Depending on what time you are leaving the UK you could easily get to Milan in two days (one overnight). If you drive through France, Switzerland and Italy you will have to pay tolls on the French and Italian motorways and purchase a Vignette entitling you to drive on the Swiss motorways. An alternative is driving through Belgium and Germany (no tolls) but again you would have to pay in Switerland and Italy.

May I ask why Milan, Is there a special reason? It's a huge amount of driving for just one or two nights there.
What time are you arriving in France on the ferry? I can then give you more idea of where to have a stop off.

its all very very pliminary at the moment - we ideally want to set off early morning from east ham *even though i live up lancashire*

if we were to drive through france - stop around strasbourg - how much would the tolls cost up to? also how much does that vignette cost in switzerland? and italy?

main reason why i said milan was the drive over the alps - its meant to be stunning. it was either that or torino - and i figured might aswell visit the san siro whilst i'm there
the thing is there's a few of us who need a break - they havent had one for a few years - just a chill out with some lads and have a laugh. all 5 of us are drivers so we're gonna be swapping around

Also

would it be ok in a transit/merc sprinter

or would it be worth it to get a caravan? how much would it cost for around 4/5days? Hi I am not sure whether you mean a transit/merc minibus or van ? but whatever you do make sure you are within the law and have seat belts for all of you

The Swiss Vignette costs 40 Swiss Francs (about £20) This is valid for over a year.
I drove through parts of Northern France last week and paid €16.30 for the Calais-Reims stretch (about £13 at today's rate of exchange). Then for the Reims- Metz stretch €12.60, just over £10.00 I am not sure how much the stretch to Strasbourg from Metz costs, I think about €12.00 (£10.00) Thats around £33.00 each way.
I can't help you with Italian tolls as it is a couple of years since I drove through Italy and have forgotten the prices. I believe they are quite expensive.
There are some cheap hotel chains in France the Etap and Formula 1 being a couple of them. I paid €43 last week for a basic, clean three bedded room (for the room not each person) in an Etap hotel in Reims.The continental breakfast was €4.50 per person extra. The Formula 1 hotels are cheaper.
The cheapest ferry prices right now seem to be with Speed Ferries, though they go to Boulogne not Calais, the driving time in France is approx the same. http://www.speedferries.com
I'm not sure I understand your last post, are you asking me if you should hire a caravan or do you mean a motorhome if so you would need a large one if you needed five beds. I really have no idea of the cost, expensive I would say. Whatever vehicle you decide to take you must make sure it is equiped with seat belts for all passengers and do obey the speed limits in France, the police can impose very large fines for exceeding the limits.

yes i've read online about how certain french police can wait at traffic stops as the tickets would calculate automatically what speed you were doing alonng the toll roads. that did make me think twice if i should take the belgium germany route - experience a bit of the infamous autobahn.

the last post, sorry for being so blah. i was just wondering if it would be better to take a minibus or a caravan/motorhome. i'm not sure but i think someone edited my post and added the seatbelt thing?

The thing is with 5 guys we can spread the cost quite evenly.

Ok here's a question for you. if it wasnt milan and we could just drive anywhere get in a bit of scenary and a good relaxing time where would you suggest since you seem quite travelled.

*LOL*

i was thinking why would i say that about seat belts?!

ok theoretical situation - suppose you have a minibus with 5 belted seats. there are 4 seated and belted but one is asleep in the back

would you still get fined?

I'm not an expert but I would think that if there are five people in the vehicle then they would have to wear belts , but I don't know the rules for each country.
If you want beautiful scenery, you could stay in Switzerland, Austria or Southern Germany, all are within a good days or day and a half's drive from the UK and the Italian Alps are beautiful. Switzerland is the most expensive, Austria second and Germany/Italy the cheapest for overnight accomodation and meals. It really depends on how far you want to drive and do you want night life once you get there. Most mountain resorts are pretty quiet, though most have some sort of entertainment at night. Not wanting to sound negative the weathér can also be a problem, at the moment it's hot and sunny in the Alps but like the UK it's unpredictable and you might have rain. The Black Forest in southern Germany also has lovely scenery. A word of warning though most of these places attract mostly older couples or families in the summer months, the main season for younger people is in winter for skiing.

it just depends who comes with us really. if the 5th member does decide then its just meals and chill out. no clubs no nothing
yeah i guess we could stay in swizerland in a remote area. that would be nice.

i guess with summer being a off-season - hotels would be cheaper than the winter? also since you've mentioned the weather - will there be snow on the roads? i read about how its compulsary to have snow chains?

Hotels are cheaper in summer than in winter but there are also high and low season prices in summer, July/August being the highest.
There is snow on the higher mountains throughout the year but the roads will be clear, so there will be no need for chains. Occasionally some of the high passes will have snow in late summer but this is cleared daily.

Thanks Judith you've been a great help!

just wait for the weekend to come and i can discuss it with most of the guys in person so we can get a fix on the numbers and location.

i'll come back here once we've best confirmed it

If you do decide to do the trip could you squeeze in a couple more days holiday as you will be passing through some lovely areas which you really won't have much time to see.

Right for such a long trip you haven't given yourself long enough to enjoy the other end

Tolls for france are as earlier said BUT if you take a caravan they double on most stretches on others they TRIPLE

Fuel costs in France are greater than here at the moment :cry-- gone are the days of cheap diesel

It would be more cost effective to go by budget airline and you would have a lot more time in Milan and no monotonous Autoroute/ Autopista driving to do

As a guide
We have just done 2500 miles tugging our caravan around France and spent in excess of £1250 in fuel and tolls

And as you seem to be planning to hire the vehicle, do make sure that this is allowed within the hire terms and that the insurance covers you for taking it outside of the UK. Milan/northern Italy is servd by a number of the lo-cost airlines so I would be surprised if that didn't work out to be your cheapest option.

SM

And please make sure that you have a reflective jacket for each person travelling in the van and a warning triangle. This is a new law in France from 1 July.

Have you firmed up your plans?

I would suggest - Calais - Rheims - Metz - Nancy - Col de Bonhomme - Colmar (or Metz - Strasbourg - Colmar) - Basel - Luzern (Lucerne) - St Gotthard (probably tunnel as caravans don't cope well with the pass) - Bellinzona - Lugano -Chiasso - Como - Milan.

The person asleep in the back and not wearing a seatbelt in a minibus risks severe injury if you have to brake suddenly, and no, the French police would not like it and would probably fine you. Stay belted and safe.

As a price comparison with/without caravan.

Just done 2500 miles myself round France but in a family sized saloon. Around £400 in tolls/fuel comapred with Gray's £1250.
Big difference

Clowesey wrote:

As a price comparison with/without caravan.

Just done 2500 miles myself round France but in a family sized saloon. Around £400 in tolls/fuel comapred with Gray's £1250.
Big difference

IF
I had taken the car only my fuel would have been different too
I get 56mpg solo when running at motorway speeds
ALSO when towing at the lower UK speeds I get around 34 mpg as opposed to the 25mpg at French motorway speeds -- deffinitely a thought for next years planning

HEY Dream 69 just read you postings of planned trip to Milan made in May just the time we came back from such a trip. Did you do it how did you get on ???