UK to Switzerland

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AutomaticBeloved
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UK to Switzerland

Post by AutomaticBeloved »

I'm currently planning a Swiss road trip and thought SABRE might be a good place for feedback and advice.

My plan is to base around Interlaken for a week or so. I was planning to get a Regional Pass for 4-5 days railgeeking and have a couple days taking the car over the local passes (The Grimsel/Furka/Susten circuit for example).

Outbound Route

I'm going to break my journey each way with an overnight stop at/near Reims, I've done the crazy non stop overnight thing before and never again. I was thinking of using N-Roads from Reims via Le Locle rather then Autoroute all the way (return will be Autoroute via Basel)

As this is my first time planning a scenic trip, is there any recommendations that you lovely folks can offer with regards to scenery or things to look out for.

Thanks :)
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by roadtester »

When I go to Geneva, I go via Luxembourg. Routing this way avoids all the tolled autoroutes and lets you fill up with (very) cheaply in Lux.

Probably works for most Swiss destinations in one form or another.

Although it is a bit further!
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by Octaviadriver »

I made a very similar trip (apart from starting in the Midlands) in 1971, though I think any information on that will be a little bit out of date now!

I'd go along with roadtester and I always go through Lille, into Belgium and then on to Luxembourg when I'm travelling in that direction. As well as cheap fuel, I believe cigarettes are cheaper too if you're a smoker and SWMBO always buys a few packs of coffee (Jacobs, I think) that she likes and says is cheaper at the motorway service area shop. If we're staying overnight in Luxembourg, we try and time it to get a low price at DoubleTree by Hilton, Looking ahead on their website, it can vary from €59 to €511 per night in the same week! €59 and it's yes, €511 and it's no way! I found it by accident years ago when I initially looked at Etap for a cheap overnight stay and then found DoubleTree when seaching for alternatives and it was cheaper for that night and included breakfast, even though it's a 5 star hotel.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

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Octaviadriver wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:18 I'd go along with roadtester and I always go through Lille, into Belgium and then on to Luxembourg when I'm travelling in that direction. As well as cheap fuel, I believe cigarettes are cheaper too if you're a smoker and SWMBO always buys a few packs of coffee (Jacobs, I think) that she likes and says is cheaper at the motorway service area shop. If we're staying overnight in Luxembourg, we try and time it to get a low price at DoubleTree by Hilton, Looking ahead on their website, it can vary from €59 to €511 per night in the same week! €59 and it's yes, €511 and it's no way! I found it by accident years ago when I initially looked at Etap for a cheap overnight stay and then found DoubleTree when seaching for alternatives and it was cheaper for that night and included breakfast, even though it's a 5 star hotel.
Sounds like good value!

In the past, I've found the Ibis Luxembourg South or its Ibis Budget sister hotel (formerly etap) on the same site a convenient stop. Usually I'm just looking for a place to crash for the night rather than an "experience stay". I think these hotels are usually a bit cheaper than most of the nearby equivalents in France. They're just on the A3 heading south out of Luxembourg:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/ibis+ ... d6.1115522

Then, in the morning before setting off, I head west on the road numbered 31 to the next village to tank up at low Luxembourg prices but without the queues of the motorway filling stations - it's less than a mile away.

PS - I notice from Google maps that there is a Chargy electric charging station just beyond the filling station I normally use. Perhaps I'll get to use that on a future trip!
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by Owain »

AutomaticBeloved wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 09:03 I'm currently planning a Swiss road trip and thought SABRE might be a good place for feedback and advice.

My plan is to base around Interlaken for a week or so. I was planning to get a Regional Pass for 4-5 days railgeeking and have a couple days taking the car over the local passes (The Grimsel/Furka/Susten circuit for example).
I drove over the San Gottardo in September. It was a beautiful sunny day, and highly recommended. One of my photos won SABRE's Photo of the Month competition in October!

Route 2 is actually a very good quality road, compared with Routes 6 and 19 which go over some of the other passes.
Outbound Route

I'm going to break my journey each way with an overnight stop at/near Reims, I've done the crazy non stop overnight thing before and never again. I was thinking of using N-Roads from Reims via Le Locle rather then Autoroute all the way (return will be Autoroute via Basel)
I see you're taking in the N44 and N4 south of Reims - I've driven both and they're very enjoyable roads.

Another road which makes a pleasing alternative to the tolled autoroutes is the N19 between Langres and Basle.
As this is my first time planning a scenic trip, is there any recommendations that you lovely folks can offer with regards to scenery or things to look out for.

Thanks :)
If you like historic towns, Gruyères (of cheese fame) might be worth a visit, especially if you take the scenic non-motorway route (Route 11 and then the Jaunpass to Val-de-Charmey) from Interlaken. Beautiful lush green countryside, quite different from Switzerland's mountainous interior. I didn't get to Fribourg, but that also looks very attractive.

