I would be really interested to hear how you manage your trip from the UK to the Alps. We are a good 160 miles from Dover and are thinking about maybe another 100-200 miles in France before stopping somewhere for a couple of nights (so it needs to be somewhere interesting). Then 10 nights near Annecy and perhaps a 2 night stopover on the way back or a night near Calais to stock up on some booze.
2 kids (5 & 10) in tow along with folding camper!
How do you guys do it? Any tips or recommendations?
Benski X
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We live 180 miles from Dover, in Lincolnshire, and went to the Swiss Alps in July. We left on a Wednesday lunch time and arrived Thursday lunch. It took 23 hours, including the ferry, and was 740 miles. Just made do with 2hrs sleep in service station about 5am. I know most people would think it was too much to do in one go, but we managed fine. Just myself and 7 year old son tho. Still had enough energy to put tent up and go swimming!!
I think when travelling long distances you have to make the journey part of the holiday. When I was working we would always prefer to spend a couple of days less at our main destination and have a more relaxed journey. We are about 140 miles from Dover. Our usual intinary would be to leave home around 9.00am in order to get a Eurotunnel crossing during the early afternoon. If we make better progress we can often get on an earlier crossing. We then stop overnight not far from Calais. This allows us a full days travelling the next day and if going to the Alps we would likely stop somewhere near Troyes for another overnight stop leaving plenty of time the next day to get to our main site with enough time to set everything up.
From the tunnel on the French side you can get going really quickly. If you take the toll roads it's really easy and fast - no way near as stressful as driving in the UK.
I would definitely try and get a few miles under your belt before stopping though - Annecy is quite a distance from Dunkirk, and to go from home to Annecy in 2 days driving means you are going to have to put the hours in. Stopping somewhere like Troyes is good, maybe even a bit further along. Burgundy has plenty to offer for a few days camping.
In the Alps, we stayed at a place called La Clusaz which we really liked. It's a little bit east of Annecy. There is a 4 star campsite a few kilometres out of town that felt properly Alpine (it's the only site in the area).
As a wildcard ... you can save some money by driving through Belgium (a bit more full on than driving in France, but no tolls to pay). Maybe pop into the Alsace area which is good for some camping ...
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Thanks very much for your replies. Any tips on how to manage the actual stop-over? Obviously you need to minimise on the unloading, set up and packing.
We went from MK to the Alps (near Morzine) stopping at Lac D'Orient for a 1 night stop - but its nice enough to stop for 2 or 3 nights and make the stopover part of the holiday.
We have a tent, so we aren't towing and all we did was unfurl the si mats and sleeping bags when we arrived and sat on picnic mats mat rather than unpack the chairs!
We crossed on tunnel at about 1pm I think and were there by 6ish - would have preferred an earlier tunnel, but we only booked the day before and the only one was 11 somthing and then it got delayed.
We went to the local bar by the lake for a pizza, got croissants from the campsite shop for brecky and some bread, cheese and ham for a picnic lunch by the pool before heading off to the Alps.
We got the tent down while the kids played in the pool and at the play area, then we didn't leave the site till about 2pm after lunch and a swim, but we were travelling to a chalet so we didn't need to get there early. If we were camping I'd leave before lunch.
The Morzine area was great for the kids, on the way back we did a short trip to the Jura (Camping La Fayolan) that was a brill site and we ended up staying an extra two days and coming all the way home from there in one trip as we liked it so much we preferred the extra nights there instead of a stopover - it was about 6hrs drive to the tunnel
Did Annecy last year, and will probably repeat this year as well.
We are 270 miles from the tunnel so took an overnight stop over at Blackhorse farm this side of the ditch.
We then crossed at about 6am and towed as far as Dole for an overnight (about 380 miles). Carrying on the next day the last 100 miles to our site.
I would suggest being quite fresh for that last 100 miles because once you turn off the the A26 the tow is quite challenging (but thrilling at the same time with the views).
Returning we set off with no plans, only that we had 2 nights until our crossing, and were going to get as far north as possible. 10hrs late we pulled onto our pitch in Guines near Calais. It was a long day, but doable, and gave us a travel free day before crossing back.
The only thing we would change this year would be to cross over from this side before stopping.
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Topic: UK, Tunnel, Alps Itinerary
