. Your route is quite ambitious so you’re unlikely to get much downtime for the stop. Dinner and a stroll around a little town. Colmar could be good.

Definitely get a Sanef tag, saves loads of hassle and you can then use the 30km/h lanes so you don’t have to stop. You also don’t need to worry about having change or finding your card etc.

Eurotunnel have the usual discount on getting a tag https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/Eurotunnel-Le-Shuttle-Offer-Landing-Page

Looking at our account the toll totalled £180 for our trip last summer.

We did Sheffield to Riems in one day then after about two weeks driving around set off back from Avignon. We stopped at about an hr from Calais on the way back at a F1 hotel which are fine and all a long the road. In hind site we could easily have carried on to Calais and made it back to Sheffield. The worst bit of the whole journey is the Folkstone to home. Driving in France is so easy, helped by Adaptive Cruise Control!!!

It does really help if the kids are good in the car and kept entertained with DVD’s etc. If they are quiet then the hours can fly by.

Seconded the ViaMichelin app – it not only gives you a break down of tolls you can add a few minor details and it wil estimate your fuel cost. The Michelin Man must have a heavy boot though!

Can you order a SANEF thing here?

Can you order a SANEF thing here?

Yeah, as the post above yours shows, sanef have a UK website for people who want to buy one here. We got one last year. It really does save a lot of faffing and the inevitable unmanned booth where none of your cards are accepted.

However,

you can then use the 30km/h lanes so you don’t have to stop

Won’t apply if you’re driving with bikes on the roof or an SUV with roofbox (I’m not sure about lower slung cars with roofbox tbh). So you’ll still have to queue, but if you’re lucky you’ll be able to use the “t” only lanes in any case – and these often move a bit faster than the card/cash/t lanes.

If you’re driving without any shite on the roof, you’ll be fine and I’d definitely recommend getting a tag. No idea about Italian tolls. I did get an email from sanef this week advertising that they now have tgs available for Spain so maybe they do Italy as well?

Use your luggage to build a wall between them – this helps with the “arrgh – he/she’s in my space…..”

OP – we have worked out a system over the last few years where I drive with all the bags & everything else for the holiday, leave a couple of days earlier, take my time and get a few hours riding in each day and then collect Mrs R and similarly aged kids to yours from Geneva (or convenient) airport on the way. That way, I get some peace & quiet whilst doing the miles and they get the ‘bonus’ of going on a plane on their holiday.

Two weeks later, we do it all backwards………

OP – we have worked out a system

*checks flight prices to Bergerac this Summer. That sounds like bliss.

…..it was a pick-up from / drop-off at Limoges airport that set the whole thing going

Tell you what… .that’s not a terrible idea that 🙂

Cripes, I could fly them for the Saturday to two weeks later Saturday to Bergerac, half an hour from campsite for a couple of hundred quid. Wish I’d have thought of that ages ago!

Swiss research says cruise control kills. Use a limiter but not crusie control on a long journey because if you do start to get tired one of the first waarnings is youlll find yourself slowing down. If you do get to that point open all the windows, turn the radio flat out and enjoy the argument that is provoked until the next junction/aire/services. One of the main causes of accidents in France is people dozing off. It’s a big country with long journeys on autoroutes that require very little attention most of the time.

My current plan is to set off early so the kids will sleep for some of the journey

Good luck with that! We tried it and the result was that by the end of the day they’d all been awake since 5am and were all grouchy and shattered. That was only driving York to Cornwall but it was enough.

Drive and fly the kids out, or how to mximise your carbon footprint.

We drive my kids* (4&7) to the Alps, french side. It’s 13 hours door to door, I set off at 9:00pm, take shifts through the night and get them there for midday. They feel like they’ve only been in the car for a few hours as the spend a lot of it asleep and although we’re knackered, a very early night and up for the fun the next day and it’s all good!

DVD’s / Tablets / Tag system (30kmh works with a roof box or SUV), snacks and wipes. Keep on top of the admin, everything in it’s place, makes it so much easier to sort whilst driving. Oh, and the tolls are worth it, seriously easy driving huge distances with little traffic. The non toll roads bear the brunt of the holdups.

