mahmoud_m

Dears,

I'm going to visit France and Italy in January. I like to travel by car in Europe but as it's first time for both of us, I have no idea is traveling in this season with car something interesting?
What about roads? Are roads beautiful enough?

My second option will be train/cheap airlines. Please advise. Thanks

Br,
Mahmoud

sandralist

Can't answer with regard to France, but in Italy in can be "interesting" in ways that are not pleasant, and you really must constantly watch the weather forecasts wherever you go.

In the ski resort areas, roads are cleared of snow fairly rapidly, but you still need to keep on eye on the weather so you don't get caught in a blizzard.

In northern Italy there are often severe fog hazards in winter, and around the scenic areas, where the roads are very twisty, there can be snow and ice, and the roads are not cleared quickly. You are required to be carrying snow chains in your car and you need to be very careful driving off the main highways.

In the areas that don't get snow there can be torrential rain on some days, and this includes all of southern Italy and its islands. So again, you really need to be paying attention to weather forecasts.

There is a great deal of Italy that can be seen by train, and you can spontaneously rent a car if the weather is dry and sunny to enjoy some scenic driving. But it can be a mistake to plan a winter road trip in Italy where you must keep moving along because you pre-booked hotels. That is a bad plan.

Dukey1

How can you "like to travel by car in Europe" when you've never been there?????

thursdaysd

He probably means "would like" - likely English is not his first language.

In January I would head as far south as possible, take warm and waterproof clothes, and use the trains. Consider Nice.

Nonconformist

English obviously isn't their first language. They mean, I'm pretty sure, they would like to travel by car.

Christina

it depends where you drive, just like other places. There are some scenic roads where it would be interesting (not to mention some that might be more interesting than you want, such as around gorges or mountains). You can't do those in winter, so much. But others are just straight, big super highways that aren't interesting at all.

So it's hard to say without knowing your route if it would be interesting or boring.

annhig

Mahmoud - there are some wonderful roads in Europe, with terrific views, but in order to get those views very often you have to be up high which in winter may mean snow or fog or both. Not a good idea, particularly if you are not used to driving on them.

You can also get great views from trains, [so long as the weather hasn't stopped them running, though that rarely happens] or from buses; either public buses or tours.

Give us an idea of where you're going, and we might be able to give you a few suggestions.

nytraveler

Not sure where you are from but the parts of europe you are talking about have temperate climates with a real winter until you go very far south. this means trees with no leaves, grass is often brown and no flowers. The countryside will not look anythng like it does in spring summer and early fall - and most of the "pretty" will not exist. There can still be dramatic scenery - mountains, glaciers, lakes, etc - but the weather will be cold, daylight hours short and I would not try to drive unless you have experience driving in ice/snow - which is a whole different skill set than driving on dry pavements.

And this is from someone who has done more than 20 road trips in europe - but not in midwinter.

greg

If weather becomes like this, is it interesting to you? http://rt.com/news/218167-massive-sn...alps-stranded/

sandralist

mahmoud,

Please ignore nytraveler's descriptions of Italy in winter. They bear no relationship to reality. She has been asked many times to stop doing this. You can find many previous threads where many people have had to warn others to please ignore nytraveler's false descriptions.

As she herself points out, she has never traveled through Italy in mid-winter. She refuses to believe that the majority of areas are green, many have flowers and trees have leaves, no matter how many times she is told just that. Never mind her problems.

menachem

depends on where you go, sandralist. for both france and italy: if you're in northern italy, there will be a real winter and no flowers. if it's the south of france and neighbouring italy, things are different of course.

in late january i always visit the ardennes, in Belgium, to visit an Indian music festival near Durbuy. Beautiful scenery, but a week in advance we're devout watchers of the weather situation, because we know that if there's serious snow (and there will be), we may be stuck in Durbuy, as it's not that easy to get out of there with snow. Two years ago a bus with British visitors to the festival was stuck in a ditch and had to be towed out.

So it would seem it depends where the driving is done.

nytraveler

Sandaralist seems to believe that all of Italy has beuatiful weather in the winter. This is not so.

The further south you go the warmer the weather and the greater the chance of an attractive countryside. But my best friend went to Venice for a week around the New Year and had 6 days of rain and one of snow. Snow can be expected anyplace in the mountains - and can happpen as far south as Rome and in most parts of france - although not likely right around the Med.

mahmoud_m

Dears,

Thanks to all for your feedback.

We had plan to visit Paris (forth time for me and first time with my wife), Monaco, Milan, Venice (first time for both of us) with rental car (Thanks to GPS which can help for first time and even later )

Based on your comments, North of Italy will not be same as South (like Naples)and also the risk of snow/fog is high in North area. So I leave trip with car option to next time and will mix train and flight options based on our schedule.

You guessed right, English is my second language after my native one which is Persian.

Please share your other suggestions if you have regarding these cities. Thanks

Tulips

Hi Mahmoud, roads in France are generally very well maintained, and kept free of ice and snow as much as possible. But if you get a serious winter storm, as happened the end of December, you'll be stuck.

Renting a car in France and returning it in Italy will be very expensive, as there will be a charge for dropping it off in another country. Besides, you do not want a car in any of these places. It will be expensive to park, in Milan there are restrictions on driving, and in Venice needless to say a car is useless.

Fly into Paris, train to Monaco (or better: Nice, it is much more interesting than Monaco, especially in winter), train to Milan, train to Venice and back home from there.

Odin

There is risk of snow and/or fog in any place, not just the north area. To say that snow around the Med area is unlikely is just not true in my experience. Saying that the further south you go the better weather you have, is not always true either. The umbrella pines are green all year round and are common in Med areas.

annhig

I agree. for that itinerary, a car will just be an expensive nuisance. The train will be much nicer and probably cheaper if you book in advance.

kerouac

Frankly it has frozen more in southern France than in northern France so far this winter. It even snowed in Tunisia, but we have not yet seen a snowflake in Paris.

If the weather turns bad, it is wise to use the motorways, which obviously have the highest priority for snow or ice removal.

nytraveler

Pine trees are green all year everywhere. It;s only deciduous trees (often most or many of the trees) that lose leaves every fall. When I say no leaves obviously I am not talking about evergreens. But still - much of the "pretty" is missing.

jamikins

We have travelled by car the week of New Years the last two years - Tuscany last year and Burgundy this year.

Our pics are here so you can see and decide for yourself whether they are beautiful

Tuscany https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7639164500734/

Burgundy https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7647659760923/

We hit a warmish year in Tuscany and a coldish year in Burgundy...in both countries the roads were well maintained and clear - we only did day trips about an hour away from our bases each day.

We found the countryside beautiful in a winter sort of way. We enjoyed the food and wine in both places.

We left lots of time to get the cars returned and to catch flights and trains just in case, and of course watched the weather just in case we had to change plans at the last minute. We would not do a long road trip in winter....just use the car for short day trips from a mid-sized town where restaurants will likely be open.

We are returning with my family to Tuscany next year.

Note that many restaurants, wineries and activities are closed in the winter for periods.

I hope this helps!

annhig

can I ask, Jamikins, why you chose to travel by car rather than fly/train?

both Tuscany and Burgundy would be pretty easy from London by public transport, I think.

perhaps you know different!