Drive from Paris to Italian lake district...which route/what to see/where to stay along the way?

Patsy,

After reading your plans, a few questions and comments occurred to me......

• are you returning the car in Paris? There's often a steep drop-off charge for renting in one country and dropping in another.
• note that for driving in Switzerland, you'll need to buy the Swiss highway tax vignette, or risk hefty fines.
• note that for driving in Italy, each driver listed on the rental form will require the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. An IDP is also required for driving in France as shown in THIS website.
• for driving in Italy, you'll have to be very careful to avoid the dreaded ZTL (limited traffic) zones which exist in many towns and cities (hefty fines).

In terms of "what to see & where to stay", that's very difficult to say without having some idea of the time frame and your interests.

How long do you have? I would get a train to Dijon and rent a car for a few days if you are wishing to explore Burgundy. Once again, train to Geneva, and train to Milan. To keep costs down, pick up your car once in Italy. Public transport is generally very good in Switzerland.

Merci Ken & djp_syd-
Appreciate your input & info regarding driving regulations. Yes, the drop off fee is huge, but I imagine they have to return the car to original location????
We have 17 days to make our way from Paris to Munich. We love the outdoors, hiking, biking, gorgeous mountains/lakes.

We are considering driving from Paris to Annecy, France in one day. Do you think that is doable?

According to www.viamichelin.com it's about a 6 hour drive and will cost approximately 90€ in fuel and tolls.

Or you can take the train in 3 hours 40 minutes and pay the same amount with advance tickets. www.captaintrain.com

I know which option that I would choose.

Cars are much better when use to explore little back roads in out of the way destinations than for long distance travel which is faster and usually cheaper by train than driving.

yes, Patsy, they can't rent the car except in the country in which it s registered - so, yes, a member of staff has to take it back.

How many is "we"?

That is a lot of time for a relatively short trip. How many days do you expect to stop at each place along the way?

Yes, Burgundy is pretty nice.

You may find, depending on your actual route that not only is the train faster and more scenic, it may wind up more convenient and cheaper.

UNLESS - are you carrying these bicycles on the car or in the train?

Merci, All-
We will travel by car from Paris....French Alps.....Italian/Swiss Lakes.....Dolomiti....possibly Austria.....Munchen.

We are two.
Not carrying bikes, but hope to rent/ride along lakes/rivers.
Prefer 3-5 nights per stop, if warranted.

We have 23 nights & hope to narrow trip to:
5 nights Paris...pick up car at Orly
? Burgundy
3 nights French Alps
4 nights Locarno/Ascona
5 nights Dolomiti
1 night Munchen airport
oops......we have 4 nights unaccounted for!?!? any ideas?

Patsy,

As you'll be travelling in both Switzerland and Austria, you'll have to buy Highway Tax Vignettes for both countries. Especially in Austria, the fines can be HUGE if the officer wants to be strict and as many places in Europe, fines are payable on the spot! If you don't/can't pay, your car can be impounded (and guess who's paying for that).

" A €240 fine with an additional obligatory payment of a substitute toll are charged to travelers without a valid vignette, and unpaid fines lead to penalties between €300 and €3,000. Furthermore, the vehicle may be confiscated from foreigners to guarantee payment of the penalty."

As you're dropping the car in a different country than it was rented, you'll also likely be facing a hefty drop-off charge.

Using a mixture of rental cars and well planned rail trips would be less of a hassle, but your choice.

Thank you, Ken & everyone for your input/suggestions. Much appreciated. We are off & running in less than a week! 👯
Patsy

Happy driving.

Watch out for the TUTOR.

TUTOR?????

France and Switzerland have speed cameras. Italy has speed cameras, too.

Speed cameras measure your speed at a specific point and if it is too fast they take photos of you and the car (smile) committing the offense.

Italians also have TUTOR which not only measures your speed at a specific spot, but has a network of cameras which talk to each other and also measure your average speed over a long distance, often 10 kilometres. If you either speed at any of the cameras (not marked) or your average speed is speeding over the long distance, the photo of you and the car (smile) will (eventually) wing its way to you.

First indication is a fee of around €45 appearing on your credit card from the rental agency for their costs in reporting who you are and your address to the police when they are notified of the speeding - or ZTL or bus lane or many other reasons - offence. That means that within a few or several months the big fine will be coming. If you do it more than once, even on the same day, you get multiple fines.

Don't forget your IDPs.

Happy traveling.