Spain-France-Germany-Austria-Italy on snow/ice free roads early April - Horizons Unlimited

**inyang** · #1 5 Mar 2012

I am doing a trip from Lagos to Morocco for the rally de gazelles. Only spending 2-3 days at the rally though and plan to cross over to Europe for a few days then return to Morocco.

My route from Morocco;

Ferry from Tangier to Barcelona
Barcelona to Bilboa

over to Pau (France)
Le Mans
Rouen
Paris

Stuttgart
Munich

Mattighoffen

Issue is how to cross from Austria into Italy on clear roads in April. Not looking good on the maps.

On paper, I have two options

Abort German/Austria leg. From Paris, head down to Lyon-Marselleile-Cannes- then Genoa in Italy for a ferry back to Tangier

Or from Mattighoffen, head to

Vienna then find a route through Eastern Austria/Western Hungary to avoid the mountains
Enter Slovenia
and cross over near the coast into Italy then head to Genoa for ferry rendezvous.

My key stops are;

Le Mans
Rouen
Paris
Stuttgart
Mattighoffen

if no reasonable route(s) from Austria to Italy for the time of year, I will skip the the post Paris stops and just head south-east from Paris

Routing advice welcome.

Bike: KTM 690R
Maps: Google map
GPS: Garmin 78s with Europe NT map

Thanks

**Donmanolo** · #2 5 Mar 2012

Unless you are longing to cross some high mountain passes then snow isn't much of a problem, if the forecasts are particularly bad (unlikely) then the motorways are always kept clear. You can cross from Salzburg to Villach through central Austria in about 2 hours, and from there down to Italy. (Best route if you're heading towards Venice)

Same goes for the Brenner pass, although you can easily avoid the motorway if you want. Just head straight south from Muenchen to Innsbruck then head towards Verona. The Alps aren't a big deal at all.