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My wife & I (no kids) are starting to plan our summer holiday and inspired by Stanley Tucci's current BBC programme we're thinking of a trip to Northern Italy / particularly Tuscany for the food.
We'll be going in July and have two weeks to play with - bikes unlikely to come with us.
I'm looking for route suggestions for Driving there & back. Not necessarily the quickest route - quite happy/intending to break up the journey over several days staying in hotels en route.
So STW, what's the most scenic route and the nicest tows to stay in between Calais/Amsterdam ferry ports and Tuscany?
We're wanting this to be a holiday to remember and make it quite special.
Thanks
We did a route through France on the way down that went via Reims (we did an overnight stop in a little village north of Reims), then had a couple of days in Annecy, then on down to Pisa for a week ( I wouldn't stay there again for a week, but it suited us at the time). On the return trip we travelled through Switzerland & stopped in Colmar for a few days (some very pretty villages around there).
Oh, and if you want good food avoid the tourist places, they can be dire. We had some of the worst food we have eaten on our trip as we couldn't avoid eating in a tourist restaurant.
My wife and I chucked a tent in the car boot and did similar but not as far as Tuscany a few years ago. We went roughly Amsterdam > Mosel > Neuschwanstein > Dolomites > Como > Kandersteg > Epernay > Calais
Was utterly brilliant but an awful lot of driving in a very small suzuki swift!
If you have a Scottish connection either of you head to Barga in the Lucca region, great views with nice walks around the town with quite a few Scottish/Italian accents
If near Florence a nice few hours up in the hills to learn how to make pizza and gelato, great reviews on Tripadvisor highly recommend
A few years ago I drove to Italian lakes with friends. We did Calais Hotel F1 friday night > bash through France in a day (can cross into Germany around Colmar if you want to experience the Autobahn), to stay in a mountain chalet outside of Altdorf. Next day we drove the Susten, Grimsel and Furka passes which are a nice rectangle around the mountains, ending up at lake Como. That would put you half a day away from Tuscany and would provide some excellent views along the way.
Swiss Pass:
Lake Como:
We have been doing an annual road trip from Siena for a few years now, and to be honest almost anywhere South of the Alps is great!
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As above though, heading through Belgium and towards Luxembourg / Mosel and Germany has always seemed to work well for us.
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Luxembourg itself is very pretty, has some great attractions and decent food. Around Berdorf in particular has suited us.
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Thereafter, the area around Neuschwanstein (Fussen) in Southern Germany is brilliant and worth a few days. All the schnitzel you can eat.
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It then gets harder as there are so many great options!
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I'm a sucker for the Italian lakes, so give any of them a go for sure.
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My own favourite place in Italy is towards the East and Turin. Head over to Alba, Bra or Asti for the most incredible food. Bra is home to the Slow Food movement and the founder's restaurant is great value and every bit as great as you'd expect Bra restaurant. Surrounding countryside is pretty too.
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Alba is within touching distance of Barolo and some of the other fantastic vineyards, so easily worth a couple of days too.
Then head down to Tuscany from there. If you fancy hunting down great bread, go via Genoa. Not the most beautiful of cities, but amazing food (again) and some great scenery on the way.
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Once in Tuscany, take your pick. But Siena, San Gimigiano and Florence all have genuine food highlights, as well as the tourist traps. I wasn't taken by Pisa, but YMMV.
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For the return, just head up the other way - use Bologna as a staging post as that too has some amazing food. And it's close to Parma and Modena so foodie options abound along the A1, if not scenery.
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Then Verona, Lake Garda, Bolzano and towards Austria. Possibly Zell am Zee. Then Salzburg?
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Into Germany and Rothenburg (of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame) Rothenburg
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Blackforest next - Baden Baden? Then head to Monschau (Germany) or Eupen (Belgium) bringing things closer to home.
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To be fair, we take two weeks on a one-way trip back from Siena, so there and back within that time requires more of a focus. Sadly some of the most time-efficient (auto)routes are not the most scenic. Brenner pass is possibly the best compromise IME.
