3 Week Driving Trip around Europe - need Suggestions
 

My wife and I are considering a 3+ week driving trip around Europe for June or July 2010. We are just beginning the trip planning but could use some suggested routes, scenic drives, places to see etc. from some experienced driving travelers. We will probably fly into Paris for a few days then train out to another city before renting the car and starting the road trip. In general we would like to visit the Normandy beaches, Versailles, Luxembourg, the Mosel/Rhine area, across to Praque, down to Vienna/Salzburg, down to Lake Como, across Northern Italy, thru the Alps, and on to Provence and Southern France.
Would all this be possible in 3-4 weeks of leisurely sightseeing without hard driving and rushing from point to point ? Any suggestions or recommendations on such a driving trip ?

"<i>Would all this be possible in 3-4 weeks of leisurely sightseeing without hard driving and rushing from point to point ? </i>"

Absolutely not -- and even w/ hard driving and rushing it would be next to impossible.

You want to hit 4 or 5 regions in France plus 5 other countries across half of Europe in 3-ish weeks.

W/ 3 weeks -- Paris, a bit of France and one or two other regions (in any of the countries you listed) would be about it.

W/ 4 weeks you could do a bit more. But some of those places ar so far apart that trains or flying might be better options.

Thanks janisj. I would be interested in hearing what others have done, or would choose to do with 3-4 weeks time to drive/sightsee around Europe. (Say starting from far outside of Paris. I've seen lots of the West side of Germany/Luxembourg Mosel area already).

When I'm planning a driving trip, I go to www.viamichelin.co.uk to learn the distances and driving times between the cities I'll visit. I normally plan on driving no more than three hours per day. That doesn't mean three hours every day. I will spend two or three days--sometimes four--in a given city, taking day trips to nearby places of interest.

I don't need to see everything during this trip. I always assume I'll be back.

Thanks so much. I have lots of work and research to do on driving trips in Europe it seems !

Geographically speaking it can be done. But it depends on your style of travel and probably your age; and some days would have long drives. If I were to consider your trip, I would cut out Normandy, and of course visit Versailles while in Paris. Here's what we did when we were young.

http://europetogo.yuku.com/topic/527...of-Europe.html

In three weeks, you could drive from Paris over through the Mosel/Rhine Valley, down through Salzburg and maybe Vienna and back through some of the Alps, and finishing up through the south of France (Provence) back to Paris. My spouse and I did this trip with a rental car and had a great time. I don't think you can fit Italy into 3 weeks but if you had a month, you could get to northern Italy.

In that time I would pick a max of 8 destinations, and be sure to start and end in the same country for car reasons.
The best car prices are in Germany so that is where I would start--and end. My loop would include:
Munich
Salzburg
Bavaria castles
Lake Como
Luzern
Berner Oberland
Alsace
Back to Munich

Thanks for all your comments. I do think we'll skip Normandy on this trip and include it on a British Isles trip. We are now thinking of starting around Luxembourg/Trier - doing the Mosel area - then south to Bavaria - Salzburg - Lake Como - Tuscany - Provence - then back up to Strasbourg - Luxembourg area. Is this more feasible for a relaxing/enjoyable yet inclusive road trip taking 3-4 weeks ?

One of the most important things to plan in your trip is to pick up and leave the car in the same country. Cross border drop off , when allowed, has high drop off fees which are not always obvious when you book a car online.

So why are you backtracking? To drop off the car in Luxembourg? Look into open jaws flights, maybe into Luxembourg or Metz or Strasbourg or Frankfurt, and out of Nice or Marseille or Lyon.

Since you're driving for 3 weeks or more, you can save money by leasing a car instead of doing a regular car rental. Here's one such program: http://gofrance.about.com/od/carrent...eotcarrent.htm

<i>So why are you backtracking?</i>

There is no obvious backtracking in a circular route. The OP could drive east and south through the German part of the trip to Italy and return via France which would cover a completely different area.

