Nice to Milan-Drive thru France or Italy?
 

I am staying in Nice for 4 nights then onward to Milan and finally taking the train to Venice. I was planning on getting to Milan by driving to Genoa and then North to Milan.Taking this route would take about 3-3.5 hours. I was wondering if anyone has taken this drive and would like to hear about alternative routes that might be more interesting or scenic.Thought I'd throw it out there for some opinions.Thanks for any suggestions!

I've done the drive from Nice to Genoa on the autoroute and it is total torture. Non-stop bridges and tunnels and lots of traffic with trucks all over. You don't see anything and it is quite stressful.

Sorry, don't have any alternate suggestions - but would love to hear some from anyone else.

-Kevin

First of all, are you renting the car in France and dropping it off in Italy? For the amount of money you will pay in drop-off fees, you should consider flying to Venice.

I don't know what time of year you are going, but outside of high summer, the Nice-Genoa autostrade and is most often sparsely trafficked. It is one of the newer and least used autostrades in Italy off-season.

It is not particularly scenic (although you can make scenic stops on the way) and the time spent in the tunnels averages less than 10 seconds. Any road through hilly and mountainous regions of Italy has plenty of tunnels. Liguria is a pip comparied to Le Marche. Any route you pick from France to Milan requires traveling through mountains -- literally *through* them.

I don't have a map in front of me, but you might see if there is a plausible route that has you turning north at Imperia, headed in the direction of Pieve de Teco and Torino, and from there to Milano.

I don't know if it's scenic, and if you take autostrades, you simply have to expect truck traffic and tunnels in Italy.

If you can't find a scenic route, have you checked out the timetables for dropping off your car in San Remo or Genova and taking a train?

elg,

We drive this route every year only we go east to Vicenza, A21 (turn off is near Alessandria) when you go on to Milan...the tunnels are only between Nice and Genoa..once you turn north there, they virtually disappear...it is an easy drive, autostrada all the way...I can not call it really "scenic", but for me, I am in Italy and that is more than enough.... cannot help with alternate routes as this is the only one we have used...

We took the route out of Annecy that led through Chamonix and then over the moutains on a road that scared me to death--but extremely scenic. Then we took the St. Bernard pass, stopping to see the dogs at the Hospice, and so on to Italy.

Wow! Wonderful responses. I am pulling out my maps and checking out these suggestions. I agree that driving thru the autostradas with all the truck traffic is incredibly unappetizing, so that these ideas are worth investigating. Thank you all very much!