Driving around in a rental carr

1. You'll need to buy a Swiss vignette for 40 CHF if you want to drive on any motorways in Switzerland.
2. I don't know of any long-distance car-trains from Evian area to Genoa. There is a car-train to go through the Simplon Tunnel, but it probably just as easy to take the road over the pass.

Be prepared for lots of tolls through France and Italy. And if your experience is similar to other rental vehicle famly travels you'll also need to be prepared for speeding tickets via those automatic speed cameras and of course the dreaded tickets for driving in ZTLs. Expensive petrol as well as CDW should round out the the rental vehicle experience.

There are cartrains from Kanderstag and Brig, Switzerland to Iselle Italy. I took one many, many, many years ago. You drive onto a flatcar and stay in your car, then simply drive off at your destination. We were in Zermatt so at the time it was the easiest way to get to Italy. Fare from Brig is 22chf.

Tim does protest to much. I have driven on four separate trip, over 15,000 kilometres safely and without tickets. There are cost associated with driving of course. Tolls can be avoided by using slower secondary roads. However the toll roads are fast and safe. Just stay in the slow lane except to,pass. The traffic zones are a risk, but one should avoid driving in big cities.

No info on car trains. Enjoy your trip.

francella,

A few thoughts which are more relevant for driving in Italy......

It's important to note that for driving in Italy, each driver listed on the rental form must have the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. These are valid for one year, and easily obtained at any CAA/AAA office (two Passport-sized photos required, which may be provided by the issuing office). Failure to produce an IDP if requested can result in fines on the spot! Failure to pay the fines when requested may result in the rental car being impounded, and further charges for towing and storage. Have a look at https://it.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/transportation-driving/ for more information on I.D.P's and driving in Italy. It is also highly advisable to have an I.D.P. for driving in France.

You may also want to have a look at some of the other posts here concerning the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato (limited traffic) areas that are becoming increasingly prevalent in many Italian towns & cities especially Florence, which is almost saturated with automated ZTL cameras. EACH PASS through one of the automated Cameras will result in a €100+ ticket, which you won't know about until several months after you return home! This website provides more information - http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/traffic_cameras_speeding.htm

There's also the issue of parking tickets, high fuel costs, tolls and automated speed cameras including the devious Traffic Tutor system which measures not only instantaneous speed but also average between two points. Violate either or both parameter and expensive tickets will follow. You may also encounter automated fuel pumps that will only accept Chip & Pin credit cards.

You'll need to buy the highway tax vignette when you enter Switzerland. Failure to do so may result in hefty fines!

1. the cost of entering Switzerland in a rental car

There is no special cost for entering Switzerland in a rental car, or, AFAIK, for any other country. What you do have is the CHF 40 Vignette which is a toll for driving on motorways, it applies to all vehicles. If you cross the border on a motorway you can pay at the border.
France and Italy charge motorway tolls by distance.

1. car trains. On the leg of the journey from Evian to Genoa, is there a car train

Car trains are few and far between, you will not get one from Évian to Genoa. The one from Kandersteg to Brig that Philip mentioned is a short one between two valleys that have no road between them, but there is a rail tunnel. If you are heading from central Switzerland (Bern) to Italy it avoids a very long detour.
According to https://www.viamichelin.com/ Évian-les-Bains to Genoa is:

Distance: 386 km including 274 km on motorways
Time: 04h58 including 02h36 on motorways
Toll €53.90, Consumption €34.43, plus Swiss Vignette if you haven't already got one.

Thanks for the responses and good advice. We have already purchased the international driving license. We are really not speeders, so speeding tickets are probably not going to be an issue. We have very vague and nonspecific plans to use secondary roads whenever possible. Those terrifying sounding traffic zones in Italy are a bit troubling, but our time in Italy will be spent in Cinque Terre, Pisa, Genoa, and then out of Italy to Provence. Our son is flying in from Brussels for a couple of days while we are in Italy. He will have his own rental car, and I'm thinking we will draft him into driver service for those days. Any thoughts on the possibility of encountering snow during the second week of October? My research has turned up contradicting data.
Thanks again!

