Lisadvd

We are planning our very first trip to Europe late Sept through October 2016. We would like to see as much as we can on this trip and will be hiring a car to get around.
Ideally we'd like a mix of city and countryside sights and have planned an itinerary, which we would love some recommendations on. Is this do-able? Any suggestions will be most welcome.

Paris – 3 nights - Les Toits de Paris B&B (15th Arr.)
Via Champagne and Nancy to:
Strasbourg - 1 night - Hotel Monopole Metropole
Via Basel to:
Lucerne – 1 night - Hotel de la Paix
Via Swiss Alps and Lugano to:
Lake Como – 2 nights - Hotel Sole, San Siro
Via Milan and Verona to:
Mestre (Venice) - 1 night - Holiday Inn Mestre
Via Ravenna and San Marino to:
Assisi – 1 night - Hotel Sole Assisi
Via Umbria to:
Rome - 3 nights - Hotel Santa Maria
(Tuscany) Val D'Orcia – 1 night - Castello di Ripa d'Orcia B&B
(Florence)Mugello - 2 nights - La Paggeria B&B
Cinque Terra – 1 night - Villa Valentina B&B
(Fr Riviera)Villefranche Sur Mer – 2nights – accommodation ??
(Provence )Perrierue – 2 nights - La Campagne Bern B&B
(Provence) Collias – 2 nights - Hostellerie le Castellas B&B
(Burgundy) Puligny-Montrachet - 1 night - Hotel Montrachet
Via Versailles to:
Paris – 1 night - Hotel Astra Opera Astotel
Eurostar to London – 2 nights - Accommodation ??

I know it seems a lot to fit in but we don't mind the driving at all.

janisj

You may not 'mind the driving' but your plan is waaaaaay too agressive. Sorry.

Just one example: Your hotel on Lake Como > Milan > Verona > Venice will be a 5.5 to 6 hour drive and the you have to leave Venice the next morning for another 5+ hour drive.

1 night nets you a few hours in a town, 2 nights nets you one full day - so basically you are spending about half of your time 'butts in seats' in the car on main roads. A HUGE waste of time and money IMO.

aliced

Have you quantified the miles/kilometers between each of your destinations? Have you looked at Via Michelin for driving times (at best) between each destination? Why spend a night at say, Lucerne, when you might at best have a few hours in that gorgeous city. How do you factor in one-way streets, pedestrian zones, getting lost for following perhaps the wrong arrow from the roundabout which all factors into your driving time. The above itinerary sounds to me like scenes from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, actually a favorite of mine, but not a vacation. One-nighters are very hard, as you sometimes cannot check in till late afternoon, and if you have a significant drive the next day, you must head off in the morning, leaving but a few hours. You would have to leave the luggage in the car in several situations, not everyone is comfortable with this and rightly so. I would cut this list in half. Seriously. But it's a great time of year, we always do our Europe trips in Sept/Oct. But if you cut out Italy, you can indulge yourselves in the delights of France & Switzerland and still have a very busy and active itinerary. This is only your first trip! Go back!

anyegr

It sounds very rushed. I feel exhausted just looking at it, but I know some people love to rush through things.

A one-night stay will give you very little time to actually see anything in a place.

I realize that some of the places are close enough that the driving time is short, but then you have to add time for checking out of one place and checking into the next.

Many hotels start serving breakfast at seven or later, so unless you plan to skip that you won't leave until eight or nine. Have you asked the hotels or looked on their websites to find out their breakfast times? Or if they have 24-hour check-out desks?

And even if you have GPS in the car it may take time to find the next hotel. Of course, some places will not let you check in before noon or later, so arriving too early may not be a good idea either.

Are you only interested in seeing outdoor/nature things? Museums and castles etc. may have short opening times, but if you aren't going inside them it doesn't matter if you arrive after they have closed or during their lunchbreak.

MmePerdu

The difficulty with going at such a pace is that you won't have time to find the best of what any given place has to offer. You will know, however, what the roads between all these stops to sleep look like.

On the other hand, this trip as currently conceived will give you a very good idea of what your second trip to Europe will be like.

RonZ

Route planning on viamichelin, paying particular attention to kms' off the motorways, where time estimates can go right out the window. You will not be able to drive into some of the places mentioned in Italy, as explained here:

http://driventoit.blogspot.com.au/

Any seasoned traveler will give the same excellent advice noted above, especially with respect to these one-night stays.

ira

Hey L,

>Any seasoned traveler will give the same excellent advice noted above, especially with respect to these one-night stays.

Your tush is going to get very tired.

If you planned 1/2 France and 1/2 Italy you would have a very nice visit.

Europe will still be there in a few years.

lehcar

i agree with the others that your itinerary is packed too tight with too many places. as someone who experienced driving there, you need to account for getting lost, delays or last minute change on your itinerary.

maybe you will want to enjoy the view or activity a bit longer. perhaps you will need to slow down the driving because the road is too narrow and difficult.

it's bound to happen even with the gps and well planned itinerary.

like you, although i never did the 1 nighter, i packed a lot for my first 2 trips to europe. trip #1: 3 countries for 2.5 weeks. trip #2: 2 countries with day trips in 3 countries for 2.5 weeks.

after those experiences, i learned that there needs to be a balance between relaxation, flexibility and time to enjoy things that are big and little.

a few things to consider: 1) limit your trip to 2 neighbouring countries; 2) select 2-3 major cities as your base where you can do feasible day trips; 3) if you are strapped for time, day trips could also be accomplish via short train ride or non-stop flight.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Lisadvd

Thanks so much everyone. I based this on an Autotours Europe itinerary thinking it will be possible.

I will definitely take your good advice and perhaps stick to France and Italy only, with less driving, maybe more train travel.
Will also look at the Michelin driving maps as suggested thanks.

Back to the drawing board for me- but that's part of the fun anyway!!
My new plan will be based around spending a few days in Paris as the start - Train to Provence ??, where we will base ourselves for several days and hire a car to get around.

What would be my best bet to get to Italy from Provence? Can we fly from Nice to Florence and perhaps hire a car to spend a week or so driving and staying between Florence and Rome.

Would dearly like to add London for 2 nights - So perhaps fly into London before taking the train to Paris??
It feels better already!!

Sassafrass

Lisadvd, kudos to you for taking advice from some very experienced travelers. You will have a much better trip.

StCirq

You might as well take a standard rushed bus tour. It would be far simpler than your plan, and you wouldn't have to do all the planning. If you do want to do this on your own, cut way back. Good for you for getting the idea.

I would fly between Provence and Italy. The train and driving options are, to me, a big PITA.

Fly into London, fly home from Rome.

Rubicund

Your itinerary totals to 25 nights, which is a great amount of time to really see some of the sights that you list, but not all of them You should also note St Cirq's recommendation that you fly open jaw (or multi city) into your first stop then home from your last stop. It saves many hours and miles of backtracking across Europe.

One of the lots of possibilities is to fly into Rome, then up to Venice across to Paris and lastly London. On a straight division you'll have around 5 days in each place, allowing for travel time in between, whetting your appetite for the next time.

Gretchen

What a good sport to really take the good advice to cut back! The idea to fly open jaw is also a good one. If you do, then I would add a day or so to Paris. You will not be disappointed.
Driving can be fun, but for the distances you want to cover, train will really help your itinerary.