Advice please France, Italy, Stelvio Pass

[spiderman]

Hi all,
I'm looking for some advice please, I'm trying to plan in September a run from Calais down to Italy, thinking about riding the Stelvio pass?. My initial thought was to take two days to get down there, riding initialy on French motorways and then coming off and riding partway on the 'N' roads to take in some of the countryside (avoid the tolls etc).

Thinking about 6 days in total to be away (i'm only in Kent), and plan to camp to get some fresh air.

I'm open to any suggestions, routes etc, your feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

In 2007, we took three days to get to the Stelvio. 500-odd motorway miles to Grenoble on day 1, bottom bit of route de Grandes Alpes to sospel day two, then blast across to Livigno on day three. Stelvio pass was the highlight of day 4. That was quite a long way out of the shortest route, though.

To get there in two days should be fairly acheivable. Aim for Mulhouse in France for the first day, with a choice of mainly motorway, but the possibility of some lovely roads between Nancy and Mulhouse as you cross the Vosges Mts. (I've never stayed in Mulhouse, but the area seems nice - have stayed around Besancon and in Lure.)

From Mulhouse to Livigno is four hours on motorway, but you'd want to take some lovely apline roads and passes to get your eye in for the Stelvio...

Check out ALPINE ROADS for more detail about potential routes in and around the Alps. (My personal favourite road in that area (sort of) was the Grossglockner pass in Austria.)

Also did a six day tour to the Alps a year or two earlier - based around Andermatt in Switzerland. Thoroughly recommended purely for the quality of passes so close by.

Where in Kent are you?

 

[spiderman]

road trip

Hi,
Thanks for the reply very helpful, from your post it looks like you have travelled around Europe a bit, with 6 days away, camping to think about, desire not to travel everywhere on a motorway, could you suggest any 'must go places'?

I'm in Pluckley,

Thanks
Mark

 

[wessie]

You can easily get to Stelvio from Kent with 1 overnight stop, as long as you get a fairly early ferry.

Day 1 - blast down the motorway to the northern end of the Black Forest. You can do the French system and head for Strasbourg or go via Belgium & Germany and head for Saarbrucken.

Day 2 - take a scenic route through the Black Forest - the 500 from Baden Baden to Freudenstadt is good. Then head for Lake Constance, go down the eastern side and head for Bregenz. You can stop here or head further south towards Landeck.

Day 3 & Day 4 - plan circular routes over the passes - Stelvio & Timmelsjoch are nearby.

Day 5 - head west - perhaps take the Gt St Bernard or Simplon pass to get you into France near Lake Geneva.

Day 6 - blast up the Autoroute

 

[spiderman]

Thanks

Thanks Wessie appreciate that