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Italy-SOF-Paris? (HELP Please!)

Posted by (St augustine, Florida, United States) on

Hello All,

Trip Dates: May 27th - June 12th

I'm so thrilled to be planning another European vacation...it's been four years since my last trip over the Atlantic! I'm hoping you fine folks will share your thoughts with me as you've been a huge help in the past. This will be my first trip to Europe with kids! We're flying into Venice and then proceeding to Garda where we'll have a rental car (rented in Venice as we depart). Four days around lake Garda and then on to South of France. It's the south of France leg I'm having most trouble with. I love Tuscany and we've pretty much decided not to return there this trip and do SOF instead, but the trouble seems to be SOF is a bit more spread out...it's just a much larger area. As for our tastes, we're going to have kids with us, so we'll stick to mostly wandering, touring a vineyard perhaps, exploring ancient villages. We'll do some museums, but nothing too demanding on our little ones attention...they are 3 and 4 years respectively.

Day 1 - Venice - Arrive/recover
Day 2 - Venice - All day Venice
Day 3 - Venice - Day Trip Venice (Vicenza/Burano/Murano/Something Else)
Day 4 - Venice - All Day Venice
Day 5 - Venice - Depart Venice for Garda -Stopover in Vicenza if not done as day trip
Day 6 - All Day Garda -
Day 7 - All Day Garda
Day 8 - All Day Garda
Day 8 - All Day Garda

This is where I need help

Day 9 - Depart Garda - Arrive SOF
Day 10 - SOF - Aix En - Day trip Cassis (beach day?)
Day 11 - SOF - Aix En - All Day - Find a winery to tour perhaps
Day 12 - SOF - Day trip to Avignon -
Day 13 - SOF - Depart for Paris

First, should I steal a day from Garda and give it to the SOF? I feel like there's likely more to see in SOF and it's a larger area.

Second, I'm torn between bases. Looking at Avignon/Arles/Aix or perhaps a smaller place in the Luberon? St. Remy? Centrality and nice walking and winding down after busy days are prized.

Thank you so much in advance!

Posted by
847 posts

Yes take a day from Lake Garda and add to the SOF. I assume you will have a car for the France bit. If you take a day (I would even take two) from Garda that means you will have 5 or 6 nights in France. I would do two nights in Aix (one to see that city, one for the day trip to Cassis (or a winery) and then move to St Remy for the remaining nights, during which time you would do Avignon as a day trip. You could also do Arles and other towns on day trips.

Posted by
30 posts

Thanks! I was trying to keep from too many changes of accoms because of the kids. However, we will have a car from the time we leave Venice until we depart SOF for Paris. So that shouldn't be too much a problem.

Posted by
6068 posts

Have you priced rental car yet?
Drop off fees in different country can be quite high and car rentals are already super high this year.

Posted by
32768 posts

I've got to get my head around this SOF - an expression I'd never heard before.

If you have a car rented in Venice and want to return it anywhere in France, south or otherwise, you'll be paying a large drop charge on top of the high this year rental charges. I have seen it as high as many hundreds of Euro. They can't rent that car in France - it has to be returned to Italy by an employee, and people in that situation expect to pay.

Posted by
2956 posts

You can take a direct train from the Venice S. Lucia station to Vicenza (45-minutes) and rent a car in Vicenza and drive to Garda. To get from Garda to Aix drop off the car at Milan’s Bergamo (BGY) Airport and take a nonstop flight to Marseilles and sleep there two nights. The next day you can rent a car or take a direct train from the Marseille Blancarde station to Cassis (30-minutes).
After two nights in Marseille you can take a direct train from the Marseille St Charles station to Aix En Provence (45-minutes).

Posted by
87 posts

If you find a car rental agency in Italy that allows you to return the car in France, it will cost you a real fortune.

Posted by
1825 posts

Venice with little kids doesn't sound fun and especially not for more than two days. I'd skip Italy and just do France. In Paris stay near Luxembourg gardens which is great with kids. Take the Tgv to Avignon,rent a car a stay in st. Remy. Be sure to check out the point DU gard and bring bathing suits. The Dordogne is another option which is kind friendly. Don't underestimate the time it takes to travel between France and Italy, it's a plane flight or twelve hours of trains. Driving a rental car is a bad option.

Posted by
6901 posts

Logistics from Northern Italy to the Marseille area are difficult. There is a very expensive flight from Milan (Malpensa) to Marseille (or at least there was pre-covid), and that's about it. The destinations do not combine well!
Perhaps look at the Ligurian coast instead, between Genoa and La Spezia?

Edited: MaryPat points out below that Ryanair flies from Bergamo to Marseille. It is not daily, but it would be the only affordable way to combine Lake Garda and Aix.

Posted by
752 posts

With the best of conditions, the road trip from Garda to Aix will be over an 8 hour day. How will your 3 and 4 year olds handle the car seats for that long a time? Perhaps you should look at basing further east along the Côte d’Azur for some beach time with the kids, and trips up into the hill towns. Many people take several trips to fully experience the Provence/Côte d’Azur region.

If Provence is really your priority, I would still consider a night or two in the Nice-Antibes area to break the journey. Then transfer to Aix, stopping in Cassis on the way.

Are you planning to take the TGV to Paris from Aix?

Posted by
2956 posts

There is a very expensive flight from Milan (Malpensa) to Marseille (or at least there was pre-covid), and that's about it. The destinations do not combine well!

Ryanair has a nonstop flight from Milan's BGY to Marseille for $13 on Jun 3. There are no nonstop flights from Genoa or La Spezia to Marseille.

Posted by
6901 posts

I did not know about that Ryanair flight! It's not daily, but at least it's an option (better than that 300€ Malpensa-Marseille flight on a wobbly 19-seater plane...).
And to clarify, I mentioned the Ligurian coast as a substitute for Provence - not as a stopping point.

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