Snow is certainly a possibility at high elevations, but except for the Simplon Pass, you will be in the valleys that often don't even have snow on the ground even in January. For the Simplon Pass, you have an option of using the car train through the Simplon Tunnel, which is a "base" tunnel, so the entrance and exit are in the valley.

Driving in the areas that you have asked about is a relatively easy endeavor. As previously stated, you pay the Swiss road tax (vignette) at the border crossing. If you should enter into Austria, per chance, you can obtain their vignette at gas station near the border. The following observations are based on our last trip to Italy in 2010. ZTL's are clearly marked as are ECO Zones. Definitely avoid them. The beautiful part about driving in Italy is that they warn you of a speed camera ahead. There are GPS units that have the cameras in the mapping functions as well as the posted speed limits. There are gas stations that close in the middle of the afternoon so please plan your gas purchases accordingly. We drove a combination of Autostrada and secondaries. I do not remember the cost of the tolls. I tend to keep up with the locals when driving which is something I actively try not to do when overseas. Be prepared to see many dented vehicles in Italy which gives an indication of how they drive over there. We were in Milan when we witnessed the disregard for lane markings and the "if my vehicle fits, I am going" attitude of Italian drivers. We drove into eastern France through Switzerland from Italy and I do not recall any special concerns with driving in Switzerland or France. Our trip was late September of 2010.
I hope this helps. Have a great trip!

Thanks, John for the great information and encouragement. Thanks to everyone for the excellent responses and helpful info. We're doing this, and it's going to spectacular, or at least memorable!!

While it is good to be aware of potential pitfalls, this forum usually overstates the difficulty of driving in Europe.

The toll roads in France are wonderful and the rest areas (Aires) have great food, clean restrooms, and always a cashier available to pay for gas. The tolls are only charged when you get off the highway, not at highway intersections or state borders like on the east coast. Carry Euro bills and coins to pay tolls but you may find a staffed booth that will take your credit card.

Park outside the walls in any town with an historic center and ZTLs will not be a problem. In bigger cities like Milan, you can park at an outlying train station and ride into the center, no parking problem.

Stop at overlooks and enjoy the view. Go down small roads at a whim. Drive up to the castles in Val d'Aosta. Drive over Simplon Pass, it's a great road and you can get road conditions online if the weather looks ominous. Small roads are great for picnics and short hikes, sometimes great small restaurants.

Don't speed. Your GPS can help with observing the speed limit and be vigilant in construction zones for posted restrictions. Not difficult.

We drove from Chamonix over the pass to Martigny and got the vignette at the border where there's a store and parking area - nice views from there! Easy.

Writing this is bringing back some great memories. 🙂

Enjoy the trip!

Check the wikipedia article below on European road signs. You need to learn those.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_European_road_signs.
You already received good advice on the rest.

1. just buy the vignette for the motorways (40CHF)
2. No idea, don't think there are car trains on the segment you need.

If you want to enjoy the scenery, probably you won't use a lot of motorways, but if you do the tolls are not so expensive. I'm sure a night in any hotels in Switzerland will cost more than all the tolls you will pay.

Gasoline prices are at least double compared to the US, however cars in Europe tend to be smaller and fuel efficient. Also the distances that you will cover are not so dramatic. Once again, one night in a hotel in Switzerland will likely be more than all the cost of gasoline you purchase or just about.

Great advice, Roberto. We will start working on learning the signs today!

For sure learn the road signs and maybe take them with you. Hard to remember them all. About some of those back roads. Be wise about some of them. We started to take a back road that was on one of our maps. It was more of a 2 track for 4 wheel drive vehicles. Might be a good idea to have a paper map along with a GPS or phone. The rest areas are clean and a good number of them have food. We like the freedom a car provides and we have seen some interesting side stops and meandered through little towns we might otherwise may have overlooked. If you have an Amex card you can get additional auto insurance for $24 for the period of the rental.