*disclaimer: we’ve always traveled with our kids, 3 hours driving to see friends for lunch and then same back again later that day is fairly normal. Ours are very used to it. My brother in law who did the same journey as me this year went through hell!

Did a drive/fly last year as was taking a load of stuff over to new place in Alps, wife and daughter flew. Wasn’t too bad frankly but a long way from Edinburgh! This year – flying.

my usual message – please check carefully the traffic forecasts on the following site :

http://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/previsions,10564,langen.html

Do not travel on black days unless you know what you are doing – France is like a massive bridge in August with everybody on the roads – Saturdays are really to be avoided if you can , or plan around.

Drive and fly the kids out, or how to mximise your carbon footprint.

The plane’s going anyway, may as well fill a few extra seats and reduce the CO2 per passenger.

Do not travel on black days unless you know what you are doing – France is like a massive bridge in August with everybody on the roads – Saturdays are really to be avoided if you can , or plan around

Go to France every year in August to burgundy. Never once seen ”traffic’ as such. We come back every year on a Saturday.

Finishthat’s advice is good. Whilst traffic is rarely, if ever, as bad as on the M4/M25 on a bank holiday it’s worth avoiding the black spots on black days. The “chassé-croisé” weekends, especially 15/8, turn the autoroutes south from Paris into giant parking lots.

Valium in the kids breakfast and some amphetamine in yours… Just drive.

Try not to break the speed limit.

I was that kid multiple times in the 1970s (Comos Driving Holidays). We survived despite no air con (shorts on leather seats not good!) and no iPads. We used to take about 4 days to get to northern Italy or Yugoslavia which meant the driving days weren’t too long. The only exception was when we got a really bad hotel in Germany and my dad drove us all the way to Calais in one hit.

Summary – short days with stopping anywhere interesting on route can make it fun. Just try to avoid crashing into an ambulance in France whilst arguing about directions.

I’ve just done a similar trip on my motorbike.

Left Leicester at 7am Saturday morning, arrived at Lake Como around 5pm on Monday. We were in no rush, as we tend to do only 250-300 miles a day. In a car, I’d definitely do more. We stayed in Brussels then in Sausheim, France, around 25 miles from the Swiss border at Basel.

I’d be looking to get to the Swiss border early in a car, as the queues were really long to get in. Also, the Gotthard tunnel had a queue maybe 5 miles long. We went over the pass where we saw maybe 3 other vehicles! There are some brilliant views from the top, there’s a cafe just over the summit going south which is good.

Andermatt is lovely, a good place to stop for dinner. You will need a Swiss Vignette. £33.50 from Swiss travel service in London. Get it before you go, as the queues to buy them were long at the border. The fines are out of proportion if you get caught without one – 200 swiss francs, – £180ish.

I’m going against the grain here with the SANEF tags, I wouldnt get one. I looked into getting one, but it worked out more expensive overall, and you only really save 3 minutes at each toll booth.

Look at doing Calais/ Brussels/Luxembourg/west Germany to get to Basel, it is only around 20 miles further, but toll free, and the scenery is better.

As for stops on the way, we always stop at De Panne, in Belgium, just over the French border, helps to relax once you are on the continent, have a drink/snack, take a walk around. Then in no particular order, all of these are decent places to stop at – St. Quentin, Reims, Troyes, Annecy,Bettembourg just South of Luxembourg,Schengen,Saarbrucken,Strasburg and Sausheim. Thats a lot of choice depending on what route you take.

I’d be looking to get close to Strasburg on the first day, the next day is easy as the scenery is brilliant once you get into Switzerland.

We’ve done the toll tags to death. I’ll persist in saying the difference is about 30seconds most of the time, which is perhaps why only about 6 million people have tags in France. Stop, ticket in machine, credit card in machine, take card back, go – less than the time it took me to type it.

Never seen big car queues going into Switzerland from Germany.

If you go through Germany one way then Speyer technik museum is a great stop with an OK on site hotel.

First did it when kids were 3 and 5 without aircon. Rotterdam to Freiburg was about an hour too far….