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Italy, Spain & France itinerary help

Posted by (Sydney, Australia) on

I have just purchases a round the world ticket and I need some help on the European portion. I am pretty sure that I am OK with the UK part. I am planning on spending 16 days traveling around Britain and the Scotland, which may be too much??? I will have around 23 days in Europe and this is what I have come up with so far:

Fly from London on EasyJet to Rome (3 days)

Train from Rome to Nice (3 days). In Nice I plan to rent a car for the rest of the journey.

Nice – Carcassonne (3 days)

Carcassonne – Barcelona (2 days)

Barcelona – San Sebastian (3 days)

San Sebastian – Bordeaux (1day)

Bordeaux – Saint Malo (2 days)

Saint Malo – Rouen (1 day)

Rouen – Paris (4 days)

Is this doable as I don’t want the trip to be too rushed? I could drop the Italy part but I would really like to see Rome. I am not sure if car rental is the best way to go but I like to idea of having some freedom and being able to get of the beaten track. Also does anyone know if their will be a surcharge for picking the car up in Nice and dropping it off in Paris? If anyone has any suggestions it would be most appreciated.

Posted by
10344 posts

It sounds like a fantastic trip and I'm jealous!Some thoughts: 1. No one on this site in the last year has recommended renting a car in Nice or the Riviera, train works much better, freeing you from headache of a car in those areas (esp. in the summer with the horrendous traffic jams). 2. Then train farther west and pick up the rental car outside the Riviera.3. No Provence, just wondered if you'd considered it?4. Have you used viamichelin.com to get an idea of driving times, some are significant and will affect the amount of time you actually have in a destination?

Posted by
3643 posts

1st, the easy part: you should be able to find a car rental with no drop fee, as long as you're within one country. We've done it many times, using Autoeurope. They also have good prices, and we've found them easy to deal with.
I do think your itinerary is too rushed. It always takes longer to get places by car in Europe than you think. The roads and signage are unfamiliar, one might even say quirky on occasion. You spend time finding your hotel and parking. If you go to www.viamichelin.com, you can get an idea of driving times between some of your destinations (add on a bit).

I would definitely drop Rome. Save it for another trip when you can concentrate on Italy. You'll have more time and money for the other destinations. Don't add another: just take a more leisurely pace with the places you've listed.

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