What info are you after?

 

We usually do the Ancona - Patras crossing. Up to now we've tried to avoid the Minoan ships like the plague and use the Anek Superfast (which isn't, really) as they're far, far better. I did notice last month, though, that for some crossings Minoan have replaced the horrible EuropaLink with a new ship (Cruise Europa?) which looks brand new and, although it left Ancona after the ship I was on, it got to Patras before me. Get a cabin if you can run to it.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of road tolls; these can be horrendous. Our favoured route from the UK is to drive to Dover, take the ferry to Dunkirk then head through Belgium into (Munchen): there's no tolls until you get to Austria where you have to buy a €8.50 vignette to use the motorway. We then head south to Italy over the Brenner (another toll, €8 I think, then on the Italian motorway system to Ancona (€40 for our Toylander). Don't even think about the French route via the Mont Blanc tunnel if you're on a budget.

Our usual travel method is to leave home first thing in the morning, then just keep tag-team driving until we get to Ancona; you'll be there by teatime the next day.

 

Definitely the best route Kevin, although in summer months I tend to go through Fernsteinsee (Nassereith) instead of the Munich route, that I take in winter though

 

I forgot to mention that if you're taking a ferry from Greece out to one of the islands, booking the international crossing with Anek gives you a 30% discount on the domestic route with Blue Star. You'll only find this on the company's website, not on a booking engine such as Paleologos

 

I drove with my parents last summer, and we agreed to do a little sight seeing - so we took about a week (camper van) it was lovely. We came through , stopping on Aires - through the Mont Blanc in to Italy and on to the Ancona ferry. We detoured for a day to see Venice, and chilled for a couple of days in Verona - as my parents had done this before, and loved it. What we generally did was rise very early and drive until lunch which we planned to always be in picturesque towns, for a wander and stretch. (Dijon was nice - but take care in a van some of the underes are low). Drive for a few hours to until we found a place with a nice view for coffee brake - aiming to arrive in for the night early enough to relax ( my day did almost all of the driving). The ferry had been d as camping on deck with hook up which my parents had done the previous year which they said was really nice. Unfortunately when we got on, this was not the case. None of the staff spoke either English or Greek, but it was clear we had to leave our van. With only a few minutes notice it was hard to work out what to take - it was really unpleasant. When my parents returned (without me) they were packed in case this would happen again - it did, so they payed for a room (despite having already paid extra for camping, but the company remained unhelpful and never returned any money. They had a lot of stuff to take back, so made the return journey asap, without getting over tired. The home route took them through Switzerland, which had never been considered before, but they said they would do it again.
I've heard of many routes, it just depends on your priorities (budget, speed, pleasantness). We all rather enjoyed the planning (even though it was just the three of us, the whole family ed in with planning), apart from people here - lonely planet has some nice forums, and even if your going by car - campers forums will give plenty of advice to.

 

anyone wanting to see Venice before their ferry to Greece with a camper or caravan I can recommend Camping Fusina.
Just 10 minutes from the ferry port by road, and a quick vaporetto ride direct into Venice (which can be seen from the camp site) that sails from just yards outside the campsite gates.

link:- Camping Fusina Tourist Village - Venice, Italy - Camping, Backpackers, Hostel

 

That's were we stopped (overwhelming from camping sites) it was lovely, anyone trying this, check out the private ferry in to Venice, they were actually cheaper than the bus ferry. On the other hand, an all day ferry bus ticket is a fantastic way to just ride up and down looking at everything. I do have to it feeling a bit down seeing such a romantic place with my parents rather than my husband...

 

Hi driving to Ancona in July from the UK. We were planning Dover to Calais then stop a night in Reims. Early start the next morning thru then maybe another overnight stop. Then ferry from Ancona, already booked as there is only 1 on Saturday at 14.00 hours. Looked at the , Austria route but the distance and time seem to double the route thru . We need to do this Thursday to Sunday as my husband has to work on Monday so no scenic route or sightseeing for us. What is the quickest route please?

 

The French route might be a bit quicker, but it's expensive in tolls. Depends what you're driving. Rheims is perhaps a bit too early to stop and it's horrendous in the evening rush hour. We tend to use Dover/Dunkirk as at puts us on a toll free route as far as Austria.

As I said in my previous post, you're looking at 36 hours from UK to Ancona with a couple of snooze breaks, assuming two drivers.

 

Thanks Kevan. Looking at various options now, probably not the route thru . Yes it will be myself and husband driving and cat napping alternating the driving. We have a 2 litre Saab convertible. Thanks.