Driving to Italy

[BorniteIdentity]

Yo.

 

Has anyone done this? Looks to be bang on 1,000

miles from mine to Rimini. Would like to go via Holland, Luxembourg and that way really.

 

If so, where do you stay and how did you time it all?

 

Tia

[Felly Magic]

Message Pete C on youtube about it, he drives from Southport to Cortina almost every year, or ask Wobbler what route he took home, then do the reverse of the route

[dollywobbler]

Our route was non sensible, but it took us three days to get from pretty much Verona to Le Havre, using no toll roads and avoiding the most direct route. 

[BorniteIdentity]

Thanks for these so far. Whilst not wanting to go the most direct route (Mt Blanc) I am wondering just how swiftly I could do it. Maybe leave early and split it in half? Then come back the direct route.

[Tamworthbay]

Two days is comfortable, I have done it in a day when I was younger but I was knackered at the end.

[Guest Hooli]

Two days is sensible. I'd go down the edge of Germany as no toll roads unlike foggy shire. Until you get to Italy anyway, their autostrada are mostly toll and bloody expensive, only other option is endless crowded towns though.

 

Italian drivers are as batshit mental as you'd imagine and they get worse the further south you go.

[castros_bro]

We've always checked using this webshite   where you can put use various scenarios and options for routes like where to find premixed twostoke for your Munga.

 

https://www.viamichelin.co.uk/

 

 

There's one  =>

 

 

                                                         

[BorniteIdentity]

Ideally I’d like to go via Belgium and Germany just to cross maximum countries, and then come back the quick way. That viamichelin website is very helpful so thanks!

 

I’m wondering if I could actually do it in 24 hours. Hmmm

[pilninggas]

Ideally I’d like to go via Belgium and Germany just to cross maximum countries, and then come back the quick way. That viamichelin website is very helpful so thanks!

 

I’m wondering if I could actually do it in 24 hours. Hmmm

ive done Bristol to Austria in a day and the reverse on a motorcycle. It's not too bad. Definitely do-able.

[Kringle]

Wasn't there a chap on here who drove over with a Panda via the alps?

 

Edit:

http://autoshite.com/topic/32490-pandas-to-pandino-2018/

 

Take me with you!

[johngarty]

Just dont use the bridges.

[Guest Hooli]

Hard to avoid in the north at least. Last Friday I was riding an elevated motorway up a valley with two other elevated roads running in the same direction.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I heard on the radio today that the Italians are very angry and are looking for someone to blame.

 

Yep that sounds like normal

[SierraMikeHotel]

I have - way back in 2001, in a Citroen GS, for a job.

 

I had a bit of a deadline to get there in time so pressed on as much as you can in a GS.  I'd intended to spend the night in Dijon but it got late and I got tired so I stayed in Chaumont instead.  It was a bit of a rubbish attempt - only 350 miles - because I made a couple stops and had dinner with a friend in Vitry le Francois.  The Mont Blanc and Gotthard were both closed so I went into Italy via the Frejus, got a bit lost around Turin, and finally found my way to my destination at Voghera in time for dinner.  826 miles total, according to the notes I kept at the time.

 

Going home at the end of my contract I made a bit more of a holiday of it, taking about a week with stops in Annecy, Dijon, Nancy and Reims.

 

Driving standards in Italy are... different.  The trick, at least with an underpowered car like a GS, is just to drive it 100% all the time.  Throttles are on or off, nothing in between.  Views are spectacular but - at that time - road surfaces were appalling quality although British roads have deteriorated so much in the meantime that there's probably not much difference now.

 

Have fun!

[BorniteIdentity]

This is all really helpful. I would like to do this early October, but fear I may have left it a bit late to get my ducks lined up.

 

It’ll be in a crap car, naturally.

[Junkman]

What on earth are you doing in Holland, when you want to drive to Italy?

[BorniteIdentity]

What on earth are you doing in Holland, when you want to drive to Italy?

Ticking off an extra county. I might just count San Marino tho.

[Junkman]

Well, when Conrad and I went to Italy, and we went a bit further down than merely Rimini, we brimmed the tank, set off and came back ten days later.

[castros_bro]

What on earth are you doing in Holland, when you want to drive to Italy?

