Those Med beaches are quite a drive. The trick is to take your time, says Anthony Peregrine Here’s a two-choice question, which I ask you to consider carefully. When driving to the Mediterranean beaches — in Italy, Spain or France — should you (a) thunder furiously through the continental road network nonstop, risking life, limb, marriage and no-claims bonus? Or (b) kick back, appreciate the journey, stop to eat and sleep, and so arrive on the right side of a stroke? If you go for (a), well, bon voyage, and see you in intensive care. If you prefer (b), try the following routes. They will get you to the Italian and French rivieras, the Costa Brava and the beaches of southwest France and northwest Spain — but in a couple of days, rather than a single, straight-through stampede. It’s rarely better to travel than to arrive, but the travelling can, at least, be pleasant. A couple of words on French motorways before we kick off. Stick to the 130kph (80mph) limit: there are radar traps all over these days. At toll stations, avoid the gates marked with a T: they’re for people with season tickets. Gates marked CB are for payment by bank card only, and not all British cards are accepted. Finally, don’t shun French service stations. They’re generally bright, with clean toilets and decent coffee. Off we go... ROUTE ONE: to the French and Italian rivieras DAY ONE, MORNING Calais to Arras: 1hr 10min, tolls £4.65 Getting out of Calais is a doddle. From Eurotunnel or the port, follow signs for the A26 to Reims and Paris. Within moments, you’re bowling through rolling farmland speckled with the occasional slag heap — the juxtaposition of agriculture and industry. It’s likely that you’re also thinking of lunch. A wise move. All you need do is pull off to Arras (exit 7), make for “Centre Ville”, then “Les Places”, and park in the Grand’Place. The fantastic Flemish facades line up like huge flat skittles, both on this square and on Place des Héros, next door. Stroll both beneath the arcades, then return to the short Rue de la Taillerie, which links the two, for lunch at Le Between (“between” the two squares. Cunning, eh?). It’s new, contemporary and skilled with fish and meat (00 33-3 21 73 57 79; from £15). AFTERNOON Arras to Vougeot: 4hr 45min, tolls £25 Return to the A26 and stick on it for Reims. Don’t get siphoned off down the A1 to Paris. Now you’re trolling through hedgeless arable expanses where farmers still plough up bombs and bones from the first world war. Clip Reims, then make for Lyons. Coming up soon is the Montagne de Reims, bearing bespoke champers vineyards. If you owned five acres here, I’d be your friend. Beyond Dijon, there’s more priceless plonk, as Burgundy’s most celebrated vineyards back up to the little hills of the Côte d’Or. The vines have apparently been machine-stitched into the landscape. If you owned five acres here, I’d marry you. Your destination for tonight is one of the best-known wine villages. Take exit 1 to Nuits-St-Georges, then double back a couple of miles to Vougeot, which weds the agricultural reality of wine (tractors, wellies, vats) with the posher aspects (chateaux, cut glass, sniffing). Check in at the Hôtel de Vougeot (18 Rue du Vieux Château; 03 80 62 01 15, www.hotel-vougeot.com; doubles start at £41, but go for the spacious, newly restored rooms overlooking the vineyards, £75). You’ll like the stones and simple stylishness. Walk 200yd down the road to Clos de la Vouge for dinner (from £15). DAY TWO, MORNING Today you split into two camps: one for the central and eastern Italian Riviera (from, say, Savona via Genoa, round to Rapallo and beyond); the other for the western Italian Riviera (Sanremo and co) and the Côte d’Azur. First, you all rejoin the motorway, towards Lyons. Just past Villefranche-sur-Saône, everyone sheers off onto the A46, following the first signs for Marseilles. Shortly afterwards, the first, Genoa-going group will spot directions to the A43 and Chambéry. You will obey them and set off on the following morning itinerary: Vougeot to St-Jean-de-Maurienne: 3hr 20min, tolls £21 Once on the A43, putter past Bourgoin, of rugby-union fame, and, soon enough, the Alps will be filling the windscreen. Mighty and menacing, they have clearly come from a different dimension of geography to terrify the punier among us. Now, feeling as adventurous as you can on a motorway, you’re climbing among them to skirt Chambéry (direction Turin) and singing snatches from the much-missed John Denver. Come off at exit 27, into the mountain town of St-Jean-de-Maurienne, and head for the Hôtel du Nord (Place du Champ de Foire; 04 79 64 02 08, www.hoteldunord.net; menus from £12). AFTERNOON St-Jean-de-Maurienne to Genoa: 3hr 15min, tolls £37 Back onto the motorway, and continue yodelling through the highlands to the eight-mile Fréjus tunnel into Italy. The cost of blasting under the Alps explains the high toll on this section. The tunnel charges £21.50, one-way. So, if you’ll be coming back by the same route, consider a £26.70 return. Now you’re arrowing through the Italian Alps, over soaring viaducts and through more tunnels built by a people who have lost none of the Roman road-building skills, and have little patience with mountains. Circle Turin on the Tangenziale (“north”, then “south”, direction Piacenza) until, just short of Alessandria, you transfer to the A26, south towards Genoa, bouncing down through yet more tunnels. At the coast, turn right for Savona or carry on left, to Genoa, Rapallo, Portofino and points south. It’s been a stirring drive, but you’re in tip-top shape. Find a terrace, a drink and a sea view, and use them wisely. 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