6 Weeks of France, Spain & Italy

I agree completely with what Ed said, especially driving in the cities and parking.
With the price of gas in Europe today, you'll probably spend AT LEAST 1000 Euro on fuel. If you plan to rent in Paris and drop off in Italy, you'll pay about 5500 Euro for the rental itself...even if you return it to its original location, the RV rental for a 4 person sleeper will cost you around 4500 Euro for the six weeks. That's anywhere from 5500 to 6500 Euro minimum for your six weeks, or about $6600 to $7800 U.S. That works out to about $160 to $185/day for each of your 42 days. With your travel limited to Paris-Madrid-Barcelona-Venice-Florence-Rome (six travel legs), you will find it FAR cheaper, far more efficient, and far less aggravating to use airlines/trains/cars and stay in hotels.

Using the order in your list, that's: fly, fly or train, fly, train, train.

The time involved for transportation is about five half-days for each event.

Six weeks, (forty-two day) leaves you something like thirty-six days to do stuff. That's six days in each place. Most don't need that much for the average person.

What's your concern?

My concern is the total distance. This is our first trip to Europe and we will be RVing. The mileage is accumulating and I'm wondering if the section to Spain is too much.

Paris is really a long way out of the way of a conceivable drive with those cities listed. I would consider drive from madrid to barcelona, fly to paris, fly to venice, then continue to drive

you will be RV-ing as in driving everywhere in an RV? you'd be well served to post that in the question itself--it changes things greatly. a vacation split between boston, atlanta, and miami would be a VERY different thing using air vs. driving!

have a great trip!

Ouch! That's probably real close to twenty-five hundred miles in the order you have it. You might shave 300 miles (at best) by making the Italian portion Venice, Florence, Rome.

Say it's twenty-four hundred miles. If you averaged 60 mph (which you probably can't in an RV even though most of the roads are 'E' freeway) that's forty hours of driving -- five eight-hour days, not including stops of any kind. Then, you've got to spread Paris to Madrid over two days and the same for Barcelona to the first place in Italy. Now you're up to seven driving days (one/sixth of your time in europe).

I have no idea what an RV rents for, nor the mileage they get. I do know that last month I was paying about $6.25 / gallon for gas. I know instinctively that for what it would cost you, I can rent a small car and stay in hotels more expensive than I normally do for a heck of a lot less.

The other issue is how you'll manuever the thing in the cities. With the exception of a few major boulevards, those streets were designed for horses and wagons. A good many will not start to accomodate two full-size cars meeting each other -- it's tight enough with the subcompacts. Parking will also undoubtedly be one hell of a problem -- the absolutely major one; frankly, the one I have no idea how you would handle.

An RV might (maybe) perhaps be a good strategy for seeing the countryside. But for the great cities you have listed it would be a burden and a mistake that you would come to regret.

I agree with what has been said so far, and I have to add another concern. There can be no more wasteful, inefficient, carbon-spewing method of transportation than an RV. Given the current situation in the Gulf, given the growing fears that we have hit Peak Oil, and given the growing crisis of global warming, it seems irresponsible to choose such a method of transport when far more pleasant and efficient alternatives are easily available. I know, on vacation one doesn't want to think about environmental concerns, and I don't mean to be a Puritan killjoy. But really, you don't have to do this...Europe has a superb rail system and even air travel is far more efficient than RVing. Please consider these alternatives to driving a giant vehicle through Europe.

The folks who responded above are trying to HELP you. I suggest that YOU might have provided the needed information in your question in the first place.

I'm guessing that you would fly to Madrid, rv from there to Barcelona and on to Paris. Fly to Rome, rv from there to Florence and then on the Venice, and fly home. You can find the distances and some idea as to the routes on viamichelin.com.

Well then, Pilar, still not enough info. Will you pick up the RV in Paris and drop it off in Venice? How much per day are you comfortable with in terms of mileage...based upon your past RV experiences. Do you want to stop along the way between the cities you list, or make a beeline for each of them. Of course you can travel the distance between all those cities in six weeks!! But without a better idea of what exactly you want to do and see, it's pretty hard to answer.\
BTW, if the advertised MPG of your diesel motor home is 30...count on getting 20.

Oh my goodness. What terrific responses. It appears that everyone is answering a different question. None of which I asked.

We are 4 people planning a whirlwind tour of Western Europe - in an RV. The RV is not a behemoth 40' American gas guzzler. It has a diesel engine on a van chassis and gets 30mpg hwy. We do not plan on driving into any major city with it. We are Vegan and prepare most of our own meals. The cost of 4 train tickets and 2 hotels rooms each night, not to mention packing and unpacking for such a long trip, is excessive. We have traveled by RV for 6 years and are quite attracted to it. We have driven from WI to CA and side tripped Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon in 2 weeks - comfortably.

My question now is directed towards anyone with experience or advice regarding time and distance between the major cities I have mentioned.

Here's your rough times and distances. Distances are rounded from google maps. Times are what I think it would take me in a car. I've driven every road many times, but probably none as a single segment. My times don't match google's and I push the speed limit. Stops, for any reason, are not included.

Paris -> Madrid: 775 miles / 14 hours

Madrid -> Barcelona: 400 miles / 6 hours

Barcelona -> Venice: 775 miles / 13 hours (more across southern France in summer -- maybe 15 hours)

Venice -> Florence: 175 miles / 4 to 5 hours (traffic is unpredictable)

Florence -> Rome: 175 miles / 3 hours (to the outskirts)

You might note that these are only a slight/more detailed refinement of the numbers I provided earlier -- a question which you maintained nobody answered.

I would hesitate to suggest any kind of itinerary since you have pretty well shotgunned the continent with your track and there are many thousands of things to see along the way and several thousand more with only slight deviations. If anyone tried to make a suggestion, they could well get whacked for something you don't care about but didn't happen to mention.

Additionally, I really don't care to be blasted for trying to help. What you eat or don't eat has no bearing on anything: nor does packing and unpaking once a week seem to be a major hurdle to anyone else. Judging by the places you've picked and your abject lack of knowledge of what may be between them, you probably have never have been to europe; it's patently obvious that you have never driven there. I'm appalled that you are about to spend such a large amount of money on accomodations and transportation without an iota of knowledge about where you're going to spend a significant portion of your time.

When people try to help, the polite thing to do is say 'thank you' and disregard extraneous information.

As far as I'm concerned, you're now on your own.