Cindy

We are hoping to drive from Florence to France this summer. Can we rent a car there and return it in France? Has anyone done this drive? What route would you suggest? Any other suggestions?

kavey

This usually depends on the company.<BR><BR>One of the biggies such as Avis might be able to accommodate, depending on whether they run their business as seperate franchises in each country or as one large international business.<BR><BR>I would contact individual car rental companies and check with them since each one may have different policies.<BR><BR>It would be also worth checking how this impacts on your costs and insurance and whether it might be cheaper to do to seperate rentals in France and Italy and take a train for the journey in between.

xxx

No doubt you can do this, but after you find out how expensive it is you probably won't want to. Kavey has given you excellent advice.

Rex

If you decide to drive and find the return (of the car in France)prohibitively expensive, then San Remo is a reasonable convenient place to return an Italian car. Hertz and Avis are considerably closer to the train station than Budget (Maggiore), if you have a choice.<BR><BR>The drive from Pisa to San Remo is much more monotonous than you might suppose. You see very little of the coast, and essentially none of the Cinque Terre. There are about 150 tunnels in as many miles between Pisa and Nice. It's just tunnel, bridge, repeat... the topography ressembles a bunch of dishes in a dish drainer - - the road is quite new - - it's as if they took a laser and just drilled through one plate of rock after another.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Rhonda

Eurodrive (Renault) & DriveAway (Peugot), both French rental companies, have additional pickup & dropoff fees if outside France. How long are you going? We leased a car through DriveAway and by booking early enough reduced those additional costs with Earlybird specials (picked up in Frankfurt & dropped off in Madrid). With leasing you actually buy a brand new car and sell it back for a predetermined amount. You would only have an additional pickup charge to worry about as you'd be dropping off in France anyway. Do a search here as others have commented on this before.<BR><BR>Agree with Rex. The drive from Italy to France along the freeway is fraught with tunnel after tunnel but it is quick.

Delores

Trying to decide between Provence or the Italian Lakes -- or if we had enough days maybe both. If driving is an expensive series of tunnels, what about a train? Is there a reasonable train route between the Italian Lakes (or Cinque Terra) and southern France -- i.e., either Provence or the Riviera?

Rex

Just for clarification, the tunnels are extensive, but not necessarily expensive - - maybe $10 to 20 USD in tools.<BR><BR>And the train from Milan (i.e., the lakes) to Riviera (or onward to Provence) is certainly pleasant enough - - and misses 75% of the tunnels previously mentioned.

Kay

Cindy,<BR>we rented a car through Avis, picked up in Milan and dropped it back in Lyon, France. Drove south to the French Riviera, up into Switzerland and back into France. No problems at all, though we were surprised at the high road tolls. There was probably a one-way drop off fee but it wouldn't have been too expensive, otherwise we wouldn't have done it.<BR>Kay

Cindy

Kay (or Rex or anybody!):<BR><BR>Did you spend the night in Switzerland or did you do your trip in a day? I'd love to hear more about how long it took, where you went, what the roads were like -- I'm trying to decide whether to travel (from Milan) to Provence, and spend the night somewhere around there, then to Paris, or up to Switzerland to spend the night, then to Paris. Any opinions will be appreciated! Thanks to all of you for your help.

Rex

To Cindy: I don't entirely understand your question to Kay - - what she described is SEVERAL days worth of driving. With rare exceptions, I generally never like to drive more than 4 hours a day in Europe - - albeit that might mean as much as 400 miles (or more).<BR><BR>If your goal is just to get from Italy to Paris i.e., without spending much time on all the wonderful stuff in between, you might want to consider flying cheaply from Milan to Brussels - - www.virgin-express.com - - for example, and not driving.<BR><BR>Otherwise, allow at least three days driving from Milan (ot Florence) to get to Paris - - and ideally, more.<BR>

