Travelling to Italy

Sue

Sue

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we are thinking of going to Italy in September next year, but….
I saw on one site that it is an extremely costly and arduous journey from Calais to Tuscany
I hate travelling more than 5 hours at a time, so is it a plan with pursuing?
 
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It's no more an arduous journey than any other journey.
If you have sufficient time just do comfortable drives each day and enjoy the journey.
It takes you through some beautiful countryside so worth taking your time and making the most of it.
 
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Figaro said:
It's no more an arduous journey than any other journey.
If you have sufficient time just do comfortable drives each day and enjoy the journey.
It takes you through some beautiful countryside so worth taking your time and making the most of it.
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We have just under 4 weeks
How long has it take you you to get there (at a leisurely pace)?
 
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A week to get there, two weeks in Tuscany and a week back would be fairly comfortable I'd have thought.
Calais to Florence is 1000 miles and 20 hours driving non toll roads and 14 hours on toll roads
 
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Figaro said:
A week to get there, two weeks in Tuscany and a week back would be fairly comfortable I'd have thought.
Calais to Florence is 1000 miles and 20 hours driving non toll roads and 14 hours on toll roads
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Rough estimate £1500 tolls petrol and pit stops. Shuttle plus possibly one or two camp sites to add to this
£2000 in total I reckon

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Late crossing, stay at Gravelines, then thought Belgium to Pont a Mousson (Marina) (5hrs) then free parking on a winery in Germany (3 to 4 Hrs near Switzerland then straight throught Switzerland to a Aire in Como (4 to 5 hrs)
 
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You can save a day each way by taking the Harwich/Hook of Holland ferry.

Ideally travel overnight where your fare includes a cabin
Leave home Friday evening, load on the ship about 9pm, go to bed, off the ship at 8am and you are on the German Autobahns (toll free) in time for a late breakfast.
Same on the way back, get the night ferry over, I have even made it to work on the same day.

Much the same cost as Dover/Calais, but a lot less hassle and no French tolls.
Also depending where in Italy you are going, it's less miles.

(The only reason we would use the French channel ports is for Western France and Spain, Harwich is the best option for Eastern France, Italy, Germany and all points east of Paris)
 
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Brains said:
You can save a day each way by taking the Harwich/Hook of Holland ferry.

Ideally travel overnight where your fare includes a cabin
Leave home Friday evening, load on the ship about 9pm, go to bed, off the ship at 8am and you are on the German Autobahns (toll free) in time for a late breakfast.
Same on the way back, get the night ferry over, I have even made it to work on the same day.

Much the same cost as Dover/Calais, but a lot less hassle and no French tolls.
Also depending where in Italy you are going, it's less miles.

(The only reason we would use the French channel ports is for Western France and Spain, Harwich is the best option for Eastern France, Italy, Germany and all points east of Paris)
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That sounds good

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Sue said:
Rough estimate £1500 tolls petrol and pit stops. Shuttle plus possibly one or two camp sites to add to this
£2000 in total I reckon
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Or use this route:
No tolls (except the Austrian € 9, or Swiss Vignette)
770 miles so less than two tanks of fuel each way

1697632484999.png
 
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Just smiffy said:
I could do 3-5 months on that out there…😆😎
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I think that is a reasonable estimate as you are taking into account crossing costs and fuels and tolls both ways.
I would echo the Harwich ferry and down through Germany but if you have a dog then I guess you prefer the tunnel.
We would also factor in a week to get there and enjoy stops on the way.
 
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Riverbankannie said:
I think that is a reasonable estimate as you are taking into account crossing costs and fuels and tolls both ways.
I would echo the Harwich ferry and down through Germany but if you have a dog then I guess you prefer the tunnel.
We would also factor in a week to get there and enjoy stops on the way.
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FYI
Stena (Harwich/Hook of holland) have a limited number of dog friendly cabins.
But I suspect they sell out months in advance.

They also have 'Dog Cam' on every TV, so you can see you dog on the CCTV in the kennels
 
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We are like you, 5 hours too much for us. When we went to Tuscany, 1 night near Newhaven, 2 single overnights in France, 3 nights Lauterbrunnen, 1 night Italian border by a lake, 4 nights Monza racecourse, 5 nights on the coast Lerici, 9 nights near Florence, 5 nights Lake Garda, 1 night Lake Ledro, 2 nights near Ferrari museum, 1 night just back into Germany, 3 nights Schilltach Black Forest, 1 night Eguisham and 1 night Chalôns and another near Dieppe.
So going on 6 weeks but there are stops in there that you don’t need to do or stay so long.
Roughly this map but actually trips are merging into each other now so cannot remember if that one was Newhaven or Calais. However we come
5858D24A-B70B-4F73-A9F5-5AEDDE6E9A44.jpeg
from Bristol so it is different for you.
 
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Riverbankannie said:
We are like you, 5 hours too much for us. When we went to Tuscany, 1 night near Newhaven, 2 single overnights in France, 3 nights Lauterbrunnen, 1 night Italian border by a lake, 4 nights Monza racecourse, 5 nights on the coast Lerici, 9 nights near Florence, 5 nights Lake Garda, 1 night Lake Ledro, 2 nights near Ferrari museum, 1 night just back into Germany, 3 nights Schilltach Black Forest, 1 night Eguisham and 1 night Chalôns and another near Dieppe.
So going on 6 weeks but there are stops in there that you don’t need to do or stay so long.
Roughly this map but actually trips are merging into each other now so cannot remember if that one was Newhaven or Calais. However we comeView attachment 824461 from Bristol so it is different for you.
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That’s really useful. Thanks
 
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Sue said:
Brilliant
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A slight improvement, as looking where you are starting from and where you are going.
This is your shortest and cheapest route

First night on the way out, I'd recommend Green Camping, with a pitch right on the banks of the Rhein, nice little town, some good restaurants.

