BackPacking and Driving From Paris to Barcelona

You are spending all your time in major cities - I would take trains or fly. Driving from city to city is no fun - all you see is the tarmac and other cars, and once inside the city, a car is a nuisance and parking difficult and expensive. And why Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Zurich? Unless you have special personal reasons for going there, there are more attractive and historically important places to visit, such as Mainz, Heidelberg, Freiburg, Munich and Lucerne, plus plenty of charming, smaller places. And why drive all the way from Zurich to Rome and only stay one night? And then the following day you are driving from Rome to Barcelona which is 855 miles and requires 12 hours of driving, plus stops and rests. Just crazy.

I second Alec's opinion. Train and plane, skip the car. Traffic and parking in Paris, Rome, Barcelona, are awful.

I absolutely agree with taking trains since you're only going to cities. You give $1,300 as the cost of the rental but does this include the drop off fee for renting in one country and dropping off in another and the cost of gas, parking, and tolls?

If you take the trains and book ahead on the internet you could save money and not have to stay in hostels.

And why drive all the way to Rome - it's a long drive - 8 hours w/o stopping - just to have a few hours in Rome and then turn around and drive another 12+ hours to Barcelona and you're planning to pay to keep a car in a city where you won't need it for an extra 5 days.

I think you can use your money much more wisely than you have planned.

Although everyone has their own travel style I think you need to seriously rethink this plan.

Picking up a car in Paris the first day there makes no sense at all. If you do rent a car or cars during the trip pick them up when you leave a city... driving around in and parking in places like Paris and Rome will be no fun at all.


I can't help but stress what Alec and Adrienne have already mentioned... driving 900 kilometers to Rome and spending one day makes no sense at all. Skip Rome entirely rather than go all that way for 1 day.

You have roughly 3 weeks... try figuring out something like this...fly into Paris and spend a week. You'll be able to afford a hotel because you won't be paying for a car rental, gas or tolls during this period.

Fly to Rome. Spend the best part of a week.

Fly or train to one other place of your choice and fly home from there at the end of the holiday.

You'll see and enjoy more than by spending all your time in a car.

Rob

wow!...Everything you guys have said is totally changing our perspective now. The only reason we wanted to rent a car is because then we can do more shopping and keep our luggage in the car instead of moving it from one train to another.
I did look at the train prices, and that might not be such a bad idea. Since, both me and my husband are under 25 years of age, I think we get a discount. But with a train, we can only visit 2 or 3 places instead of all 5 right? What do you guys think about renting a car within a country only like renting a car when we get to frankfurt and then drive to stuttgart and other cities as day trips??
The only place where we have personal reasons to go is Frankfort and Stuttgart, the rest of it is just popular attractions we wanted to see.
The thing about driving though other than the luggage is that wouldn't we be able to stop whereever we want and check out cities on the way. For example from Rome to Barcelona, we were thinking about stopping at Genova for a few hours, and maybe Cannes. What do you think?
Oh and Rob mentioned flying within Europe..would that be cheaper than a train by any chance? and how easy would it be to haul our luggage?

Keeping your purchases and luggage in the car is quite risky. You'll be in public parking lots and have rental car license plates/tags and be a prime target for theft. Bad idea.

Stopping in Genoa for a few hours? Drive into a large city near you that you have never been to before and see how long it takes to get acclimated. Do you have any idea what you'll do for a few hours in these cities? You'll have to navigate traffic, one-way streets, signs in Italian/French, find parking, etc.

You can do whatever you want but you have a limited budget and not much of a plan. Do you actually want to see anything in the places you go or just wander around aimlessly. Either way, I don't think it's possible to get the feel of a place in a few hours.

Regarding shopping - many things are the same in Europe as in the US and might be cheaper in the US because of the exchange rate. It's becoming more and more difficult to find local crafts in large cities as most cities offer the same type of shops and souvenirs. You also don't have a lot of money to spend on shopping. Have you factored food into your budget?

<< how easy would it be to haul our luggage >>

Exactly how much luggage are you bringing? I would recommend no more than you can carry - one suitcase and a day pack each.

At least in Italy, you can leave your luggage for a small fee at the main train stations. This would allow you to make stops and day trips. I would guess that Genoa has such a facility, as probably does Florence. You may want to check for each station.

