Hi Guys,

I'm in the middle of planning a 30 day trip to Italy, Switzerland, & France and I need a little help on best route to take (by car) from Florence to Luzern. I'm in no hurry and want to find to route with the best little towns, vistas, etc. The timing is mid-late March.

I have previously taken the road from St Moritz through Chiavenna to Milano which was fantastic. How about Stresa-Domodossola-Brig? Is this road open in March and is it a nice drive? Any better/more Beautiful road to take?

It will just be me and my 15 year old son traveling this time.

Thanks in advance for any help

Regards,
Steve

the very very busy Simplon Tunnel route - Stresa to Brig is a major autostrada and cannot imagine it ever being closed - nice drive - no - rather industrial at points (i have only taken the train which parallels the main raod)

and then you go either climb up and over the Simplon Pass, via a serpentine switchbacking road or you put your vehicle on a shuttle train to go thru the Simplon Rail Tunnel, emerging in Brig - i have taken the road over the Simplon Pass and if you have time it is one thrilling Alpine adventure - going up to the summit in a top of the world type atmosphere - rather barren before making the long long descent down into Vosp/Brig. I think i read Napoleon created this route for military purposes but not sure.

About the trains, from Wikipedia:

<There is a car-carrying shuttle between Brig and Iselle di Trasquera. It provides a 20 minute train journey as an alternative to driving over the Simplon Pass.

The service was brought into operation on 1 December 1959. With the improvement of the Simplon Pass its frequencies steadily declined and it was abandoned on 3 January 1993. However, on 12 December 2004, services were resumed and trains now run approximately every 90 minutes.>

Simplon Road / Brig, Simplon Pass
Simplon Road / Brig, Simplon Pass, tourist attractions, information, pictures, maps.
http://www.planetware.com/simplon-pa...-ch-vs-spb.htm

Thanks for the info Palenque. It sounds a little to, like you said, industrial for my liking. Maybe Florence-Lake Garda-Como-Lugano-Luzern may be a better and more picturesque route. I'm really in no hurry to get there.

I will tell you my route--given some time:
Portovenere
Lago Orta
Locarno
Bellinzona

All worth your time.

At that time of year many of the mountain passes won;t be open (some don;t open until early June) so you will be limited to major highways and tunnels through the mountains in a lot of places. If you google each pass it will tell you when the roads usually open to traffic.

We liked Lago Maggiore - but that was late May.

Even in May and Sept the Alpine passes could always be blocked for a day or two IME - wanted to take the 3 Pass Bus tour out of Interlaken one early Sept and for a few days the passes were already then blocked by snow - but re-opened after a few days.