Last night, on the way home, you could visit Delft, really nice old town.
It's 30 mins from the port. and you can stay at this site the night before

During the daytime you can park outside the campsite, for free.
It's a 10 min walk to the centre of Delft
For a small fee you can use the campsite facilities during the day

FYI
To cross the Alps you need to pay.

If you use the French route, it's the Mont Blanc tunnel at €69.30 one way !!!
If you use the Swiss route its a Vignette for CHF 40
If you use the Austrian route you 'can' (with a good navigator beside you) avoid the toll roads, but it's easier to buy a Vignette on the border for €9.90 which then gives you free access to most of the passes as well.


1697634324605.png

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Spriddler said:
Surely I wasn't the only one to get a flashback to rowdy post-match sing-songs in the rugby club bar?
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Funny enough I was singing that song in my head just the other day... fairy lights, coal miners and all... christ knows why.... fond memories as you say :beerchug:
 
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If you go to the ViaMichelin.com website you can put in your vehicle details, where you are starting from and your final destination. It will then give you up to 3 possible routes with a rough idea of fuel consumption/price and tolls. From there you can fiddle around dragging to route around. I always make the starting point Calais if I’m Europe as it won’t be able to calculate ferry/tunnel. You’ll need to set up a free account to be able to put in your vehicle details. For example Calais to Verona will be 12h 12mins, it’s 1165km, will cost €258:93,including €51:80 in tolls. That’s based on a Fiat Ducato 2.3 Multijet 130. It may not be accurate but it is a lot of fun!
 
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Sue said:
we are thinking of going to Italy in September next year, but….
I saw on one site that it is an extremely costly and arduous journey from Calais to Tuscany
I hate travelling more than 5 hours at a time, so is it a plan with pursuing?
Click to expand...
Take a look out thread “we’re off” as we have just got back to Northern Europe after our trip to Italy . Could have done it with no tolls at all , depends on how quick you want to get there
 
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Ferry and fuel costs that’s all it would be for me, gotta eat wherever you are…
 
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Riverbankannie said:
I think that is a reasonable estimate as you are taking into account crossing costs and fuels and tolls both ways.
I would echo the Harwich ferry and down through Germany but if you have a dog then I guess you prefer the tunnel.
We would also factor in a week to get there and enjoy stops on the way.
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Harwich has dog cabins which are ok ours get on well with it
Chasnam

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Sue said:
we are thinking of going to Italy in September next year, but….
I saw on one site that it is an extremely costly and arduous journey from Calais to Tuscany
I hate travelling more than 5 hours at a time, so is it a plan with pursuing?
Click to expand...
Well worth doing, going through Germany is a good move, personally I would go via Luxembourg as a stop-over, use the autobahns and come off for your stop-overs, there are some fantastic towns and cities on the way down, you are under 3500 so the Austrian pickle ( Vignette) is less than 10€ ( for 10 days so you would one on the way back as well).
Italy is fantastic, I do however use the Autostrada to get to the region I want to tour in, you can do non-toll but it takes a lot more time, I use a toll box from the ADAC/Maut1 paid through PayPal, cost vary on the Autostrada, a lot are free, Brenner to Affi ( Lago de Garda south) is around 20€,( just over 200km) the choice how you travel is yours.
Diesel in Italy is not cheap, last week it was between 1.83 and 1.91€ ltr, Austrian diesel is usually cheaper.
You have plenty of time to arrange your route and organise the tolls that need to be paid online, we used a toll box for the first time this year and it makes it so much less stressful, Austria and the Brenner can be paid online, for Italy a box works well.

So, plan your route, take your time, allow for a week each way and enjoy, it is an arduous journey only if you make it so.

Go and enjoy
 
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We went down to Lucca with motorhome tours video on there Web site in April with early crossing on the shuttle 1 night in Luxembourg 1 at Lucerne then to Lucca about 500 km each day just check the dates for when snow tyres are needed but a fantastic area to visit
 
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Sue said:
Rough estimate £1500 tolls petrol and pit stops. Shuttle plus possibly one or two camp sites to add to this
£2000 in total I reckon
Click to expand...

Don't need to pay tolls. Take the senic route. Enjoy the journey (assuming you have the time)

Ferry not tunnel if you want to save money. (And have a nicer journey in my opinion)

No need for campsites. Aires, (France) Sostas (Italy) Stell Platz (Germany) very cheap or even free sometimes.

We did Italy last Sept/Oct. No tolls. We did take 3 weeks to get there as we did the Romantic Route in Germany and stopped a lot. I reckon you could do it comfortably in a week. We then ambled down through Italy. Spent a week at Almalfi coast and then bit the bullet and went on to Sicily!! It was a long drive back but worth it.

It cost us £4700 everything included but that includes food, eating out, trips out to castles, on a boat, etc etc ferries, fuel, (a long trip to Sicily and 2 weeks around the island) and a couple of longer stops in campsites. It was 2 months as well. Could have spent a lot less.
 
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