France, Switzerland, Italy itinerary help

Yes, this is busy. Two things to consider :
1. Drive times found on websites such as Google and viamichelin.com underestimate travel time. They do not account for any stops for gas, food or bathrooms, let alone traffic backups. We almost always drive in Europe and find that we need to add about an hour to the shorter drives (4 hours or less) and up to two hours on a longer drive. If all goes well, then we are fortunate and arrive earlier. If not, we aren't frustrated and feeling rushed.
2. One must take into account the time involved in checking out of lodgings, getting out of the city (traffic!), finding lodgings and parking in a new city or town, and checking into new lodgings. Likewise, if taking a train, getting to and from the stations could be easy and quick, or slow and difficult, depending on the town or city. Also, when you pick up your rental car in Paris (lots of locations for this in Paris), allow a good hour for that process. And driving within and out of Paris is never an easy task.

If all goes smoothly you will have less than 24 hours in Colmar, hardly worth a stop...an hour to find your hotel and settle in, a few hours to walk around d a bit and have dinner, then sleep, breakfast, check-out the next day to get to Lucerne. Colmar is not a tiny town. It needs one full day to get a taste of it and see the major sights, That means two nights there. One full day in any location means two nights. The same applies to your other one-night stops. You are spending half of each day in changing locations (not just drive time).

Another caveat. It is not a good idea to travel from a distance to the airport on the day of your flight home. Train difficulties could make you late that day (not that uncommon) and you are left to buy a last-minute expensive ticket. It is best to spend the night before your flight I n the same town you are leaving from.

Finally, to rent a car in one country and return it in another country entails a very pricey drop-off fee, in the neighborhood of 500-1,000 euros. It is a lot more complicated to return that car to the coun try where it is registered. It isn't like the US where you can leave a car in a different state.

Sorry to sound like a downer, but you will probably get similar comments from other posters on the forum, most of whom have done trips such as you have planned. Their collective experiences and wisdom will serve you well. A great trip is possible, but it just needs refining.

Best of luck!

A note about your first day on the road:

We would leave for Colmar, which is 2 hours away, and spend the night.

From Paris to Colmar, it's not a 2-hour drive, but between 5 and 7 hours depending on traffic and provided you're leaving from the east of Paris. Allow up to an extra hour if you're leaving from the west of Paris.

As Judy said, that's the estimated time without any breaks. So, unless you're a professional truck driver on your delivery route, for a trip longer than 4 hours, it's best to add about 15% to the estimated time to get a good idea of ​​the actual journey duration.

Colmar isn't a small town, but the third largest city in Alsace in terms of population.

Regarding Switzerland, if you drive in Switzerland, you'll need to buy a motorway vignette (40 CHF). It's not provided by French car rental companies.

https://www.ch.ch/en/vehicles-and-traffic/cars-and-other-vehicles/motorway-vignette/

No comment on car rental as I don’t travel that way in Europe, but agree that you are a bit over ambitious for two weeks, and that you should spend your last night near your departure airport. Cinque Terre is the geographic outlier so I suggest you drop that one and redistribute that time among your other destinations. Also Cinque Terre is a bit repetitive of Lake Como in some important respects: both feature small hilly villages on the water, and while qualifying as Rick Steves “back doors” decades ago, are subject to significant overtourism especially from the Instagram “influencer” crowd (or so I hear, admittedly having never visited Cinque Terre and having seen Lake Como back in 2002), so you would probably have a better Italian experience just doing one of them, or maybe somewhere else just as pretty in the Italian lakes, but a bit less trendy, such as Lake Maggiore which also has the benefit of being close to the Milan airport.

Please add extra time to all Google driving time estimates. Your doing a lot of driving and very little experiencing.

Make sure your France and Italy accommodations have air conditioning.

As previously mentioned, drive time to Colmar is over 5+ hours. Take the train (2½ hrs) to Colmar, visit the town and then pick up your rental car. Or ditch the car altogether and take public transportation. Your designated driver will get to enjoy the views instead of the road (especially in Switzerland).

With a car, instead of overnighting in Colmar (where parking can be an issue) stay overnight in one of the delightful wine villages nearby.

You really are flying through Europe on this itinerary.

I would never stay less than an hour from the airport the night before my flight home from any airport in Italy. I learned my lesson over 25 years ago when a rail strike popped up.

Anything we are missing? Yes, you're missing all the little things that make France, Switzerland and Italy so memorable because you are on an overly scheduled itinerary with absolutely no breathing room

Paris to Colmar - take train. Faster and much cheaper.
Colmar to Lucerne - take the train. If you want a rental in Switzerland get one there.
Lucerne to Lake Como - take the train.

Don't bother with Cinque Terre.

Realize you are traveling at the highest tourist time of the year; all the Europeans are on vacation at this time. It's also the hottest time of the year, and AC is not a normal thing where you're planning to be.

One note about Paris in September. Fashion Week(s) happen then, and many conventions occur there also in September. Hotel prices will beat their highest and the city will have lots of visitors. August sees many Parisians gone on vacation so there are better prices and fewer crowds. Of course, it is PARIS so there are always many tourists, but Paris is worth it. That plus is offset with the heat of August (and early September also). Be sure to get lodgings with AC.

Thank you all so much for the info. I'm working on changing things around as to accommodate your suggestions.
Thanks !!