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We did Lille - Namur - Luxembourg - Metz - Epinal - Mulhouse (that bit is VERY slow) - Basel this year. If you go this way, ignore the signs for Basel in France at Mulhouse and instead continue on the motorway into Germany, then follow signs for Basel. It makes it easier to pick up the Swiss motorway when you get into Basel.

My advice though is - don't. Because this is toll-free, it's a busy lorry route. You end up either sitting behind, or overtaking, 1000s of lorries. That wouldn't be so bad on it's own, but Belgium has to be the least fun I've ever had driving. They're mental. Favourite trick is to appear from nowhere when you're overtaking and aim their car at you. You either dive out of the road quick-sharp, or pray that they remember to brake before they actually hit you. They treat road safety in much the the same way that we treat Scalextric. 3 times we were stopped because of accidents ahead, and you think "people, at what stage is the penny going to drop ?". The wife in the passenger seat spent all of our time in Belgium with eyes firmly shut.

Suffice to say, we came home Neuchatel - Besancon - Langres, then autoroute via Troyes - Reims. Roads were comparatively empty, and a nice easy relaxed drive, much quicker and simpler too. Tolls came to about 30 euro for a car. Well worth it in my book.

Either way, don't forget your Swiss motorway vignette.

As for overnights, we always use B&B hotels, so can't help you there.

I travel to Switzerland usually twice a year by car (as I have been doing for 50 years so anyone who calls a route today 'slow' should remember that's comparitive by contrast to the 1960s...) .

A good mix of toll and toll-free (and not too bad for lorries generally) is Calais - Reims - Chalons en Champagne  (A26 motorway) - Vitry le Francois - St Dizier - Toul - Nancy (N44/N4 dual carriageway). From Nancy there are two options, both on comparitivety recent and very nice dual carriageways most of the way. The sting in the tail is the crossing of the Vosges. Howerver anyone on their way to Switzerland will find it a good 'training excercise', and all the main road crossings of the vosges are low altitude cols which are well engineered.

Option 1 (N57/N66): Nancy - Epinal - Rupt sur Moselle - Col de Bussang  - Thann - Mulhouse - Basel

Option 2 (N59/N415) Nancy - St Die - Col du Bohomme - Colmar - Mulhouse - Basel

You can avoid Basel by going past Mulhouse across the Rhine into Germany, turning south and follwoing motorway 98 (signed Rheinfelden Lorrach) crossing the Rhine again at Rheinfelden then turn west and then south following signs for Luzern