Traveling Europe by car, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and back through Germany

we have done similar trips by car and are going again in may and june 2017. what you might want to consider, depending on how long you are going ( you will need a decent amount of time to cover the area you mention) is starting low and ending high. eg: start in greece, then italy etc. so there is a better chance of nice weather. if you do decide to drive consider leasing a car, given you will be picking up and dropping off in different countries. we find May a good time, also no problem with driving ( eg snow tyres etc)

hope this helps.

You said the trip is "for April", so I assume you don't have more than a month. If that is the case, you really need to cut back your destinations. Exactly how much time do you have, and what are your interests? You mentioned "areas" but only listed countries, so we need some guidance on where you want to go. Switzerland and Austria are fairly small, but all those other countries are large, and you could easily spend more than a full month in each one.

When we have a better idea of what you want to see, folks can weigh in on their experiences driving in your target areas.

Reaching Greece will require either flights (likely the cheapest option if booked way ahead of time) or lengthy ferry rides--and I'm not sure how many ferries run in April. I'm a big fan of the Greek mainland, but few people go to Greece and plan to skip the islands. Getting to most of the islands is rather time-consuming.

You don't mention your time frame, but you are looking at a lot of driving. An awful lot. Much of it will be on boring expressways, unless you have unlimited time to take the tiny, pokey roads. Have you sketched out a loose schedule for this trip? Because honestly if you want to get off the beaten track and see the destination spots in Italy alone you will need a couple lifetimes. :-)

The intercity rail service in much of Europe is augmented by local rail and buses that take you 'off the beaten track'. For example, I don't drive here, but often use the train and a bus and hike for one or two days in the national parks and other wilderness areas. Greece is different, and there a car is a good investment.

I think you'll get better advice here if you give more information about what you want to see and do and what kind of experiences you like along with a general timeline rather than starting with the limitation of driving.

It's true that for some areas you need a car to get 'off the beaten track', and you can lease a car for the whole time you're there. But if you intend to spend any time in bigger cities your best bet may be a combination of trains, inter-European flights, and rental cars. I have done a month long trip using a combination of trains and rental cars and it worked out well. It may be less expensive to lease a car than to rent for long periods but you also have to take into account the cost and inconvenience of having that car in the cities where you don't need them. In the long run it evens out.

I agree with the other posters that we need more information to give really good advice - where you intend to go in each country, what you want to see, are any cities in the mix, how long exactly do you have, budget?

First of all make sure you know the pro's and con's of driving rather than using public transport. Public transport is great for long distance travel and going to and from major cities. Whereas for long journeys and big cities a car is a hindrance.
A car is great for getting to smaller cities, the countryside and to natural scenery. A car will also let you see smaller places, where you might not want to spend more than a few hours.
Also you are planning to drive from one corner of the continent to the other, have you considered the distances involved? I'm not just speaking of pure driving distance, but also of all the things you pass along the way. Europe is dense with history and culture, you can drive for six hours and miss tonnes of interesting sights along the way. Personally I would limit myself to a smaller geographical area and use the car to explore that region to the fullest. My last driving holiday was for a month to the eastern parts of France (Alsace down to Provence and in between) and I still feel there is so much more to see in France alone for several more trips.
Use https://www.viamichelin.com/ to plan routes, driving times etc.

I've driven in all these countries and enjoyed it just fine. But agree that Greece is an outlier that would be best to cut out of the plan. Long-term "leasing" programs are based in France, with some neighbor-country pick-up or drop-off spots available for a fee. See http://www.autoeurope.com/buyback.cfm and http://www.europebycar.com/web/. The longer you have for the trip, the more you may appreciate your car as your "home base" and the better you may be able to moderate the long drives.

Making a loop is wasteful if you can plan a more-or-less linear journey and fly open-jaw. Plot your major stops on google maps to fix your route. Is this your first trip to Europe? Do you want to spend your time in "village Europe" and skip the cities? It sounds like you'd be changing hotels every night or two. That can be exhausting, even with a car. I've done it in the U.S. where you can find a decent motel wherever you happen to be at sunset, but Europe is a far different prospect - foreign languages, unfamiliar road signage (in a foreign language), poorer roads. April is less crowded, but that doesn't mean not busy. Half of France will probably have the first 2 weeks after Easter off for spring vacation, then the other half will have the rest of April off. I don't know about the other countries.

