Drive from Monaco through Italy to Interlaken

Hi dw. Unless you want to wind through slow curvy mountain roads, the obvious way is thru Italy to Milan and north from there; there is only one main pass thru the mountains, north of Milan. It is pretty much freeway the whole way until you get close to Interlaken. Enjoy your trip!

Dw,

Beware of expensive rental drop off fees when returning car rental in a different country.

You may want to consider traveling by train, then renting a car in Switzerland if you really need to.

Thanks for the feedback regarding the route as well as the drop-off question.

We are dropping the car off at the French side of the Geneva airport so the drop-off fee is ~$70. Given we have the car for 11 days and can drop it off somewhere else, I don't think it is too unreasonable. However, if we dropped it off on the Swiss side it would have cost ~$500+ which doesn't make much sense.

So the route from Monaco through Italy would not be treacherous? We might swing back through France even if it takes an extra hour. As a side note, the rental car agency said it was fine if we took the car through Italy. They also reminded us about the 40 CHF Swiss vignette.

Is it true that one needs to get a vehicle speed vignette in Italy?

In Italy you don't need a vignette because you'll be paying tolls all along the Italian roadways. Are you 100% sure about that drop fee? That sounds WAY too low.

In an Italy guide there was some mention of the need of a 'speed' vignette to indicate what speed limit your vehicle should follow. I will have to check it again. Maybe this was just for caravans and trailers.

If one returns a vehicle to the French Sector of the GVA airport, the drop off fee is significantly lower than if one drops a vehicle on the Swiss side. I have seen this discussed in various forums and have discussed it with the car rental agency we are using (Sixt) as well. The drop off fee is listed on the car rental agreement. No harm in double checking though.

No sticker needed in Italy. The Swiss sticker will be sold to you as part of the border crossing. The Italy/Swiss border does have long lines sometimes, such as at the beginning and end of weekends and near holidays.

A $70 drop fee for leaving a French car on the French side of Geneva Airport sounds pretty normal to me, not a cause for concern.

If you want to drive that whole route in one day, then the options via Italy make it possible. If you wanted to explore a scenic route through France via Grenoble, then you'd have to split up the trip.

In france now. Sixt rental took advantage of our late (planned) arrival and really tried to screw us with the car. Ended up having to run to another sixt terminal location to plead our case. With 5 minutes to spare we got an audi a4 that is front wheel drive but no snow tires. We rented snow chains. Do you think FWD and snow chains is good enough to drive in these areas? I've driven in snow storms so I'm not too unfamiliar with it. I am just unfamiliar with Switzerland winter storm driving.

Thanks

If you are just driving to Interlaken, snow chains are unnecessary. All the main roads, and all roads up to resorts will be clear. It hit +10°C here today (down in the flatlands), slightly higher a few days ago. Spring has arrived. No winter storms.

Thanks for the info. The drive was a breeze. Had some spectacular views as well. Had to stop for diesel and adblue, the latter of which was provided by a very kind Italian gentlemen gas attendant.

Very easy (but long) drive. Fitting in a taste of monaco was worth it. Drove the middle corniche and parts of the f1 circuit.