Cindy

Rex:<BR><BR>Thanks for the reality check. We're actually spending most of our time in Great Britain, but what I'm thinking is that while we're "over there," we need to see as much as we possibly can. So I'm thinking about flying into Rome, being there for a couple of days, doing Florence for a night or two, then Milan (by train) for a night, then heading up to Paris by car, and just seeing as much as we can on the way. SO I was thinking that we could do the trip from Milan to Paris in two days, with one night somewhere in-between. (Then taking the Chunnel to London.) I know that there's a ton of stuff to see, but I'm thinking that a week seeing a little bit of Italy and a little bit of France is better than not seeing it at all. Now, given all that, if I haven't put you to sleep yet, do you have any other suggestions for me? Would you still say that we need at least three days and two nights to get from Milan to Paris, and what routes would you recommend? I'm reading tourbooks, and am looking longingly at the chapters on Provence, and the chapters on the French Alps! (By the way, the Great Britain agenda is set, so I can't be in Italy/France more than about a week, plus a couple of days in Paris.) Thanks for your help! I've read a lot of your posts, and find them extremely helpful. <BR><BR><BR>

Wayne

Cindy--<BR>Since your itinerary's beginning and end points seem fixed (Milan and Paris, I assume) I would recommend the following:<BR>1. Arrange for your car rental ahead of time with a reputable rental company, being sure to advise them that you want to return the car in Paris.<BR>2. After rental in Milan, assuming you want to head out into the countryside, drive west on the A4, connecting north of Torino to the A5 headed north. If you have arrived in Milan in the early morning as most flights do, you can probably get as far as Chamonix, going through the Mont Blanc tunnel. Spend the first night in Chamonix, a lovely village surrounded by mountains and with Mont Blanc looming over it.<BR>3. From Chamonix, go west to Bour-en-Bresse, then north toward Dijon, but take the A6 northwest at Beaune before reaching Dijon. Beaune is a charming old village, the heart of Beaujolais wine country, and a great place for an overnight stop. <BR>4. Continue on the A6 all the way to Paris. <BR><BR>Anywhere you stop along the way, you will find fascinating little villages and beautiful old cathedrals, even a few chateaux. Fontainebleau is more or less on your way outside of Paris and is a wonderful overnight stop before reaching Paris to return the car.<BR>So that's my suggestion for a route; where and how often you stop will depend on your available time.

Rex

Your trip already has a lot of big cities, in my opinion, so I think rome ought to be for another trip. Rome is not fun for a visit of less than 72 hours, in my opinion - - it is very "intense" - - and it takes time to get used to its frenetic pace. It's more than just very urban (which Paris and London are); it's an assault on your senses.<BR><BR>Since you only have a week, and you seem intent on spending a few days in Paris, I would recommend:<BR><BR>1. Fly www.ryanair.com to Brescia - - you can take the early flight (6:55 am, which means getting a car to take you to Stanstead at like 4:30 am - - but what the heck, you can catnap on the plane). You'll arrive at 9:45 - - and you can take the train to Milan, arriving easily before noon. People say there is not much purpose to choosing milan as your one big city destination in Italy, but I say hogwash. The Duomo, the Galleria and nearby shopping, the Last Supper (you'll need a reservation) - - all make for a great day. This is a tiring day, so plan on spending the night in Milan.<BR><BR>2. Now you need to decide - - a few days in Italy? or maybe just one? Either way, head to Lake Como, with a three-day car rental perhaps - - or others here can advise you on a day trip by public transportation.<BR><BR>3. Whether you spend one day in northern Italy or several, you'll go onward to France via the 4-hour train ride from Milan to Monaco or Nice. You can rent your car there. Or as others have said, you can cut across the Alps and make it to Chambery in only about 4 hrs from Milan also. You can now start a new three day car rental in France from either entry point to get you to Paris.<BR><BR>That's how I would approach it.<BR>

Kay

Hi Cindy,<BR>It took us a LOT longer than we thought to get anywhere by car in Europe. We had looked at maps etc but the reality was a little different. The main highways/freeways are quick but you don't see anything plus they are expensive, the lesser roads are much more scenic but take forever when you are driving through little villages. We had to skip whole areas and jump onto a freeway just to make up time. Also parking is generally difficult as Europe was built long before cars were thought of.<BR>It took us approx. 1 and half days Milan to Nice, stopping overnight, about the same from Nice to Montreux in Switzerland. We had the car for about a week. We are off to Italy this year and are trying the trains this time.<BR>Hope this helps a little.<BR>Kay