Calais to Interlaken Switzerland,
Has anyone traveled to Interlaken Switzerland, what's the quickest route and where best to stay overnight on route. We are travelling from Calais.
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ViaMichelin shows the quickest route as 520 miles, and optimistically claims it can be done in ten hours with a caravan. Personally I would take a little longer, go a little further, and cut out the 48euro toll but that's up to you. Where you stay overnight depends on what time you leave Calais and how far you want to go on day one - and that I don't know, though many people would choose Luxembourg or Nancy.
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Hi gazal59. Our very first trip overseas with the caravan in 1993 was to Interlaken. We stopped overnight near Langres using the autoroute all the way. It was 326 miles and took us 7 hours plus stops. The following day we did the 192 miles to Interlaken.
This took us about 5 hours plus stops. A total of 518 miles.The route was A26 then onto the A5, A39, A36. We cut through Besancon and headed for Neuchatel then the outskirts of Bern and on to Interlaken.
I was 33 years younger then. Whether I would make it a two day journey now is questionable. These days we prefer to take a more leisurely journey using the N and D roads rather than autoroutes but it all depends on available time.
We really enjoyed our holiday at Interlaken, there is lots to do and see and would go back again tomorrow if it wasn't for the very high prices of everything. That's why we now go to the French Alps, generally just west of Annecy.
Hope you have a good holiday.
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This link
http://www.motorhomevoyager.co.uk/know-how/toll-free-routes/toll-free-route-to-lake-garda/ might be worth looking at.Personally I'd avoid going round Brussels ... worse than the M25
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The "quickest" route is via the A26 - Reims, Troyes, Dijon, Bern. The road surfices are excellent and there's very little traffic (until you reach Bern). There's a good municipal site in Troyes that's ideal for a stop-over. This route is more expensive than the more northern route through Belgium and Luxemburg (tolls and fuel prices) but in my opinion its worth the extra cost.
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Thanks to everyone for your replies, we are going in August next year to a site called Aaregg on lake Brienz. We don't really have time, so need to take the fastest route on the toll roads. It's the first time we have took the caravan abroad.
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The ferry crossing at 7.35am takes about one and a half hours which will be about 10.00am French time but will take anything up to half an hour to get clear of the docks. With this in mind and keeping to the speed limits on the autoroute it could take about
6½ to 7 hours to do the 350 miles so could be getting on for 6.00pm when you park up for the night. On our last trip via Langres we left Calais at 10.20am and got to Langres at 5.45pm.There is a very convenient small municipal site at Humes-Jorquenay just north of Langres. It is very popular with Dutch caravanners for an overnight stop. The site is easily found from the A5. Turn onto the A31 a few miles after junction 24 of the A5. Go
for about 3 miles to the first junction (7) and turn south onto the N19 towards Langres. Humes is about 1½ miles down this road. The site is on the right just after the river bridge down a very short but fairly narrow side road. It doesn't appear to be in
the CC Touring France book anymore but their website is still active showing 2017 prices (€11.20 for 2 adults, caravan and electricity), There is a petrol station just on the outskirts of Humes which is also very convenient. It's quick and easy to get back
onto the autoroute from the site. Many of the Dutch leave very early in the morning so there probably won't be much chance of oversleeping!0 -
We did this journey in 2014 and stopped at Verdun about half way, the site is www.camping-lesbreuils.com it always has some pitches available for overnighters. On site there is a bar, restaurant, swimming pool and shop. Within walking distance of the town
and all the war history.0 -
We did Zebrugge to Interlaken last year. But would imagine the quick route from Calais would be the same from Metz onwards at least.
It was our first trip abroad with the caravan.
We stopped at the municipal site in Obernai south of Strasbourg. Superb site for the night stop. Easy site access from motorway, and nice town with nice centre and restaurants.
Following morning, easy exit and on to Interlaken. We were there just after 1pm.
Could not have been a better and easier experience. Quite superb holiday from start to finish. If Carlsberg did caravaning !
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We love the Interlaken area and have travelled there on a number of occasions. Our normal route is from either Rotterdam or Zeebrugge, but same considerations apply. Last couple of times, we have overnighted at Les Portes d'Alsace at Saverne. Viamichelin gives distance as 369 miles from Calais travelling via Namur and Luxembourg. From there it's a very easy day to Interlaken. Campsite is adequate and, Saverne is very pleasant.It can be booked through the CC, which for a later arrival might be useful, though we have never needed to and have been ok arriving just after 5 p.m.
A word on the Interlaken area, access into the mountains is fantastic, but can prove to be eye wateringly expensive and quite a few places are difficult to access by car. Before you go, research public transport passes (e.g. Berner Oberland Regional Pass) which can make things more manageable. If you have children, check out the "Family Card", I think it still costs CHF20, it will give them free travel when accompanying you.
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The route rather depends on how much time you have and how much you want to spend on tolls, personally I would via Mons and Namur and break the journey some where near Luxembourg and fill up with cheap fuel. Thats around half way but if you can possibly spare the time have a couple of days in Alsace around Colmar after that.
More or less what we do except that we cross into Germany near Strasbourg and go down to Basel from there - better road, free and easier to get onto the Swiss motorway system - not free
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We did this in 2014 but was on a time limit as our youngest daughter was away for 15 days so we went for it in one go there and back, we had an evening crossing and left Calais around 22.00 hrs and then through the night (i love night driving) headed up the A16 then turned off around Lille and onto Namur and towards Lux where we came off the A6 just before Capellon services and headed about half a mile to Windhof to a garage where you will get very cheap fuel and a bite to eat.
We then headed off towards Strasbourg and down to Basel where we got our 2 vignettes and onto Bern then Interlaken. This was not the shortest route but apart from Swiss it was virtually toll free but i remember doing a slightly different route coming back as we were due to hit Belgium tea time on a Friday so that was a no go so used more toll road to have the emptier roads.
Interlaken is a superb place with lots to do and see with a very reliable train and bus service too, we stayed at Lazy Rancho which was barely a 15 minute walk into town, yes it's not cheap but hey-ho your'e on holiday and everything is quality, enjoy.
Forgot to say i think we arrived on site around 14.00 to 15.00 hrs.
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