Grand tour mountain passes (1 Viewer)

[Attila the Hen]

Hi, Just starting to plan our 'Grand Tour' celebrating our golden wedding anniversary next year, & would appreciate some advice from you lovely people: We're thinking of taking our 6.5m PVC down through Belgium, Germany & Austria to the Dolomites, where we will slow down & hopefully mooch across to the Val d'Aosta area, then head home via France. We have 6 weeks from the beginning of June to do it in, & have 2 main questions:
1. Are there any mountain passes we need to avoid while in Italy?
2. Bearing in mind we definitely prefer back roads, will there be enough time?
(P.S. I'll have a whale of a time planning all the stops during the winter, then probably ignore most of 'em')
T.I.A Chris

 

[Ridgeway]

Beginning of June pretty much all passes will be fine unless we have some unseasonably late cold spells. It's only possible to predict that about 48hrs in advance so it's always worth checking during your travel week. Certainly we'll have been over the Alps several times by then and that's with a 7.5m van towing a trailer.

All the main passes will be clear even through the Winter although i sometimes get caught out if i cross early and there's been a dump of snow in the night. The smaller passes always need checking though.

Just check the week you go and keep an eye on the weather, the World at +2,000m if a different place then low down....

 

[DBK]

If you go high enough in June you can still find snow but I doubt you will find roads closed. There will be a sign or even a barrier at the bottom if it's closed.

This is France, late May but the snow would be around for a few weeks.

Six weeks is enough time but if you want to spend long periods static you will need to get a shift on when you move.

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[Attila the Hen]

Thank you for your helpful reply - The idea at present is to follow scenic routes as marked on the Michelin map, mostly moving on each day but with occasional 2 night stops if I can find enough small quiet campsites (we love French municipal sites, for example)