10 day trip around europe

Looks good, except, have you considered how many miles between cities? We have done drive tours on our own and try not to have to drive more than about two hours between cities.

Also, if you select lodging at those cities, you will need to be sure that parking is included.

Well. Replies to this, including me, is that it is too rushed. Mostly a drive to a town, one night, and leave. Why go to a town you only want to see so briefly. You will have little time to enjoy a town. Arrive, go to hotel, look for a place to eat, get up, drive away. Do it again the following days.
I have not looked at the drive times between those towns.
I don’t think it is rubbish, but maybe you can look at why you want to go to each of those towns and decide if perhaps 4 of them would warrant more than one night.

ViaMichelin.com estimates about 7 hours for the drive from Lausanne to Poitiers. I've been to Poitiers; it has a very pretty historic center, but that's a lot of driving time (plus gas, plus tolls) for just a very few hours there.

Reims, to me, is basically about the lovely cathedral and the champagne houses, though there's also a small museum related to the WWII surrender. It's really not a particularly pretty town in general. Do its positive features align with your interests?

I know the economics of travel are very different when you're starting out in the UK, rather than in North America, and have your own car available, but I wonder if the trip wouldn't be less tiring and more pleasant if you took advantage of budget-airline flights, used trains for some of the ground travel and perhaps rented a car for just a few days to explore an atea under-served by public transportation. But perhaps taking a car through the Eurotunnel is a lot less expensive than I am imagining.

I would have thought at three months out, it was cheaper to book UK train and then Eurostar to France and Reims.

Then a hire car for 3 nights Reims to Lausanne (though all of that could be done by train) and again for 2 days Lausanne to Caen. Foot passenger Caen to Portsmouth then train home.

Lausanne to Poitiers is probably as fast or faster by train (TGV) via Paris as by car. And Poitiers to Caen can be done by train changing at Tours (not Paris)

Thanks for all the replies

let me be a bit more informative..

First, Switzerland by car was just an idea as my wife wanted to go there but we realise that a 10 day trip to Switzerland aswell as other towns/cities would be too rushed

In essence we just want to get away for a europe road trip for 10 days and visit interesting places. We love pretty towns, lakes, rivers, coffee shops ! and craft places for example

Of course my wife would love to be by the coast but I dont think that would be possible by car

Despite me thinking we could mix car/rail it seems from the comments we cant

We would be happy stopping at hotels or airbnb type places

and finally the reason we wanted to go by car was for the flexibility and scenery / towns we would drive through

Thanks a lot

A fun story in the Washington Post (paywall, likely) had a fun road trip mapped out, and with a slight mod, could add a dip into Switzerland. Could get to the start in Amsterdam easily from the UK and then get driving.

From the article:
As Americans head to Europe over the summer, many will try to fit several countries into an itinerary. A road trip allows you more flexibility and access to places that are harder to connect by rail or plane. Even for locals, traveling by car can be a fun alternative.

“I’m all about driving, flexibility, and accessibility,” says Jane Bertch, the founder of the Paris-based cooking school La Cuisine Paris and author of “The French Ingredient.” “Stay off the highways and stop by small villages for lunch and shopping. I love buying food and wine as souvenirs, and not having to deal with baggage on a train or plane is a plus.”

If you’re looking for a trip that covers three countries in 10-12 days, I’ve designed an itinerary for you to use below (Included Google map has all the driving instructions you’ll need).

What do people think of this

Calais.....

Lille - Stay 1 night
Alsace ( 5 hrs drive , stop for lunch somewhere, stay 1 or 2 nights )
Burgundy ( 3 hrs drive, stay 1 or 2 nights )
Bordeaux ( 6 hrs drive , stop for lunch somewhere, stay 1 or 2 nights ) - maybe too long a drive ?
Loire Valley - herbault ( 4 hrs drive, stay 1 or 2 nights )
Normandy - Rouen ( 3 hrs drive, stay 1 or 2 nights )

.....Calais

Too much ... again !!??

plyinform,
Regarding your last idea....driving to a place and staying one night means arriving there in the afternoon, seeing what you can, and leaving the next day for the next town. Half a day in one place? It hardly seems worth the time, expense and trouble. Two night stays give you one full day there before leaving the next day, a more enjoyable visit in my opinion.

We have spent four months in Europe, driving a VW all around, and in our more recent visits to Europe we have rented cars for non-city travels, so I understand the flexibility and good points of traveling by car. However, this type of trip has you spending most of your time on the road. Lots of your routes don't have what I would call spectacular scenery, so that motive doesn't apply here. I suggest you rethink your itinerary a bit more to perhaps enjoy your destinations more.
Bonne chance!

Thanks ..we thought that two

I guess we would be happy with three really nice places but we don't know France well so it's purely guesswork. My wife only put Bordeaux in the equation so get some seaside vibes

Literally happy to accept any suggestions about the best places to visit in such a short time

Thanks

plyinform,
Ten days in France..... I would suggest 4 days in Paris, 2 days in the Loire (the first of those days would be arriving from Paris, not a long trip), and four days in either Brittany (one of my favorites, but not everyone's cup of tea) or the Alsace region (different vibe from Paris and the Loire area). I see you don't mention Paris, so if that is not in your plans (parking pains!) you could spend four days in Burgundy or the Bordeaux regions. Both offer a variety of things to see and do, but IMO Bordeaux is more varied, and a bonus is the nearby beach towns.

Search this forum for those regions for ideas and suggestions. And the RS books feature sections on them all.
Have fun planning your vacation!

Since you’re still in the open planning stage of locations, I’ll share a trip report covering several areas in France. I was there for three weeks, but you could easily pick & choose some of the cities. It would give your wife some coastal time, too.

You will see I had multiple 1-night stops, but the time between those locations were short, so it was still a very nice pace.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/our-combined-solo-couple-vacation-in-france-2019

Ok.. the obvious point people are making is slow it down !

..so I had another thought for a quick 10 days break..quite different but my wife likes it too

Cheshire to Calais
Stay near Calais 1 night
Drive to Le Mans.. stay 2 nights
Drive to Nantes ..stay 3 nights
Drive/Ferry to Jersey..stay 3  nights
Ferry/Drive to Poole and stay in Dorset 1 night
back home..

I’m glad you formed an itinerary that excites both of you! Have a great time!

I think you'll enjoy that pace much better. And you can save some of the other ideas for future trips, too.

My husband and I have enjoyed our road trips, even when we haven't been able to stay more than a night. However, when we've been able to stay 3 nights we've really enjoyed the opportunity to feel the vibe and to have a comfort with the location and relaxation not possible with our zip in, zip out trips.