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AIBU?

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Original poster

To drive to italy in one day?

172 replies

Whattheuh · 13/06/2015 22:02

Most of the threads I be seen people plan to do it in a few days,but we don't have that much time and money to stop overnight a lot.we were thinking of leaving very early and hopefully arrive by that evening.anyone done that?

OP posts:
Coconutty · 14/06/2015 11:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SwedishEdith · 14/06/2015 11:34

I wouldn't trust that driver B would be getting any real quality sleep whilst driver A drives.

Original poster
Whattheuh · 14/06/2015 11:38

Coconutty the point of the thread or for asking for tips(which I got a lot of good ones thatnks).show me where did I ask if we should go at all?we are now considering a overnight stop,but not much point in some replies being"go somewhere else"is it?

OP posts:
BIWI · 14/06/2015 11:40

Can you let us know your dates and your route then, so we can all make sure we're nowhere near you? Hmm

Original poster
Whattheuh · 14/06/2015 11:51

Nice attempt at sarcasm lol

OP posts:
Coconutty · 14/06/2015 11:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RhiWrites · 14/06/2015 11:58

I've done that trip over three days, can't imagine doing it on one with kids. I would not recommend trying.

pressone · 14/06/2015 12:01

Whatthe

How much time have you allowed for travelling back? Every weekend in August there are more cars travelling than can actually get into the port of Calais every hour. You will need to build in queuing time for your return trip.

If your plan is to get home Sunday tea-time and you and/or DH go to work Monday morning I would advise against it.

Mistigri · 14/06/2015 12:03

Your big problem is going to be what you do if/ when it all goes tits up due to traffic. If you arrive in France at 8am, you'll be on the road for 9, you then have a minimum of 12 hours driving even without hold-ups/ stops - that puts you in northern Italy in the early hours of the morning, not the evening.

What happens if you do have some hold ups (weather, traffic) and it gets to 11pm, you're still hours from your destination, the kids are fed up and the adults tired? If you haven't planned (and booked) a stop then frankly you are in a mess.

I've driven length of france on many occasions, but only once since I had kids have we done it in one go and that was overnight (and we both swore never again - weather conditions were appalling and the last four hours to the ferry port extremely stressful).

minibmw2010 · 14/06/2015 12:05

It just doesn't sound feasible I'm sorry. We are going towards the South of France in a couple of weeks and taking an overnight ferry but we'll get to sleep on it as we have a cabin. If we were going further we'd fly. I understand cost may not allow that but I think you need to consider taking much longer so you can do it safely!

Original poster
Whattheuh · 14/06/2015 12:05

We news to back in calais by 5/6pm.we Still didnt decide how long we will take to travel back,depends on how it goes on the way there.we have a day off after we are back before going back to work.

OP posts:
Methe · 14/06/2015 12:26

We do driving holidays a couple of times a year and have never had a problem but don't underestimate how tiring it is. I drove down to the west coast recently and do all the driving - left home at 4am, arrived on site at about 6 pm. On the way home we left at 9am and got home at 11pm. It's hard work and that's about as far as it would be possible to do in a day.

Italy would be too far without a stopover and stopovers are a waste of the holiday Imo

Momagain1 · 14/06/2015 12:27

I wouldnt do it. And I am American who regularly did drive cross country, with kids (or rode as a kid). Unless you are attempting to reach home for a funeral, dont do it.

As an adult, my parents lived a 9 hour drive away. We usually did it in 12, taking a long detour to a town with a good park for a long picnic and play break. We also instituted a rule of no less than 4-day trips, which would be two days driving and two days visiting.

When my parents lived in the area I still did, they used to do 2.5 day trips back to where they eventually resettled, so, same trip in same highways. Leaving mid-day friday, arriving at midnight, sleeping until midday saturday, staying up to late, then leaving after church on Sunday to arrive home at around our bedtime. It was horrible and stressful. We saw them less often, but less stresssfully.

Sounds like you need one 'overnight' stop. It could be in the daytime, in a location that would allow at least one driver to nap for several hours, and then drive into the evening with sleeping kids. Or actually overnight and cutting into your visiting time. But really, it's going to be a crap holiday if you spend as much or more time on the road than you do at destination.

sunseeker66 · 14/06/2015 12:34

Make the stop over part of your holiday that's what we do.

On the way down to the Costa Blanca we are stopping in Berck sur Mer, La Rochelle then finally Zaragoza. I am looking forward to seeing all these places, and will we be there early enough to have a wander and a nice evening meal.

Don't rely on there being hotel rooms available on demand in high season.

I booked my stoppovers ages ago as the family rooms get booked quick. They are dirt cheap, my family room in Berck is only 35 euros.

