Switzerland
Hi we are fairly new to touring (3 years) and have a twin axle Bucaneer Clipper which is just slightly over 8m. Would we find towing in Switzerland too difficult due to the magnificent mountains? Perhaps you can let me know of your experience and great sites to stay on.Thanks
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Buy your vignettes, use their magnificent motorways, get good site guides, choose campsites near the lakes, do your mountain touring solo, and take bank cards with big credit limits.
So the easy approaches are either to enter Switzerland at Geneva and make your way along the north shore of the lake via Lausanne and up the Rhone valley to Sion and Brig. Or to enter Switzerland at Basel and visit Lake Lucerne on your way to ever popular Interlaken.
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Beautiful country but can be hellishly expensive (although fuel is moderately priced). From what I remember dairy products are reasonable but you might want to take preserved food with you if you are worried about budget. You will need two vignettes which you can buy at border crossings or online beforehand. Towing is no problem on the regular routes but if you want to use mountain passes then check in the Clubs sites books or online and you can find out whether they are suitable for caravans, for example, the Simplon pass into Italy is fine especially as it has been improved in recent years, but other passes are not recommended.
As eurotraveller suggests, head for Interlaken. It is a stunning area with excellent sites and generally no need to book. It will cost you several hundred pounds to do some of the cable car and mountain rail trips but it’s a once in a lifetime experience.
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Hello Mollymeg
we owned a twin-axle Elddis Crusader and visited Switzerland and then down to south of France last year. It was an awesome trip and I would not hesitate to recommend Switzerland for a visit!
We left the U.K. in lateish June and spent three weeks away in total - 6 nights which were in Switzerland staying in Camping Aaregg on Lake Brienz. We live in the north-west of England and took 2 nights of stopovers in France after using the tunnel before we got to our Swiss destination. The road network in Switzerland is brilliant - they just blast a tunnel through most of the mountains so you don't have to go up and over! There are a couple of exceptions though so just make sure you plan your route and ask questions on this forum so that other members can check it for you. I was given a route but for some unknown reason chose to follow my sat-nav which wanted to send me a shorter route - the end result was a very sweaty husband with a cramped foot from driving several miles downhill on hairy scary bends with foot permanently on the brake! I was totally forgiven though when we arrived at our particularly stunning lakeside plot!
Yes, Switzerland is expensive but so worth it. Knowing this, we filled up our food and drink supplies before we left the UK and then only needed small top-ups from Swiss supermarkets with similar prices to Waitrose/M&S food in the U.K. We had such a beautiful pitch at the campsite that we chose to "eat in" there every evening and only used local hospitality for coffee and cake or takeaway pizza.
We splurged on a very expensive trip from Grindlewald called First - it involved cable cars, zip-wires and downhill scooters and our teenagers were blown away with the experience. We have some amazing memories of the trip and it was worth every penny.
Definetly don't be scared of taking your twinnie to Switzerland - you will love it. Just plan your route and stick to it.
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Switzerland is wonderful. Even on a budget. Provided you're not going in July or August make sure you take an ACSI card. There's some great sites on which you can use it all around the Bernese Oberland. I would recommend the campsite at Krattigen near Speiz, even in the high season it's not to bad, but you will probably have to book if you travel then. I would recommend the following route to Switzerland: A16 and A10 to Brussels, A4 to Luxembourg on to the A6, where you should fill up with the cheapest fuel in Europe (but off the motorway), and then head south on the A3/A31 to the A33 at Nancy, then the N57 (dual carriageway) and N66 (some dual carriageway) through to Mulhouse, A35 to Basle (buy your Vignettes at the motorway checkpoint on the border) and then A3/A2/A6 to the Oberland.
Good places to stop and visit include Bruges (campsites on the coast e.g. Ter Duinen) from where you can drive or take the bus to Bruges, Rochefort (Camping Les Roches), municipal site in Metz by the river, easy walk into city and shops. Interesting side trips are a few nights around Colmar, e.g. Riquewihr (wine region) and/or Freiburg in the Black Forest. Lots of places in the BF give you the Konus Card which lets you travel free on trains, buses and trams throughout the BF (enormous area) - check before you go though.
Let me know where you're intending to go in CH and I'll give you some ideas. Or if you'd like some help in deciding where's nicest let me know what you like to do.
Dixie
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Sorry, I forgot to say, the route I set out is toll free until you get to Switzerland where you will need to buy your vignettes. It is possible to get to the Oberland without vignettes but will take 3 hours as opposed to 2 hours. If you were to holiday only in the Oberland it wouldn't make a lot of difference to getting around, except for making a journey towards Bern, Brienz or Lucerne slightly longer.
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