If you get to Lake Geneva, there's a statue of Freddie Mercury by the lakeside (it's easy to see how they did the artwork for the Made in Heaven album if you stand behind it while the sun is setting).

If you like crazy countries, get in a visit to Liechtenstein! I've now been there twice; there isn't really anything there, except the royal palace (which isn't open to the public), but it's the sort of place to go just so you can say that you've been there; I did San Marino, Monaco and Andorra for the same reason!

I drove through Splügen on my way back to Bellinzona from Liechtenstein. It was picture postcard beautiful, although again there wasn't much there. Nice place for a peaceful overnight stop?

Make sure you stock up on food/alcohol before entering Switzerland; it's an astonishingly expensive country, especially for wine and beer.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by Peter Freeman »

No advice from me on how to drive to Switzerland, but your plan for rail usage is spot on - especially if you're already a rail-geek.
I recently used a Swiss Travel Pass FLEX (I think that's the name - and flex means that your usage days don't need to be consecutive) to do a Zurich-Zurich circular trip taking in much of the best mountain scenery - and it was brilliant. It was a Swiss-wide pass, not Regional. Do the Jungfaujoch and the Gornergrat and the Glacier Express (and perhaps its southern extension that goes to Italy - I forget its name). However, I don't know how well this suggestion works with having your car there.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by danfw194 »

Back in 2003 I was navigator for a road trip to Switzerland (and beyond to Italy) for a family holiday. We took the A26 from Calais down to Chalons-en-Champagne, then taking the N44, N4, N67 down to Camping La Forge de Sainte Marie, about 10 minutes off the N67 near Joinville. Had an overnight stop there, and the next day too the following route into Switzerland:
N67, A5, A31, A39, A36 to Besancon, N57 to the Swiss Border, the 9 (a lot of which wasn't motorway back in 2003) all the way along the shores of Lake Lausanne to Camping Bella-Tola near Leuk.
Feasibly you could get to Interlaken this way by taking the car-train through the Lötschberg Tunnel from Goppenstein to Kandersteg.

Just typing this desperately makes me want to go back and do it all over again, but as the driver this time!
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by FosseWay »

Owain wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:14 Make sure you stock up on food/alcohol before entering Switzerland; it's an astonishingly expensive country, especially for wine and beer.
Switzerland is an astonishingly expensive country if you buy the "wrong" kind of goods. I had this explained to me by a British expat living in Basel after complaining to him that the prices of some goods looked like they were in kronor rather than francs. Apparently, the Swiss impose swingeing levels of duty on imports of anything where an analogous product is, or reasonably could be, made/grown in Switzerland. Swiss beer and wine - by which I mean stuff made in Switzerland - is actually relatively cheap; in the case of beer, very cheap by Scandinavian standards.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by Pendlemac »

Owain wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:14 If you like historic towns, Gruyères (of cheese fame) might be worth a visit
Speaking of cheese, the idea that eating too much before bedtime gives you nightmares may be a reason that HR Giger ( designer of the monster from 'Alien' ) bought the castle in the town in 1998! :o This now houses a museum dedicated to his work.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by Steven »

Owain wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:14 If you like crazy countries, get in a visit to Liechtenstein! I've now been there twice; there isn't really anything there, except the royal palace (which isn't open to the public), but it's the sort of place to go just so you can say that you've been there; I did San Marino, Monaco and Andorra for the same reason!
Having also been to all four of those, I really liked Liechtenstein, and probably the best of the four - though they all have some real high points and are worth visiting. You probably can't spend more than a weekend in the place, but it's astoundingly beautiful, and Vaduz is a great place to just wander around.

One thing about getting to Switzerland - parts of southern Alsace are also really beautiful, especially if you are somewhat off the beaten track.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by Burns »

I must also echo my enjoyment of Liechtenstein. There was something about the country that just felt relaxed and inviting. We only had a few hours there (although we did return a few days later on the drive back to Munich as the customs check is easier, ie non existent) but we managed to see almost all of the country. If there was more time, I'd have liked to climb one of the mountains but we settled for taking a look at the road tunnels in the country, all two of them and taking a nice walk around a glacial lake. Overall, a wonderful few hours.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

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Burns wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:37 I must also echo my enjoyment of Liechtenstein. There was something about the country that just felt relaxed and inviting. We only had a few hours there (although we did return a few days later on the drive back to Munich as the customs check is easier, ie non existent) but we managed to see almost all of the country. If there was more time, I'd have liked to climb one of the mountains but we settled for taking a look at the road tunnels in the country, all two of them and taking a nice walk around a glacial lake. Overall, a wonderful few hours.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by AutomaticBeloved »

Thank you everyone.
roadtester wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 09:07 When I go to Geneva, I go via Luxembourg. Routing this way avoids all the tolled autoroutes and lets you fill up with (very) cheaply in Lux.

