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[Cinnamon]

It is our 25th wedding anniversary next July & we have decided to take a very different sort of holiday (for us) to celebrate.

We are buying a Spitfire & driving through Europe to Lake Garda in Italy,staying there for a few days,then heading back along a different route.

I know a few of you have done some visiting of European towns & cities,& I would really like to know good places to visit & places to stay over too.

 

The Husband drove his motorbike to Switzerland earlier this year & loved it,so he has a vague idea of routes,but I would like to hear some of your ideas too.

We are looking at a 10 - 14 day trip & want to go to a wide variety of different places

[Lesley]

We did something similar for our honeymoon, but by car.

 

We based our stopovers on lakes, Annecy in France is beautiful, stayed in Baveno on Lake Maggiore for a week and then went home via Neuchatel , Switzerland and Morges on Lake Geneva, Switzerland. I can't remember all the details now as it was some time ago so wouldn't like to recommend hotels but the places were beautiful.

[Geoid]

I think Cinnamon means a Triumph Spitfire, not a Supermarine Spitfire

[rachel19]

We've done quite a lot of touring in classic cars and the Ardennes in France (we stayed in Charleville Mesieres) are a must as part of your route as some of the roads and scenery are lovely. Strasbourg is one our list aslo as it looks like a lovely city. Also the stelvio pass is meant to be one of the best roads in the world and easy to include in a trip to or from Italy

[redhotchick]

I'd like to drive across the Millau Viaduct one day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct

 

We went to Amalfi this year and drove along the coast road a few times. It is beautiful. We parked in Praiano a few times, on the road, free of charge! and caught the bus to other villages. There is plenty of paid parking at Ravello.

 

I've never driven in Tuscany, but Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa and Lucca are some of my favourite places.

 

Have fun planning, and take lots of pictures!

[Purplemaniacs]

I think Cinnamon means a Triumph Spitfire, not a Supermarine Spitfire

I thought of the plane to start with

 

Chrissie

[Cinnamon]

Now that would be a trip!

 

The BIG map of Europe is here,I have a list,so we will get planning

[Lesley]

I think Cinnamon means a Triumph Spitfire, not a Supermarine Spitfire

 

I think I was speed reading - I saw the word 'motorbike'

[Willow]

No suggestions as there are so many places I'd love to visit I wouldn't know where to start but what a lovely idea for a trip It's our 25th next year as well must see what I can coax OH into

[Gertie]

If you are in Italy, I would recommend Rome of course, and Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Naples (you can visit Pompeii and the exhibits are at the Naples museum). Venice is a must (I wasn't keen as all the hype - but it's amazing...and romantic). Also, a lovely city is Verona, so beautiful and picturesque and where Juliettes balcony is supposed to be.

 

Paris is just stunning too, and recently I went to Berlin which is a lovely city with lots of war history which is a sober reminder to enjoy life!

[redhotchick]

I think having a theme, like Lesley example of Lakes is a good idea. Might help to narrow down the vastness of the task! I can only think of wines!

 

There are some gems here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/feb/06/driving-routes-europe-scenic-road

and here

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20074301/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/hit-pavement-europe-great-drives/#.UDoiSaCAp3o

[Redwing]

Lake Annecy Is beautiful and I highly recommend the Abbaye de Talloires hotel on it's banks, a really wonderful place, we have stayed there twice and still speak of the stays a few years on

 

It's budget breaking though each of our stays cost many many hundreds of pounds

 

We also stayed in a £30 a night half board place in the Alps which was great too so a similar place may be a refreshing simple nights stay

 

We have also been to a hotel on the journey down to the Alps several times, it's not particularly grand to look at but has a divine little spa and is a short walk in to a pretty little traditional town, I will look up the name of it

[Redwing]

For some reason I can't edit the above

 

The spa hotel us called Le Parc Hotel and Spa and is in Obernai in the Alsace region which is my favourite region in France

 

The website chateauxhotel.com is excellent, we haven't had a bad hotel off there yet. You can also search by map which is useful

[Seagazer]

On the way back from Lake Garda we stayed at Albertville and then went past Lake Annecy, it is truly stunning. I would have loved to have stayed there instead of Albertville. The lake is such a gorgeous colour and the mountains in the background just breathtaking.

