Road trip to Tuscany

[jtr63]

We are looking in to driving from Cambridge to Tuscany to borrow a friend's villa in August. A couple of years ago we drove to Denmark for our holiday with a couple of overnight stops on the way in it seems far more preferable than flights (for 4) and a hire car. Paris and Geneva might be a couple of overnight stops, but are there any more unusual or interesting places we could break the journey ?

TIA
John

[redsturgeon]

I wouldn't want to drive into Paris or Geneva as a break on such a long journey, the traffic getting in a out of Paris would be a nightmare. I'd suggest using smaller towns, like Reims and Basel or Lucerne. Google map shows the shortest route is via those towns.

John

[Slarti]

Avoiding big cities is always a good idea.

How about Reims or Verdun for the first stop and Como for the 2nd?


Slarti

[PinkDalek]

... Paris and Geneva might be a couple of overnight stops, but are there any more unusual or interesting places we could break the journey ?

Reims and Basel have already been mentioned but a slightly different route would give you Troyes and/or Dijon and/or Beaune, then somewhere such as Talloires on Lac d'Annecy. You'd be in striking distance of the Valois National Park, if mountains in the Summer take your fancy.

http://www.informationfrance.com/troyes/

http://www.destinationdijon.com/en/

https://www.beaune-tourism.com/

https://www.talloires-lac-annecy.com/

http://www.francethisway.com/places/van ... alparc.php

[Clariman]

I'm doing a similar holiday this August and did one in 2018. However, our ferry takes us to Amsterdam so your route would be different if you go to France. I don't want to do any more than 5 hours driving a day so our route was (or will be) ...

• Amsterdam to Moselle region in Germany (Traban-Trarbach)
• Moselle to Lake Constance (last trip), Moselle to Lake Lucerne (upcoming trip)
• To Lake Como (last trip), Lake Maggiore (upcoming trip)
• Italian lakes to Tuscany
• Return to Northern Europe by overnight motorail
• Motorail to Amsterdam for a few nights
• Return ferry

The Lake Constance stop was lovely last time, but I ended up driving through Zurich (unplanned) and getting in the way of trams! Otherwise it was a brilliant trip, which is why we are doing a similar one this year.

Clariman

[Clariman]

I've just seen PD's recommendations for Troyes and Beaune if travelling through France. We have stayed in both a couple of times and I'd thoroughly recommend them for stop-offs. Happy to recommend a couple of specific hotels if you go to either of those places. I'm sure PD will have recs too for there.

C