Probably works for most Swiss destinations in one form or another.

Although it is a bit further!
Might look into that, though might stick to the relatively direct route.
Peter Freeman wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:21 No advice from me on how to drive to Switzerland, but your plan for rail usage is spot on - especially if you're already a rail-geek.
I recently used a Swiss Travel Pass FLEX (I think that's the name - and flex means that your usage days don't need to be consecutive) to do a Zurich-Zurich circular trip taking in much of the best mountain scenery - and it was brilliant. It was a Swiss-wide pass, not Regional. Do the Jungfaujoch and the Gornergrat and the Glacier Express (and perhaps its southern extension that goes to Italy - I forget its name). However, I don't know how well this suggestion works with having your car there.
I've done the Swiss pass in the past, and think I'd rather stick to a region then do the whole country in one go :)
Pendlemac wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 01:53
Owain wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:14 If you like historic towns, Gruyères (of cheese fame) might be worth a visit
Speaking of cheese, the idea that eating too much before bedtime gives you nightmares may be a reason that HR Giger ( designer of the monster from 'Alien' ) bought the castle in the town in 1998! :o This now houses a museum dedicated to his work.
That might be one for the list. I got to see a exhibition of Gigers work in Leipzig a few years back
Steven wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 07:47
Owain wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:14 If you like crazy countries, get in a visit to Liechtenstein! I've now been there twice; there isn't really anything there, except the royal palace (which isn't open to the public), but it's the sort of place to go just so you can say that you've been there; I did San Marino, Monaco and Andorra for the same reason!
Having also been to all four of those, I really liked Liechtenstein, and probably the best of the four - though they all have some real high points and are worth visiting. You probably can't spend more than a weekend in the place, but it's astoundingly beautiful, and Vaduz is a great place to just wander around.

One thing about getting to Switzerland - parts of southern Alsace are also really beautiful, especially if you are somewhat off the beaten track.
I did some of the route through Alsace on a coach trip to Switzerland and figured the N-Roads through Alsace might be more interesting then the A4/A37 to Basel
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by ChrisH »

I've done this drive a lot of times and my biggest piece of advice is to try and avoid the French A26. Nothing wrong with it but it is entirely featureless for about 300 miles from Calais until you get to the foothills of the Jura or Vosges around Dijon. There used to be a moment of excitement driving through Reims but even that has been bypassed now.

Switzerland itself is stunningly beautiful to drive around in the mountain areas. I can recommend Route 11 from Aigle to Spiez with a stop in Gstaad. And all the passes around Sustenpass etc. are fantastic.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by Steven »

AutomaticBeloved wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 09:03 I'm going to break my journey each way with an overnight stop at/near Reims
One more thing - if you're breaking the journey at Reims, then I highly recommend you take a trip out onto the D27 Thillois - Gueux road to the north of the city. Preferably in the light! Then once you've done that, back to the N31 via the D26.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by Fenlander »

Burns wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:37 I must also echo my enjoyment of Liechtenstein. There was something about the country that just felt relaxed and inviting.
That’ll be their national anthem.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by owen b »

Fenlander wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 22:18
Burns wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:37 I must also echo my enjoyment of Liechtenstein. There was something about the country that just felt relaxed and inviting.
That’ll be their national anthem.
:shock: You're kidding. Worst national anthem in the world, a slow, plodding dirge.
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Re: UK to Switzerland

Post by Owain »

AutomaticBeloved wrote: Thu Nov 28, 2019 22:08I did some of the route through Alsace on a coach trip to Switzerland and figured the N-Roads through Alsace might be more interesting then the A4/A37 to Basel
I've driven what is now the D419 (presumably originally the N19) between Belfort and Basle. It's slow progress, but really interesting; you're in France, but it looks like a version of Germany that doesn't exist in Germany.

The Continent is so cool!
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Re: UK to Switzerland

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owen b wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 22:40
Fenlander wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 22:18
Burns wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:37 I must also echo my enjoyment of Liechtenstein. There was something about the country that just felt relaxed and inviting.
That’ll be their national anthem.
:shock: You're kidding. Worst national anthem in the world, a slow, plodding dirge.
Oh, there are worse!
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Re: UK to Switzerland

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Steven wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 08:36
AutomaticBeloved wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 09:03 I'm going to break my journey each way with an overnight stop at/near Reims
One more thing - if you're breaking the journey at Reims, then I highly recommend you take a trip out onto the D27 Thillois - Gueux road to the north of the city. Preferably in the light! Then once you've done that, back to the N31 via the D26.
If you were taking the 'near' to a bit further out, I'd say stay in Bouillon just over the frontier in Belgium.
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