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France Road Trip with Switzerland & Italy segment

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My wife and I are planning a 2 week road trip and are aiming for diverse landscape with and a balance of overnight stays in both small and large towns/cities. We appreciate art and history (museums, churches, etc.) in small to moderate doses--our main objective is good food/wine, culture, and the scenery of the open road, with some occasional walks/hikes, biking, and boat rides. We plan to fly into Paris from Seattle, but go straight into our road trip, since we've both visited/toured Paris twice already.

I’m aware of the challenges of parking in the larger cities, especially Milan (I’ve read travel forum tips), but we have chosen to rent the car for the entire trip, in order to enjoy the freedom and flexibility to stop and detour en route to our scheduled destinations as the mood takes us.

I’m including our rough draft itinerary below. I welcome any general feedback, but here are some specific questions:

-Does this trip itinerary look reasonable, or is it too busy to fit into 2 weeks? Any recommendations on spending less or more time at the various stops?

-Are there any segments that may involve excessive tolls?

-Any border crossing issues with this route?

ITINERARY OUTLINE:

9/15 - Flight arrives in Paris (CDG), 4:30pm

9/15 - Either overnight near airport, or pick up our car rental and drive to and overnight in another town/city (Reims?) away from Paris en route to Comar. (CDG to Reims, 1.5 hr drive)

9/16 – Paris CDG/Reims to Comar (4 - 5.5 hr. drive)

9/18 – Comar to Bern, Switzerland (2 hr drive) (don’t want to visit Zurich or Lucerne—already been there)

9/20 – Bern to Varenna (Como Lake) (4.5 hr drive)

9/22 - Varenna to Milan (1.5 hr drive)

9/24 - Milan to Finale-ligure (or other Italian north coastal town) (3 hr drive)

9/25 - Finale-ligure to Avignon or Arles - use as home base to explore other towns/sites of Provence (4 hr drive)

9/28 – Avignon/Arles to Lyon (3-3.5 hr drive)

9/30 – Lyon to Paris (5 hr drive)

Posted by
11136 posts

Is that Colmar in Alsace?
Instead of Finale Ligure, stay nearby in lovely Noli. It has it all, castle, medieval quarter, beachfront promenade.
Interesting trip!

Posted by
360 posts

If you're looking for something in Switzerland between Colmar and Varenna, I'd choose the Berner Oberland over Bern. I just didn't think Bern had a lot going for it, except the museum (we did it as a day trip from Lucerne) and a friend of mine that just visited had the same reaction. The Swiss Alps are amazing and were our favorite part of Switzerland (and you don't need to be physically fit -- gondolas and trains get you everywhere that your car can't go). Another option could be Burgundy (we stayed in Beaune), esp. if you're into wine, but the countryside is beautiful. There's so much to see in Provence that your two full days will be pretty tight (we had five full days there and still didn't hit everything). Have you considered flying back from Marseilles so you don't have to backtrack to Paris?

Posted by
16893 posts

Your itinerary could use a little breathing room so, I would skip the two nights in big-city Milan and allot those nights to the mountain and/or coastal stop.

Posted by
8889 posts

-Are there any segments that may involve excessive tolls?

Look up your routes on https://www.viamichelin.com/ As well as distances and times (add 10-25%, the times assume no stops), this will show estimated costs, broken down into fuel and tolls.
France and Italy have tolls on autoroutes / autostrada which vary by distance. Switzerland has flat rate tolls on autoroutes / Autobahns. Cost CHF 40 per year. You buy a sticker (called a Vignette) which you attach to your windscreen to prove you have paid. You can buy this at the border.

-Any border crossing issues with this route?

No, except having to stop and buy a Swiss vignette the first time you enter the country.
You need to tell your car hire company which countries you will be visiting.

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