Pan_European (ish) Classic Trip

3ps

I love the word "pan" it makes it sound so exciting!

Anyway, next summer will be my 10th wedding anniv. and I'm thinking of doing an additional holiday for wifey + me.

I had the usual few ideas of city breaks here and there but now I'm thinking... that it's my 10th too so perhaps we could try and combine something I have wanted to do with a place that she would like to spend more time in.

So obviously it's driving to Italy.

I don't think she would mind the drive, as long as we did it in manageable stages... i.e. 4 hours drive per day... see town + meal in the evening. And then spend a while in Italy.

Then I was thinking that I could something like teh Stelvio Pass etc

And then I was thinking I could do it in my Alfa GTJ!!

So any comments on the following?

- nice passes/drives in and around northern Italy
- would you do it all in a classic
- is it too far to drive and drive back and still have a holiday there

Thanks!

peasant

Take the motorhome and bring the Alfa on a trailer?

Plenty to see and do in northern Italy and plenty of interesting passes besides the Stelvio.

Driving there IS a bit of a hike though ...

If you want to do it as described, It'll be at least three days to get there and same going back.

How reliable/dependable is your Alfa? Driving there and back and around for a bit, you will easily clock up 4- 5000 km. Will the Alfa hack that without pitstops? (nothing spoils a holiday like three days lurking around a garage).

If it was me, I'd probably fly to northern Italy (Ryanair goes to Milan/Bergamo) and try to rent a decent car ...ok, so the driving won't be the same, but it would be more like a holiday.

gn3dr

I'd go for it.
We drove to Italy for a holiday a few years ago. Spent 3 weeks overall. Spent about a week driving through France. Went as far south as Florence in Italy (got out of there though as it was crap so drove to Maranello instead to see the Ferrari factory & museum (recommended))
Drove back from Annecy in France to just outside Cherbourg in a day.

Anyone can hop on a plane and rent a car. Driving there is a much bigger adventure.

Dades

Do it 3ps!!

My SL's PO did the Stelvio (below). I believe it was featured on Top Gear recently too.

And do it in the Alfa GTJ...

MercMad

Wow nice spoiler !!

Oshbosh

be careful driving from Nice to Italy, there is a 2-3 hour tailback every Friday going through the mountain to a place called Ventimilla, just on the inside of the Italian border due to a weekly market... never again ! Great road though

peasant

another nice one is the "Timmelsjoch" or "Passo del Rombo" at the Italian/Austrian border.



You'd want really good brakes for the downward passage though

3ps

How dependable is the Alfa? not very so far, but it's teething issues as itwas laid up for a long time. By that time next year I will have it a year and hopefully have sorted out any issues.
If I'm not comfortable with it I can always decide to take the Passat on the morning of! Also, if it breaks down then it's simply a case of ringing the AA and having it shipped home and I hire a car, or something.

I have thought about fly-drive... but to rent a nice car (e.g. classic) is a couple of hundred a day.... and to rent something exotic is 1k+++ per day and I'm not into that kindof spend. I know the backup plan is to fly to Italy and hire an Alfa 159 and do the pass in that, but it's not as much fun and I can't say it was a Pan European trip!

Also, I can't stay there too long... I can sort out extended babysitting for the sprogs... but not TOO much!!!

If anybody has any other good ideas for roads/destinations that might be closer etc then post away.....

Dades

MercMad wrote:

Wow nice spoiler !!

Nice now it's off and sits in my courtyard!

3ps, I do think it would be a shame to the best drive's in a modern. But perhaps the classic rental for a few days might be the way to go.
90%* of your trip will be on motorways.

* speculative statistic

3ps

you are probably right on the 90%.... but I generally keep the car at about 110kph anyway.... so I might do a scenic route across on the national roads (and avoid tolls too!) but then, it might take too long that way with delays around towns etc.

I don't want to spend 500+/day on a classic when I own one!! I'd rather spend that money on nicer hotels etc and get a Fiat Panda.

3ps

Aha!!!!!!

http://www.raileurope.co.uk/frenchmotorrail/


Drive to London
Car on train to Paris.
Car on train to Nice.
Drive through Italy on holiers up to Stelvio pass.
Continue driving back to Lyon.
Car on Train to Paris - London.
Drive home!

3ps

Belgium to Italy: www.ttconline.nl
The motorail services from Brussels to Italy operated by the Belgian national railways stopped running in December 2003, but a new privately-run motorail service was due to start in 2007 from Denderleeuw (near Brussels) to Bologna and Alessandria in Italy. The train will run overnight with sleeping-cars, couchettes and restaurant car, outward on Friday nights from late June to early September, returning northbound on Saturday nights. Denderleeuw is 90 minutes' drive from Calais, 45 minutes from Zeebrugge. Prices start at £270 one-way for car+driver in shared couchette, £405 one-way for car+driver+passenger in private 2-bed sleeper. Fares & times will be shown on www.ttconline.nl, or in the UK, contact www.railsavers.com (01253 595555) for details.

