Swiss highways and tunnels

Looking to take a sailing boat to the Med again for the summer. All up the boat and trailer weigh best part of 3 tonnes so am very conscious of hills and hairpin bends.

Have taken it through Switzerland through the San Bernadino tunnel and down the new(ish) highway the other side but it's a long steep road down from the top towards Italy.

Just wondering, anyone here any experience of the Gotthard tunnel and highway. It this pass as steep as the San Bernadino route?

The Gotthard route is not as steep as the San Bernadino south side. Tunnel is longer though - more than 16 kilometers long. Why not take the Brenner pass between Austria and Italy that would be a much easier ride for towing - slightly longer route though but I think it is your best choice. Also you wont have to buy the Swiss highway toll sticker. Do you have a Macgregor by any chance?

Thanks, I'll look at the Brenner but heading to St Tropez from Ulm so figured it was better to head West rather than East to the Brenner.

To St Tropez - Brenner route would be about 90 kilometers longer but is a much straighter road so it should actually be the quicker route when towing 3 tonnes. I must say you are brave to even attempt to "tow" 3 tonnes down the other side of the San Bernadino pass. Did you drive down backwards?

Take Brenna to Verona (approx. 580 Km from Ulm).
From Verona head west to Brescia (70 Km).
At Brescia take the autostrade (turnoff not too cleary marked) to Cremona and Piacenza. Stay on this autostrade heading west until you reach the E62 just before Alessandria (165 Km).
Take this E62 south in the direction of Genova but only for a short distance (9 Km).
At the 9km mark take turning heading west off the E62 clearly marked Ventimiglia. Continue this route south all the way down to the Med and then west to St Tropez (340 Km).
Best time is late Saturday evening and over that night – you will find the road as quiet as it‘s gonna get.

No First 24. When it comes to towing wish it was a Macgregor! 3 tonnes down the San Berdandino was interesting especially behind an X3. Can't recommend it highly enough as a tow car other than the clutch really isn't heavy enough to tow 3 tonnes in stop start traffic.

The empty Macgregor 26 is about 1.2 tonnes. It uses removable water ballast for sailing stability. They have a lifting keel and you can beach the thing as it can go into 12 inches of water. It is unsinkable and can go over knots with the 50hp engine. Maybe I am preeching to the converted here but please tell me if ou know of a better trailable boat? They have a dealer at Ammersee and I would like to get one and explore Elba, Corsica and Sardinia islands. Are you going to the Porquerelles?

That's an understatement. They appear to be building a complete new junction there, and have removed all of the old signs and not put up any temporary ones.

Yeah that annoys me in Italy. They are raking in megabucks with their toll charges but then they still take years to carry out the toll motorway repairs. It must be corruption.

BB here is Esperanza. As you can see it's not just the weight that's the issue but also the height. The picture here is of her on the former owners trailer which was modified to keep the height down. On her current trailer, the total height is 3.6m from the floor.



Haven't sailed the Macgregor, but it's an interesting idea having the capability to run such a large engine on a sailboat but to be honest prefer to have a fixed keel to a swing keel. Before Esperanza, had an E boat. Now that was a great boat for racing. That had a lift keel but the keel was bolted firmly in place for sailing. So have you done a lot of sailing?

Your boat looks great – that is really something to tow something that big over such a distance.
I’ve done some sailing but I am not really into ocean going stuff more of a coastal cruiser type. The Macgregor interests me with its shallow water capability and can also lower the mast very quickly and easily - so can navigate low bridged inland waterways when one wants. It has a fast sailing speed but the large motor is great for getting somewhere quick or running some bad weather. The inside needs some modification to make it more comfortable though.