Driving Paris to Venice in September

When are you traveling? Peak summer or off-season makes a big difference.

As far as just stopping and finding a room is a little more difficult than US but doable. There are lots of roadside lodges in some areas of the country, other areas it seems only in the town centers. Your best luck will be in smallish to medium sized towns, but watch for ZTL's before just driving into centro. If busy season the larger cities that have a tourism industry may be more full. You may use google maps as you drive to look ahead in areas you are headed or interested in staying and then call.

Are you comfortable driving in Europe? Navigating? Trains are always easier. You could just look at where you want to go each morning, buy the train ticket to that site, move on when ready, and later in the day call ahead to a hotel and make that days reservation. Keeps the flexibility.

Via Michelin is a useful tool for planning routes. Allow more driving time than it shows. Besides your own driver's license, you should have an International Driver's Permit for each driver (obtainable easily at any AAA office) -- I believe it's required in Italy and it's advisable elsewhere. Gas and tolls will be more expensive than in the US.

How easily you can find accommodations depends partly on the time of year, and partly on whether you want to stay in places that are popular with tourists or less-known places. Winter will be the "low" season in France and Italy, and probably Switzerland too (but maybe harder to drive there in winter because of snow). It's hard to generalize, but if you're not fussy about where to stay you might make reservations a day or two ahead as you move along. If you have "must see" stopovers, especially in summer, I'd suggest booking well ahead.

Flying "open-jaw" into Paris and home from Nice could save you a drive back to Paris. You should try to return the car in France, since returning it in Italy will get you a hefty drop-off charge.

I must disagree with the statement trains are always easier. There are cons to trains as well as pros. Cons getting to the station, getting luggage on and off, little opportunity to explore remote area and finding seats. Having done both, there are benefits and cons to both. Ultimately it is your decision.

I prefer a car if you want to explore rural area. A car is not a benefit in urban areas. There is the potential for a drop off fee for moving between countries
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Your choice and enjoy your trip

Leilani,

There are a few things to be aware of, so a driving holiday may not be the best choice. A few thoughts.....

When is this trip taking place? As someone else mentioned, that might make the "spontaneous approach" to getting rooms somewhat more difficult if your trip is taking place in peak tourist season.

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. Having an IDP is also highly recommended for driving in France and Austria. Again as mentioned previously, you'll also have to be vigilant to avoid the ZTL (limited traffic) areas which exist in many Italian towns. Hefty fines for each pass through them. There are also tolls and automated speed cameras, so your holiday may end up being more expensive than you planned.

For driving in Switzerland and Austria, you'll also have to stop at the borders and buy a highway tax vignette for each country. Again, hefty fines if you're caught without it, and those are typically collected on the spot!

With such a short Itinerary, it might be better to use high speed trains on longer segments, and use car rentals "strategically" to get to places that aren't well served by public transit. The high speed trains travel at up to 300 km/h so much faster than a car and a more efficient use of your limited holiday time.

Good luck with your planning!

September is still peak time.

If you have 3 weeks (21 nights) on the ground in Europe with 5 full days in Paris and 2 full days in Venice, that's 9 nights, which leaves you 12 nights to drive close to 2000 miles. If you want scenic, you need to avoid the major highways which means a lot of slow driving.

To avoid huge drop-off charges, you could take the train from Paris to Geneva and rent a car on the French side. Drive through Switzerland to Venice, then find a route through Italy back to France, explore one or possibly two regions, drop the car and train back to Paris. If you have less than 21 nights in Europe, consider going back to the drawing board.

September is high season these days. If you aren't very budget-conscious and/or will accept any available accommodations, you may be able to wing it in at least part of your trip. Paris and Venice in September - nearly impossible to find last-minute rooms anywhere near where you want to be. The Swiss Alps - possibly the same. In France it depends on where you plan to be. It's definitely not like the U.S. where if all the motels in one town are full, you can just drive to the next one.

flying into Paris, staying a couple of days and then heading to Venice. Our thoughts are to go north first through Switzerland, and then after a couple of days in Venice return to Paris from a southern route.