You will probably need to fly to/from Greece. Switzerland in April is usually a poor idea (too late for skiing, too early for hiking, and many of the cable cars down for annual maintenance). Take the holidays into account. In most of Europe, Easter Sunday (April 1, 2018) is the biggest holiday of the year and Easter Monday is celebrated in many places too. This is a busy time. Are you planning to go after that? How long is your trip?

Chani is correct. Most European schools and universities will be on Easter holidays in April, so places will be busy and more expensive than say May.

If you want to cover the main sighs and get off the beaten track, in a month you should aim to cover no more than say France and Italy or Germany and Austria. Your current driving schedule needs 3 months to start to scratch the surface.

In my experience, driving from Paris to Normandy is more expensive that taking the train. On my last excursion, picking up a car in Paris was more expensive than in Caen for example. Add to that the price of fuel and the high cost of tolls on major highways, the difference in cost more than paid for 2 train tickets. Of course, you miss the fun of driving in Paris.

We lived in Augsburg, Germany for four years and have driven in my car many times in Europe. It is a great way to see the countryside, places like Normandy, Tuscany, Switzerland, Bavaria and more.

Having a car is a liability if you plan to stay in major cities like Paris, Munich, Rome and more. The European highways are excellent in Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. Roads are not as good in the Balkans and Greece. I don't recommend that you drive a car through the Balkans or in Greece. First, it is too far to drive and Second the roads are not as good and you will waste a lot of time getting to Greece. You can still make it to Greece by air, cheap flights are available. Getting to the islands is recommended after a few days in Athens. Actually, a cruise is not a bad idea, but there are ferries that go to Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes, and more.

Driving in Europe is similar to North America, but then again not. Yes, except in the UK and Ireland, you are on the right. Drivers in Europe tend to be more aggressive, especially in Germany. The autobahns are like our interstate highways, but speeds are faster and you need to stay in the right lane unless passing.

France and Italy have the equivalent of autobahns, but the tolls are quite expensive, especially in Italy. If not on an autobahn, the back roads can range from poor to good. Many back roads follow the old trails that were not engineered like modern roads.

If you go to places like Normandy, driving a car is great, but plan your route and have a navigation system or GPS. Road signs may not be as good as they should be. Staying in large cities, plan on turning in the car. If you go to Italy places like Rome, Florence and Venice are not auto friendly, consider getting rid of the car and take the train to and from those cities.

Another thing, fuel for your car will cost you an arm and a leg in Germany, something like three or four times what it costs in the USA.

We generally rent a car for our month long Europe trip. Either choose a loop to return the car back to the same country, or if needed, drop one car and train across a border and pick up another and travel in a line. We love having a car, love to be on our own schedule, go where we want to go, and explore tiny villages. We don't lease a car, just rent it.

You need to check on google maps or viamichelin what the distance is between locations you want to visit. We have had a couple 4-5 hour legs, but I personally wouldn't go further than that, unless it is only one leg. Better if you can plan just 2-3 hours between locations, and plan to stay a minimum of 3 nights in each location.

I can't imagine getting a car in Normandy and then driving to Italy! If you want to do that I would take a train out of Paris and rent a car for a few days, drop it, then return to Paris and fly to Italy. Also, Greece? Again, you would drop the car and fly again.

We did an awesome trip with a car through Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and then back to Germany. There was a lot of driving, but we didn't go deep into the countries so driving was acceptable for us.

We flew to Munich picked up a car, drove to Mittenwald, then to- Italian Dolomites, Verona, Lake Como, Berner Oberland (Gimmelwald and yes, left the car parked) then to Burgundy region of France, Alsace France then back into Germany and visited friends, then on to Mosel Valley and dropped our car in Koln and took the train to the airport in Dusseldorf.

This was easily done by car, but we were not too spread out and had a full month. It was a great trip. My advice is to plan a reasonable route. Really think about the travel time and what you want to see. And, by the way, driving a car in Italy is not for the faint of heart.