France Italy and Spain
Just about to travel from Scotland to calais on Tuesday plan to take in Paris then main aim to take in lake como down Through Rome,Naples,back up and into Spain heading for estartit, from there head back up the coast of France to head home . First
time doing the trip with caravan and despite believing I am confident enough I'm looking for pointers.things like what tolls to avoid ,what roads not to miss and sights to see..the main concern is getting the right sites that are the gems of the country.The
ones we know in our own countries that know really knows about.basicaly any help would be a great help and most appreciated .
Comments
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How long is your trip? I have several blogs
here that cover France, Germany, Austria and Italy that might be of help. Only been to Spain a couple of times but there lot od people here with lots of knowledge on here about Spain who could help.David
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Hi both, try 'flower camping' sites, they are as the name suggests planted with care and attention. You can use ACSI card on some too. Montreil Bellay near Saumur is beautiful, and the site in Saumer itself. We have stayed at others too but the locations
are hazy! Enjoy Sharon0 -
Wow, that is some touring schedule. You are planning to visit all in one trip places that I have taken over 30 years to see, and I have yet to get down to Naples !
There are so many places of interest on your itinerary that it could easily take years to do thoroughly. Is there a reason for covering such a vast distance in one go ?
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David /Jim/sharon :just getting used to the layout of this site.We are leaving this monday night travelling through the night to break the journey but may end up leaving on tuesday night we have to be back home on the 14th of may.we are looking at roughly
25 days to do the round journey. Ive been busy at work and despite most people saying go for it i was hoping to get good pointers.I will be spending the next two days swating but,life is all adventure.My main concern will be when to use the toll roads and
the roads being too narrow for the caravan (nightmare avoidance).ive done single track all over Scotland so im pretty ok but in a different land im obviously less confident.I was hoping to get to Italy as quick as poss, sit the caravan central to naples and
drive site seeing.the same for lake como,avoiding the west as your blog suggests.Then round to estartit in spain to rest up for a while ,then squeeze in the west coast of france on route home.we may have to leave the caravan and saty in b&b of an even and
worst case sleep in the car of a trip just to reduce the usual set backs towing.In all Imay have to adjust the dream but my wish is to succeed with some help from my fellow club members.many thanks will need all your help thanks0 -
have i left it too late for all the keycard dicount cards?
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Afraid you have left it too late to get your ACSI card. Your trip is very ambitious and in 25 days will be a marathon if not impossible towing a caravan: in most countries you are limited to 80ks speed limit. It will take you 5 days + to get to Naples
and that is without spending any time visiting the lovely areas you will be passing through. Back up to Como 2 more days. To Estartit 3 days+ and so it goes all adding up to many days behind the wheel. The recommendation remains the same be less ambitious.
To answer your specific points about toll roads and narrow roads. You should not have any problem with the latter unless you go up a narrow/single track road so marked on your map! Tolls vary country to country but you can get to Italy toll free going via
Belgium, Germany, Austria. To do your propsed itinerary you would have to use toll roads or motorways to have any chance of completing it. We are off to Austia/Italy in a few week and have given ourselves 42 days, in Sep west coast of France and Languedoc
30 days; last year Spain and we spent 30 days. Remember you are on holiday and want to take back memories of the beautiful areas you visit. Let us know how you get on.0 -
Just looked, distance Glasgow to Naples direct 1681 miles means 33.5 hours at 50mph, Naples to Estartit 586 miles is 12 hours!! Add ferry time, rests, night halts, delays, Paris visit etc etc. Please be safe we want to read your end of trip report.
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Why not do the journey to naples this time, giving yourself time to get there seeing things on the way and head back to the lakes on the way back. Give yourself plenty of time in that area, its wonderful. Perhaps leave Spain for the next trip. It would
be such a shame to spend all your time driving without sitting and watching!!!but of course its your holiday and only you can decide how much time you want to spend on the road!
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I tend to concur with what others have said about how ambitious the trip is in the given time frame. Italy alone could easily fill the time quite happily. Not quite sure why you want to include Spain as part of this trip?
David
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Folks please excuse my absence but work has changed and we have been pushed to get organised.we fully intend to absorb and reply in great depth but we hope you can appreciate the usual preparations are in force .We have maybe got a wee help by leaving tonight
for the ferry tomorrow at 12. So we have pinched a day.plan to get a few hours kip then travel through the the night and be at Dover a sap.rest on ferry etc .my wife can digest any posts and we can obviously keep you informed .calais then some place near Paris
is the 1st Target.can thank you enough for your great help.No kisses yet but they will follow.0 -
I think I would agree with the advice already given. I also think that it will all be too much and a short time through your journey you will change your mind about moving on. It's your holiday but plans can be changed quickly (and they are with regularity
in my gaff). I am guessing that you will pitch somewhere really nice and think................. As for advice, go with the flow, do what you want to do, when you want to do it. Don't get bogged down to an itinerary and don't worry about narrow access and single
tracks. It is rare that we have ever had a problem And actually compared to some on here, we are relative newbies. Have a wonderful time and throw caution to the wind.0 -
Agree with all others, far too ambitious, leave something for your next trips ;-)
You will quickly learn how far you can sensibly travel in a day. We have done 320 miles max and found it far too much so now do daily hops of up to 240 miles. Also you may soon get pretty sick (I suspect) of travelling every day involving unpacking each afternoon and re-packing the next morning. We find 3 nights is the shortest time we would stay on a site, one night after arrival, possibly a trip out the next day and a day of rest before leaving the next morning. Unless of course you find somewhere you like and don't want to move! This, of course may not work for you but hopefully you will soon find your level. Presumably you have some site guides to assist your planning and retain travel flexibility? Good Luck, make it enjoyable, not a hard trek!
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Mission complete.managed to get the best of the weather and then the sun follows us home.Happy to say managed the holiday successfull.Dover to Calais on to Paris then straight to Sunny lake Como.Then we stayed over in Milan seeing the sights.A change in
plan to go to Rome was met by going onto the beautiful Monoco.Then over to Estartit in Spain taking in Barcelona.Then made our balance of days in Salou in a beuatutiful five star site.hopped up the centre of France to Calise.Then spent then night in London
seeing the sights the following day.Then Home.A holiday of memories and a catalogue of photos and great moments to never forget.
Mimi and Bob (Glasgow)
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