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Hi everyone

looking towards next years holiday - no we haven't gone on this years yet but all the fun is in the planning and 2012 has been decided and booked.

We are looking at touring through Italy taking in major sights possibly Rome, florence,possibly lake Garda and a day trip to venice. All this to do over a 4 week period with a caravan and an 8 and 9 year old in tow. We have done a fair bit of driving down to the South coast of France and down to Northern Spain on many occasions. How easy/difficult/ different is the driving? What would be the best route down?Are we thinking of taking too big a journey? Anyone done it, part of it or could suggest the best way to do it/ or not?  My husbands view is as we've taken the long journey over to Italy we might as well see all there is? But I want a holiday too!

Advice please

Ceri

We have towed a caravan twice to Italy ,in 2002 to just south of Florence and in 2005 to just north of Rome, both in a period of 3 weeks. In 2002 went through Switzerland including St Gothard tunnel and like Sandra we experienced 2-3 hours of delays both ways at the tunnel. In 2005 went via Mont Blanc Tunnel and experienced no delays on route, stopped overnight at St Quentin then Chamonix, and stayed two nights near Bologna before the last stretch to Rome. On balance I would say the Mont Blanc Tunnel route was the best. I found the driving in Italy similar to that in France, except for in the towns and cities where everyone drives scooters and seem to completely ignore traffic signals and weave in and out of cars. I would stongly advise not to take a car into central Rome or Florence the traffic is manic, but use public transport, it was cheap and reliable. 

Apart from Rome and Florence I would also recommend visits to Pisa, Sienna, San Gimignano, Lucca, and if you are able Pompeii. 

The other issue we found is unlike France the availability of campsites for overnight stops is limited, on the way back from Rome at the time we wanted to stop there was only one site to choose from, the next one was 60 miles onwards.

We really enjoyed our stays in Italy, so if you have the time then I would say give it a go.

Quote: Originally posted by CarolynV on 02/3/2016

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Did you make your trip? We're planning to tour Italy with our caravan and 3 children in summer 2017, so would love to hear about your experience.

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