Road Trip - France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria 2025

[willwander]

Day 14
Chamonix
Love it here.

 

[willwander]

Day 15
Lake D’Orta
Driving day and what a drive.
Left Chamonix over Col de la Forclaz (The Mont Blanc Tunnel is still closed)

then into Italy over The Grand Saint Bernard Pass of Top Gear fame. Amazing driving and amazing views all day.


Then long drive towards Lake Como. Area seems rammed with a weekend heatwave. Found a camp site at Lake d’Orta. First impressions are it’s shitty and full of Mosquitoes, but we’re tired and it will have to do for the night.

 

[Gecko_Bioyag77]

Its a 2 hour drive for you from Lake d’Orta but we stayed this summer in Domaso which is at the northern end of Lake Como at Campeggio Madonna which is dog friendly site with direct access to the lake. Domaso is a lovely town and theres a boat terminal to take you and the dogs to sightsee or visit towns on the lake too, it might be worth the trip.

 

[willwander]

Day 16
Lake Como
Stunning. Drove up through Como which was breathtaking, along the side of the lake through very, very, narrow roads with crazy traffic to Dongo towards the top of the Lake. Staying at ‘Camping Panorama’ which is nice. Walk into Gravedona this evening to a mad pizzeria for Aperol and ‘Pizza like my Mamma used to make’..
Great day

 

[sidepod]

Wasn’t Dongo something to do with Mussolini?
I think we’ve stayed at that site.

 

[willwander]

Wasn’t Dongo something to do with Mussolini?
I think we’ve stayed at that site.

Every day’s a school day.
Quick google tells me it’s where Mussolini and his fascist leaders were captured and executed at the end of the war. I had no idea. I’m such a crap tourist.

 

[sidepod]

See if they do a “Mussolini” at the pizza restaurant later?

 

[willwander]

Day 17
Lake Como
It’s nice.
Drunk far too much Aperol.


Tomorrow we are moving on, towards the Dolomites and into Austria, eventually making our way up through Germany.
I have no idea where to go, suggestions welcome.

 

[willwander]

Day 18
Terlano (Near Bolzano)
Woke to awful Weather, thunderstorms, which lasted most of the day. Unfortunately this ruled out the scenic route to Bolzano.
Staying in ‘Camper Park Terlan’ one of the best aire we’ve stayed at. Clouds cleared just enough see glimpses of what we’d been missing.

 

[willwander]

The shower at ‘Camper Park Terlan’ has received a rating of 9.5 on the WillWander scale, the highest rating ever given, even better than the one in Switzerland.
Brand new, power shower, scalding hot, No Button…. Heated Floor!

 

[sidepod]

…….whooooaa there. Easy tiger. Any shower rating has to include “number of hooks to hang stuff on”. Too many showers have too few hooks.

 

[larrylamb]

…….whooooaa there. Easy tiger. Any shower rating has to include “number of hooks to hang stuff on”. Too many showers have too few hooks.

You only need one hook

 

[edocali]

Day 18
Terlano (Near Bolzano)
Woke to awful Weather, thunderstorms, which lasted most of the day. Unfortunately this ruled out the scenic route to Bolzano.
Staying in ‘Camper Park Terlan’ one of the best aire we’ve stayed at. Clouds cleared just enough see glimpses of what we’d been missing.
View attachment 140814

if you're in Terlan - go to the Cantina Terlano - they make my favourite white wines (IMHO among the best in the world without going too crazy with ££ ... try Quartz and Lunare ...)
I always buy some when I'm in the Tre Venezie area (and in the UK too...) but I never managed to visit the Kellerei. Will do before I die. Photos appreciated ...

 

[edocali]

The shower at ‘Camper Park Terlan’ has received a rating of 9.5 on the WillWander scale, the highest rating ever given, even better than the one in Switzerland.
Brand new, power shower, scalding hot, No Button…. Heated Floor!

one m ore reason for me to go next summer

 

[pluc99]

Day 8
Le Landeron, Switzerland
Nice walk into town and along the lake.
Nice weather. Really nice campsite, shower was rated 9/10 on the WillWander scale (I’ve never given a 10).
View attachment 140530

You were next to the town where I live. It's a nice area!

 

[sidepod]

People who wander around campsites in bath robes/towels/dryrobes need flogging, publicly.

 

[willwander]

…….whooooaa there. Easy tiger. Any shower rating has to include “number of hooks to hang stuff on”. Too many showers have too few hooks.

Agree, and one of the reasons why it didn’t score higher.

