I want to drive from Paris to London by rental car

I will go to London from Paris by train

Make up your mind.

Yep, very confusing post. I THINK he might mean he plans to drive from Rome to Paris with an overnight stop on the way and then catch the train the London. Anyhow that's how I interpreted it earlier today, but I decided to wait for a braver soul to chime in first .

What is confusing? It is very simple. I will spend few days in Rome, hire a rental car and drive to Paris. I want to see what ever I can see on my way as I love sight seeing. I will spend few days in Paris and then catch a train to London. I want to know if the road signs are in English and whether the drive from Rome to Paris will be interesting for me.

Looking at the driving directions from Rome to Paris on www.viamichelin.com/web/Routes it shows 14 hours 33 minutes (they suggest allowing an additional 26 mins for possible traffic; but I'd guess more, based on driving in Italy in December) to go 1418 km. It'll cost EUR 162 for fuel, plus EUR 160 in tolls. This before you actually rent the car and pay the surcharge for drop-off in a different country. The road signs won't be in English until you are in England.

"Whether the drive will be interesting for me?"
What do you find interesting? That's a lot of motorway driving; unless you're willing to take extra time and explore a few back roads. Whenever I rent a car in Europe, I take both a GPS AND map books.

I've driven the part from Paris to southern France and would never do it again. It's just a highway so you see cars, trees, and motorway services - just like highways anywhere. It would be much cheaper to fly from Rome to Paris and would allow for more sightseeing time.

I have often driven across France - mostly boring if you stick to the autoroute. It's well organized, well signposted in French, the rest areas are good. But it's not a very exciting drive. Maybe take an overnight stop in Lyon?

It will be much easier and a lot cheaper to fly from Rome to Paris, or maybe take a train?

The road signs won't be in English. They will be in Italian in Italy, and French in France.

Hiring a car and doing an international one-way drop off will almost certainly incur a big fee from the hire car company, which you may have to pay when you pick up the car.

How many days do you have for the drive? If you can get off the motorways and onto the regional roads your drive will be more interesting, but if you have only a short time then it is motorways, tolls and boredom I'm afraid.

Driving around and into Paris is horrible. Just horrible.

Look into flying or taking the train.

You said you wanted to drive from Paris to London - when you meant from Rome to Paris.

Road signs in europe are in the language of the country - not English. They are also in pictograms. Parking signs (rules and regs and where you can - are also in the local languages. If you are going to be visiting a lot of smaller towns the number of people speaking English will be smaller and it's more important to be able to speak/understand a little of the local languages. (We have done numerous road trips in europ and love i t- if you are doing enough countryside that it makes sense. But I can manage basic romance languages - well actually French ans Spanish which is close enough to make Italian understandable - and the DH speaks basic German.)

Driving from Rome to Paris makes sense if you have the time and intent to stop in several smaller towns along the way. If you're just going from city to city train makes more sense.

Hi R,

You don't say how much time you have allotted for travel between Rome and Paris.

I agree that > If you're just going from city to city train makes more sense.<

It is a 13 hr drive from Rome to Paris on the Autoroute and will require at least one overnight stop along the way.

You can take the 19:25 from Roma Termini and arrive in Paris Lyon at 10:25 having had dinner and breakfast on the train.
See www.trenitalia.com

What's confusing is that you said <<I want to drive from Paris to London by rental car.>> Which of course isn't possible.

If you rent a car in Rome and drop it off in Paris it will cost you an extra US$500 or so beyond the normal rental costs and fuel and tolls. It's a long, tedious drive on the autoroutes, and if you take the more scenic roads you'll need lots of extra days - and you don't even say how many days you've got to begin with. And no, road signs are in the language of the country, so until you get to London they won't be in English. Finding directions is up to you - you'll need maps. What to see along the way is up to you - we don't know you and you haven't given us any information about your interests. You should be looking at flying from Rome to Paris.

. I want to know if the road signs are in English >

No they are in the international signage system of pictograms as used in train stations, airports and on highways - written signs will be largely in French or Italian only with some exceptions - easy to do so put angst to rest.

And pardon the rather rudeness of some Fodorgarchs - most will happily give you help and advice without attitude or rudeness but some...are....well... fill in the blank.