# Need ideas for a 7-10 day May trip...



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

I'm thinking of taking a solo trip (GF may join, not sure yet) around May. I'll start from the Amsterdam area and want to get some sun and do some road cycling (hills / mountains are preferred). Nice food, relaxing time.

Any ideas / suggestions?

Martyn


----------



## mgdavid (Nov 27, 2014)

How about Northern Italy - Piedmont / Lombardy - plenty of mountains and lakes ?


----------



## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Vosges region? Plenty of lumpy bits around there, picturesque villages and vineyards and plenty of good aires.


Pete


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

mgdavid said:


> How about Northern Italy - Piedmont / Lombardy - plenty of mountains and lakes ?


I'd thought about this as I've been before (nice cycling). Google maps shows 10.5hr drive, so say 13 in a camper?


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

peejay said:


> Vosges region? Plenty of lumpy bits around there, picturesque villages and vineyards and plenty of good aires.
> 
> Pete


Where is that peejay? I've never heard of it


----------



## peejay (May 10, 2005)

East side of France just below Strasbourg, good toll free motorway links all the way as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vosges

Pete


----------



## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

peejay said:


> Vosges region? Plenty of lumpy bits around there, picturesque villages and vineyards and plenty of good aires.
> 
> Pete


I'd second this - one of our favourite areas in all the world...BUT DONT TELL ANYONE...or they will all go there :grin2:

If you do: go to Gerardmer (great Aire just off the centre of town €4 per night from memory); go to The Grizzly restaurant; have the flaming skewer of meat for your tea...MMMMM :grin2:

Oh and Strasbourg; and the Schlumpf car museum; and Munster; and Colmar and, and and....

Graham :smile2:


----------



## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Jura is quite nice a bit further south as well. Mind you if your going that far you may as well hit the Alps. Annecy to Lake Leman? 

Italian lakes are superb. Orta and Maggiore are two of my favourites and probably the nearest for you but 8-10 days is not much time. As for weather and sunshine you could be lucky but I would pack warm clothes and water proofs.


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

peejay said:


> East side of France just below Strasbourg, good toll free motorway links all the way as well.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vosges
> 
> Pete


7ish hour drive.... hmmmm. Looks attractive!


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

GMJ said:


> I'd second this - one of our favourite areas in all the world...BUT DONT TELL ANYONE...or they will all go there :grin2:
> 
> If you do: go to Gerardmer (great Aire just off the centre of town €4 per night from memory); go to The Grizzly restaurant; have the flaming skewer of meat for your tea...MMMMM :grin2:
> 
> ...


Vosges looks amazing! More of a mountain biking area than road, but that's fine, just want to get out of the lowlands and climb some hills!


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

barryd said:


> Jura is quite nice a bit further south as well. Mind you if your going that far you may as well hit the Alps. Annecy to Lake Leman?
> 
> Italian lakes are superb. Orta and Maggiore are two of my favourites and probably the nearest for you but 8-10 days is not much time. As for weather and sunshine you could be lucky but I would pack warm clothes and water proofs.


The weather is a bit of a concern, if solo I'll end up drinking too much of an evening, if the GF comes, we'd be couped up inside...


----------



## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Its a lovely part of the world and brings back great memories for myself and Sarah. There are some great driving roads around there which we tried to take advantage of in the early days of our relationship in my TVR Griffith 500. However the engine blew just as we got near there so we spent the week in a replacement Pug 206 :frown2:

Still we holed up in a nice hotel for a week in Gerardmer and had some lovely drives out and picnics in the hills and woods.

Great times, great memories :smile2:

Roads-wise: its very popular with road cyclists as well as off roaders

NB It cost me a new engine for the TVR....£6500 plus fitting from memory :surprise:

Graham :smile2:


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

barryd said:


> Jura is quite nice a bit further south as well. Mind you if your going that far you may as well hit the Alps. Annecy to Lake Leman?
> 
> Italian lakes are superb. Orta and Maggiore are two of my favourites and probably the nearest for you but 8-10 days is not much time. As for weather and sunshine you could be lucky but I would pack warm clothes and water proofs.


Apparently "it rains more in Jura than in other places in France" - thanks internet, very helpful! 

Annecy is a possibility and practically for 7-10 days on the edge of driving range.


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

GMJ said:


> Its a lovely part of the world and brings back great memories for myself and Sarah. There are some great driving roads around there which we tried to take advantage of in the early days of our relationship in my TVR Griffith 500. However the engine blew just as we got near there so we spent the week in a replacement Pug 206 :frown2:
> 
> Still we holed up in a nice hotel for a week in Gerardmer and had some lovely drives out and picnics in the hills and woods.
> 
> ...


A TVR broke down? Tell me it ain't so! >

Getting nervous for Sat yer Graham? Seems we have a David and Golioth scenario in the midfield. You gotta feel for Ford!


----------



## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Leffe NL said:


> Getting nervous for Sat yer Graham? Seems we have a David and Golioth scenario in the midfield. You gotta feel for Ford!


I've put my comments on that on the Dickhead Hartley thread...sorry...Dylan Hartley thread >

Graham :grin2:


----------



## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Leffe NL said:


> The weather is a bit of a concern,* if solo I'll end up drinking too much of an evening*, if the GF comes, we'd be couped up inside...


Yeah, last time I went off on my own I only went about 10 miles to a pub and just stayed there, met all my mates and ended up down the town in my old stomping grounds. Actually, it was flipping brilliant.  Just do that.

There can be a big difference in the weather between the mountains in Jura and the Alsace, the low flat valley floor and then Germany and the black forest on the other side. I remember it being stinking hot around Colmar and the Rhine in the Alsace but up in the hills it was dramatically different. That was early July though.

