To drive to italy in one day?

[Whattheuh]

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?

You need this website to help you plan, black Saturday is no joke in France, or any of the Weekends around it bison-fute.

You can go straight down France on the toll roads to Liguria just hang a left at Nice but through Switzerland is beautiful. I've done the journey several times with my children and if yours are like mine it is suicidal to even think about doing it in a day. If you only have a weeks holiday I would reconsider personally. It's a great adventure but one that deserves time!

The first 2 Saturdays in August going south and 2nd/3rd North are very busy in Switzerland as traditionally the holiday close down starts on August 1st, Swiss national day, and schools return about 3rd week . Expect to queue at the tunnels and even very slow traffic over the mountain passes. Northern Europeans drive through the Friday night and hit them first thing.

Hi OP,

My parents have driven to Rome every year for the last 40 years. Her notes may be useful, sometimes they use the car train. Dutch motorail is particulary good..get on about 3 hours drive from Calais. Then getting off at Livorno is about another 3 hours then to Rome. You may find adding tolls accommodation on etc,that this comes out as a similar cost, through it's late now...so whether you can get a space on the train is another question!

OPTION NO. 1. - DRIVING TO ROMA USING A26 & A1

Calais to Rome will take 15-16 hours driving time. The best route because it is the quietest particularly through France is CALAIS-REIMS-TROYES-DIJON-GENEVA-MONT BLANC – AOSTA – MILAN – FLORENCE- ROME

It is not a busy motorway through France but gets much busier as you get near Milan. The autostrade is good generally but its fast – and only 2 lanes means you really have to use that mirror especially from Bologna to Florence.

There is a similar route with roughly the same timings through Switzerland but you can get caught out at the St. Gotthard Tunnel in peak holiday traffic and lose time. Its swings & roundabouts – you have to have a motorway sticker to drive through Switzerland but you also need to pay for the Mont Blanc Toll. The two are about the same price – the motorway sticker allows you to drive through Switzerland for a year – the Mont Blanc price is for a one way journey – if you return within a certain time you get a discount on a return ticket (usually the return is within one/two weeks).

OPTION NO. 2. - PUT THE CAR ON THE GERMAN MOTORAIL

You will need to drive from Calais to Dussledorf – its 395 kms and you should allow 4 hours to Dussledorf. It’s a very busy route because it crosses several countries. The train terminates just inside Italy at Alessandria - after the fiasco of the train we were on ( a high speed train passed ours and took out the windows of every car on the top deck!) German rail terminated its services deeper into Italy – once upon a time they went to Rome, sadly no more.

If you took the Outward Journey – it’s the only one I would recommend you have either a 5 berth Couchette which means someone else could come in the compartment – that will cost about 691.50 euros which is about £570.00 or a 5 berth private compartment which is 806.50 euros which works out about £660. ( last years prices)

The Disadvantage is that the motorail only takes you to Alessandria – there is another 6 hours of motoring to Rome and you need to consider Petrol/Tolls/Food.

OPTION NO. 3.- DUTCH MOTORAIL - CALAIS TO HERTOGENBOSCH 3 HOURS DRIVE TIME BUT ALL MOTORWAY.

I would imagine booking through Railsavers your price must include some sort of commission so you could ring Autotrein and see what the price would be booking directly with them. We have always found that their English is excellent and you might get the cost down a bit. – just a thought.

I hope this may be of use. There are wonderful places to stop en route, and I know you seem reluctant to say where your destination is...but at least this gives you options to Lazio if that is where you are headed. From 40 years experience I would strongly advise you to stop en route.

Also 15th August is a major public holiday in Italy and nearly everything will be closed.

If you fly, car hire gets very booked up this time of year, book in advance as early as possible. Car hire at fumicino airport is now much improved.

X

Coming to this debate very late on and I can see you've had loads of great advice. Op does your car have good air con? Otherwise the temperatures could get crazy hot. I really hope your car does. Good luck. And even if you don't plan to stop much. Do if you need to. What about camping on route?

Thanks fiddle,very useful post.as said earlier we will stop if needed.

It will definitely be needed :)

Twinkie it was Camping Fornella - I would highly recommend.

OP, it was worse on way back because we were so tired! Also daytime traffic in France was truly awful. Google maps said 9hrs to Calais but it was well over 12. And then journey from 1am to 6am back in UK was worst of my life!

We quite often drive to holidays in Italy but our starting point is Paris, and even then we feel the need to stop overnight somewhere comfortable. And the DC aren't little either.

