A driving trip question.

You do not make it clear what you are after, hard then to offer advice.
Some places that might be of interest and are more or less on the route:

• Livigno for less-taxed fuel
• Trento for a great aviation museum
• all of Switzerland, but the East and South-East in particular, for great scenery
• city of Trieste for a breath of the Austro-Hungarian empire
• Ajdovscine for the Pipistrel factory
• the Friule region, and the mountains bordering Slovenia in particular, for museums about WW1, 100 year’s remembrance right now.
• all of Northern Italy for fine yet affordable eateries and wine makers – but like as not, Croatia and Slovenia are at least as good (in Italy, I much like to go for a “Pranzo di Lavoro” i.e. midday lunch with a choice of 3-4 dishes for first and second course, usually costs 10-15 euro’s, wine, water and coffee included)

Given that you will be doing this in peak season, my advice would be to just get it over with and go the fastest possible route.

Other than that (or if you ever do it outside June/July/August), I’d go down to the French Riviera, then along the Ligurian coast to Toscana, cross the Appenines somewhere there and then Ancona and the ferry.

As long as it’s still June, it is not peak season and most pleasant in Italy (I’ll be off in a week’s time).

If you happen to go via Ancona, take a day extra and stop for one day / night at the town of Sirolo, one of the jewels of the Italian Adriatic coast. It’s 15km south of Ancona and has fantastic views and beaches.

@172driver: peak season is August, in Italy at least; July ought to be feasible, though of course less good than June. In Croatia, I understand peak season to be from June till September so no difference there.

And, again: we do not know criteria, but the route you suggest might well be the most expensive of all, including French motorways and their horrible péage rates, plus a ferry in (more or less) high season. I also fail to see how using the ferry could be the fastest option, but we do not know the value of an overnight’s rest to o/p (is he the only driver? Will one drive while the other sleeps?) Myself would take the road after dinner, to arrive in Split for the next dinner, with rest along the road as appropriate.

[[edit @Boscomantico: the region south of Ancona is well-known to me, with Castelfidardo a special highlight, but I never heard of this place Sirolo. Bookmarked for the next trip! ]]

The hotel “Relais Mirabella” and the restaurant “Due Colombe” (one Michelin star), both next to Lake Iseo, were mentioned in a German newspaper article a few days ago.

I haven’t been in the region for about a decade, so I can’t give any personal recommendations.

A friend was raised in the town of Sarnico, at the south end of Lago d’Iseo and I spent a couple of days there in 2009. A nice town but as I remember Lovere at the north end of the lake is a little more charming. All within a few minutes drive, it’s not a large lake.

Re Como where you don’t want to go… I rode a motorcycle to Iseo from Como ‘overland’ (from Bellano, an odd name for a town), not wanting to go south to the autostrada and then north again. I wouldn’t recommend that in a car, but FWIW my spiritual home is Mandello del Lario, on the shore of Como that faces Bellagio (not the one in Las Vegas).

Have a nice time!