Road trip from Barcelona along coast of Spain, France to Florence, Italy

'Has anyone done this?' Probably not unless they have money coming out their ears. You can rent a car for a couple of weeks in Spain for under three hundred dollars. Take that same car for the same period of time and drop it in Italy and the price is probably fifteen hundred bucks. Use kayak.com and fiddle with the alternatives. Neglecting food and lodging, but including tolls and gas for a small car, you can bring it back to Spain for a bit under three hundred dollars, maybe even two-fifty. There's enough to see along the way that you can make a big loop and not use the same roads coming and going. Don't start in Italy or the extra cost for insurance by renting there (rather than driving there) will eat you alive. Double check your mileage - - it's closer to eight hundred, maybe even a bit more.

To avoid the different-country drop charge, after you've seen what you want in Spain, take the train to Perpignan, FR and pick up a car there. Explore France, then drop it in Nice. Then train to Italy to get another car or just go on to Florence.

Three short-term rentals might help a little bit, but they're going to be a heck of a lot more than one of a longer term. Also, generally speaking, it costs a bit more to rent a car in France than it does in Spain; and Italy is over the top for the reason previously stated. Also, for some odd reason, it's not uncommon to incur a drop fee for a second city in Italy. The public transportation is going to cost something as well. There's also the wasted time factor of turning in a car at one place, getting to public transportatation, waiting for it, riding it, getting to the next car place, picking up the car, etc. Each of these cycles uses up half a day, at least. If you push it, you can drive from Florence to Barcelona in one long, mean day and do it all in daylight in the summer - - it might be iffy in September since there's only has twelve hours of daylight at the equinox.

Thank you for the insight on this proposed trip. It gives me a lot more to think about. The real reason I wanted to go by car is the option for spontanenity being able to drive along and go to some small town instead of the bigger, more famous towns, etc. I did think about just taking the train but the trains only stop at the bigger cities. The idea of a loop may be a good one. I need to look into that. Actually, we rented a car in Florence last year (Hertz) at a downtown location and it was really pretty cheap. I made the arrangements here in the states before we left. I did hear about the exorbitant fees of leaving a car in another country, so again. Need to look at other options for this trip. Thanks again for the advice. Appreciated.

Hello Teri On your way, if you can afford the boat trip, I'd definitely recommend a trip to Corsica. This is probably the most secluded and untouched place you will get to see on this itinerary. Obviously I am biased because I am Corsican, but you can see for tourself: www.corsicaexperience.com :-) Also around Florence, make sure you rent a car and drive around Tuscany, especially at that time of the year, it should be bright red and yellow forests and new season wines! Finally, if you have kept some money for the end, put it all in a meal at Enoteca Pinchiorri... a once in a lifetime experience from my view (amd I have been to qite a few michelin star restaurants...).
In any case, have fun! As mentioend above, there is LOTS to see on such a long trip. JF