8632 Advice req. on driving a van to Italy

I've used a TomTom satnav and currently use the one built into my Nissan. I think they're great, but my experience is that you need to be careful about slavishly following their instructions, particuarly in Italy.

Several times I've been instructed to turn off main routes down [I]very[/I] minor roads (sometimes unpaved farm tracks). I suspect that the problem is that the map data the software people receive from Italy is both too highly detailed and insufficiently detailed.

There's too much data in the sense that many tracks leading nowhere more than a single house (my driveway, for example) are included on the mapping database.

There's not enough detail in the sense that there seem to be only two categories of roads: motorways and everything else.

So, if you're happly tootling down a major road and the satnav spots a "road" that cuts off a bend and shortens the route by a couple hundred metres, it will direct you to take it. It's only when you're on it that you realise the unpaved track is suitable only for sheep and trailbikes!

Al

[quote=Frank@Babs;80957]...................We will be bringing a van full of our personal belongings and ourselves. As we have not travelled overland to Italy before, We would be grateful for any advice or tips that can be offered. .............[/quote]

Some people have had problems with taking vans through Switzerland - some get stopped by Customs, who want lots of forms etc.. - others have had no problems at all. [You can do a "search" of the forum for more details]

So its probably best to avoid Switzerland - just to be on the safe side.

Good Luck.

.

Hi, Al,
Yes I've noticed that, but not quite as bad as you describe. I tend to follow my sense of direction when I think it's playing silly games, it soon lets me know if I did the right thing or not. Nevertheless even if does send you on a slight detour,when you you dont know exactly where you are and you are knackered after traveling all day, I don't suppose it matters so much as long as you get to your destination without stress.
Cheers Frank.

If it's fully legal in Uk then you'll be fine but NB most UK insurance co's only give 30 to 60 days insurance outside UK. Saga will giv you a full 12 months and perhaps some others.
Do'nt forget to adjust dip on headlights 2p worth of black sticky plastic will work just as well as six quid implement at the ferry port. Suggest 3 o'night stops perhaps Reims Luzern and Parma? Buon viaggio!

Hi,
We returned to Italy with a van. No Sat Nav but used an Internet based mapping thing Michelin I think. Which gives you options of with or without motorways, without tolls, fastest, recommended. We went for recommended. We have in the past, for historical reasons, used a route that we knew was not the fastest so the Michelin mapping thing was a boon. We did Dover to Boulogne route on a mid day ferry and headed past Arras, Reims, Metz, Strasbourg, Basel, Lucern, Gotthard tunnel, Lugano, past Como, past Milan and on further down south. We stayed overnight south of Strasbourg (Stellastat) and were in Milan area by four o'clock in the afternoon. Got down to our area in Abruzzo in time to stop about half hour away from house and have a pizza and got home about 9 o'clock in the evening. The van is a 1997 short wheel base Transporter with 1.9 turbo diesel engine it seems to be happy doing 80mph all day long and if you're not careful your easily doing 90 without realising it.
We reckon that if you got a fairly early ferry, didn't have a bunch of wailing kids, or weak bladders and especially if there were two drivers you could be sitting down to a pizza in Como on the same day without the need for an overnight stay. Found this route to be the best so far. There are tolls but the cost is compensated by the convenience and speed of the route. Have been seriously thinking of getting a Sat Nav, not for Pilchard, but for me so he can leave me alone to read instead of squawking at me and sending me into a panic every time an unexpected intersection looms ahead. We know someone who has a Tom Tom and the voice that comes out of it is Ozzie Osbourne complete with his own famous vocabulary of expletives.

Hope this is helpful
Sprat and Pilchard

Driving in Italy? I call it avoidance :eeeek:
Try using a satnav in Naples city centre if you like a good laugh :laughs:

I've done the trip to Puglia 5 times now in a van, each time with 2 drivers. Last twice we did Calais, through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Brenner and down to Bologna, Modena, Rimini, and then down the east coast. We've always found the tunnel to be much cheaper than the cost of a ferry. We have always booked the cheapest crossing for the day. We have turned up both later and earlier than the booked time, when the crossing should be more expensive, and have never been charged the difference.

I agree with Pilchard, having been back and forth many times with a van, car and trailer and motorbike the route I would favour is the Reims, Nancy, via the short cut through the mountains (col Busang) Mulhouse, Como then Milan. No longer need a map let alone a computer, now Know it by memory. Have also done the long route through Belgium avoiding the toll roads but much prefer Pilchards route. As for overnight if able to get a very early start Como is easy to make in a day. Have stayed in an F1 in Calais and have reached Como by late afternoon, that is without pushing it and with my two young children aboard. When driving to the Lunigiana we will do an overnight in a cheap hotel but will depend on when we leave home.
J

[quote=Thomppson;81151]............. the route I would favour is the Reims, Nancy, via the short cut through the mountains (col Busang) Mulhouse, Como then Milan............J[/quote]

That's one of the routes I would recommend, but you do run the risk of taking a van through Switzerland and getting stopped at customs.

[and its a h*ll of a long drive for one day - we usually stop in the Nancy/Mulhouse areas]

I'm almost certainly being 'historic' here, but Switzerland and commercial vehicles have never been happy bedfellows in my experience. However, Pilchard used a route using Switz without problems, and as a route to Como it is a no-brainer as the most efficient itinerary. Would it be worth your while having a word with the Swiss Embassy in the UK to check out whether you need any difficult paperwork?

"Have stayed in an F1 in Calais"
What's an F1???

"Swiss Embassy". Good idea Charles. I will give them a yodel, and post the result.

[QUOTE=Frank@Babs;81259.....................What's an F1??? .................[/QUOTE]

Budget Hotels - very cheap - they may [in some areas] be used by locals as a "knocking shop"

[or so I am told]

.

[quote=alan h;81167]That's one of the routes I would recommend, but you do run the risk of taking a van through Switzerland and getting stopped at customs.

[and its a h*ll of a long drive for one day - we usually stop in the Nancy/Mulhouse areas][/quote]

I've done it several times in a period of one day, using the route Dunkerque, Reims, Metz, Molsheim, Colmar, Basel and onwards to Como via the San Gotthard. Getting an early ferry (about 4AM) it's possible to arrive in Como at about 19:00 even in a very slow vehicle, I've done that route in that time using a motorhome (based on a Fiat Ducato), without exceeding the speed limit anywhere - face it a Ducato is just about incapable of exceeding the speed limit anywhere.

[quote=Frank@Babs;81259]"Have stayed in an F1 in Calais"
What's an F1???[/quote]

To quote a teenager "don't even go there". We used a F1 once when a mistaken hotel booking on the return leg of the drive left us near Lille with nowhere to stay. I think it was "City of Culture" year so all the hotels were full for miles around. The only place with vacancies was the F1 at Bailleul, north of Lille.

A vile experience. Words do not exist to state just how disgusting the place was. Every angle of the building seemed to have been used for sexual gymnastics and Mrs. L. decided that we should leave and sleep in the car.

There are other cheap hotels around, just about any of them better than F1.

[quote=tennaval;81353]err....any idea what the "F" stands for? :eeeek:[/quote]

:bigergrin: "Formule", if it was what you seem to be thinking of it would be B1, wouldn't it? Not that I can speak French that well.

[url=http://www.hotelformule1.com/formule1/index.html]Hotel Formule 1[/url]