My wife and I have begun planning a trip to Europe end of December 2010 through early January 2011. The original plan is to fly into Nice and then stay a couple days in Monaco (probably for New Years Eve). Then we want to drive through Italy stopping a few places on the way (staying at coastal B&Bs or perhaps wineries) and ending the trip in Athens (where we would stay a couple days). Does this sound like it's a feasible plan? Would it be worth it? Would we want to stay some where else in Greece?
We've never been to these countries so any and all input would be appreciated.
Drive from Monaco to Athens
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First thing you need to do is find out what the one way drop off fee would be for hiring a car in Monaco, or France, and leaving it in Greece, assuming a hire car company will allow you to do it.
The weather will not be that good around the time you are planning to visit, and days are short.
How long are you actually planning for this trip - it is a long way from Monaco to Athens!
No, that sounds awful.
First off, you don't have time to get from Nice to Athens in a car between end of December and early January. Second, it's highly unlikely you can rent a car in France and drop it in Greece without some humongous drop-off fee. Third, a lot of B&Bs will be closed and no one's making wine that time of year.
Back to the drawing board with guidebooks and a map whose scale you understand.
Actually it doesn't look that far on google maps from Monaco to Athens (a little more than a day of actual driving time). Other options I was considering would be to drop the care of in Italy and take the Ferry into Greece with no car or just do trains the whole way.
It's 1770 km. If that's a little over a day's driving for you, more power to you. Why not just fly over?
You'd still pay a hefty drop-off fee to leave the car in Italy (like $500).
Trains the whole way? Across the Adriatic?
No not the whole way I would take a Ferry across that. Forget it, it doesn't seem like anyone thinks this is doable. It's funny because I have heard people traveling by train/car through Europe.
Yes, people travel by train and car through Europe all the time, but not with a crazy plan like that - in mid-winter, with limited time, trying to do four countries in one rental, thinking they are going to enjoy wineries.
Go in spring, summer, or fall. Take 3-4 weeks. Read some guidebooks and get familiar with maps (and scale). Check out trains and cheap flights from one country to another.
It's not the concept that's unusual; it's your take on it, which really is nuts.
You take the car ferry from Ancona to Igoumenitsa like any sane person would do. No big deal but how you manage to tell you rental car company that they have to pick the car in Athens is up to you. About 130€ one way for you and your car. (Superfast ferries)
Folks here can help you with a great trip, and help you maximize what time you have for your trip, but other info would help. How many days and nights do you actually have total, including your travel days? What places, cities, sights do you want to see as you travel through Italy and other countries? If you have not been to any of these countries, what is your particular interest in them? Are you interested in culture, Art and Architecture, food, History, partying, or simply driving cross country with no interest in things unique to a particular country? What is the goal for this trip? Etc., etc., etc. People do take trains and drive all over Europe. It very much depends on what they want to see and do, the time of year, etc.
I think, rather than just getting a yes or no answer to your single question about going from Monaco to Athens, you will get better advice by sharing what experience you hope to get from this trip.
Hi VinnyH,
My jaw dropped when I read your itinerary. Google maps is deceiving you because StCirq is correct, it averages about 1,100 miles. Everything else she says is correct as well. Although we have never met, I can assure you that as a long time member of this forum and seasoned traveler, StCirq knows what she is talking about.
If instead of going on your own you decided to sign up for a tour, try to find one with that kind of itinerary. Just for the fun of it I did a search on http://www.gct.com using the criteria of escorted tour, all countries, dec 2010. There are 10 listings but none that match the itinerary you mention.
I'm wondering why you are picking that time of year? Is it to save on airfare? It's not worth it.
Go to your library and check out some travel books like "Fodor's Essential Europe, 1st Edition: The Best of 16 Exceptional Countries" and "Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door 2010: The Travel Skills Handbook". Rick Steves' series, seen on PBS, can also be found as DVDs in your local library.
I also suggest sitting down with your wife and making a list of 'whats & whys'. Meaning you list what you each want to see and why you want to see it. Once you make such a list, do some research on these locations using among other things, the books I suggested in the other paragraph. There are so many choices with the countries you mentioned so why do you want to go there? Art? History? Religion? Food?
Come back to the forum here when you can post an update with a new more sensible itinerary.
Best of luck!
Michèle
The previous posters are correct about the importance of checking dropoff fees.
Otherwise...
This is supremely doable, and many of us happily spend our holidays doing pretty much the same thing. Not in midwinter, though.
It's a completely painless 2 day, all motorway, drive from Nice to an Italian ferry port. Though 600 miles a day gives you practically no time to see anything, and Italian motorways can offer glorious scenery for the passenger but not for the driver, so you'll want to go a lot easier.
Overnight ferry: then two and a half hours by motorway from Patras (far better located than Igoumenitsa) to Athens. Ferry details at www.greekferries.gr. Most ferries accept foot passengers, though if all you want to do is go to Athens it's probably quicker and cheaper to drop the car off at Rome-Ciampino and fly Easyjet or at Naples and get Aegean Air.
I honestly don't know how many vineyards have much to see in midwinter. Visiting Italian vineyards isn't the same highly promoted tourist thing it is in California: typically, there's a small shop that, after you've rung several bells, might be opened if there's someone about and they'll sell you whatever they've got in stock that isn't own label production for a North European supermarket chain. They MIGHT offer a tasting. Don't underestimate how wintry most of your Italian driving's likely to be, or the real possibilty that many agriturismos just won't be open then.
Ignore the professional miseryguts, most of whom believe there's only one kind of holiday. Sketch a plan out - and learn from your unfortunate experience here that Fodors is a fine resource for getting specific answers to precise questions. Ask something like "is x a good idea?" and you'll mostly get the uninformed opinions of people whose experience of European travelling is little more than a couple of days' package holiday in Paris.
Ask about the road from Igoumenitsa to Antirrion, however, and you'll find useful information from people more interested in sharing real knowledge than prejudices.