I would say unless your really lucky if you want a chance of warm weather in May you need to be either straight down to the Dordogne or south east to Provence and maybe as far as the med (too far).

Just go down the pub.


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

OK, after much deliberation a plan is formulating...

Duration 2 weeks (1st 2 weeks of June)
Destination Como
The missus will drive down with me and stay a few days, then fly back out of Milan. In the mean time 2 friends will fly down for the 2nd weekend (4 days), another friend will ride down by motorbike and another fly there and drive back with me.

We're thinking about a couple of stop overs on the way back, perhaps Liechtenstein. Any thoughts?

Can anyone recommend a nice campsite around Como?

Ta

Martyn


----------



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

It's too late now but I was going to ask if you'd been to the Mosel Valley, it seems to have all that you are asking for.


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

erneboy said:


> It's too late now but I was going to ask if you'd been to the Mosel Valley, it seems to have all that you are asking for.


Is that just south west of Luxembourg? We're looking for options for stop overs on the way home...


----------



## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Como huh?

Its a lovely lake. You can read our 2011 report about it and a few others here. https://sites.google.com/site/hanktestsite2/blog/summer-2011/italy scroll down to *Meeting El Presidento (well his Spooks anyway)

*I think its a bit bereft of great places to stop although Camping Europa as you will see from my report was "interesting".  I quite liked it but Im odd. 

EDIT: Stopovers. What about Meersberg along Lake Constance. Superb town. Depends on your route I Suppose.


----------



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

From Trier East along the Mosel river. It's close to motorhome heaven. I don't suppose there are more villages with aires in them as close together anywhere else in the world. It's also great cycling country and the villages are beautiful. I reckon the first excellent village to go to is Klusserath, here's a huge aire (stellplatz) on the edge of the river there.


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

barryd said:


> Como huh?
> 
> Its a lovely lake. You can read our 2011 report about it and a few others here. https://sites.google.com/site/hanktestsite2/blog/summer-2011/italy scroll down to *Meeting El Presidento (well his Spooks anyway)
> 
> ...


Cheers Barry! Why did you prefer Lake Maggiore over Como? Our plans are still open.

Was thinking of this campsite for the first couple of quiet days with the GF, then moving on once the rabble arrive :wink2:

http://www.lafornace.it/


----------



## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Leffe NL said:


> Cheers Barry! Why did you prefer Lake Maggiore over Como? Our plans are still open.
> 
> Was thinking of this campsite for the first couple of quiet days with the GF, then moving on once the rabble arrive :wink2:
> 
> http://www.lafornace.it/


Maggiore just seems more accessible and also its an easy Drive over to Lake Orta which is stunning and much less visited. I like the Sosta at Cannobio and the town of Cannobio and the free Sosta at Orta whilst nothing special in itself is in a superb location for the main town.

We have a scooter with us though and just enjoyed the rides around those lakes more than we did at Como but to be fair we didnt stay at Como that long. Your spoilt for choice really, they are all stunning. One thing I did find that was driving between the lakes and around the Como area to Laguna was hard work and whilst it didnt look far on the map it took as over two hours I think to do 20 miles, something you might want to bear in mind on a short trip.

We couldnt get down one side of Como when we were there due to a landslide. It is stunning though.


----------



## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Leffe NL said:


> OK, after much deliberation a plan is formulating...
> 
> Duration 2 weeks (1st 2 weeks of June)
> Destination Como
> ...


Sounds like a plan :grin2:

I can recommend a site in Luxembourg and another in Lichtenstein if you want (I'll have to do it tomorrow though as I haven't got the info with me). Also the aire in Gerardmer centre in The Vosges area is a good stop: very central - nice town and lake.

We did Belgium - Lux - Gerardmer - CH - Lichtenstein last summer on our way to Garda/Iseo

Graham :smile2:


----------



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Italy's a hell of a drive for a 7 to 10 day trip in my opinion.


----------



## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

We took a week to get there and a week to come home. Around 2.5 - 3 hours driving per day-ish.


We could have done it much sooner


Nt1 - Kent
Nt2 - Spa
Nt3 - Luxembourg
Nt4 - Gerardmer
Nts5 and 6 - Lucerne
Nt7 - Lichtenstein


Graham :smile2:


----------



## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

Leffe NL said:


> Vosges looks amazing! More of a mountain biking area than road, but that's fine, just want to get out of the lowlands and climb some hills!


Our friends in Zeist often feel the same and their favourite "hit" of scenery is the Ardennes - so perhaps a mix of the Ardennes and the Vosges?

The aire in Arlon is behind the Regional Fire Dept HQ and has free everything including EHU.


----------



## Leffe NL (Jul 14, 2015)

erneboy said:


> Italy's a hell of a drive for a 7 to 10 day trip in my opinion.


I'm coming from the NL, which take a good bit out. My plan is to take 2 days to get to Como and 3-4 on the return. It'll be my first long distance trip in the van (I did NL > Dubrovnik for a 2 week trip a few years ago in a rental), so there's a bit of "live and learn" going on. Should be good fun though!


----------



## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

I can recommend

Luxembourg...

http://www.campingkautenbach.lu/en/

Aire at Gerardmer...the first one near the Tourist Office...

http://www.gerardmer.net/camping-cars.php?langue=anglais&id_cible=

Lichtenstein...

http://www.campingtriesen.li/index.asp?Lang=E

Graham :smile2:


----------



## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

Camping de la Sure/Sauer at Diekirch, Luxembourg. has full on camping as well as some 'aire' sites at the entrance. Nice little village, if it's on your route. Not an expensive site but has all you need - within easy walking distance of the village and the station, for a cheap day trip into Lux City.


----------

