driving to the (Italian) Alps

I am driving to the Alps (Valsesia in Piemonte) on December 27th.

Anyone recommend an ideal route - should I go for the Mont Blanc tunnel
or Frejus tunnel?

I intend to take two or three days to reach my final destination as I
have a three year old and four month old in the back (no, I'm not
mad!!!)

I have seen Rheims and Dijon mentioned as possible stopovers - but is
there anywhere further on - and are there any hotels / off motorway
chambre d'hotes that welcome young children?

Bear in mind that I have the 2pm tunnel booked. Plan is to drive for as
long as possible (up to 7pm perhaps) before I check in anywhere.

Any recommendations (aside from the 'don't do it' type) welcome.

scott w wrote:
I am driving to the Alps (Valsesia in Piemonte) on December 27th.

Anyone recommend an ideal route - should I go for the Mont Blanc tunnel
or Frejus tunnel?

I intend to take two or three days to reach my final destination as I
have a three year old and four month old in the back (no, I'm not
mad!!!)

I have seen Rheims and Dijon mentioned as possible stopovers - but is
there anywhere further on - and are there any hotels / off motorway
chambre d'hotes that welcome young children?

Bear in mind that I have the 2pm tunnel booked. Plan is to drive for as
long as possible (up to 7pm perhaps) before I check in anywhere.

Any recommendations (aside from the 'don't do it' type) welcome.


From experience I can only reccomend driving overnight. We do it to Les
Arcs about 3 times a year and would not consider stopping on that
shorter journey. An over night drive to Zermat took us until lunchtime
the next day and our 6 year old son slept almost all the way. It is the
hassle free way to travel with young children.

From what I can recall the roads the italian side of the Frejus tunnel
are quite slow so I would recommend the Aosta valley. It is probably
shorter as well.

From a 2pm tunnel booking you are not going to get far if you plan to
stop at 7-pm (even if you get on the 2pm crossing) certainly not as far
as Dijon. Chalons or Troyes might be suitable. Given the normally quiet
roads of the middle we normally make it almost to Langres in 4 hours
from Calais. You have only just over 3 hours before you stop!

John

scott w wrote:

I am driving to the Alps (Valsesia in Piemonte) on December 27th.

Anyone recommend an ideal route - should I go for the Mont Blanc tunnel
or Frejus tunnel?

I intend to take two or three days to reach my final destination as I
have a three year old and four month old in the back (no, I'm not
mad!!!)

I have seen Rheims and Dijon mentioned as possible stopovers - but is
there anywhere further on - and are there any hotels / off motorway
chambre d'hotes that welcome young children?

Bear in mind that I have the 2pm tunnel booked. Plan is to drive for as
long as possible (up to 7pm perhaps) before I check in anywhere.

Any recommendations (aside from the 'don't do it' type) welcome.

Yeah - you'll probably make it to Reims, but doubt you'd get to Troyes.
I did a Reims stopover once on my way to the Tarentaise, but I wish I'd
gone further - it's still a heck of a way to drive the next day. This
time we stopped in Albertville (!) but we did have an awful lot to do
in resort the next day, so appreciated the short second leg.

Matt

"Matt T" wrote in message
ups.com...

Yeah - you'll probably make it to Reims, but doubt you'd get to Troyes.

If you _can_ get to Troyes (a long evening, bearing in mind you lose an hour
crossing the channel as well) there's a nice Logis de France hotel just
south-east of the town, and only a couple of minutes off the autoroute, dead
easy to find when it's late and you're tired. We've used it two or three
times, in summer and winter, and I think they have family rooms.

LE PAN DE BOIS 35, av. Général Leclerc, rte de Dijon. 10450 BREVIANDES
Tel: +33 (0)3.25.75.02.31 Fax: +33 (0)3.25.49.67.84 E-mail:


Or use http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/recherch/index-ca.htm and cast
around. We've generally found Logis de F to be fair value and with decent
restaurants (and being French there is no real antipathy to kids, so long as
they are not too riotous).

It's possible that if you turn up early, and there's space, the Tunnel will
be only too happy to let you travel earlier. An empty place is worthless to
them, and they might be able to resell your slot. Just a thought!

Have a good trip.

Steve P

Steve Pardoe wrote:
"Matt T" wrote in message
ups.com...

Yeah - you'll probably make it to Reims, but doubt you'd get to Troyes.

If you _can_ get to Troyes (a long evening, bearing in mind you lose an hour
crossing the channel as well) there's a nice Logis de France hotel just
south-east of the town, and only a couple of minutes off the autoroute, dead
easy to find when it's late and you're tired. We've used it two or three
times, in summer and winter, and I think they have family rooms.

LE PAN DE BOIS 35, av. Général Leclerc, rte de Dijon. 10450 BREVIANDES
Tel: +33 (0)3.25.75.02.31 Fax: +33 (0)3.25.49.67.84 E-mail:


Or use http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/recherch/index-ca.htm and cast
around. We've generally found Logis de F to be fair value and with decent
restaurants (and being French there is no real antipathy to kids, so long as
they are not too riotous).

It's possible that if you turn up early, and there's space, the Tunnel will
be only too happy to let you travel earlier. An empty place is worthless to
them, and they might be able to resell your slot. Just a thought!

Have a good trip.

Steve P



My tunnel booking says I can travel within 2 hours either side of my slot.



Please keep to your booked departure time if you want to be assured of
a fast crossing.
However, we do recognise that it is not always possible to plan your
arrival time at Check-In accurately. So, if you arrive at Check-In within
2 hours of your booked departure time, we will, at no extra charge,
transfer you to a space on the next available shuttle.
However, please note that this could be quite a long wait if we are very
busy.



I'd better make Annecy on the way down as the hotel's paid for!

I'm planning on Troyes on the way back from Tignes. Found a nice
holiday inn outside town with a golf course a couple of summers ago.
Nice big family room with mezanine bedroom for the adults.

Bill