Motorway tolls in France, Switzerland and Italy

[nigelsiv]

Hi all

We are planning on a trip to the Italian Lakes this September and were looking into navigating the tolls on the way down. We have about 3 weeks and are looking for advice on cost effective routes down and the use of a toll tag covering all the motorway sections. Thinking, Calais, Lille, Belgium through to Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Basel, Lucerne. Any advice would be welcome

 

[colintfcolintf]

The Via Michelin website used to help me with this sort of thing. Would show distances, times and toll charges

 

[Souter]

Go via Dunkirk, into Belgium, Luxembourg, Strasburg, Germany, Austria and into Italy over the Brenner Pass.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

Hi all

We are planning on a trip to the Italian Lakes this September and were looking into navigating the tolls on the way down. We have about 3 weeks and are looking for advice on cost effective routes down and the use of a toll tag covering all the motorway sections. Thinking, Calais, Lille, Belgium through to Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Basel, Lucerne. Any advice would be welcome

We do this regularly. I don't know your age, we are in our 70's so we very much rely on TomTom (the phone App version) for all our route planning (if you are much younger you may prefer to freestyle with multiple sources) and a Fulli Nomade+ Tag: https://www.fulli.com/en/tollbadge-highway-toll
which covers France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. We link Fulli to a dedicated Revolut card on which we have opened an Euro account (as well as the default Sterling account) as they do not accept (or did not) accept a credit card arrangement.

Sometimes we choose to take toll roads, sometimes we set TomTom to avoid them, we even occasionally chose 'winding route' for added interest. We used to take the toll free German routes but now prefer the French Péage for the main journey and consider the toll costs insignificant in the overall and the quieter roads and aires worth the cost anyway.

We buy the Swiss Vignette at entry (service stations etc.) as we like to carry the window badge, though this is about to go internet only. https://vignetteswitzerland.com/.

IT is worth getting a Crit'Air even if you don't expect to go into cities
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/law-change-for-uk-drivers-in-french-cities/

Once we arrive we use Wikiloc on our phone for walking, cycling etc. routes.

 

[colintfcolintf]

Many thanks for the Crit’Air reminder

 

[Up10]

Agree with @Souter go through Germany. Drivers are more courteous and better, roads are good, sites are excellent and Germany is lovely. No tolls.
If you plan to go through cities, get an umweltplacket. Otherwise, don't worry, you will be ok if you avoid city centres.

 

[Perfectos]

Did this recently:NO Toll tag, passenger with a Bank card. (Startling Monzo etc)


Home to Folkstone - via Dartford toll crossing

Calais to Mulhouse - toll roads some of the route, (not extortionate)

Mullhouse to Gorthard tunnel via Swiss motorways (on line ANPR vignette 40 euros)

Gothard to Lake como via Milan ring road motorway - inexpensive tolls

Lake Como to Lake Garda - Toll free

Lake Garda to Verona - toll free

Verona to Lake Maggiore via Milan ring road motorway- inexpensive tolls.

Maggiore to Turckhiem via Switzerland - see previous vignette

Turckheim to Luxembourg- toll free

Luxembourg to Belgium into France Calais - toll free

Folkstone to home via dartford toll tunnel

Approximately 2000 miles and a couple of hundred Euros

+1 for the Michelin app, shows multiple route and costs of tolls etc (free app, no account needed)

 

[The Tall Luthier]

The Swiss vignette is easy. Scan the qr code on entry, register the car and fit forty chfs it’s yours for the year.

Beware, the Swiss service stations charge 1CHF for a wee, redeemable if you buy a ridiculously expensive cup of coffee.

 

[Perfectos]

Swiss vignette is easier to have an ANPR version , no sticker, no scanning, no stopping just drive.

 

[pluc99]

The Gotthard tunnel has long queues on most weekends, potentially several hours long when people are going to or returning from holidays.

If you were to go right now (Fri 13:00), you would have an estimated 40 minutes delay going southbound and 1h10 going northbound. If going over the pass instead, exit the highway a few exits before the tunnel as the ones close to the tunnel are typically closed when there's a lot of traffic. There's a free GotthardTraffic app for iOS and Android.

 

[Perfectos]

+1 for the tunnel app, shows live traffic prediction, best avoid peak times and school holidays if possible.
No delays at all in May (mid morning) or June (afternoon) , mild traffic both directions fully flowing at speed limit.