Does anyone have any tips on how to best avoid traffic jams going to Tuscany at the end of July? We definitely need to drive, leaving on a Friday just to add to the fun. I'm guessing that going through the Gotthard really isn't a great idea. Does anyone have any alternatives to suggest?

Not sure if it'll work well from Zurich, but the Friday evening car train from Kandersteg to Iselle (IT) might work. We're doing it in a couple of weeks time (Thun to Amalfi) so I can let you know how it works out

Hi can you give details of this "car train" please.

Its the BLS Lotschberg train....have a look on the BLS website....you drive onto the carriages and it goes through the Bern Oberland and the Valais Alps and delivers you into Italy....takes an hour or so I think

Thanks for the recommendation; I'll check it out and interested in hearing your experience

I've driven through Gottard and Mont Blanc and the latter is much easier to deal with and much faster and has few single land roads. The former is prettier but you said you want to avoid traffic.

Made the journey down to Pisa in a medium length day.

Of course, I live in canton Vaud, so your mileage, as they say, might differ, literally.

Just a thought but most Zurich locals give the Gottard a miss, the option that they chose and one I use is the San Bernadino tunnel/ pass. Admittedly it adds another 30-40 mins to your journey distance wise but it is not as busy and it is much prettier. You will find that the some of it is dual carriageway and some single but better than crawling thru the Gottard on a Friday night, particularly in July.
The link to the Italian motorways leading to Tuscany is not too bad either. As I have family in Italy this is the way that we go.

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yem olroit our kid?

Thanks for the recommendation. perkyp. I think that's what we'll go with.

Well, we're sitting here on the Amalfi coast having driven down from Thun and I promised I'd report back on the train journey through the Alps.

It was great, so much better than the waits at the passes and the nice thing is that it makes the thought of the homeward journey so much more bearable than wondering how the traffic will be. We arrived 15 minutes before the train on Friday evening (6:11pm) and boarded onto the train on time and then an our later drove off in Iselle in Italy, no queues.

The only slight issue is that the roads from Iselle down towards Milan aren't motorways, a bit twisty and not too fast, but wasn't too bad.

So, worth a look for Italy travel, esp for those in BE, FR, SO kind of direction

http://www.bls.ch/e/autoverlad/iselle.php

San Bernadino is an alternative from Zurich. Again it can depend on traffic as a single carriage road virtually all the way.

The Gotthard tunnel is all about timing and luck (Friday evening can be a nightmare).
You could use the Gotthard pass; however the exit to that could already be congested by cars waiting to enter the tunnel.

Thanks again for the tips and for coming back with your impressions, Caviarchips. We're coming from Zurich, so Loetschberg is quite a detour. We'll double check on the day, but I think we've pretty much decided that going via San Bernardino is going to be our best bet.

No probs, just promised i'd follow up....so follow up I did