Pisa isn’t very inspiring unless you like a wonky tower, feels very touristy - I really enjoyed the times I’ve visited the Chianti region and ridden L’Eroica around Siena but worth stopping in Volterra if you drive by.
We went roughly Amsterdam > Mosel > Neuschwanstein > Dolomites > Como > Kandersteg > Epernay > Calais
can cross into Germany around Colmar if you want to experience the Autobahn), to stay in a mountain chalet outside of Altdorf. Next day we drove the Susten, Grimsel and Furka passes which are a nice rectangle around the mountains, ending up at lake Como
Pretty much what we do. Ferry around 11am from Calais. Dinner in De Panne on the France/Belgium border. Then 150-200 miles to get to the Bastogne, or Bouillon, area for an overnight. Dinant is local, and that is a brilliant place to stay/see.
Then through the middle of Luxumburg to stop for dinner at a small cafe/Bakers in Vianden. Choice of routes to go south then, we generally do the road on the eastern edge of Luxemburg, then do a bit of French motorway to the Colmar area. You can do a slight detour, and travel through the Vosges hills for a bit more scenery. Overnight in the Colmar area, then through Switzerland the next day. Even the motorways are stunning. Stop, as above, at Andermatt, do the 3 passes, then get down to Lake Como for another night. Tuscany the next day.
This is an easy trip, no more than 5 hours a day travel.
I'm no expert but loved Cinque Terra, liked Pizza, Lucca and Siena, but am told southern and more rural parts of Italy are way cheaper and the food is just as good.
I'd never drive it, but I guess each to their own.
Can't go too far wrong tooling around Tuscany, Pitigliano at night is pretty special, can't remember the name of the restaurant but it's built into the rock so it's like descending into caves. Massa marittima nice, and if you make it that far Orbitello for a bit of coast. Dunno if you can still just rock up and jump into the hot springs at Saturnia, if you can take a bottle of wine for a midnight dip...
Basically, amazing food, drink, more food, churches, food, drink, a limoncello, another church, food....
Lake Constance is a nice stop over point. The German side has the water with the Alps as a backdrop (I like Lindau there). As said Lake Como is also beautiful as is Lago Maggiore. If you go this route you have to drive the San Bernadino Pass in Switzerland which is pretty spectacular. Once south of Milan the quickest route to Tuscanny is along the middle of Italy via Bologna but I find this area flat a featureless. If you head further south to Genua there is a coastal highway or if you have loads of time there is a coastal road but the traffic is extremely heavy in summer. If you do head this way a stop at Cinque Terre is highly reccommended. It's not accessable by car but by a special train. As already said Pisa is not that nice apart from the small area where the tower is. An hour or two is more than enough there IMO. Livorno is quite nice and not far from Pisa.
Many years ago just after I graduated I drove town to Italy to work for 3 months.
I was skint. I drove down through France following the A roads avoiding the French autoroutes and tolls.
Basic route was Reims - Troyes - Dijon - Besancon. Fantastic straight single carriageway roads going through towns and villages that I considered 'real France'. And the fields of Sunflowers wow... If you have time I'd certainly recommend avoiding the autoroutes as the 'scenic' route.
From there I drove through the Jura into Switzerland towards Lausanne / Montreux. I drove the St Bernard pass into Italy. Aosta / Alessandria then down to Genova. I lived nr Pisa so followed the coast motorway to my destination. So edge of Tuscany / Liguria.
In 2012 we chucked a few pop-up tents in the boot and drove to Tuscany. First overnight somewhere near Dole, then a slow drive through the Alps over the St Bernard pass, note take the right-hand turn in the @45.9029174,7.1978412,3a,75y,234.57h,69.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRw_0Uk6Vej_fyVBdlwzM1w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656">tunnel entrance so you can go over the top rather than through the toll tunnel with the trucks
Then camped overnight in Aosta (bloody cold even in August) and then straight to Tuscany. I loved it, my height-fearing wife hated it. I'd do it again tomorrow if I could.