9 Day Trip Austria, Switzerland etc.

Hi

Got 9 days off work and need some of the best routes if any one can help, I will be doing a circular tour Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France

Leaving UK on Friday Night and Arriving in North Austria on Sunday Morning
2 Days In Austria (Sunday/Monday)
2 Days in Italy (Tuesday/Wednesday)
2 Days in Switzerland (Thursday/Friday)
2 Days Home Via France (Saturday/Sunday)

Might miss out Italy and ride it next year if there is to much to do in the other countries

What are the best must do roads/routes/passes in Austria, Switzerland and Italy ?

Any links to .gpx .gdb Mapsource files etc would be useful

Joth said:

Any links to .gpx .gdb Mapsource files etc would be useful

Click to expand...

Usual bog standard advice:

Buy John Hermann's seminal book.... Though hurry as you go on Friday night.

Pick up a copy of Michelin's Les Alpes a moto book ( you will find it in many French book shops and larger petrol stations). You can download all the routes etc. at their website, too.

Go to Alpine Roads.com

Look at the UKGSer site, all the .gbd files you will ever need are here:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=288359

Buy a map or two

Wait for Rasher.... Or, as time is now of the essence, just Search out his (usually) excellent trip reports.

Great information

Thanks

Joth

Here's a link to the viaMichelin book site and all the downloads.

It's still worth buying the book. It's in French but a route is a route and you get a free map, too.

The PDF's are route cards. Quite good.

http://www.viamichelin.fr/tpl/mag6/art201101/htm/virees-a-moto-alpes-2011.htm

Depends what experience you want ie enjoying the local roads and scenery or just ticking off as many passes as possible .
Mate of mine has just got back from his first alpine trip and he basically burnt himself out in 12 days doing the latter.
Buy decent maps , cover less miles in the Alps but do the green/yellow marked routes and enjoy yourself.
A day and a half from the channel to Austria is easy enough to do (700 miles), but to then start doing passes the same day will be very tiring.
Better to get down there and sort out a hotel for a couple of nights .Do the likes of the Grossglockner, Nockalm Srasse , Staller Sattel etc over a few days then criss cross the Italian /Austrian border on local roads into Switzerland.
IMHO the Arlberg pass is quite nice and if you go into Switzerland the Furka, Grimsell and Susten are worth doing in a circuit .

Well you seem to have chosen to cover the Swiss, Italian and Austrian Alps in one go, quite a challenge as even the "best bits" probably require about 4 weeks solid riding!

The Italian, Austrian and Swiss Alps cover an area the size of the UK mainland, but with 1,000 times more good roads, If I said "I have two days in England, what do you recommend" you would probably ask "where in England"

There is a Garmin file around here somewhere with 300+ passes, you could do a lot worse than just string a load of them together around where you plan to go.

www.alpineroads.com is a good resource and you could ask the same question there, but in reality you have so little time you could not cover a fraction of the recomendations you get - and one persons "perfect pass" is on another persons to be avoided list.

The Herman book is good and you could just use one of his routes for each day, he has probably got 40 days worth of routes in the regions you are covering.

Switzerland is probably easiest to recommend - The Figure 8 around Andrematt, easily covered in a dy and takes in Furka, Grimsel, Nufenen, Susten and St Gothard passes.

I have no idea for Austria, depends where abouts you are, maybe try the "big one" and head for the Grossglockner, the roads in and out of the area are a joy, if you can try and squeeze in the Nockalmstrasse into the same days riding.

Same for Italy, maybe check out the Dolomites, there is a nice Figure-8 route there where you can easily ride half a dozen passes on a day, and it is possible to bag 20 if you can ride non-stop for 10 or so hours with little more than pee and coffee stops - 8-10 passes in a day is easy - although that does not mean the days any better than one with 3-4 passes in, just the passes are shorter

In between locations you might be able to take in some of these, all in my favourites list:

Brunigpass, Fluella, Albula, Splugen, Bernina, Julier, Gavia, Maloja

Some good video of Swiss passes can be found here

http://www.bikecam.ch/karte.htm

If you click this link http://www.ride.co.uk/Tour-2013/

Then scroll down, you'll find a nine-day tour to the Grossglockner all planed out for you.

There are googlemap links to show each day and there are GPX files to download. It doesn't necessarily do all the must-ride roads you could want, but it takes in the Vosges, Grimsel and Furka Passes, Fluelapass, Stelvio, the Dolomites, the Black Forest and the Ardennes - and more - with very little motorway.

The schedule is to arrive at the Grossglockner (which is THE absolute must-ride in Austria) mid-afternoon, to stay at one of the hotels within the toll-road section, allowing time to ride it in the afternoon and the following morning (arrive with a full tank!). A Google search will reveal hotels on the road, though the one I've stayed in is the Glocknerhaus: http://dasglocknerhaus.at

Simon W said:

If you click this link http://www.ride.co.uk/Tour-2013/

Then scroll down, you'll find a nine-day tour to the Grossglockner all planed out for you.

There are googlemap links to show each day and there are GPX files to download. It doesn't necessarily do all the must-ride roads you could want, but it takes in the Vosges, Grimsel and Furka Passes, Fluelapass, Stelvio, the Dolomites, the Black Forest and the Ardennes - and more - with very little motorway.

The schedule is to arrive at the Grossglockner (which is THE absolute must-ride in Austria) mid-afternoon, to stay at one of the hotels within the toll-road section, allowing time to ride it in the afternoon and the following morning (arrive with a full tank!). A Google search will reveal hotels on the road, though the one I've stayed in is the Glocknerhaus: http://dasglocknerhaus.at

Click to expand...

Staying overnight along the Grossglockner road itself is a bit of a lottery. Great if it works out but the road can be closed at any time of year due to bad weather. Then either you can't get to your accommodation or you are stuck there the next day. There is so much to do in that area that it makes more sense to stay nearby for a few days. You can then pick your day to do the 'Glockner. And you can explore some of the other fine roads in the area.

John