avoiding toll roads

the tolls would be nothing against the lost time and increased petrol costs of trying to do it on non toll roads,not to mention the increased danger of local traffic pottering about,tractors.harvestors etc...the toll from como-chiasso at the frontier with switzerland to Pisa would probably work out around E.50. each way.Off the motorway you might even have to break the journey overnight which already eats up the toll costs.................

Hi I know this is not the same route but we have travelled with a very large van from wales to piemonte on many occasions mainly from calais or dieppe. we use the frejus into torino. Apart from the tunnel cost and a small autostrada cost from the torino by pass we do not use toll roads. Our van does not travel any faster than 60 mph so we have very little gain. We have never found the need to use motorways and pay the exorbinate amounts especially in france where it is a great deal extra for the van.

We frequently drive the Gotthard route & pay no tolls at all until we reach Italy. We buy an annual vignette for Switzerland which gets you through the GotthardCheck out the answer from Alan h. on this old thread:http://www.italymagazine.com/community/post/some-advice-about-ferries-routesTo date we have stayed in Mulhouse, Metz, Colmar & Freiburg. They all have cheap convenient hotels.We try & stop somewhere interesting each way to make it more fun!In bocco al lupoC.

We do the same as Chris - God Bless Alan H!!! - he has saved us so much money from going through Belgium, Luxembourg, Gotthard Tunnel etc, and the best bit of advice to get round Basel with no traffic! We too stay around Colmar, Mulhouse, Freiburg etc, and try to find new and interesting places to try out. We have always found the Alsace region very welcoming, not too expensive and easily reachable for the overnight stop.

Chrisnotton - Basel BypassFrom Milhouse cross the border, [on the motorway] to Germany  and head down the autoahn towards Basel.  Take the motoray exit to Lorrach & Rheinfelden and follow the dual carrriageway all the way to the Swiss border  Cross the border and take the motorway towards Basel for about 1Km [stay in the inside lane] and then take the turning to Lucerne.  Simples Chris8 - Avoiding toll roadsI did a quick check , on Via Michelin,on going from Stresa to Pisa on and off the autoroutes - the travel time doubled

Thanks everyone for the advice, Alan H, Chrisnotton, Sebastiano, Julia G, Londonlass. I think we'll definitely be taking the route through Belgium on down to Strasbourg.  Next day we'll push on through Mulhouse/Colmar to Basel then on to Gottard.  The first year we drove to Italy we took that route - no tolls until Italy but personally I found the roads in Belgium a bit rough, but thats just my view. Once we get into Italy it'll be the Autostrada for us. Thanks again everybody.  I'll post a message when we return and let you know how we got on.Incidentally is it just me or are the Swiss Motorway stations great.  We stopped off en route to Gottard last year, the motorway station seemed to be in the middle of a national park, beautiful setting - in GB it'd be a holiday destination in its own right!

Strasbourg Route".......... think we'll definitely be taking the route through Belgium on down to Strasbourg. "Try via Nancy to Colmar, rather than via Strasbourg. Plenty of places at Nancy for the overnight stop - we use the Novotel at Nancy Ouest [Laxou], as its close to the Motorway - but there are lots to choose from. Route from Nancy to Colmar is not too bad at all, but some single carriageway.  [Did it last week]

Thanks for this.  Nancy - Strasbourg is pretty much a sideways  move, whereas Nancy - Colmar is a contiuation of the southward journey