Dear fellow traveler,
I would like some guidance/feedback about driving from Calais in France through Italy to Greece. Has anyone tried this? How long did it take? How many stopovers were comfortable for the journey and what sort of driving did you do each day? Did you take motorways or scenic routes? What sort of tolls were involved? Was the return trip following the same route or did you vary it and was there any difference?
We are thinking of leasing a car to take our 4 children (aged 12, 9, 7 and 4) with us. If we pick up in Calais, does anyone know if the port (where ferries arrive from the England) is close to the car depot for Citroen, Renault or Peugeot?
We are looking at people movers offered eg Citroen C8, Renault Pathfinder or Grand Espace and Peugeot 807 Navteq. Has anyone had any experience of these particular models with a family in tow? I would be interested to find out about interior luggage space once bodies are in the car as it%26#39;s difficult to tell from raw dimensions on the manufacturers%26#39; websites and those models are not available locally in their showrooms in our city.
What about the ferry crossing? Any tips about this part (from Bari, Brindisi or Ancona???). We would be looking at going to Patra.
Was there any problem with language driving through Italy if you didn%26#39;t speak Italian. I speak French - is it more or less useful than English?
We are hoping to have GPS in the car, but for forward planning purposes, I would like to purchase the necessary road maps. What do you recommend?
I would be most grateful for any information that could be provided.
And I promise to post feedback on this site to help benefit other travelers who will be where I%26#39;m now AT!!!!!
Many thanks. Merci.. Efharisto poli...
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Hi Nicki - we used Eurolease (peaugeot) and were very pleased. HAd only two children (8 and 4) so we had 307 model which was plenty of room - don%26#39;t know about the bigger ones you require sorry. One great feature was the glove box was attached to air-con, so could keep drinks, ham, cheese etc cool while driving - made for great pinic stops (much cheaper too than buying overpriced drek at the motorway stops).
-Tolls -can add up, depends on how quickly you need to get from A to B on a given day wether you choose to use toll road or not. Most we paid in a day was around 15-18 Euro I think (BIG drive that day). Toll roads are fantastic, but you will miss some scenery as may go over huge viaduct high above a valley for instance, and miss the town etc down below. As I say - depends on the priority of getting A - to B in your timeframe. Of course can use a combination of more scenic and direct routes.
-Can pay tolls by cash or credit card - will be different lanes for different payment methods - easy once you get the hang of it.
-Motorway service areas are good - toilets/eating places/shops available - all very generic and boring but they are service areas of course and not a destination in themselves! We found service areas in France were cleaner and generally more plesant than the Italian ones , but its not like you are spending lots of time at them.
Best map books - Michellin (sp?) someone reccomended them to us - and they were right. We bought one for France and it was invaluable when we had to detour down some dirt tracks because of a road closure - every tiny one lane %26quot;road %26quot; with grass growing in the middle was marked! Suggest you buy in Uk before coming over on the ferry as it is quite difficult to use a map printed in another language as we found out, when we boughtmap book for Italy -when we GOT to Italy.
-Don%26#39;t know what you are doing for accomodation, but used camp grounds all over Europe - again, bought a book in UK that listed camp grounds and planned our trip using that. We had four months and no set itinerary (other than one week booked in villa in France and another week in Italy ) - so we just made it up as we went along between this two firm bookings.
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Cont -
I have a little bit of French which was useful in France obviously. In Italy we just muddled along with a few key phrases. You will note some crossover between Italian/English/French, and this combined with mime, gestures, a big smile and a willingness to look like a fool will get you almost info you would ever need. Don%26#39;t let a little thing like a language barrier get in your way! (You will most likely find someone with a little English wherever you go anyway).
- No particular tips for Ferries - we used one from Calais to Dover and was pretty straight forward.
- your kids are different ages to mine but they would still probably benefit from books, colouring/craft supplies, mini gameboy or headset for passing time on long jouney and getting a little %26quot;alone%26quot; time in the confines of a car. One thing we did which was a great succes was to give them a blank scapbook each (fairly sturdy paper, spiral bound) and they stuck in ticket stubs, postcards, pamphlets, wrote a few thoughts down. Made a great momento of the trip, and reminded us of things we did and places we saw in a lot more personal way than a bunch of photographs would.
HAve a great trip! I am sure others will have some useful suggestions to make and may have the more specific tips you require.