[Lesley]

We've stayed in Albertville as well - just the one night and then we moved on, we couldn't even find anywhere to eat on a Sunday (early) evening

 

I think having a theme, like Lesley example of Lakes is a good idea. Might help to narrow down the vastness of the task! I can only think of wines!

 

The French part of the drive was based on vineyards - I don't drink and Carl drinks red wine but we did enjoy staying in Chablis in a hotel with a Michelin starred restaurant which was booked by default really. We stayed there both on the way and the way back.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1079400-d309531-Reviews-L_Hostellerie_des_Clos-Chablis_Yonne_Burgundy.html

[Seagazer]

We've stayed in Albertville as well - just the one night and then we moved on, we couldn't even find anywhere to eat on a Sunday (early) evening

 

I've told Cinnamon about our trip on FB - we booked through a motorbike tour company, they set the tour and book the hotels. I wasn't very impressed with any of the hotels apart from a lovely one in Augsberg, which was really lovely. We upgraded our Lake Garda hotel but even then it wasn't quite what we wanted. We were based in Torbole, I'm not sure I'd want to stay in that part of the Lake again if we went back.

 

Our hotel in Albertville looked absolutely awful from the road. I nearly told hubby to keep going. It had hardly any windows at the front and was pink and horrible looking. When you got around the back it looked like a swiss chalet and had wonderful views over fields to the mountains (which we had just been up and down ) They had a really nice restaurant attached to the hotel so we did eat well.

[Cinnamon]

Would love to know which part of Lake Garda would be a nice part to stay in ...............

[SallyD]

Hi. We've visited Lake Garda a few times, the most recent being only last month. We love a small village called Gargnano which is very pretty and a lot quieter than most of the other towns/villages on the lake.It is on the same side of the lake as Limone but worlds away in terms of crowds of people. We only discovered it this year whilst staying in Limone so can't recommend any hotels to stay in but are planning to visit and stay there next year

 

Sally

[Seagazer]

Limone is very pretty but very busy, lots and lots of people. Torbole was not too busy but more of a surfing type of place. Not picturesque though. There are many lovely little places around the lake, I can't remember all the names (whizzing round on the bike, the names were a blur)!

 

We got on a ferry on our last day from Torbole which went to Malcesine via Limone. Malcesine was very nice, helped by having our only full day of sunshine! My mum has been several times I will ask her.

[Cinnamon]

Thanks - I must say that Limone appealed to me right away,I suspect because of the pretty name

I don't mind a bit of hustle & bustle (especially after a fairly quiet trip to get there),but not crowds & crowds of people

[redhotchick]

The French part of the drive was based on vineyards

Naturellment!

 

Cinnamon, once you know roughly what your route will be let us know and if I've stayed anywhere nice along the way I'll let you know.

[Cinnamon]

Will do.

It seems we need another map - just waiting for it to arrive

 

Also husband is off to Newcastle to pick up the Spitfire today

[Daphne]

It sounds great Cinnamon When I was young I went on a tour of Scotland in a magenta coloured Spitfire, but we were poor and so camping was the order of the day, it was great fun though.

 

What time of year are you going on your road trip? We've driven down to the Lakes via Zurich as my bro was living there, but truth to tell I can't remember many stand-out places to stop. I do remember the mountains being covered with Spring flowers though, quite late, probably May or even early June.

[Lesley]

Would love to know which part of Lake Garda would be a nice part to stay in ...............

 

Don't forget Streetview to have a look - I went off and had a trip down memory lane in Baveno the other day You might get a feel for the place you're interested in that way.

[The Dogmother]

Lovely idea Sarah

 

We used to drive down through France and Italy to visit rellies in Italy (Tuscany) and near Evian above Lac Leman, then when I was in my twenties, I used to drive with a bunch of friend down through the Alps to go skiing. I'll look at some maps and see if anything comes back to me.

 

You're best off staying in small, family-run pensions TBH, much better experience than hotels and so much more welcoming.