Winter route to north Italy

[Jewellbags]

Planning to drive down and spend Xmas in our van in north Italy (Verona area ) what would be the recommended route across or under the alps for ease and speed of travel ?

 

[Mikey RV]

Your to late to the party Xmas has been and gone.

 

[PaulW2]

Through Switzerland (Basel - Lugano) and then bypassing Milan I would have thought

 

[fishplug]

That's the route I'd normally do. Gotthard pass if it's open as it's just stunning, or the tunnel if weather doesn't permit going over the top.

Bypassing Milan is always a good idea

Como, Bergamo, then pick up the A4 / E70 to Verona.

 

[PlacidoD]

I would think both the St. Gottard Tunnel and the St Bernadino Pass should be open. You will certainly require winter tyres going through Switzerland at that time of year. I don't know the regs re those.

There will likely be queues on the approach to the St Gottard both ways (only one of the two tunnels open due to repairs when I used it in September.) but that is a safe bet for getting through.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Bill-H]

Rather depends which port you arrive at when you cross the channel, if I land in eastern France, I drive down through eastern France and turn left after I've gone past all the big hills, or turn left past Lyon and go through the tunnel at Modane

 

[Ridgeway]

All the main tunnels will be open. Gotthard if coming from a Northerly direction and St Bernard if coming more from the West. Simplon pass will also be open although needs checking on the day.

Don’t bother with the smaller passes, just not worth the risk and will anyway most likely be closed.

For sure winter/4 season tyres needed

 

[fishplug]

That's a bit of a (very pleasant) detour south to get to Verona though.

The other route I've done to get there is to turn left at Basel, Zurich then meander over to Innsbruck before heading south to Bolzano, Trento etc.

This time of year I'd probably plump for a tunnel rather than a pass though.