GreatAuntDinah · 14/06/2015 12:40

Think your plan is not just insane but, with kids in the car, downright irresponsible. Does your old diesel bus have air con? If not, your kids risk heatstroke sitting in the traffic jams you will hit for hours on end, not to mention tiredness being a leading cause of crashes.

Naoko · 14/06/2015 12:47

We did southern Netherlands to Italy many times when I was a child, and several times since. It can be done in one day, but it is pretty horrific and looking at it as an adult I'm not convinced it's safe.

The Gotthard tunnel does get utterly awful on busy days in the high season. We do usually go over the pass instead, but you have to anticipate you will still get stuck in traffic if it is a bad day before the traffic splits into 'tunnel' or 'pass', and it will take a fair amount of time to go over. That said, the view on a nice day is fantastic and stopping for an ice cream at the cafe at the top was my favourite part of the trip as a child. It is scary in bad weather though, we once had fog come up halfway up and we could barely see the lights of the car in front of us. Do not do it in poor weather, just suck it up and take the tunnel.

Being a little older and wiser, we now stop over. We do Holland to the Swiss-Italian border on day one, usually stopping in Como or Chiasso, then the rest of the trip on day 2. That's still a hell of a long way, 10-12 hours on an average traffic day. If it's August, all of France and Italy will be on the road and it will be awful. I would book a stopover now. F1 and Ibis are very cheap hotel chains.

penisland · 14/06/2015 13:05

Should be fairly easy. I've driven Calais to Chambery in 6.5 hours and you'd be in Italy within another 2.

ClairesTravellingCircus · 14/06/2015 14:11

Not wanting to derail the thread, but anyone know cheap accomodation for a family of 6? Pondering about driving Italy-Uk in the summer, and will want a stopover, but most chains like ibis snd f1 would be tricky I think?

Naoko · 14/06/2015 14:22

Claire, would Chiasso on the Swiss-Italian border be any good for you, distance wise? The Movenpick hotel there has connecting rooms and was, when I was last there (admittedly some years ago) quite nice. Not super cheap though, especially as it's on the Swiss side of the border so you're in expensive-everything-Switzerland.

Fluffy40 · 14/06/2015 14:24

Just go Ryan air for gods sake, or holiday in central France.

SuperSaint · 14/06/2015 14:29

You said up thread you were worried about getting stuck in a queue in a tunnel. We did the Mont Blanc tunnel last year and you queue before you get in but there are no queues in the tunnel. They control the traffic entering the tunnel so it maintains a set speed (I think 50kmph) and you have to drive a set distance from the vehicle in front (there are markers on the road). There are barriers at the start of the tunnel so you can't get in until the barrier lifts. I don't know if the other tunnels are the same though.

It was August and we went from France to Italy in the morning (about 10.30 / 11ish and there was about a 30 min wait). We came back late afternoon and there was no queue from Italy to France but the queue to leave France was very long.

It was definitely worth us using the tunnel as it saved about 4 hours on the road. Try and do it as early in the morning as you can to avoid a long wait but there is no way you will be stuck in a queue in the actual Mont Blanc tunnel.

trollkonor · 14/06/2015 14:31

If you do decide to do it over 2 days then Colmar or Mullhouse look like good convinient places. There will be loads of chain hotels off the major junctions, theres usually a Bufalo Grill or Mc Ds near by all the hotels.

You could then get up early and make it to the tunnel to beat the main traffic build up. Be in Milan at a reasonable time.

The last time we went that way the traffic was so bad that there was no benefit in going over the pass, the junction was so close to the tunnel that you were still stuck in the same traffic. We timed that journey badly, turned up at 2pm on a Saturday, doh! Then there were road works to top it off.

We found the driving a bit slow all the way through Switzerland, its a main road but winding and many tunnels with speed restrictions. Great views!

trollkonor · 14/06/2015 14:37

ClairesTravellingCircus 120 to 150 euros?

www.hotel-bb.com/en/home.htm
You would have to split across 2 rooms but hotel bb do 4 bed rooms, 2 bed etc.
Worth looking at booking.com they list many of the chains you find off the main junctions.

m.hotelf1.com/index.jsp seem to have done a makeover and introducing rooms with en suite. Again you would need 2 rooms.

ClairesTravellingCircus · 14/06/2015 14:39

Thanks for suggestions, will check them out Smile

Sorry op!

Melawen · 14/06/2015 14:40

It's probably do-able, but not recommended. We went by train to Naples once and that took over 24 hours. Sleeping on the train was an experience! Anyway, on the train we didn't have to worry about watching out for other cars and lorries and constantly paying attention to the road. I would try for at least one overnight stop if I were you.