Driving from France into Italy - avoiding tunnels!

jackieblack

This might be a stupid question....... if so, I apologise in advance..:o

A colleague wants to drive from France into Italy, but they (she and her DH) hate going through tunnels - does anyone know if this is possible please? (I've tried Googling it, without any success)

I told her one/some of you lovely people on here might know!

Alias_Omega

Sleeping pills.?

alanrowell

Looks as if you can get to Italy via Corsica from France

http://www.aferry.to/#

jackieblack

Alias_Omega wrote: »

Sleeping pills.?

one of them has got to drive!

lfc321

There are plenty of mountain passes between France and Italy. See the list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_passes_of_the_Alps

Some of them are not passable in winter, though.

PolishBigSpender

lfc321 wrote: »

Some of them are not passable in winter, though.

Some of them can be impassable in summer, too.

Also - Italy is full of tunnels, throughout the country, on all major routes.

jackieblack

Having spoken again today with my colleague (and she is grateful to all those who have replied) short tunnels would be ok (eg similar to Dartford Tunnel in distance) it's just long tunnels that they would like to avoid.

Any suggestions please?

Oldernotwiser

There are autotrain services from France to Italy during the summer. I think the details are on the SNCF website.

jackieblack

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

There are autotrain services from France to Italy during the summer. I think the details are on the SNCF website.

Are those the trains that also carry the cars? Do they not go through the long tunnels?

Quasar

Your friend can drive from France into Italy avoiding the "long tunnels" as you call them, by driving to the South of France and across into Italy along the Riviera motorway. There will be LOTS of tunnels but none longer than about half a mile.

This cannot be avoided as one has to traverse the Alps to get into Italy from any continental area, as these mountains form its entire northern border. I come from that area myself (the Italian side of the French/Swiss Alps).

Alternatively, your friend could drive along the narrow-ish roads on the actual Riviera coast, not the motorway, in which case the tunnels are fewer and shorter, but the constant sharp bends and closeness to high cliffs into the sea can be hair-raising if you are not used to them.

Those are the only two ways to drive into Italy from France, Swizerland, Austria and Slovenia, the four bordering countries. The rest of Italy is bordered by the sea.

Oldernotwiser

jackieblack wrote: »

Are those the trains that also carry the cars? Do they not go through the long tunnels?

Yes, but you'd be asleep in bed rather than driving, so you wouldn't be aware of them.