Driving from Munich to southern France (Provance)
 

Hello, BMW world travelers,
Early planning stages of a European delivery for either a 535I or a 740I in April-May. Would like to drive to southern France after pick-up. Anyone know of reasonable routes that don't go through hairy mountain passes in Germany/Italy? I know that's supposed to be part of the fun but it's not for everybody.......Thanks for any input.

Hey, we did this exact trip in 2009. We were traveling with a two-year-old so we wanted to keep driving to a absolute minimum; no more than three to four hours a day. Here's what we did:
Day one: Munich to Baden-Baden. Stayed a hotel Merkur and really enjoyed the Black Forest.
Day two: Baden-Baden to Beaune, FR. Stayed at a nice hotel who's name escapes me now. (Will update if helpful.)
Day three: Beaune to Lyon. Stayed at the excellent (in every way) Villa Florentine.
Day four: Lyon to Avignon via Beaumes-de-Venise and Mt. Ventoux.

We went in late May and had perfect weather (except for two hours of rain driving from Munich to Baden-Baden). Good luck!!

Wow! We are planning a similar route, and a similar timeframe, but for 2014 probably.

Tentative (very) itinerary includes:
Munich
Salzburg
Innsbruck
Como
Genoa
Aix
Drop off in Nice
Paris

Please post back here when you finalize your plans and OF COURSE poat a trip report afterwards!

We traveled from Stuttgart to Grindelwald in Switzerland and on to Lake Geneva on one trip and there really was no scary driving. In fact there were many beautiful sights that I am glad we got to see.

Later that trip we drove on to Bellagio. Going south (or north) through Switzerland seems to require use of tunnels or mountain passes and heading down to Lake Maggiore from Grindelwald in fog was no fun. Also the road from Como to Bellagio was very narrow and I found it nerve wracking. Later I discovered that the west side of Lake Como is not a tough drive and that you can take a car ferry from the west side to Bellagio and avoid the narrow road.

Now everybody's threshold for pain differs and I don't want to mislead you. But I think that you will find that traveling from Munich to Avignon via Lucerne, Interlaken and Geneva will be relatively easy and very scenic.

Sounds like a great trip! I just want to point out that you have spelled Provence incorrectly. I'm not trying to be the spelling police, but when using search engines proper spelling will return much better results! :thumbup:

Last year from Munich I stopped at Meersburg the first night to recover, beautiful little town. From there ended up in Alsace for 3 nights, then you can head south through Beaune and Lyon to end up in Provence which is a very easy drive. The little towns in Alsace are about the most beautiful (Colmar is a good base) I have seen in Europe. I personally would not stop in Baden-Baden, but that is my opinion, very boring and overrated town for me. I guess you are dropping off in Nice?

I second the Alsace. The jewel of France for sure. Best food I have ever eaten. Some of the prettiest little villages. Really fantastic. I recommend completely the kanzel hotel and residences. Great hotel in the middle of grape vines. They even have a nightly chauffeur so you can drink at dinner and get home safe. And he is free.

Mulhouse has the greatest car museum in the world. The schlumpf collection has the greatest collection of bugattis. If you head that way to nice you could also stop and experience the greatest chocolate maker in the world at Tain l'hermitage with valrhona chocolate.

+1 to the Alsace route. Munich to Alsace was an easy 4hr drive (this was on a Saturday, so not much traffic around Stuttgart). Alsace itself was stunning. If you like wine I highly recommend visiting Marcel Deiss, near Bergheim if I recall - he's making some of the most interesting Alsatian wines out there.

From Alsace you can easily make Burgundy in 4-5hrs, then south from there through Lyon as others have said. IMO French toll motorways are the best in the world. They're in great shape, the speed limit is a quick 130km/h, traffic isn't bad, and the rest stops are clean and offer decent food.