# Help Head Spinning



## chickann (Sep 17, 2010)

Hi all
have been planning our trip in august to france and now have completely changed our minds as where to go, we really fancy going from euro disney heading into swizerland (lake garda), onto italy (lake maggiore) finishing in monaco area then back up to calais. have been looking at some fab places and routes to take and my head is spinning. we have 12 days from when we enter swizerland. we will be travelling through the night to get from place to place and wondered if wild camping or aires will be possible most of time, may well book campsites for a couple of night by the lakes but not sure yet. would like to know if there are some places that are a must to stop at, we do like to go off the beaten track and find hidden gems at times. have also been looking at the bus that runs on the monaco coast and think it best to stay at a site for a few nights slighlty out of town as it sounds like a constant traffic jam. so hopefully there are a few motorhomers out there that have some great information for me and help to stop my head from spinning, as i start looking at where to go and end up wandering off in all directions. 

cheers all x


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## Markt500 (Mar 23, 2010)

We have just come back from Italy and have travelled through France and Switzerland. My advice is to get yourself the ACSI book and card from Vicarious Books. We didnt pre-book book any campites, and didnt pay more than 16 euros a night, most times less. Did stop on a couple of aires/ sostas.

We went to Cinque Terre (1day), Lake Iseo ( 3 days + can highly recommend camping Covelo), Pisa (1/2 day), Verona (1/2 day), and Venice (3 days).

Switzerland is lovely and will be heading there later in the year to explore!

Mark


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## ardgour (Mar 22, 2008)

Camp sites in the Italian lakes tend to be very busy in August as do the sostas. Good sostas at Garda, Cannobio (lago Maggiore) and on the Sacro Monte at Lake Orta - all in the database.

Chris


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

ardgour said:


> Camp sites in the Italian lakes tend to be very busy in August as do the sostas. Good sostas at Garda, Cannobio (lago Maggiore) and on the Sacro Monte at Lake Orta - all in the database.
> 
> Chris


Yes the Cannobio Sosta is excellent and Lake Orta is stunning and the sosta is free!

Last year we did some of this but over five months! Probably the most stunning place we went to was the Bernese Oberland region around Interlaken in Switzerland although Lake Lucern was also lovely.

I love Maggiore and Orta. Maggiore and Garda will be busy August but Orta is a little less well known and only an hour from Cannobio on Maggiore.

Are you saying though that you only have 12 days for all this? Its a big trip to do in a short time if so.

One thing I will say is that the cote d'azur (Monaco) in August will be manic. The ACSII Card will be no use in early August but might be of use towards the end. The cote d'azur is not motorhome friendly. We have been to St Tropez twice in peak season and it was even difficult getting around on the scooter! Monster jams and not many Aires either so sites will be an arm and a leg.

Everytime we drop down to the Med coast we always wonder why we didn't stay inland. There are some fantastic places in the south of France such as the Verdon Gorges, L'Ardeche and Aveyron and Tarn regions. Cheap and free Aires, lovely scenery and less crowded. Just my thoughts.

Quite a few of the places your interested in are in last years blog on our site at www.hankthetank.co.uk under blog and summer 2011. Its a bit epic though!

Good luck.


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## BritStops (Mar 3, 2011)

There's also Swiss Terroir in Switzerland (of course :roll: )

Just like France Passion (and Brit Stops) it offers free 24hr stopovers at places like farm shops and vineyards.

Steve


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## eddied (May 9, 2005)

erm , just to make sure you are on the right track. Lake Garda is in Italy, Lake Maggiore straddles Italy/Switzerland border. For Italy have a look at www.fattoreamico.it
saluti,
eddied


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## chickann (Sep 17, 2010)

eddied said:


> erm , just to make sure you are on the right track. Lake Garda is in Italy, Lake Maggiore straddles Italy/Switzerland border. For Italy have a look at www.fattoreamico.it
> saluti,
> eddied


sorry,
i did mean lake geneva in switzerland, lake garda is a bit too far over in italy for us. There are just sooooo many lakes and so little time.
thanks


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## chickann (Sep 17, 2010)

barryd said:


> ardgour said:
> 
> 
> > Camp sites in the Italian lakes tend to be very busy in August as do the sostas. Good sostas at Garda, Cannobio (lago Maggiore) and on the Sacro Monte at Lake Orta - all in the database.
> ...


thanks, have been reading some of your blog hopefully i will finish it off tonight, it makes such a good read, who needs a book :lol: i think i was getting a bit excited looking at all these wonderful places on a map and thinking yeh we can drive there and there and there, everything looks so close on a map. italy is the place i really want to go to the most though (lake maggiore) i believe you can do lots of boat trips, that way we will get to see a bit of swizerland, lake orta looks fantastic too. was also looking at lake geneva as it seems we will go past that on the way into italy (if i am reading the map right) . then i though we would head down into the outskirts of monaco just for a couple of nights and get transport into the fake world as i have read about the bus that travels the length of this coast so we don't have to drive anywhere near the area then make our way up through provence back to calais. crumbs its not until you type out your plans you realise how much you are trying to fit in, may have to scale it down a bit. 
many thanks
ann


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## chickann (Sep 17, 2010)

Markt500 said:


