My family of 5 (wife & kids ages 10,10,5) are planning another trip to Italy in August 2009. Last year we spent 10 glorious days in Italia and must go back for more. This time around we are hoping to get to Switzerland though (specifically Interlaken and the surrounding mountains, murren, etc). As we did last summer we will be renting a car in Rome and driving north stopping in small to medium sized towns along our route to Como or Lugano (renting a car is far more cost effective and flexible for 5 vs. the train). I have been investigating the route from Como to Interlaken (through the gotthard tunnel) and have read some pretty frightening stories about 6 hour traffic jams, suggestions of driving in the middle of the night, etc. We would be driving through the tunnel in the daytime of Friday, August 21st or Saturday, August 22nd (if we decide to take this on). Does anyone have experience with this? Is the timing in August particularly bad due to the end of summer?
On a map this trip looks very simple (i.e. 140 miles from Lugano to Interlaken). I figured that this would take 3 hours max. Now I’m looking at 6-9 hours for the trip? Our kids are used to long drives, but sitting still in a traffic jam for hours is not my idea of a vacation. Any advice or help with this drive would be greatly appreciated. I would like to buy our plane tickets to fly out of Zurich soon, but may end up staying in Italy the entire time and flying out of Milan (not a bad alternative by any means). Again, any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks, Ed