<i>Since you're driving for 3 weeks or more, you can save money by leasing a car instead of doing a regular car rental. Here's one such program: http://gofrance.about.com/od/carrentals/p/peugeotcarrent.htm</i>

Not necessarily. It depends on the type of car one chooses. The OP will have to do some direct comparisons, which can be done by using Autoeurope or Kemwel rental rates compared to Peugeot or Renault's lease rate for the same period of time.

I try to rent the smallest standard shift car available and that rental is usually $200 or $300 cheaper than a lease for a rental period of 31 days. Admittedly, the lease is usually for a larger car because the smallest rentals are not available as a lease.

Your plan is somewhat more feasible. Look at it this way. Generally speaking, let's say you have 4 weeks. Subtract your arrival and departure days, and you have 26 days. Divide by your current proposed 7 (or so) destinations, and you have less than 4 days in each location, not including travel time. Depending on the location, that seems ok, though most of your locations are a huge geographic area, and I'm assuming you'll only see part of it. Of course, if you only have 3 weeks, the calculation will be different.

Now use a mapping site like google maps or mappy.com, and input your locations, to get a general idea of driving time.

Another thing I do to help in the initial stages of planning a trip is to get or prepare a calendar for the days and dates that I have available. Then I start penciling in the possibilities, usually starting from the beginning and ends of the trip.

Here's another tip - when I'm trying to plan out a multi-destination trip, I will list the various cities/areas and then look on fodors, rick steeves, frommer's etc and see how many day they allot for sightseeing. you'll usually see a number of days either on an itinerary or in a section headed by something like 'if you have x number of days'. then, I total up the number of days and figure out how long it will take to see everything. Drop off charges for rental cars can be killers and make sure you can take a rental across various borders. i know some rental firms won't give you certain car models if you are doing a drop-off. All that being said, planning is a great part of the fun in getting ready for a trip! enjoy!!!

My wife and I drove over 2000 miles last year. Trip report at:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

We had a great time and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

My planning included some "quick hits" (stay of 1 or 2 nights) some warranted a true vacation feel (4 nights).

My original thoughts were driving would allow us to stop at some cute intimate places along the way. That really doesn't happen! When you have a 5 hour drive you start just wanting to get to your next destination. A reminder..European highways look just like US highways (you really don't get to see much from them!)

Driving along the Italian and French Riviera over to Provence was "hard driving."

Plan well. Remember to give yourself some "breaks in the action" (stays of 3-4 nights). Realize, with car, you can change your mind anywhere along your trip and change your plans. Utilize hotels that allow you to cancel last minute without penalty.

Enjoy!

No. That trip is possible but would be extremely rushed with way too much time in the car and way too little doing/seeing things.

We have done many road trips in Europe, since we really enjoy driving there because it's so different than the US. And we divide driving equally, never doing more than 2 hours without a stop.

An example of what is reasoanable for 3 weeks is Rome (pick up car when leave), Florence, Lucerne, Salzburg,and Paris (drop car when arrive). and this only made sense since we had been to Paris twice before - so only stayed 2 days. For a relaxed trip you should have no more than 2 hotels per week, giving you 3 or 4 days to see a town and a little of the surroundings, If you haven;t seen the "anchor" cities before you should allow 4/5 days for each if major cities.

And definitely do open jaws - into one city and out of the last.

Here was a trip I planned once, but didn't do (my four week trip that I did has a link below). I think it would be doable with no terrible drives.

Prague, CR - 4 Nights (castle day trip)
Olomouc, CR (via Kutna Hora and Sedlec Bone Church) - 1 Night
Krakow, Poland - 4 Nights
High Tatras, Slovakia - 2 Nights
Eger, Hungary - 2 Nights
Budapest, Hungary - 3 Nights
Vienna, Austria - 4 Nights (day trip to Melk Abbey)
Salzburg, Austria - 3 Nights
Cesky Krumlov, CR - 2 Nights
Back to Prague -2 Nights
Fly Home

http://travelswithmaitaitom.typepad.com/travels/

((H))

Thanks to all for your excellent ideas, comments, and experiences. I certainly agree with whomever said "the planning is as much fun as the trip" ! Whatever we choose I'm sure it's going to be truly fun experience. I'll be back with more specific questions as our planning progresses ! Thanks again for your ideas to get us started ! - Jim