Not to disturb that great thread Simon has created on choosing your wish list, i have slotted this question into here whether right or wrong, QUESTION:- if you were going on a Bed & Breakfast Drive, where would you choose France or Italy ? can i ask if you read this post, please respond if you have done something in either country, as the % of answers will more determine where i choose, rather than just one particular location that sounds or looks good. (obviously with the Morgan)

Awaiting

We've done France (and Northern Spain) both exceptional holidays.
In France, we had the first and last night booked to accomodate our ferry bookings (Roscoff). Then armed with the Yellow Michelin Local Maps we just picked a route each morning that looked good. We then looked for accomodation around lunchtime and spent the afternoon exploring the local area (or sat drinking wine all afternoon!)
(Google - Hotels des Mimosas - Pont Aven as an example of a wine drinking venue! )

If the place was really nice, we extended our stay; or just moved on.


Bud

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2003 - 4/4

Germany Black Forest stunning area good beer good food and we have friends living there.

Wot no gateau ?

France every time for us. We go every year. Easy to get to, great food, lovely country side, and thousands of miles of quiet D roads to play about on. What more could one ask for?

Pandy I could not spell the word , no only pulling your leg the chief has me on a diet ( because she is on one ) If I walk past a chippy I put weight on . So I thought I better not type it my mouth would water over the key board at the thoughts of one.

I must admit, we've lived in France for 24 years now, and I never cease to delight in some of the wonderful places we've found off the beaten track. It's great if one can take one's time & meander through on the Routes Nationales & departmentales stopping off here & there instead of blasting down the autoroute (FAR more fun in a Morgan that way). I find the Logis de France website an excellent way to find small hotels en route as you can trace your route on the map & there are markers where Logis are located. You can refine your search by setting criteria. As to Italy, I've never been on a driving holiday there, 'tho we have rented a Villa just outside Lucca & driven around Tuscany a fair bit from that base; I'd love to do more. My cousin Patrick drove down to Sicily & back in his MX5 a couple of years ago a had a great time.

To conclude...if you have the time I'd say both. After all, going from the UK you've got to go through France to get to Italy.

A hard one......I've often driven through France to stay in various spots with my wife and always loved it. I've only ever been to Italy on my motorbike and loved that too! Sorry...I just can't choose between the two!

Been around most of 'near europe' and found all of it delightful in one way or another. Favourites would be Haute Savoie region and general Alpine type roads. A driving holiday in any of the regions is rewarding but Haute Savoie in particular is amazing. Been many times. You're close to a lot of the attractions yet off the beaten track in minutes if that's your pleasure.

Southern France/ Northern Spain was also great driving. A run up through Andorra and across the mountains down into Barcelona or even out the coast to all points west is nice also.

Or work your way up from Santander through Basque and across onto the cote. If you come up as far as the Verden Gorge and then head for Grenoble - that'll take you right up onto Annecy by a very scenic route with fabulous accoms etc and you can explore from there - or shoot on through San Tropez for the Ital border. Here you can't go wrong between even the major resorts but in the resorts themselves you can get a little bogged down.

If you're wanting to have a nice slice of France/ Italy and Switzerland then there's a great circuit from Chamonix out through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Aoste and circumnavigate back over St Bernard pass into Martigny and back over the Martigny pass into Chamonix. (This little run is around 150 miles and depending how often you go off-track it can put an afternoon in wonderfully.) I did this one from Manigod one morning and back to Manigod ( a little further obviously) - then had lunch and drove back to Newtownards. Of course that was on a bike.

There's a fair bit of accom around to any desired standard. Your hit-rate for nice lakes increases here and Como/ Garda and Aneccy-du-lac are all within easy reach. All of them are serviced by amazing roads. You might even want to spend a day in the passes. Try Susten, Grimsel and Furka - and take a wee run out to Grindlewald. You'll love it.

Cheers.

Greatest road trip for me was in the TR7v8 .Spa GP and then down to the Monza GP and finishing off in Florence and then back.
Italy in a sports car is a special trip even in a TR7 !