Driving to Lake Garda: 3 night en route there, 4 wn route back. Help! 5 & 6yo

[Feetupteashot]

Hello

We are going to Lake Garda early Aigust to a child friendly resort. Did a road trip to SW France last year which was excellent.

Hb thinks we should drive it fly for the environment. Fine. But now how do I plan a trip there and back which is pleasant ans reasonable?!

Lots of tips online for hammering it down the German autobahn. Probably wil do this en route, maybe visit Neuschwanstein Castle if feasible. Then vague idea to come back thru France via wine tasting areas for my own benefit. Else could go to agrotourism Italy / France.

Any ideas gratefully received. We have a decent budget as saved £2k or so by not flying.

Not driven to LG - but have done France/Spanish border and Lake Constance - for LC we drove down through France and back through Germany/Belgium and a bit of Holland. Was fine.

I always pick stop over hotels with pools - I had 3 kids in the car - it helped after a long bit of driving for them to let off steam and have some fun. We liked Novotel - never had your budget - pool area nice and the bar is right next to it usually - so mum can have a wine while they go mad!

Oh and we stayed here on the way back through Germany - in an apartment - which was fabulous.

Mercure Hotel Koeln Belfortstrasse - Guest Reservations

Germany is out of the way surely.

when we did it on a school trip (and all in one go) we went via Switzerland.

Reims is on your way as is Lucerne and the lake

Lucerne is gorgeous - you can take a funicular up to the castle which your little ones might enjoy! If you have the budget you can even stay at chateau gutsch here

If you go via Swiss motorways you need to buy a vignette. Be aware there can be long queues for the alpine tunnels at summer weekends. If you are there on August 1st it is Swiss national day with fireworks and alpine markets and brunches.

@FanSpamTastic thanks, hotel looks lovely but might have to downgrade. They would love a funicular!!!

@ghostyslovesheets Hi Ghosty, excellent tip thank you! Sounds like a pool is just the thing to exercise car-tired kids (nothing to do with your point about nearby wine )

In August you could use a lakeside beach.

Ha - trust me - after 6-8 hrs driving - wine was the priority!

We drove to lake Como (no children) as part of a longer drive to Puglia. Obviously further west than you are going, but we stopped in the Alsace on our journey- Riquewihr. It was a beautiful area, lots of beautifully coloured buildings and storks for the children to watch with their big nests!
On our way home we stopped in Turin which was amazing (stayed in the double tree hilton, the old fiat factory) and then crossed over the mountains and spent a day and night in Dijon which was just magical.

I just use google maps for the most direct route. Then decide roughly where to stop based on how many hours we want to drive. Depends where you are coming from in the uk, but after the Eurotunnel we usually stop in Reims

Would you consider going by train? Better for the environment than flying (or driving), quicker than driving and arguably more fun.

We’ve driven many times to Lake Garda , but from the Netherlands.
Try not to plan long driving hours on a saturday in july/august, there will be lots of congestion. Germany has lots of roadworks going on, better check ahead if roads are fully open or expect queues. If you do the Gotthardtunnel, try to overnight just before it and then go through early morning. If the queue is long you can also consider driving the Gotthardpass , over the mountain, which can be quicker on some days.

if going through Switzerland there could be big queues for alpine tunnels. Look at Simplon pass instead, driving over (free) or else train.

In Reims, there's a logis de France hôtel just by the station with a pool. Without the pool, the hôtel Crystal in the boulevard Drouet d'Erlon is lovely and like all the centre ones you get a discount on the parking.

@somersetsinger I would consider train when older and more flexible about arriving in places in the evening. Also looks even more complicated to figure out, even with seat61

was going to suggest train too.. morning lon-paris.... lunch /boat trip paris then sleeper to Verona... and local train/drive from there ...
we actually flew back from Milan but were originally going to train both ways... trains were so easy! ...

We’ve driven from Salzburg to Lake Garda twice and the only advice I can give is don’t go on a Saturday in summer. It was like the entire country of Germany had decided to drive to Italy and the motorways were congested to the point where nothing was moving. It turned a supposedly four hour journey into a seven hour one. We had toddlers at the time and it was absolute hell.

If you do intend driving build in lots of extra time and have plenty of snacks in the car.

There is a great theme park near Lac d’Orient with a Pirate themed hotel and lovely buffet! If you drive through France this would make a good stopover!

http://www.nigloland.fr/

Car hire when there is really £££ too

Thanks for all the tips about weekend driving, this might be a problem!

One way I would go to Bavaria, if you can book a carriage ride do it - my kids still talk about it 15 years on. The other way go to europa parc. We did this itinerary ish

Avoid Switzerland has £££ for the motorway, Germany is free (you pay in Austria but can avoid the toll road)

Ps from Fussen to lake Garda no need to use the motorways isnt far

We drove to Lake Garda with a 3yo and 2yo twins. We stopped at Eurocamp sites enroute but I don't think they take 1 night bookings anymore. Anyway i know we drove via France and went through the Frejus tunnel (probably should double check spelling). We stayed in Champagne region with friends on 1st night, then Lake Annecy. On way back we were near Dijon at a site around a château, and then I suspect we got a late crossing and stayed in Dover.
We happily drive for hours with the kids, they don't seem to mind it at all, and the French motorways seem to run freely most of the time so you cover a lot of ground pretty quickly. And the kids love a hypermarket stop!

I think the point PP made about swimming pools is very valid. My eldest would ride his bike for a bit when we got to an overnight stop.