ambitious car trip in italy

You're doing some serious backtracking and time wasting. Start at the south and head north or vice versa. Pisa is a quick in and out in a few hours. Take pics of the leaning tower, then leave, the town is an armpit. Also Geneva to Pisa can be a day drive with traffic. Plus since you're going in Feb there's snow in the mountains, make sure the road you plan on taking is open. Also, more than likely you'll get behind the ski tour busses going 10 mph on the Alpen roads in winter. That will really slow you down.

You looked at a map first, right? Good. And you probably meant Genova, Italy, rather than Geneve, Switzerlad, right? Good. Not bad. Something less than seven hundred miles. Close to half of it is the detour for Pisa - - I bet you could find something better to do with that time. Not sure what 'budget ok' means, but one huge chunk of change is going to be the added cost of dropping the car in a second country. Also not sure what a 'local hotel' is. Or where it might be located.

Andy, That's definitely an ambitious trip, and a considerable distance to cover by car in such a short time frame! Even if you've worked out estimated driving times, I suspect you'll find that getting from one city to another takes longer than planned (possibly considerably longer!). This trip would be much easier (and more pleasant) to accomplish via fast trains. One important point to note is that for driving in Italy (and some other countries), each driver must have the compulsory International Driver's Permit. Failure to produce an IDP if requested can result in fines on the spot! These are valid for one year, and easily obtained at most AAA offices. Two Passport photos are required, and the issuing office may be able to take the photos. Another potential problem when driving in Italy are the ZTL areas, which have been discussed often here on the HelpLine. These are becoming prevalent in many towns in Italy, and each pass through one of the automated Cameras will result in a €100+ ticket, which you'll receive several months after you return home. For driving in Switzerland, you'll need the compulsory Highway Tax decal, so you'll want to make sure that's provided by the rental firm. Driving without the decal can incur substantial fines. Happy travels!

Skip Pisa.

Thank u guys for your excellent answers, we we will skip Pisa, drop off the rental in Genova and continue to Milan by train... any ideas for places to see in just one day in each city?

Thank u guys for your excellent answers, we we will skip Pisa, drop off the rental in Genova and continue to Milan by train... any ideas for places to see in just one day in each city?