I've found that a car in Europe is only useful for exploring small towns and rural areas. Parking in large cities can be a nightmare and public transit is much more efficient.
Almost all travel books, magazines, television shows and travel forums suggest that you pack light!
This is good advice. I didn't heed it my first trip to europe and very nearly threw away most of what I packed. Pack light and stop at a laundromat if necessary. You can even have laundry done at your hotel, pay for it, and not have to deal with luggage in airports, train stations, buses and in and out of hotels.

<< What do you guys think about renting a car within a country only like renting a car when we get to frankfurt and then drive to stuttgart and other cities as day trips >>

You can rent a car for this trip if you like but the train takes 1.25 to 2 hours between the cities. It takes 2 hours to drive plus the extra time to rent the car and park the car and the stress of driving in unknown cities.

If you rent a car you must go to the car rental agency, fill out the paperwork, navigate out of Frankfurt to the highway, navigate within Stuttgart, park. Do the reverse trip at the end of the day, fill the car with gas, and check in the rental car at the agency.

So it will take you longer to drive from Frankfurt to Stuttgart than to take the train and will probably be more expensive.

Please let us know why you're so set on renting cars? Do you think it will be easier to get around? It will be more difficult, take more time, and most likely be more expensive.

...we were pretty set on renting a car because it
seemed cheaper than a train and we thought we can haul our 2 suitcases and 2 handbags with us. The only reason now I think we just rent a car within Germany is coz my husband lived in Germany till he was 18 (he's 22 now) and he claims to know the area quite
well...and I've also looked at trains that go from Frankfort to Stuttgart for example and driving seemed cheaper...
Although does anyone know if you have to pay extra money if the driver is under 25?
I also noticed a lot of people telling us to limit
our trip to 3 destinations...bases on your expierence which 3 places
would you recommend?

Another question I had was based on your expierences what would be a
realistic budget to travel to Europe and stay there for 3 weeks? We had somehwere between $6000 and $8000 in mind but hopefully on the lower end of that scale...is that unrealistic?

Oh and another question.,,does anyone know if a Canadian citizen requires a visa to
go to europe for 3 weeks? Thanks

My suggested itinerary for you:
Spend a few nights in Paris to get over jetlag and see the sights, then take a train to Germany and hire a car. Tour through Southern Germany for a week and return the car somewhere like Munich. Then train or fly to Rome and stay at least three nights. Fly to Barcelona and stay, and then fly home.
If you book in advance, you can usually get a cheap advance fare on trains, and there are numerous budget airlines flying in Europe, and often full-service airlines lower their fares to compete. In October you should be able to bag some cheap fares, like 50 euro one way from Munich to Rome (Lufthansa Italia has 49 euro specials) and Rome to Barcelona. Use www.whichbudget.com to plan your flights, and www.bahn.de for train timetables. Also read www.seat61.com for excellent guide to rail travel.

I can't believe renting is cheaper than using the train? Have you factored in fuel?
You will have a lot more fun travelling by train and it will be a lot less stressful. I travelled around Europe for 3 weeks by train when I was 22 and met lots of people that way.

No, a Canadian citizen does not need a visa for visiting any of the countries you mention.

Yes, flying between cities can often be less expensive than train or car in Europe. There are many cut rate airlines:

http://www.etn.nl/lcosteur.htm

When you mention thinking a car would be good to store your luggage that's a concern... for 2 people your ages, the time you'll be away and the distances you'll go you should have nothing larger than carry on luggage. That means at most about a 20 inch roller bag and a laptop bag. Anything more will weigh you down, slow you down and cost a fortune if you fly anywhere between cities.

A car in Europe, for me anyway, is ideal. But the time element enters into it and you have too much distance planned in too short a time to use a car the whole trip. Driving in some areas then using a train or plane to get to another is a good compromise.

In your case since your husband is from Germany 3 main spots might be Paris, Frankfurt and Rome. I'd leave Barcelona for another time.

Last point for now... you really need to open up http://maps.google.com and do some planning. Some people like http://www.viamichelin.com

When you say you were thinking of dropping by Geneva on the way from Rome to Barcelona that means you need to get a better handle on the geography and routes.

Rob

"When you say you were thinking of dropping by Geneva on the way from Rome to Barcelona that means you need to get a better handle on the geography and routes."

OP said Genova not Geneva