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Of to Lake Garda this August (Camping Du Parc) ferry booked to dunkerque arriving at 7am.can anyone give me an idea of a good route down.We anticipate a NH for first stop then a two day stop over in Austria before going over the brenner and down to Garda.I say Austria only because the Swiss route entails a vignette not only for the car but also caravan.I'm open to any good route and also campsites not to far of the motorways.Look forward to your informative replies.

Regards

Taffy

Sorry cant help but thanks for posting this question - me and the family are travelling to Lake Garda in August from Swansea also and I have no clue yet as to the best route.

Looking forward to the replies!

We went slower than that - Two nights at Luxembourg, (Camping Kockelschuer) - Three nights in Alsace, (Camping les Verts Bois) at Freland near Colmar, - Overnight in Austria at Dornbirn near Bregenz (Camping in der Enz), - then over Resia Pass rather than Brenner, and several nights near the summit at Mals (Camping Mals) - then down to bottom end of Lake Garda. We found all these places more interesting than Garda itself and wished we'd gone slower still....

Quote: Originally posted by taffy8078 on 10/3/2011

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I say Austria only because the Swiss route entails a vignette not only for the car but also caravan.Taffy

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If I was heading for Lake Garda my likely route would be Dunkerque/Challons en Champagne.Kaiserlauntern/Karlsruhe/Stuttgart/Ulm/Reutte/Fern Pass/Innsbruck/Brenner Pass/Lake Garda.

I have to say that I have never heard about daily passes for the Swiss motorways although if they were available it would be a good idea. Can anyone confirm?

David

Quote: Originally posted by Ina on 13/3/2011

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David

AFAIK for vehicles over 3.5T you need to buy a different vignette. This one is valid for 10 separate days, so could be used once on the outward journey and once on the inward one. You need to complete the paperwork with it for each day you travel in Switzerland. So you could use it for, say, 3 consecutive days going, then again for 3 coming back. Perhaps that is what taffy meant.

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Ina

That begs an interesting question. My outfit is classified as being in excess of 3.5 tonnes in France for towing speed but of course separately the car and caravan are both under that figure. I imagine the daily passes are really designed for commercial vehicles and perhaps its a happy accident that some of the larger motorhomes fit into that category? I assume that if I turn up at the border with my car and caravan I would not be able to make use of them. Do you know how much they cost? Why don't the Swiss introduce a short term vignette like the Austrians!

David

It's 3 days in my book (at my age) from the channel ports to Lake Garda whichever way you go.  If you want to avoid Swiss vignettes you could try crossing France.  Day 1 - ferry port to somewhere like Chaumont or Langres (several sites around there).  Day 2 - Chaumont to Mont Blanc tunnel ( Camping les Ecureils at Sallanches on French side or Camping Monte Bianco near Aosta on Italian side), Day3- across the plain to the Garda resorts.

But on this route you are paying motorway tolls in France and Italy, and the tunnel tolls too. Is that better value or not???