 

[willwander]

if you're in Terlan - go to the Cantina Terlano - they make my favourite white wines (IMHO among the best in the world without going too crazy with ££ ... try Quartz and Lunare ...)
I always buy some when I'm in the Tre Venezie area (and in the UK too...) but I never managed to visit the Kellerei. Will do before I die. Photos appreciated ...

I think we walked right past Cantina Terlano yesterday evening, it was an impressive setup but I didn’t realise it was renowned. I’m afraid I’m no expert on wine.
We took a few pics of the vineyards and local area see below.

 

[willwander]

You were next to the town where I live. It's a nice area!

Beautiful area. I saw so many Cali’s in Switzerland, they are obviously very popular there.

 

[willwander]

Day 19
KastelRuth, Dolomites
Spent the day in Merano/Meran, lovely little Spa town with some great high end shops, I’m guessing it’s where the Germans and Swiss come to spend their money. Technically we are still in Italy, but everyone seems to speak German here.

Getting late so picked a random Aire on searchforsites, no idea what to expect but what a find. ‘Agriturismo Tilerhof’ in KastelRuth, basically a farm, our pitch is in the middle of an alpine meadow and there’s no one else here! The views from the van are spectacular. Very lucky find.

Our pitch for the night.

 

[Paul_D]

Beautiful area. I saw so many Cali’s in Switzerland, they are obviously very popular there.

So very true. We were in Geneva at the weekend to watch the SailGP & there were 14 Californias on our campsite (TCS Camping - lovely site!)

 

[willwander]

Day 20
Weer, Near Innsbruck, Austria
Spent the day having a quick drive round the dolomites, followed by the hop into Austria via the Brenner Pass, which was very busy with trucks.
Austria feels very civilised.
We are staying at ‘Aplen Camping Mark’ which is exactly like a CAMC club site in the UK…which is nice, but also kinda depressing

 

[Mansfieldman750]

Day 20
Weer, Near Innsbruck, Austria
Spent the day having a quick drive round the dolomites, followed by the hop into Austria via the Brenner Pass, which was very busy with trucks.
Austria feels very civilised.
We are staying at ‘Aplen Camping Mark’ which is exactly like a CAMC club site in the UK…which is nice, but also kinda depressing

View attachment 140856

We liked Austria. Zipfer beer, very good. Keeping the Zs going if you still need a Z for your parkruns I bet you are heading for Zuiderpark in The Hague for Saturday.
Guess who will be there, yes lots of UK parkrunners needing a Z. There’s tons of free parking at it.
Rhine Gorge in Germany is very nice if you are indeed going that way.
Campsite at Rudesheim right on river next to a Lido. You can go up on a cable car to the big statue to unification of Germany, nice walk through the forest with your dogs and back down a different cable car to village beginning with A where they make the only Red wine in Rhine and back to Rudesheim on the ferry. All for about €28 if I remember right. Really nice half day out.

 

[willwander]

We liked Austria. Zipfer beer, very good. Keeping the Zs going if you still need a Z for your parkruns I bet you are heading for Zuiderpark in The Hague for Saturday.
Guess who will be there, yes lots of UK parkrunners needing a Z. There’s tons of free parking at it.
Rhine Gorge in Germany is very nice if you are indeed going that way.
Campsite at Rudesheim right on river next to a Lido. You can go up on a cable car to the big statue to unification of Germany, nice walk through the forest with your dogs and back down a different cable car to village beginning with A where they make the only Red wine in Rhine and back to Rudesheim on the ferry. All for about €28 if I remember right. Really nice half day out.

Thanks for the tips. I will try a Zipfer.
Not sure of our route through Germany yet, don’t know much about Germany.
Maybe up through Bavaria and the Romantic Road?
Ha, yes, Zuiderpark some Saturday.
Unfortunately, you may have to put up with this crap until then.

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

From Innsbruck you could head over to Lake Konstanz and then up through the Black Forest. Nice campsite at Lake Schluchsee and also a weird camping experience at Triberg.

Head north via Baden Baden and onto Heidelberg and then along the Rhine to Koblenz.

If you stop near Heidelberg (there's a campsite a couple of miles out next to the river) and want to know the best restaurant in Heidelberg let me know and I'll dig out the details.

Have a look at our blog from Germany last year. All detailed in it. Do a search on CaravanRamblings for Heidelberg if you want to but that trip was a few years ago.

2024 France and Germany – Caravan Ramblings

Also if you head back through northern Germany there's a great campsite called Camping Prumtal which is an easy drive from there to Calais.