ozgirl

Hello everyone and thanks in advance for any comments.
We will be flying into Geneva in late June, arriving on a Sunday afternoon (around 2.30pm) from Australia, and then staying in a villa near Stazzona on Lake Como from Monday night for 5 nights then making our way back to another rental in Faverges (south of Annecy.)

My question relates to which scenic route to take in either direction? Given that we will have just had a long flight on the Sunday, I wondered about just driving as far as Montreux (have seen great looking B&B in Grillon on Fodors?) and then remainder of trip the next day. (Accommodation dates are non negotiable.)

Which way from Montreux? Via Interlaken, via Bern? We don't necessarily want the fastest, we will have three drivers and are used to long drives but need to make it to our rental on Monday evening latest. All are keen photographers and have not visited this area before.

Coming back looks slightly more straightforward but would appreciate any comments from those of you who have done the same/similar please?

Michael

Montreux is on the other end of Lake Geneva. It would make little sense to go there via Bern or Interlaken. I suggest that you google map Montreux or use viaMichelin to establish an itinerary.

ozgirl

"Which way from Montreux? Via Interlaken, via Bern?"

Sorry Michael that it wasn't clear - I have consulted a map and Google suggests a route FROM Montreux (not TO Montreux) via Bern or alternately via Interlaken.
Hence my question.

Palenque

A more direct route and extremely dramatic and scenic would be to motor up the Rhone Valley - clad with vineyards much of the way to Visp and then take the Simplon Pass route up and over the Simplon Pass - the road i believe was first built by Napoleon's order for military purposes and is a lovely switch-backing zigzagging two-lane road - after the summit you descend via Gondo, a town practically wiped off the map a few years back by a torrential flood and then end up in Domodossola, Italy and the main road to Lake Stresa - if you want to go to Lake Como then from Domodossola follow the path of the Centrovalli Railway (100 valleys) that goes thru a bucolic Alpine stretch of Italy to Locarno and Lake Como.

Michael

I would follow Palenque's route which will take all day as it is (I did it in reverse from Lake Como to Chamonix eons ago).

Palenque

Simplon Road / Brig, Simplon Pass
Simplon Road / Brig, Simplon Pass, tourist attractions, information, pictures, maps.
http://www.planetware.com/...pass/si...-ch-vs-spb.htm - Cached - Similar_

Simplon pass tunnel Switzerland guide
The road over the Simplon Pass (2005m), southwest of Brig, was built by Napoleon as a military through route between 1800 and 1808, immediately after he'd ...
switzerland.isyours.com/E/guide/valais/simplon.html

ozgirl

Thanks Palenque, just the sort of info I was after. Any comments about the drive back to Faverges? The most direct route looks like skirting around Milan and then along A4 then A5 thru Aosta and into Chamonix. How wide a berth should I give Milan or is it easy enough to navigate - we will have GPS!

Palenque

Milan like any Italian city can be tough to navigate in the city centre as large areas are off-limits to private cars. I'd park on the edge and take the tram or train into the centre.

The Aosta-Chamonix route via the Mont Blanc Tunnel is a snap but if you want to do a more thrilling route, though much longer would be to take the San Bernardino (name?) Pass route over the Alps and down into Martigny, Switzerland and then up and over another Alpine Pass to Chamonix - awesome vistas the whole way but can be tedious if driving straight thru. You can see some Saint Bernard dogs at the San Bernardino summit

ozgirl

Well I have procrastinated too long and the B&B I was looking at is full!
Any suggestions for a scenic spot In Switzerland to recover from jet lag before our drive onward toward Stazzona?