OTish: Paging the DrivingAboutInEuropeisti

We might be heading to Amalfi in the summer, so I thought I'd have a
look at the possibility of doing a road trip in the car rather than
flying and hiring a car when I got there.

Trying to do the sums for how much it will cost and I'm working on ferry
+ fuel + tolls + euro breakdown cover.

I think I'm pretty sorted on ferry (£70), fuel (about 250l so about
£300), £60ish for breakdown cover but I'm not sure on the tolls.

Checking out various web sites, it looks like it'll cost me about 106
euro to get through france to Swizerland, £30 odd to get a motorway pass
for Swizerland then another 80 euro or so to get to Naples. And of
course the 80+106 euro again to get back to the ferry. So about £380 for
tolls. More than the fuel?

So, have I got the toll prices about right and have I missed anything.
Let's assume that I don't have to pay for a police roadblock and
helecopters and stuff.

Unless I'm mistaken, it looks like the fly drive option might actually
be cheaper than the road trip. Are bikes free on the motorways? Should
Horse and myself go on the Busa and send T on a plane?

 

No, but they are cheaper.

That's a rhetorical question, right?

 

Also overnight accommodation, food & drink.

I drove to NE Italy recently - just north of Venice - and I'd only do that
again if I actually wanted the experience of the journey. With the wife and
youngster in the car and frequent stops, we had to make two overnight stops
in each direction which added to the cost and used up 2 x three days travel
time. It would definitely have been a lot cheaper to fly-drive in my case
and I would have saved a week of my precious annual leave. It was a nice
drive though (via the Simplon Pass).

 

We don't normally bother with the Autoroute - there's too many nice bits
of France to bimble in - but took a car & big trailer from Boulogne to
just past La Rochelle last summer. I don't remember exactly how much it
was, but it was certainly a _tiny_ fraction of that.

 

We did the same trip with tent a 4-5 years back, totally avoiding the
peage, but it was a bloody long day in the car.

Thinking that amalfi might be just doable in 2 days of driving, but only
if I use the bigger (toll) roads

 

In Jan 2008 I did the fly-drive to Naples, staying in a B&B just outside
Sorrento. Cost wise, it was a no brainer. £75 for the flight with BA, £120
a week to hire a Fiat Panda. Plus I had a full week to enjoy the area.

B&B I used: http://www.mamicamilla.com/ - the food was excellent

Public transport is very good in the Sorrento/Naples area, especially the
circumwotist train service. If you intend staying in Naples for a few days
then use the train to get to places like Pompeii etc. Just hire a car for
the days you will use it as a) you won't be able to park anywhere without a
huge fee and b) spend a load of time in traffic jams

Amalfi Coast is stunningly beautiful. Again, traffic will be a nightmare in
summer as the road is narrow and full of coaches. I had great fun in the
Panda during January.

 

did you get tolls from viamichelin? Seems to be pretty reliable

 

I'd guess so, so you'd need to factor in one night's hotel en route.
We did Calais to Samoëns (just beyond Geneva) comfortably in a day in
March.

FWIW we knocked up £60 tolls each way, so your estimate of €106 might
be a tad high.

 

viamichelin says higher - 97 euro in tolls plus 27 for the Swiss vignette.

Italian motorways are expensive: the 469 mile Milan to Naples leg alone is
45 euro.

 

For which journey?

 

Agreed. I like the trip, especially through the alps, if you avoid
hammering through France on the autoroute.

Be aware it's a long, long way though

France for a road trip is great, as you can stock up and bring stuff
back, for Italy, i'd be looking at a fly-drive just to save the
travelling days (esp mid/south Italy)

If you do drive, don't forget to do the Cinque Terra on the way there
or back. There's some stunning coast road around there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinque_Terre

Cheers,

Paul.

 

She ain't gettin' on no plane, fool!

 

We're off to Venice in the Jag next week - around 2000 miles

The return working will be about:

£340 Ferry (overnight Portsmouth - Caen)
£500 for fuel
£250 tolls - big one is the Mont Blanc tunnel
£180 for guest houses en route

Euro breakdown is in with the insurance.

The holiday is about the trip rather than just the destination.

 

Wah! We just did Dover-Boulogne for <£70. Some of our mates did Newhaven-
Dieppe for ~£100-120ish (£200+ when we checked, though)

So, umm, why autoroutes?

 

Dover is an pain to get to from Brighton, Newhaven - Dieppe service is a
bit limited and means an extra nights stop in France and sleeping on the
ferry gives an extra day 'on holiday'.

I don't intend to go on the motorways but it's allowed for 'just in
case'. Still have to pay for a tunnel though - I think.

 

I've never been to Italy, so I've no idea if it's like sitting on the
North Circular or not

Gorgeous

 

First cut at flights and cars has come to £450 for the flights (for the
3 of us, BA) and a further £300 for 10 days Panda hire, which is what
got me looking at a road trip. If it was just me, then flying would be a
no brainer.

We're planning on staying with my cousin who lives in Amalfi; that's as
far as the planning has gone so far. T has started talking about touring
Southern Italy for a few days, staying in plus hotels, so I need to beat
those notions out of her pretty quickly

 

That sounds pretty reasonable. There's even a chance you'll get to take
off as long as Unite continue to be more inept than a lump of rock when
it comes to stopping BA flights.

That otoh seems a bit steep. Give holidayautos.co.uk a go if you
haven't already.

Indeed. My dad failed to beat similar notions out of my mum, & they're
moving to Italy in July as a result.

 

Will do...

Excellent. Do they have a spare room and a spare car?

 

Thay're coming out about about the same tbh