Travel Suggestions for road trip from Lake Como to Paris

When crossing the Alps, do not go through one of the motorway tunnels (St Gotthard, St Bernadino), instead go "over the top" of the passes. An experience. This assumes you are travelling before November. The passes are blocked by snow November to May, and then the only route is one of the tunnels.

I assume you are aware that international one-way car hire can attract hefty surcharges, and have that covered.

I assume that you are all set with Vignette, tolls, and IDPs.

Try different routes on Google Earth. They show the sites at stops you touch enroute. If you like wine: after heading north to Basel...go to Colmar, then spend night in Nancy....then proceed to Champagne Country on way to Paris. Might be better with more than 2 days.

Driving from the Lake Como area all the way to Paris is quite a trek. If you are using googlemaps in get an idea of driving time, it is grossly underestimated. On my recent trip, another one to two hours was required. Even with a one night stay somewhere along the way, you really won't be able to stop and take in the views along the way. Personally, for me, this would be at least a two night stop over to Paris.

If going over the mountain pass which is breathtaking, you add time to your drive. That first day I would stop in Lucerne, Switzerland. Make sure you have reservations for that night since it is a busy area. The next day I would drive and stop in the area of Beaune, the Burgundy area of France or go a bit further towards Paris and stop in around the area of Châteauneuf-en-Auxois, (the more western area of Burgundy).

Just to point out a few things about the rental car. You did not say where your rental starts and ends, but just be aware that if you rent in one country and drop the car off in another country, there are high drop-off charges for that drop off in another country. Also, are you ending your rental in Paris? If so, I hope you are dropping it off outside of the city. You do not want to drive in the city.

Just to clarify, when driving in Switzerland, you will need to purchase a sticker (vignette) to drive on the autobahns. You purchase this sticker before entering Switzerland and it costs 40 euros (can use the credit card for this or euros). The autobahns in France have tolls (requires euros). When driving in Italy, an International Driver's Permit is required. You can purchase this at your local AAA office. Requires two passport-size photos and $15. Takes about 10 minutes--no test.

Driving through the countries you are mentioning is beautiful but only if you can truly get out and enjoy the drive. Allow time for this. Have a great trip!

Thank you for the informative replies. We are flying in/out of Stuttgart and are renting our car and returning it there.

A Swiss Autobahn Vignette costs 40 Franks. They don't use Euros in Switzerland.
If you cross the border on an Autobahn/autoroute/autostrade there are two lanes, one for those with a vignette and one for those without. In the latter case they sell you a vignette. They take Franks and Euros.

I would make my overnight stop in or near Lyon. Travel via Turin for a lunch stop on your first day. Beaune and Dijon maybe worth a look on day 2 as you head to Paris.

I like the idea of traveling straight into France from Italy via Turin. I checked Rick's book and found a nice sounding hotel, Le Boulevardier, in Lyon. We'll tour there for the late afternoon, evening and next morning and then travel to Paris the next day with a stop along the way in Beaune.
Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions.

Hmmm if you are able to drop off the car (hopefully in Germany) before you get to Lake Como, you're better off taking the train.

From Milan we took the train to Lake Como, took the ferry to my sister's wedding at a villa in Lake Como (at Donko?). From there we took a night train from Lake Como to Munich, so I'm sure there's a train that takes you from Germany to Lake Como.

We rented our car with Sixt and they didn't ding us too much one way, but we kept the car inside one country.