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This is a good web site for planning your trip giving hours, fuel and toll information and directions.
viamichelin.co.uk/viamichelin/…MaHomePage.htm
Also Mappy.com is a good site also for planning.
We always buy the Michelin road map here in the states...( less expensive here!)
We rented for 65 days travel in France a Peugoet 407 and it had the GPS and we loved the glove compartment %26quot;cooler%26quot; too!
You can do a google search with the name and model of the car and it will come up....we did this with our rental as they did not have anything like it here in the states so we looked at the measurements of the trunk etc..
We took both the motor ways and then also the scenic routes and allowed ourselves time to explore.
The motorways have picnic areas with tables so that you can cook on a camp stove and make your own lunches and play and rest along the way if you choose....there are also buffet rest. on the way too!
We try to buy our disel at the supermarches it costs more on the motorways .
Make sure you read the fine print from whoever you lease from .... one of the companies we were going to rent from in the fine print said that if the car breaks down ( the repair is closed on weekends) the company is allowed 3 business days to repair the car and if it can not be repaired you must on your own dime fly or train back to where you first picked it up to get another. Make sure you read all that you are responsible for and get insurance coverage for the huge deductibles if the car is stolen or in an accident.
Sorry that is all your question I can answer.
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Parakalo --
All the folks I know of who have done this, have obtained the car in Belgium, because of the tax situation. The English language paper in Brussels almost always contains advertisements for cars coming or going, so to speak. You might place an ad in Brisbane and Sidney for information, since most of the ads I%26#39;ve seen in Belgium were placed by folks from Oz, outbackers mostly, but also Sidneysiders.
It sounds like a great trip. Good luck.
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Thank you to all of you for your good advice and for being so super eficient and prompt in helping me out. I look forward to hearing from others who may also have had the sort of experience we are embarking on.
Here are a couple of other questions that have come to mind:
What is the best way to get to Dover and can anyone recommend or advise against traveling with any particular ferry? We will be traveling from Cambridge...
Has anyone tried lodging with their family at youth hostels either in France or Italy?
I have heard that the Amalfi coast road can be a bit %26#39;treacherous%26#39; and narrow and winding. Is this true? Is it worth the drive going that way? I%26#39;m excited about the prospect of driving but also a little frightened by the way they tend to drive in Europe - often very fast and carelessly (to us it seems).
Many thanks again to everyone who%26#39;s taken the time to reply.
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The Amalfi Drive is breathtakingly beautiful, but not one I would want to drive myself.
It consists of narrow roads with not much room to manoeuvre - think hairpins etc - and sheer drops down to the sea.
I did a coach trip a few years ago and the tour guide advised us that a particular stretch of road was called %26#39;German Bend%26#39; . Now I knew that this area of Italy saw a lot of action in WW2 so assumed it was a reference to that. No. The reason it was called German Bend? Because a German coach had taken the bend too fast and gone over the edge.
Cambridge to Dover?
www.multimap.com - here you can get accurate driving directions.
It%26#39;s about 120 miles and depending on the time of day anywhere from 2-4 hours.
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An afterthought.
P%26amp;O ferries offer the most frequent service - up to 25 per day.
http://www.poferries.com/tourist/
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Many thanks for the ferry tips from UK...
If anyone has particular tips on the ferries that operate from Italy to Greece
eg Particular operator that offer reliable service
Which port is easiest to get around - Ancona, Bari or Brindisi
Is the high speed ferry option worth the expense?
Comments on service or comfort on journey
Is having a cabin preferable to taking by reserving only seats on
overnight ferry ride?
Does anyone have any suggestions on other accommodation they used or have heard about either in Italy or France?
Look forward to hearing more and learning much!
Merci beaucoup et .... gracie!
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For hotels, check out venere.com
for ferries check out ferries.gr
for maps...maps.com...reasonable prices and fairly quick
The toll roads will get you to where you want to go much faster than other roads, but it will cost you. I havn%26#39;t taken the ferries out of italy, but if you are going during summer months it will be crowded...book ahead of time if possible....not that italians follow schedules very well!
Amalfi highly recommended..as harrowing as the road is, its nothing compaired to the drive through naples...truly a whiteknuckle death defying experience.
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I agree with reserving hotel thru venere.com we used them for several we rented last summer on our three month trip. The internet prices are very good!
Also sign up for their e-mail alert for special pricing!
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