* Latest news (summer 2007): Regrettably, not only did TTC not get the arrangements for their new Brussels-Italy Motorail train sorted for the summer 2006, but they didn't manage to start up in summer 2007 either. They now plan to start this service in summer 2008, with bookings taken from winter 2007/8.

peasant

3ps wrote:

If anybody has any other good ideas for roads/destinations that might be closer etc then post away.....

Ok this is a bit of a comedown from Italian mountain passes ...but you are aware that there are some great roads in Ireland?

The ring of Beara for example is a lovely road, so is Molls Gap and the bit past the lakes of Killarney.

The area between Westport and Leenane is not to be sneezed at either.

Some beautiful spots in Donegal ...the coast road from Killibegs to Kilcar, the road up to the Sleave League, Glengesh Pass, the back road from Ardara to Portnoo ...lots of little gems there.

The whole thing a bit off season for a very loong weekend, combined with a few romantic stays in good guest houses ...both your wife and your Alfa will love it.

Once that goes well, you're ready to tackle Italy the next year

3ps

I didn't mmean THAT close! I meant perhaps on the French side of the Alps!
Anyway the cost of doing multiple weekend trips around ireland would be the same as 1 EU blast!!!

And the kiddies will be expecting a France trip in the motorhome too!

MercMad

Deffo take the GTJ. You'll regret it forever if you dont plus if you DO have trouble at least you have some chance of finding somebody who is sympathetic to your cause !!

Beside, you possibly have as much chance of breaking doiwn in a modern car, and then you WILL be stranded.

If it goes right, and there is no reason why it shouldn't if you get a few bit 'n' bobs done between now and then, it'll be a lifetime memory !

Do it !

You know you want to !

3ps

considering I can drive to Folkstone and put the car on a train to Paris and then to Lyon or Nice..... it is all looking rather tempting!!!!!

The mototrains are looking expensive though, but I suppose it overnight, saving time, and includes your hotel room rate!... about GBP500 each way peak season!!!

Perhaps I'll bring the kids to Dublin Zoo 14 times instead for their holiday

I would try to invite others on such a trip but my wife wouldn't approve......

RobAMerc

I would defo think this was the trip of a lifetime.

I did it a few years back -Roscoff, Eurodisney, Monaco (the GP just happened to be on too) - across to italian coast ( Rimini if i remember correctly ),pisa, maranello, back over through the Monteblanc tunnel
into Geneva and back - even the wife admits it was one of the best holidays we ever had.

Although petrol was a BIG factor, my Imprezza needed to stop a bit more regular than I had hoped and its expensive - particularly in Switzerland if I remember.

I have driven around Italy in an old Alfa too, its amazing the respect the Italians show a beautiful car - they have a real appreciation for them.

You might even get yours tuned properly. I'm not saying your not capable yourself but if you are your almost one of a kind in Ireland.

A GPS will save on lots of rows btw.

3ps

Have a GPS! Invaluable. No point in spending 2k on a holiday and wasting your time getting lost!

Tuning while there is an interesting idea. It all costs though!

rotorhead

Have a peek at this ,might give you an alternative option

http://www.sprintage.it/club.php

3ps

Those prices look alright actually, compared to what I have seen around.

But the lure of doing it in my own car is strong.

I'll have to mock up prices for both and if there is a massive difference it might sway me!

3ps

Current plan is to arrive in Nice. The drive a 4-5 hour coastal route to Pisa and Florence. I haven't figured out if there are things to stop and see along the way.

Florence, because it's nice. And because A room with a View was filmed there and we can stay in the hotel and she'll like it.

4-5 hour drive up to Venice. 4 huor drive to Stelvio. 4 hour drive to Lake Como. 4 hours drive back to Nice.

All spread out over a week or so.

That's the basic circular route that has coastline, nice cities, stelvio pass, lakes.


If anybody has any suggestions on what to do roughly in those areas then let me know!! Spending copious amounts of time at car factories etc etc will not go down well and I will get enough satisfaction just driving the Alfa (or a Alfa) there and doing Stelvio.

bazzjazz

Drive down to Gap in the South of France, stay for a few days as it is a lovely place and then head East over the Alps into Italy.

This is a spectacular drive. I did this in reverse a few years ago on a motorbike and it was the highlight of the trip.

On Google Maps, it looks like the road in France is the N94 and becomes the SS21 in Italy.

cheers,

Barry
1977 Daimler Sovereign 3.4l Series 2