ir-ops

Posts: 585

Country:

Thanks: 138

Thanked 70 Times in 45 Posts

thank you for this new road trip section bill,

thought i'd inaugurate it with our plans for a south europe tour this coming fall.
so here we are:


wife and i are at a very early stage of planning a italo-franco-swizzero-deutsch tour,
and the below is a rough draft itinerary only.

intended hotel overnights in bold:

(greece) athens-patra-ferry boat abt 20 hrs-
(italy) ancona-assisi-perugia-siena-firenze-pisa-la spezia-portofino-genova-san remo
(monaco) monte carlo
(france) nice-antibes-cannes-st tropez-hyeres-toulon-marseille-aix en provence-grenoble-annecy-chamonix/mont blanc-
(switzerland) montreux-vevey-lausanne-geneve-bern-zürich-basel
(germany) freiburg im breisgau-titisee neustadt-friedrichshafen-dachau-münchen-garmisch partenkirchen
(liechtenstein) vaduz-
(switzerland) st moritz-lugano
(italy) milano-ancona-ferry boat abt 20 hrs-
(greece) patra-athens

total abt 15-17 days, approx 3,600 km, including local sightseeing.

site with local road maps (of much help so far for planning routes/distances/hours to
drive/etc): www.viamichelin.com

we would most welcome any suggestions/ideas/routes/recommendations/etc/etc.
we would also be happy to meet any local members, or be joined during any stage of this tour.

thanks in advance.

best
ir-ops

alroumi

Posts: 6,271

Country:

Thanks: 288

Thanked 231 Times in 145 Posts

Monaco- Hotel de paris and Star and bars good restaurants/coffee shops. Hotel de paris is the place to go to,in the coffee shop at casino square you are basically sitting in the middle of monaco and the centre of celebrities, cars and other extravaganza with the casino besides you. In addition you can visit the museum of automobiles which is owned by the prince, its above the Supermarche carrefour which is 10 minutes by car. In monaco please take the chance to visit a restaurant called Zebra square, you will love it.

Cannes- L'ondine restaurant ala croisette and Felix, Vesuivou. For evening relaxation and a nice view do go to Havanna cafe which is not far from the noga hilton cafe and is besides Dolce and Gabanna.

Those are all that I remember right now, I will add any if I remember them.

__________________
06 Kleemann Designo Mocha Black SLK55 AMG
06 Porsche Cayenne S
07 Jaguar XKR Coupe'

I use the Torque and keep the HP for my Steak Sauce!

ir-ops

Posts: 585

Country:

Thanks: 138

Thanked 70 Times in 45 Posts

dear mo,

have just checked the internet sites of what you proposed; all places seem very very nice.

i was quite familiar with the hotel de paris, very exquisite indeed, but the rest i did not know...

thanks a lot/much appreciated.


best
ir-ops

Marco06

Posts: 105

Country:

Thanks: 8

Thanked 49 Times in 20 Posts

Hi !

Good tracks. !

In france,in summer time, local trafic near sea are very high.
To go Grenoble, start in Monaco and get the RN85.

Called "Route Napoleon", you see a nice panorama , mile after mile ....

Part of my circuit.. Antibes,Grasse,Castellane...

For other info in this zone, called me:

alroumi

Posts: 6,271

Country:

Thanks: 288

Thanked 231 Times in 145 Posts

He is correct, the roads are clogged badly from St Tropez to Cannes along the beach as people from italy,england and germany all head there to vacation.

__________________
06 Kleemann Designo Mocha Black SLK55 AMG
06 Porsche Cayenne S
07 Jaguar XKR Coupe'

I use the Torque and keep the HP for my Steak Sauce!

ir-ops

Posts: 585

Country:

Thanks: 138

Thanked 70 Times in 45 Posts

thank you for pointing that out.
to be honest, i did not think of the heavy traffic when i laid down this route...

so, do you mean the traffic is so bad that we should change routing?

alternatively we were thinking of going from ancona straight up to milano
and then north via aosta to cross the italian-swiss borders at either the
grand st bernard or the mont blanc tunnels, and then head towards lac
leman and montreux-lausanne-geneve, for touring switzerland-germany-
austria, instead of making the italian-french-med coast.

however, my wife always wanted to drive the southern route, infact she
would love to go all the coast to as far out as barcelona or tarragona.

when does the season come to an end in the french south?
would end september-mid october still be a period of heavy traffic?

any other alternatives?

thanks
ir-ops

alroumi

Posts: 6,271

Country:

Thanks: 288

Thanked 231 Times in 145 Posts

Stick to the route, the heavy traffic is around 45 minutes maximum from Theoule to Cannes.

The best period is July as august is the heavy traffic, if your going to Italy pass by san remo, porto fino and la spezia.

__________________
06 Kleemann Designo Mocha Black SLK55 AMG
06 Porsche Cayenne S
07 Jaguar XKR Coupe'

I use the Torque and keep the HP for my Steak Sauce!

ir-ops

Posts: 585

Country:

Thanks: 138

Thanked 70 Times in 45 Posts

thanks last, definitely la spezia and portofino; some friends of ours have just purchased a seaside house in portofino, we thought we might drop by.

san remo will be just a stop over for a ristretto more or less...

talked to a friend of mine on the phone this morning, he's right now in aix-en-provence for some helicopter simulator annual seminar thing, and he says traffic was already bad in marseille over the weekend, and it's still mid may...

getting a little disappointed with that, but i still want to believe that late september will be ok.

brgds/ops-ir

alroumi

Posts: 6,271

Country:

Thanks: 288

Thanked 231 Times in 145 Posts

Its clogged due to the cannes film festival......

__________________
06 Kleemann Designo Mocha Black SLK55 AMG
06 Porsche Cayenne S
07 Jaguar XKR Coupe'

I use the Torque and keep the HP for my Steak Sauce!

ir-ops

Posts: 585

Country:

Thanks: 138

Thanked 70 Times in 45 Posts

yes, you're right, mo, it must be due to that...

brgds
ir-ops

Woolly

Posts: 972

Country:

Thanks: 28

Thanked 26 Times in 16 Posts

I did a lot of that route on my bike last year - here are some pics - the Route de Napoleon from Grenoble to Nice via Castelaine and Grasse is quite spectacular.

__________________


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.



2005 BMW LT - 16 countries, 2 CONTINENTS & counting
2004 MB SLK 350 Andradite Green (6 speed manual]
1999 Ducati ST2
2003 Vauxhaul Vectra
1974 Triumph Bonneville 750 T140V
1937 Norton 500 single
(all still current)