Anybody got any ideas about stop-over sites somewhere near Strasbourg - or general advice on the use of the French Toll motorways down through Rheims and Metz or the alternative route through Belguim, Luxembourg, and Strasbourg.
No idea of Toll prices but have been told they are expensive so may stay on the German side of the border.
Not done anything like this before so any advice welcome
I'll be towing a caravan by the way.
Thanks.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
You can find out your toll costs by using viamichelin.com, or mappy.com. Put your start destination, and your end destination, select towing a caravan (which makes the tolls more expensive) and both programmes will calculate a route for you, and calculate the tolls. You can then select a toll-free route and look at the time differences involved to see if it makes that much difference to your overall journey time. A quick look at mappy suggests that your tolls in France will be around 32 euros.
Don't forget that in Switzerland you'll need to purchase a vignette for both car and caravan, cost 40 swiss francs for each one!
If you do the Belgium, Luxembourg route there are no tolls until you hit the A4 at Metz and there is no difference in mileage. So save yourself some money.
harryb
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We went to Interlaken last June, but first went via Germany and Austria to the Italian Lakes. From Lake Maggiore we went into Switzerland and Interlaken. From there we headed into France via Bern, then pottered about in France for about a week, so no real advice about a direct route, BUT.....just to say that we thought Interlaken was absolutely fantastic!
We stayed at Camping Lazy Rancho, hadn't booked, just turned up and ended up staying for 10 nights. We got a 6-day pass for the railways, well worth it. On the face of it, it is expensive, cost about £100 per person this year, but as travel is very expensive there, it turned out to be well worth it. Without it, we wouldn't have done half the trips we did, as it would have been too expensive. Got all the way up to the Jungfraujoch, highlight of the trip, you must do that trip.
Only thing is the weather, you need to have at least clear weather, to be able to enjoy those fantastic views everywhere. We were very lucky in that we had about a fortnight of rain in Italy but once we hit Interlaken the weather changed for the better and we had a heatwave, couldn't have asked for better weather.
In fact, we enjoyed it that much, that we are seriously thinking of going back next May/June.
Have a great time!
From experience I would endorse Harry B's post above, and would add that way has the added bonus that you can fill up with cheaper fuel in Luxembourg. You can save about 40 miles (and avoid Strasbourg) by leaving the A4 at Savernes and going on ordinary roads through Molsheim then back onto the autoroute. From Calais to Interlaken this way is about 560 miles.
Unless things have changed in the last couple of years, if you enter Basle on the French side of the Rhine you are pitched into city traffic so suggest you cross into Germany near Mulhouse and enter the city on the autobahn where you carry straight on on the Swiss motorway.
HI, do you get any of the caravan magazines? If so, i'm pretty sure that about four months ago (at least), practical caravan magazine had an article about travelling to Switzerland. It has some useful info in, and also details about sites. I will try to find magazine and post some other details (when I find it!!).
Best of luck, Switzerland is beautiful, especially Interlaken. Enjoy
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Going To Interlaken