I am confused about the order here: Paris - Venice - Switzerland. But then you say "Switzerland, and then after a couple of days in Venice return to Paris from a southern route." - are you doubling back to Venice, or what?

Yes, you could do this as a road trip, or rail. But you need to be aware of a number of caveats:

• You need to return the car in the same country you rent it. Paris - Venice - Switzerland - Paris would be OK
• If you have US licences, each driver needs their licence PLUS an IDP to certify it as valid.
• Make sure you cost this: fuel + tolls + (France + Italy + Swiss Vignette). The ViaMichelin will give you tolls.
• No car in Paris, cannot drive between sights. Pick up car when leaving Paris.
• No car in Venice, need to park (pay) and walk or water bus.
• Some places in Switzerland (Zermatt, Mürren, . . .) are car-free.
• Learn road rules for each country, and traffic signs for each country.
• Beware pedestrian-only and resident-only areas in towns. These are signposted (learn signs).

You need to plan a route and overnight stops.

It doesn't seem confusing to me. I read it as:

1. Arrive in Paris and stay a couple of days.
2. Rent a car and drive to Venice on a generally northern route, which would pass through Switzerland on the way to Venice.
3. Stay in Venice a couple of days.
4. Return to Paris from Venice via a generally southern route.

I presume step 4 would involve entering France directly from Italy near, say, Chamonix Mt. Blanc via the tunnel, or through La Thuile, or through Turin.

It's a lot of driving for a couple of days here or there, but some folks love driving. And the scenery can be quite interesting in that area.

@ Matt, from Paris to Venice is a southern route, not northern. Venice is SOUTH (south-east) of Paris. If you head north from Paris you end up in Belgium
And Venice to Paris is north, not south. A southern route from Venice gets you further into Italy.

While I think the OP could have been clearer, I think we can read Matt in Springfield's post with a little bit of common sense and maybe give him the benefit of the doubt that he knows where Paris and Venice are. I did not find his description confusing.

In other words, what he is describing is a round-trip from Paris to Venice in which the outbound leg (Paris to Venice) is in general further north than the inbound leg (Venice to Paris). So the outbound would be via Switzerland, say via Basel and Zurich; while the inbound would be further south via Italy and France, say via Turin and Lyon.

If you choose to do the trip by car, you might consider leasing a car, rather than renting one, if your trip is over 21 days. We did that recently with Peugeot and were pleased. We got to choose exactly which model car we got, we got a new car, and insurance was covered in the lease payment. Contace Peugeot (or Citroen) for more details. Peter Dodd

Oh my gosh, Chris F. Surely this is not that complicated.

Consider two routes.

One lies north of the other.

The other lies south of the other.

For fun, let's call the first one the "northerly route."

And the second, the "southerly route."

I'm referring to the relative positions of the two routes. Not the compass direction one would be traveling while taking those routes.

It's fascinating that that's so difficult to understand, but I apologize and take full responsibility for, evidently, being confusing. .

Leilani,

I thing your plan is very doable. Your must be flexible and diligent in understanding your challenges. Hopefully your expectations are not too high. I love the idea! Are you both easy going and healthy? Part of the driving experience are the lessons learned and the stories you will have to share. Bring a collapsible cooler and make sure the car rental company has alternatives near your driving routes just in case the car fails. Keep an open mind...do your homework.... have fun.

Lorie

Thank you Everyone, for your replies. I was quite amused that the northern route to Venice, and southern route return to Paris could be so challenging for some! As stated in my subject box, the trip was to be in Sept. But, it sounds like we may need to change that to Aug or Oct (due to Sep being high season). My husband and I are very comfortable driving abroad. But we do prefer finding rooms on the go--that way we are not locked into a schedule. (Trains are a wonderful way to travel--we spent a month in Spain by rail.) We will keep in mind that the accommodations may be a challenge, and will look in small out of the way places to stop for the night.

Again, much appreciation for all the responses.
Happy trails!
Leilani