Guest JudgeMental Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 Seeing that through pure laziness I missed the cheap crossings available. I am looking to book some campsites as soon as possible. Greece trip of till next year as we only have 3.5 weeks And as wife sick to death with France ( I know, I know, grounds for divorce! :-)) heading for Italy So, trip envisaged will be through Luxemburg and as we have heard so much regards Mosel river we are going to head there. then down through southern Germany? Switzerland?. a week in mountains? . and then a week on an Italian lake. So Question is: campsite recommendations please, on route Mosel and mountain and Italian lakes (possibly Garda) kids prefer large sites with chance of meeting other brits ( again, I know...:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 You'll need a vignette for Switzerland. How much that will cost depends on the weight of your 'van. Oddly, if over 3.5 tonnes you can get short term vignettes at lower cost, if below 3.5 tonnes you'll have to pay (from memory) 40 Swiss Francs and the vignette will be valid from 1 December 2006 to the end of January 2008. You only need this for the motorways, but basically, you can't cross Switzerland without using these! You can, however, get into Italy via Austria without using motorway at all, so on this route wouldn't need an Austrian vignette or GoBox. Head SE across Germany for the point just East of lake Constance (Bodensee), where the German border dips South briefly before levelling back to the North above Innsbruck. The German town you're loking for is Fussen. From there SE via a short tunnel into Austrian road 179 to Reutte, bypass Ehrwald in tunnel to West still on 179 towards Fernpass, over Fernpass still on 179, take right onto 189 towards Imst and then 171 towards Landeck (do not take the parallel A12, for which you'll need a vignette), then the 180 South past Pfunds and Nauders and over the Rechenpass (Passo di Resia) into Italy just above Malles (Venosta). Then down the Adige valley past Merano and Bolzano. Good Roads, easy gradients, and a bit of proper mountain scenery as well! Beware any of the lakeside roads in Italy if your 'van is over 2 metres wide. The road up Garda, for example, to Riva del Garda, is narrow and has numerous tunnels necessitating that high vehicles take a central line to avoid "nutting" the roof. There is heavy traffic both ways in summer so the central line will be very difficult to maintain and the whole experience liable to take years off your life, or several inches off your roof! Therefore, for peace of mind, and as a generalisation, try to approach the lakes from their Southern ends, and to camp at their Southern ends as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan k Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 We've followed your route Calais, Luxembourg (cheap diesel), Germany (cheap autobahns), Austria and then into Northern Italy for the Dolomites a number of times. We made an overnight stop at Dahn near Kalsruhe, a nice little site in the forest. Have done both the Fern pass route and the autobahn thro Austria, seems to be time vs paying for the autobahn permit, seem to remember having a 3 day permit tho. We,ve also done the swiss route instead of austria, via Davos and Zernez with special mountain views. As far as mountains go, we've found more bangs per buck in the Dolomites than in the Alps, they tend to be more spectacular and lots of access to walk in the high places in the summer. Dobbiacco in the north is good, and of course the areas around Cortina, Canazei and we've also stayed in Val Gardena (no campsites but a big aire at the ski station at Gralba) but a campsite at Klausen o/s the main valley. although we've visited most of the lakes, Garda seemed to offer us the most. We stayed on the lakeside just south of Garda itself, camping la Rocca. A 20 min walk along the lake shore from the town and the lake ferries, good cycling along the lake path both north and south, good wine at Bardolino. although we approached from the north along the lake a much better route is from the east. The southern end of the lake is much friendlier (camping wise and motorhome wise) then the narrow north, there are more camping sites with rather more space. happy exploring alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Thanks Brian & Alan for your advice. Have more or less sorted route and campsite for Lake Garda. My question is: where is the best place to join & leave the Mosel River? Calais - Lille - Luxemburg - Trier - ????????? - Lake Constance - Fussen - Merano - then down right side of Garda. Have allowed 7 days to tour down, 2 weeks at Garda and 4 days to get back… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickt Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Travel from Calais to the Mosel via Luxembourg. There is a good site at Nennig alongside the river, easy day drive from Calais . If wishing to see the Mosel why not use the many aires/stelplatz. (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 We went to Italy 3 yrs ago via Lux., Germany and Austria. Visited Konigssee in south Germany - well worth a look, quite near Berchtesgarten (Hitler's hideout). Bit of a detour though, as it's effectively a big cul-de-sac. We didn't stay overnight in Austria, or use any of their motorways, just went straight through on main roads. From memory, I think we used the "Felber-Tauern" tunnel, then turned West at Lienz, arriving in Italy via Cortina d'Ampezzo. Lovely route, really enjoyed it. If you continue towards Venice, as we did, stick to the Autostrada from Ponte Nelle Alpi. DON'T be tempted to get off to "explore" Vittorio Veneto - even my hi-top SWB Tranny couldn't cope with some of the alleys and archways on what pass for main streets there! Enjoy your trip. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonB Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 You could do a lot worse than joining the Mosel at Cochem, approx 30 miles south of Koblenz. A little gem of a town which enjoys a picture book setting to die for, including its own castle looking down over the town and river. Very gay with lots going on, to say nothing of the wine. It has a campsite right on the river bank with an easy walk into town. From Cochem you could wander down the Mosel itself, passing through a succesion of small wine villages all seeming to have an authorised or DIY stellaplatz on the go, aiming to exit the Mosel at Schweich, approx 4 miles north of Trier. Schweich has an excellent Marina/Campsite/Stellaplatz complex within a stone throw of all the major road connections. This would, of course, put you a bit out of line for Lake Constance but you could always go out one way and back the other . You would definitely enjoy this trip. Have fun Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.