We will be driving back from Calais to

I assume that 'avoiding France' means you don't want to pay to;;s on the autoroutes. My favourite route for doing this is [basically];- Calais - Dunkirk - Namur - Luxembourg - Metz - Nancy - Colmar [or Mulhouse] - into Germany and on towards Basle - turn off before Basel towards Lorrach and on into Switzerland [all toll free so far - get Swiss vignette in German Autobahn Services at Bad Bellingham, or on line]Then Lucerne- Gotthard Tunnel - Milan - Bologna and Ancona - about 16 hourss driving.Stops - 

• 1st - 3hrs into drive - Castell Les Sorbieres near Dinant was good when we stayed there
• 2nd - 8/9 hrs into drive - Seerausch Swiss Quality Hotel near Buochs on Lake Lucerne is very good 
• 3rd - Somewhere around Rimini?  [dont travel that far ourselves

Not the cheapest of Hotels - but we liked them Good luck Alan

Thanks Alan. It is to avoid tolls but also we find it boring. From Dunkirk to Namur which route should we take? We have stayed at dinant and I was thinking of somewhere nice near Belgium Luxembourg border not too far off route. After Luxembourg would it be advisable to go towards Saarbrucken instead of Metz Nancy? You say into Germany...where exactly? I was looking at second night stay at Weil am Rhein near Basel any advice? I love Switzerland but will probably avoid staying there because we have no mobile phone cover there as it's not Europe and we always get high bills when we get back to Greece. For last night we were looking at somewhere near Rimini as we stayed there before. Really appreciate your input and suggestions
Maureen

Dunkirk - Namur  E42 to Lille - A16 to Mons - A15 to Namur then A4 to Luxembourg. I always did the Metz - Nancy - Mulhouse route, mainly free motorway/dual carriage way, with a very pleasant drive over the Vosges to Mulhouse - never went into Germany from LuxembourgFrom Mulhouse - E54 into Germany dead easyNever stayed in Weil am Rhein - but looks easy to get to from the route via Lorrach that avoids Basle