Southern France/Northern Spain with family

"We are planning on renting the car in Paris and returning it in Santiago de Compestela, Spain. Does anyone know if this is a problem? Should I rent through Hertz or find a European company?"

The only problem is price. You will have a surcharge for renting in France and returning in Spain - reports on this forum range from €50 to €600 (not a typo). So, start comparing prices with various companies, and be sure you are getting a quote with the drop charge included. Look at AutoEurope, Kemwel, Gemut, (brokers who work with various companies) and the rental companies themselves. You will read good and bad things about almost every company.

If the drop charge is too high, you can fly from France to Spain, or you can drop the car in France near the border and pick up a second rental in Spain, or you can drive back to France to return the car. Cars returned in the same country they were picked up (even different cities) usually have no drop fee, but again, you have to check.

3) Any tips for traveling with adolescents? They are engaged and excited--but bound to get testy with too much car time!

Limit car time by taking trains. On a train, they can walk around, stretch out, use electronics, eat, drink, use the toilet, and there are big windows for views. Many of the trains are very fast so journeys are shorter. Take the train from Paris to Lyon. Rent a car there, return it somewhere in the south of France. You can take the train from Perpignan to Spain and rent another car . . . or take a fast train.

Your itinerary is not efficient. You are going clear across Spain east to west to Galicia, then back west to east to Barcelona. The driving distance from Aix en Provence to Santiago de Compestela is nearly 900 miles. You have a lot of French mileage too. Lyon to Chamonix (150 miles), Chamonix to Aix en Provence (300 miles).

3 weeks - is that 21 nights in Europe? Paris (4 nights = 3 days), Galicia (4 nights ), Barcelona (4 nights). That leaves 9 nights to cover France and northern Spain (1500 miles).

4) Recommendations for only three days in Paris with kids? Take into account jetlag and lack of sleep after a long-haul flight. On your first day, and quite possibly your second, your pace will be slow and a little confused. What do your kids want to do? Boys, girls? Bike tour? Segway tour?

If it is not too late, consider flying into Geneva, which is only 50 minutes (by car) to Annecy, where you can begin your week in the Alps. You can rent from the French side and this will cut out a lot of driving from Paris down to the south.

-Matt

Thanks for your replies.

Great suggestion about taking the train to Lyon and the car rentals. I agree our itinerary is inefficient--I think we'll make some changes.

Robin

I would suggest keeping primarily to the Basque areas of France/Spain ...
In France, all by train ...Paris (4) >> Bordeaux (2) >> Biarritz (2)
Cross the border and pick up a rental car in San Sebastian
San Sebastian (2) >> Bilbao (2) >> Santander (2) >> Oviedo (2) >> Santiago de Compostela (2)
Fly to Barcelona (3)

Just thought you might benefit from our experience last fall. We decided not to drive in Paris, but after our stay there, we caught a train to Chartres and then rented a car to continue our travels. We arranged all our rentals through Auto Europe before hand. We drove though France for 2 weeks and turned in our car in Barritz at the airport and from there we caught an ALSA bus to San Sebastian. It was only $8 per person and was a nice 45 min ride and we could reserve it all on line. After a stay in San Sebastian, we picked up another car to drive through Spain, thereby avoiding the rental car charge since we were not returning it to France. We enjoyed taking our time to get to Santiago de Compostela, stopping to stay in Bilbao, Oviedo, and Lugo. We found these cities of interest, as well as other stops along the coast for surfing, swimming and enjoying the tapas. Happy travels, Fran