If you ask this question on http://www.parga.com there are several regular contributors who have made this trip more than once. I considered this when I noticed just how many UK registered cars there were in Parga & also on Lefkas. I believe the favoured route involves a ferry from Italy

Hi, I drove it in 2005. I drove through Northern france into Germany and down through Switzerland and into the North of Italy. Mainly toll roads and motorway through Italy but went to Ancona to catch the ferry and into Igoumenitsa.

On the way home i went through Italy again but went via the Mont blanc tunnel this time and stayed in Chamonix for a couple of nights in the summer. Really nice.

Would I recommend it?? Honestly I probably wouldnt. If you had loads of time to stop off and enjoy places then great, but if you're in a hurry to get somewhere, or have a limited amount of holiday time then i wouldnt. There are alot of motorways and boring roads through Italy (I know Italy is a beautiful country and I didnt have to go that way but I was on my way to Greece) and the tolls are expensive.

I did it though!

I've travelled by road before to and from Greece,the best way i find is to get to dover and turn left,up via adenkirk(sp),turn towards brussels,go round the 'by pass',on towards lux. and over the german border near trier,down via kaiserslautern,on to freiburg,cross the border into switzerland,via cher into italy,then all the way down to Brindisi,get the patras ferry that stops at igoumenitsa,get off and you're nearly there,aside from the £35 disc to travel through switzerland it's a toll free route. Zurich is approx 8 hours from calais,90 minutes to cross switzerland,then get a hotel in italy where it's cheaper and it's about another 9 hours to Brindisi,the ferry times are the problem,you might arrive within an hour of the next available crossing or you might have to wait a whole day,the ferry takes a LONG time too,you're better off just flying unless you need to drive or intend for a long stay. door to door it took us 2 and a half days to get to patras but that was without stopping and using 2 drivers,and we arrived at the port in time for the next boat. not a cheap trip either with petrol prices being so high

sambacasual wrote:

I've travelled by road before to and from Greece,the best way i find is to get to dover and turn left,up via adenkirk(sp),turn towards brussels,go round the 'by pass',on towards lux. and over the german border near trier,down via kaiserslautern,on to freiburg,cross the border into switzerland,via cher into italy,then all the way down to Brindisi,get the patras ferry that stops at igoumenitsa,get off and you're nearly there,aside from the £35 disc to travel through switzerland it's a toll free route. Zurich is approx 8 hours from calais,90 minutes to cross switzerland,then get a hotel in italy where it's cheaper and it's about another 9 hours to Brindisi,the ferry times are the problem,you might arrive within an hour of the next available crossing or you might have to wait a whole day,the ferry takes a LONG time too,you're better off just flying unless you need to drive or intend for a long stay. door to door it took us 2 and a half days to get to patras but that was without stopping and using 2 drivers,and we arrived at the port in time for the next boat. not a cheap trip either with petrol prices being so high

Your directions are a bit confusing and misleading, turn left at Dover? via adenkirk, where is adenkirk? and unless the Italians have made their motorways toll free in the last couple of weeks it's pretty pricy to drive through the country as there are tolls to be paid on most Italian motorways.

sorry mate but i didn't want to go on and on and on about precise directions as you can easily work it out for yourself on google,i added a bit of poetic licence i must admit,sorry if it didn't please you. basically don't go down through france as it costs a lot more in tolls and isn't very interesting,go up to adenkirk,through belgium into luxembourg,across the border at trier,then on towards kaiserslautern,karlsruhe,freiburg,zurich,luzern,across the border near bergamo,milan,bologna and all the way straight along the coast to Brindisi,unless you want to shorten the drive but lengthen the ferry crossing in which case you can stop at Ancona,or Bari,but we went to Brindisi coz Greek ferries aren't a nice place to be stuck for hours and hours on end.

You can of course tailor your route to avoid tolls,or to pay tolls but save time and fuel etc etc,there's various ways to do this,use google,it's amazing.

my humblest apologies for being unable to give you more exact,precise directions like those you'd get from the AA,google maps,RAC etc etc.

Adenkirk is in Belgium,just.

If you want a driving holiday then go for it,if you go anywhere near Turin and/or Milan then prepare for traffic hell,or conversely it can be deserted and easy as pie,it's extremely hard to predict both areas much like the M25. Take hi-vis jackets for everyone in the car,warning triangle,all your documents for the car and ensure that you have a minimum of 4mm tread on all 5 tyres,and if you buy ANYTHING in Lux on the way through expect to get tiresome grief if the German customs old bill pull you over.

You can also do the entire journey on land if you want to and have the time,i know people that have done it and heard mixed reports as the balkans can be a bit troublesome to say the least,once you're out of hungary you're on your own so to speak,and don't even think of driving through Albania

We've done it 3 or 4 times and that is the best route we've found,i also live and work with expats that do it regularly between them when they want a lot of possesions shipped over,i wouldn't even consider it for a holiday,and if you have an accident in either Italy or Greece then god help you......

Sambacasual
I really didn't need you to repeat your directions in full as I am familiar with most main routes through continental Europe, I first drove to Greece 40years ago possibly before you were even born. I was just pointing out that your initial directions would be a little confusing for someone not familiar with driving on the continent, turn left at Dover comes to mind, but I'm sure the original poster will find your post usefull. What I did find misleading was your statement that apart from £35 ( I think it's nearer £25) for the swiss vignette and petrol there would be no other costs. Italian motorway tolls are not cheap and the journey from the border with Switzerland right down to Brindisi would be a considerable expense and to drive on non-motorway crowded roads would take an extremely long time.
Oh and by the way I am not your mate.
Judith

PS. Contrary to your views I find France a very interesting country to drive through, much more so than Belgium or Germany and the driving is far less stressfull, but of course it costs more as most of the motorways are toll roads. I apologise for not recognising Adenkirk which is of course Adinkerke.

you seemed to be asking for some kind of clarification so you got it,what's the problem with that exactly?

You did it 40 years ago,i've done it more than once in the last 8 years,and what?

Aden Adin who cares,no need to be so pedantic over a place name really?!

It cost 40 euros last time we did it for the swiss 'tax disc' and we did avoid the italian tolls,if you take the 'old' motorways the tolls are no longer in force and these roads are virtually empty if a little unkempt and unserviced by modern amenities,but they get you there,they're more adventurous so are a good way to go.

I never once implied you were my mate,i said 'mate' as a turn of phrase,as many do.

I see the OP was made in april so it's probably not an issue now as there's no ash disruption but again,i wouldn't even consider driving for a holiday

Calm Down.... Please keep it Friendly...

Wizard

forum rage setting in.

Anyway.....
In the end the ash cloud didn't happen, so we flew there.
Had a great time in Parga, though the weather could have been a little better.

There's not a single mosquito in Parga.
They are all married with tousands of kids and they are all waiting for you

To be fair Sambacasual, I thought your directions were perfectly clear enough, to get a basic idea of where you went. Turn left at Dover would suggest, to me, that you went towards Belgium, as appose to going straight down towards the South of France.

The Adenkirke thing was a tad childish aswell ...... just a thought ?!?!

Thats the thing about forums, if you've been to Tenerife, there is always someone who has been to 'Elevenerife' !!!!!

usually the same people that have been to lanzagrotty?