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I'm going from northern Spain to Switzerland crossing France and part of the Alps by car. The exact starting point is not defined, but I suppose it will be "La Jonquera" (AP-7 highway) or Andorra. The final point is Switzerland in general, because we are going to visit all the country and don't have any special interest in starting from one place or another.

What we need is to find a route that allows us to enjoy the travel, IE: good views, interesting cities (specially if they are small ones), not too crowded roads, sightseeing (castles, lakes, etc). The idea is to go from the Spanish border to Switzerland in 2-4 days to enjoy, not just moving. Is anyone able to suggest a route with these characteristics?

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There are some great opportunities along you're route. First of all I would go back to Girona or even Barcelona. Both are very interesting cities. From there you can go on to Andorra. In Andorra you can't do a lot of things, but hey your country-counter will increment by 1. If you're into mountains/hiking you can spend some time there. From Andorra I would go to Carcasonne. In Carcasonne you can visit the beautiful castle, the Canal du Midi or a old cathedral.

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The next stop I would make in Beziers which is also a beautiful city with an old cathedral.

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From there I would follow the cost line and stop in places like Cape d'Age, Nimes, Montpellier or Marseille.

Now it depends a little bit if you want to start in the south or east of Switzerland or in the west or Northern part.

If you're going the southern or eastern part I would follow the cost line a little bit more and visit Nice and Monaco.Then I would visit Turino or Milan and finally entering the beautiful southern part of Switzerland, Ticino. There are a lot of nice cities, like Lugano, Locarno or Bellinzona:

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But you will also find some interesting small villages in the mountains like for example Bosco Gurin. From Ticino you can cross the main part of the alps via the Gotthard and then arrive in central Switzerland, for example Lucerne:

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If you want to start in the northern/western part of Switzerland i Would go from Marseille to Grenoble and then from there to Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg, Berne to Zurich.

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I visited all the cities a mentioned here and I can really recommend it.

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    that's an amazing answer in less than 15 min - great work!
    – Mark Mayo
    Dec 7, 2011 at 11:22
  • Great! Really amazing! Just a question. You recommend Cape d'Agde and Nimes. My trip is in winter, do you know if there is any interest in stoping here in winter?
    – Ivan
    Dec 7, 2011 at 11:31
  • @RoflcoptrException Is the last picture of Zurich ?
    – Simon
    Feb 25, 2013 at 15:24
  • @Simon Yes the last one is Zurich.
    – RoflcoptrException
    Feb 25, 2013 at 15:34
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    Carcassone is a FANTASTIC suggestion. Similarly, forget not Albi. And, if it's your sort of thing (ifyou're an engineer, etc) you may want to detour, err, somewhat, to see the Milau.
    – Fattie
    Aug 28, 2014 at 12:26
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You don't say where in Switzerland, but for me the answer here is for surely, in a word, "via Italy"!

So, up from underneath rather than down from on top.

So, I'd definitely (1) drive first to Monaco.

Then (2) to Genoa (of course, one of the most amazing roads on Earth).

Then up through (3) any of the amazing cities in northern Italy (you could name 20 must-sees).

Then it's a matter of (4) "choose your pass" in to Switzerland, it's hard to go wrong.

Personally I love Aosta (who doesn't), stay there, and then go over or through the Gt St Bernard, to Martigny. Or just up through the lakes depending on where you're going. Or - how do you spell "Joy" - add merely a day and go to Bozen, stay in the best hotel in the world, and then continue up through himmel to Switzerland.

As I say, the southern approach (ie, "Italy") is James Bond all the way, it's all amazing. Travelling from Spain more to the top of CH .. we all love Bresse, Burgundy of course, it's really beautiful, but it's more "just" "stunning flat farmland" you know. And then if you look on a map driving from say Dijon to Basel, that part of the world, I mean it's not unattractive but its not like AND NOW LET'S HAMMER UP TO MILANO sort of thing.

Another consideration is, it's cool to go through the Frejus (so basically, like lyon or chambery to Torino), but, you know -- you wanna miss out on driving the italian riviera??

So, for me, in short, the obvious route from Andorra to Arosa, say (that's where you're going right!), is basically Andorra -> MC -> Genoa -> Chur!

Another short way to put this; it's much, much more attractive to approach Zurich from the south (Chur, etc) than from the north (Mulhouse, etc).

Hope it helps someone.

Again you didn't mention which part of .ch you wanted to end in. I realise this was a few years ago and I hope you had a great trip!!

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