Hi All
We're going to drive across to my sister in Linz, Austria again this year, but this time I've got a bit ambitious, and want to take an even greater detour.
The trip to Linz is just over 15 hours driving according to Google Maps.
I have formed a desire to see the Millau Viaduct, and to drive the Stelvio pass. This makes the journey 30 hours instead.
Possible plan is to drive down to visit a friend in Southampton, then Portsmouth - Cherbourg ferry. From Cherbourg drive down to Millau and the Cote D'Azur, then across to Stelvio, and up into Austria and towards Linz.
Can anyone suggest other things I should see or do on the journey? Anything worth visiting on or around that route? Should I scrap that route and try something completely different?
Should I just go across the viaduct, or should we stop in Millau and see the bridge from beneath as well?
Should I use the Stelvio pass, or will it be full of head cases trying to kill themselves and me? Is there a lesser known but just as good pass through the Alps I should use?
Is there going to be an issue with using the Portsmouth-Cherbourg ferry one way, but probably the Calais-Dover one on the way back? And is it possible to book a ferry on the way back without stating the exact day and time of departure?
Thanks for any advice people can offer.
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Bazza,
Hope this does not sound impertinant or that I am trying to "teach granny to suck eggs" but a couple of questions and statements.
Firstly it sounds like 2 separate holidays - a) to visit sis in Linz and b) see Millau and Cote d'Azur -
how long are you going for and when?
To go to Linz it would be better to cross from (say) Calais and go via N France/Belgium/ S Germany/S. Austria/N Italy and Stelvio to Linz (though you would have to "cross" a large section of the Alps to get to the Stelvio and then go back across Alps to get to Linz) - Stelvio is actually a fair old "diversion" from going to Linz.
Millau and Cote d'Azur is a heck of a long way round to get to Linz! - and there are loads of places to go to if you go more directly to Linz.
Stelvio Pass doesn't get you "through the Alps" it goes "along" a section of the Alps - but is a fantastic road (40 odd hairpins up and 40 odd down after going past numerous glaciers). There are, by the way, lots passes in Dolomites which are brilliant (Pordoi, Falzarego, Tre Croci to mention a couple and they are quieter - spectacular also are roads from Santa Caterina/Bormio/Ponte de Legno to Livigno etc.)
Other thing I would say is that Cote d'Azur is to be avoided at peak holiday time - half of France is there in August and traffic is horrendous - much better in (say) May or Sept when weather is still nice but (worst) crowds are not there.
Here's a suggestion (feel free to rubbish it!) Calais/ Strasbourg/ Black Forest/ Stuttgart/Ulm/ Kempten/ Fern Pass - via Mad King Ludwigs castle at Neuschwanstein/ Imst/Landeck/ a day to go over Resia Pass to Stelvio (or via Timmelsjoch Pass to Merano then Stelvio) then to Bormio then Passo de Gavia ( good pass - dirt road last time I was there!) to Ponte di Legno/ then to Bolzano and then Brenner Pass to Salzburg and Linz. If you want more passes go from Bolzano via Costalunga, Sellajoch, Falzarego to Cortina, then Tre Croci to Dobbiaco and Lienz. Then (are you bored by passes yet???!!) Grossglockner (fantastic road via huge glaciers and snowfields- but a toll) to Salzburg and then the motorway to Linz and a relaxing time with sis and lots of Austrian beer - sounds good to me - might join you and go and see my Austrian mate in Gmund up the road from Linz! Don't forget that these passes take a lot longer than going by motorway - you can drive quickly but they are anything but direct if you have to negotiate 80 hairpins! - but they are great fun)
Next holiday you have - Millau and Cote d'Azur - (not been to Millau yet but didn't find Cote d'Azur very nice even in June - too many people, too much traffic, too expensive!) To be honest, I wouldn't care if I never went to Cote d'Azur ever again.
Whatever you do - enjoy - but I would really suggest that you have 2 separate hols unless you have a month to spare!
Best wishes
Phil
I await a flaming for the above - lots will disagree I am sure!!
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>Calais/ Strasbourg/ Black Forest/ Stuttgart/Ulm/ Kempten/ Fern Pass - via Mad King Ludwigs castle at
>Neuschwanstein/ Imst/Landeck/ a day to go over Resia Pass to Stelvio (or via Timmelsjoch Pass to
>Merano then Stelvio) then to Bormio then Passo de Gavia ( good pass - dirt road last time I was
>there!) to Ponte di Legno/ then to Bolzano and then Brenner Pass to Salzburg and Linz.
>I await a flaming for the above - lots will disagree I am sure!!
Excellent route but you forgot to mention that it is mandatory for petrol-heads to stop in Stuttgart to visit the Mercedes and Porsche museums.
Kevin...
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If you do decide to go the long - loooooong - way round via Millau don't go Portsmouth-Cherbourg, go to Caen (Ouistreham) and south. You need the (free) autoroute south from Clermont Ferrand to Montpellier.
You definitely must go into Millau - or at least down the hill off the motorway towards the city and back - and look up at the viaduct to get a proper idea of the scale. Once you have driven on to it it's a bit like flying - you can't see the ground in either direction so you don't have any idea of the real height.
Bon voyage...
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Thanks for the tips so far chaps.
Should have explained more fully the reason for 'MkII' in the title. This will be the second time I've driven across. Last time we did the more direct route and stopped off in various cities on the way - from memory, and probably missing some: Bruges, Antwerp, Koln, Heidelberg. Hence wanting to take a much more Southerly route this time, and see different places.
As you say, it is kind of two holidays in one. The holiday overall will be a fortnight, but the intention is to spend maybe 3 nights in Linz itself. Two nights on the way back, which we will be much more directly, the rest of the time zig-zagging across Europe in a (very) generally Linz-bound direction.
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OK, here's a (very) rough itinerary I have put together. This continues to assume the Stelvio pass for now.
Set off Friday 1st August to Southampton.
Stay with friend till Sunday morning.
Ferry Poole-Cherbourg (cheapest available without driving across to Dover)
Sunday 3rd overnight stop somewhere like Le Mans or Tours. Anything around there worth doing?
Monday 4th, stop over in or near Millau.
Tuesday 5th stop off Nice or Cannes if we use the coast road, maybe Turin if we don't.
Wednesday 6th stop in Milan.
Thursday 7th go up through Stelvio pass, possibly stay in hotel in Stelvio or surrounding area if we find anything nice and picturesque. If not go a bit further towards Innsbruck.
Friday 8th get to Linz.
Stay in Linz until (probably) morning of Tuesday 12th. Drive as far as possible and stop the night somewhere half way back to Calais - Frankfurt maybe.
Wednesday 13th: Stop somewhere near to Calais
Thursday 14th: Take ferry, and go back home.
That gives us 3 or 4 days at the sisters and means I get a weekends rest before going back to work again.
What do people think? And again, on that route, can people suggest good places to visit and sights to see?
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If you are staying near Tours then a trip to Chenonceaux would be adviseable. The GFs parents live nearby and its worth seeing.
We went there last year, and left Tours (or Montrichard to be more precise), went over the Millau viaduct and got as far as Salon en Provence without too much hassle (in the GTA!)
If you are staying in Milan I take it a trip to the Alfa Arese Museo Storico is in the offing??
If you stay in Turin you can stay in the Lingotto hotel, though when I priced it up it wasnt cheap, though there is a jogging route round the rooftop test track!
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See if you can go through Slovenia and visit Lake Bled. It's Beautiful. Ljubljana is also an incredibly pretty city. Well worth considering.
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