> We have just come back from Italy and have travelled through France and Switzerland. My advice is to get yourself the ACSI Book [MHF Link] and card from Vicarious Books. We didnt pre-book book any campites, and didnt pay more than 16 euros a night, most times less. Did stop on a couple of aires/ sostas.
> 
> We went to Cinque Terre (1day), Lake Iseo ( 3 days + can highly recommend camping Covelo), Pisa (1/2 day), Verona (1/2 day), and Venice (3 days).
> 
> ...


hi
how long did you go for? i know we will be travelling at the most busy time august so do you think we will have trouble getting onto aires/ sostas or are there plenty to choose from.where in italy did you visit? do you think it is worth getting the acsi as am i right in believing that it is more for travelling off peak times of the year?
many thanks
ann


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

ACSI is mainly for off season but some are available into July and then some start again late August. If your going late July and early to Mid August ACSI will be no good and you will pay a lot for a campsite in Switzerland and Italy. The cheapest one we found on Como in mid summer was Camping Europa at 20 Euros a night but it really was a ramshackled shanty town. Acutally I quite liked it but normal people wont! I hear tell you can pay €50+ a night peak season. Even some sostas can be €20 around the busy parts of the Italian Lakes.

If this is just a short trip for say two weeks I really wouldnt try and do too much. Maybe just a trip to Switzerland or Perhaps the Rhone Alps in France (lake Annecy and Bourget). You dont want to spend your whole holiday driving do you? And remember it can take longer to get to places in August and a motorhome is not generally as fast as a car.

All these places will still be there next time you go.


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## chickann (Sep 17, 2010)

barryd said:


> ACSI is mainly for off season but some are available into July and then some start again late August. If your going late July and early to Mid August ACSI will be no good and you will pay a lot for a campsite in Switzerland and Italy. The cheapest one we found on Como in mid summer was Camping Europa at 20 Euros a night but it really was a ramshackled shanty town. Acutally I quite liked it but normal people wont! I hear tell you can pay €50+ a night peak season. Even some sostas can be €20 around the busy parts of the Italian Lakes.
> 
> If this is just a short trip for say two weeks I really wouldnt try and do too much. Maybe just a trip to Switzerland or Perhaps the Rhone Alps in France (lake Annecy and Bourget). You dont want to spend your whole holiday driving do you? And remember it can take longer to get to places in August and a motorhome is not generally as fast as a car.
> 
> All these places will still be there next time you go.


Thanks.
think i have decided to stick to itlay and give monaco a miss this time as it looks like a place to visit off peak. i see there is alot of boat trips and plenty of transport around lake maggiore so hopefully will head there and explore the area. since you can get a boat from the lake into switzerland we can explore switzerland that way.
many thanks
ann


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

chickann said:


> barryd said:
> 
> 
> > ACSI is mainly for off season but some are available into July and then some start again late August. If your going late July and early to Mid August ACSI will be no good and you will pay a lot for a campsite in Switzerland and Italy. The cheapest one we found on Como in mid summer was Camping Europa at 20 Euros a night but it really was a ramshackled shanty town. Acutally I quite liked it but normal people wont! I hear tell you can pay €50+ a night peak season. Even some sostas can be €20 around the busy parts of the Italian Lakes.
> ...


Yes I think you can. We didnt bother there but used the bike to go up the road to Ascona in Switzerland from Cannobio in ITaly. Ascona is lovely.

If you get to Lake Como there are loads of ferries there and a trip to Bellagio is a must. The ferry timetables are beyond comprehension. There is quite a funny story about them in our blog and how we managed to hijack the presidential motorcade when looking for the campsite in Menaggio!


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## bermbasher (Mar 11, 2011)

*Italy*

Hi 
We had a month in Italy last year, left uk on the 26th August returned end of sept, it was unbelievable, first time there totally amazing, we never booked a site, had a bit of a plan, we went down through Switzerland,started of at camping parisi on lake maggiore, right on the lake, lovely town Baveno you can walk into. Eventually got to Garda plan was to get to Venice! Never made it but will next time, it was all just so beautiful we couldn't make ourselves move on, the water, sunshine, was all to much for us, so headed slowly home via lake orta, again lovely,
All this and we never paid more than €15 a night thanks to acsi.
Heade home via the French alps stopping of at bourg de oisans and Beaune.
So go for it you'll love it don't be surprised though if you don't do all you planned

Enjoy


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## chickann (Sep 17, 2010)

*Head Spinnin Even More Now*

have been looking at all the different routes to take getting to Italy. OMG am really confused now, have found these
from disneyland paris-troyes-besancon-bern-simplon pass on a train? not sure if we are to big to go on that though, we are 3.5tn but cant find anything about height restrictions then onto lake orta.
or
troyes-dijon-lausanne-simplon pass driving-lake orta
and was thinking of returning from lake maggiore-turin-susa pass and then make our way up through france.
any advise would be great. would be nice to avoid certain tolls and expensive tunnel prices

many thanks

ann


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## Steveboy (Jun 1, 2011)

*Here N There*

driving overnight....12 days......loads of far apart places ..... recipe for disaster or divorce in my opinion. Slow down a bit..... pick one place you really want to see....SEE it .... have maybe 2 other places as back up if number one place has'nt slowed the mind down enough.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Simplon pass is more than big enough for a motorhome. Plenty of wagons go up it. Good wide road, just remember to use your gears on the way down as much as possible as our brakes did fade coming down in 2009.


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