I can only dream..........

We drove to Rome last year. 1st day Calais-Reims, 2nd day Reims-Basel bought the sticker in a petrol station just before the border, 3rd day Basel-Como, 4th day Como-Rome. Coming back we did Milano-somewhere mid France, 2nd day on to Calais. We actually arrived early and got an earlier train. DH decided to divert via Germany at Strassbourg for some reason but it worked well. Don't forget, however you do it that you need to take in to account finding places to stop to eat.

If you are thinking of stopping off then Premiere Classe is another chain of cheap hotels in France. Its part of a larger group (Louvre) that also has the Kyriad and Campanile brands. Just to give you an idea the Campanile in Mulhouse for 11th Aug (random date I picked) 2 adults and 2 children around EUR50 but not many rooms left.

We tend to stop off if we are driving to the South of France, even though DH used to drive for a living. Its knackering and stressful to be cooped up in the car with tired children

By not prebooking a stopover you are putting youselves under a huge amount of pressure! I drove to Spain (pre kids) and we assumed we would be able to be able to book a room if we need to - we did need to due to delays and being really tired but there was nowhere with a room and we had to grab a few hours in the car. We swore NEVER to overestimate how far to drive in a day again and always factor in possible traffic problems, spending 50 euro to make sure you have a good nights sleep is essential for us.
Driving when tired is dangerous and not worth risking - I see the cost of stopovers as a part of the holiday in the same way as insurance and breakdown cover - both of which I hope you have sorted?

Would always prebook having nearly got caught out in Reims when pg. Was midweek in September so not even peak holiday season.

When forced to, as a result of chicken pox, we drove to Valencia. Left London at 2pm, caught 4.30 Eurotunnel, drove (with a couple of stops) until 1am, overnight in a hotel (not great for me as grumpy chicken pox boy of 20 months wouldn't go in the cot and would only sleep on me), then left about 10, got to Valencia at 6.

DH can't navigate, nor can he stay awake unless driving. He drove most of the first day (I'd been up most of the night finishing off work and packing to leave earlier as unable to fly due to CP), but I am not able to sleep when he is driving (or we'd end up in Norway!).

Second day I drove (despite no sleep). Stayed 4 nights in Valencia, drove to Granada, stayed 10 days, then drove back to San Sebastián for a night, then stopped Paris fir another night.

I would consider the ferry to Spain, but DH won't.

Last half term drove from London to East of Belgium, near Dutch border. About 2 hours drive before the tunnel then 3.5 hours after, was very tiring, did all the driving, DH and 3 DC slept most of the journey in shifts.

Audit we have driven to Valencia (in one day!) and done the ferry option. On balance, I think the ferry is marginally less painful!

DH won't do it, he said the last time was enough. We only went (with CP boy) as we were going to a family wedding. Greece this year (yes, we're flying!)

No I wouldn't do it.

We often drive Calais-Basel with kids, should be under 7 hours but with stops for the kids never done it in less than 9. It would be hell to do the Gotthard tunnel and face the Milan traffic straight after that drive!

We always drive over the Gotthard pass as it's always slow to get through the tunnel and sometimes it's horrendous. It isn't quick over the top but the views are great and it's a nice place for a stop off. Wouldn't do it at night though.

Switzerland is really expensive, both for food and accommodation. An unplanned overnight stop due to bad traffic would cost an awful lot - a prebooked stay in a budget chain in France near Basel would be much more sensible.

If you really want to do it, I have a hardcore traveller friend who manages to reduce journey times down by:

• packing all the food for the journey in the car
• all eating is done in the car
• stopping for a 20 minute loo and exercise break every 3 hours
• during stops all the time must be spent moving around

When I was little we used to do a 1000 mile trip from London to Yugoslavia every summer. My parents did it in one go, sharing the driving. It took ab when I was little we used to do a 1000 mile trip from London to Yugoslavia every summer. My parents did it in one go, sharing the driving about 24 hours of actual driving ( would take less now because the roads are better).

I wouldn't do quite such a long drive in one go myself. We do 10 hours to go on holiday every year (Germany to Croatia), with da and 2 dogs, sharing driving between me and DH.

No idea what happened in my post above!

Having done 11 hours from Barcelona to Paris in one day, they thing you mustn't underestimate is how scratchy your children will be the next day. We had total melt down of the 6 year old at Chantilly the next day.

I would definitely do a fly drive instead. Much more relaxing and you don't have to drive a right hand drive car in Europe which I think isn't very safe.