 

Avoiding the hills and eating their local delicacies Roquefort, Frikadelle, Paella und Chorizo.

[hairnet]

point at geneva and pull the trigger [stolen quote]

 

then verona bologna san marino

 

day and half if youre mental - easy 3 days

 

prego

 

e40 thru belge is a pita the and the road is shite

 

but frog will steal ya wallet on the autoroutes but quicker

 

if you wanna go via holland frankfurt munich padua san marino

[John F]

I've done that route about half a dozen times.

 

I've found that the quickest route to the Brenner Pass from Calais is Lens > Cambrai > Mons > Charleroi > Namur > Luxembourg > Saarbrücken > Karlsruhe > Stuttgart > Ulm > Memmingen > Kempten > Füssen, then over the twisty bit via Fernpaß to the A12 and along the Inntal to Innsbruck.

 

Then turn right towards Italy

[garbaldy]

Hmm thumb firmly out and surfing Italian sale sites.

[chaseracer]

I have - way back in 2001, in a Citroen GS, for a job.

 

I had a bit of a deadline to get there in time so pressed on as much as you can in a GS.  I'd intended to spend the night in Dijon but it got late and I got tired so I stayed in Chaumont instead.  It was a bit of a rubbish attempt - only 350 miles - because I made a couple stops and had dinner with a friend in Vitry le Francois.  The Mont Blanc and Gotthard were both closed so I went into Italy via the Frejus, got a bit lost around Turin, and finally found my way to my destination at Voghera in time for dinner.  826 miles total, according to the notes I kept at the time.

 

Going home at the end of my contract I made a bit more of a holiday of it, taking about a week with stops in Annecy, Dijon, Nancy and Reims.

 

Driving standards in Italy are... different.  The trick, at least with an underpowered car like a GS, is just to drive it 100% all the time.  Throttles are on or off, nothing in between.  Views are spectacular but - at that time - road surfaces were appalling quality although British roads have deteriorated so much in the meantime that there's probably not much difference now.

 

Have fun!

 

This.  Except in a GSA, five years later.  And there was no job.  Then we headed for Madrid.

 

Mad trip.

[chaseracer]

Whichever way you go, avoid Antwerp.  FPB7 will concur...

[Tamworthbay]

I find the trick with driving in Italy is in two parts - make sure your car is beat up before you go, and do pretty much everything you wouldn’t do here, so push out, stop in a way as to be blocking half the road, the lane you need is the one that’s emptiest until 10yds before where you really need to be, alternate between smiling and waving as you are doing all this and leaning on your horn when anyone else does it to you and you will be fine. I have loved it every time as I am a confident driver, my wife finds every trip terrifying. Oh and never ever ever show even the tiniest hint of fear, they can smell it a mile off.

[John F]

chaseracer, on 16 Aug 2018 - 7:02 PM, said:

Whichever way you go, avoid Antwerp.  

 

And Brussels, unless you like traffic.

[Wack]

I heard on the radio today that the Italians are very angry and are looking for someone to blame.

Yep that sounds like normal

From what I read on tuesday they can blame the Mafia , there was a suggestion that due to their heavy involvement in the construction industry in the 60s there may have been less cement in the concrete than required , aparrently the Italian government are more than concerned that most of Italy is about to fall down

[chaseracer]

Well, when Contrad and I went to Italy, and we went a bit further down than merely Rimini, we brimmed the tank, set off and came back ten days later.

 

Same approach when I took the Blingo to Sweden.  I might have checked the oil and tyre pressures too, at some point.

[D Spares & Tyres]

From what I read on tuesday they can blame the Mafia , there was a suggestion that due to their heavy involvement in the construction industry in the 60s there may have been less cement in the concrete than required , aparrently the Italian government are more than concerned that most of Italy is about to fall down

I would be more concerned that a few preserved corpses would be found amongst the rubble then!

[somewhatfoolish]

Ideally I’d like to go via Belgium and Germany just to cross maximum countries, and then come back the quick way. That viamichelin website is very helpful so thanks!

 

I’m wondering if I could actually do it in 24 hours. Hmmm

I'm off work most of October; want a co-pilot?