I'm trying to figure out the logistics and possible itinerary for a tentative France trip in late August and September. The trip is to focus on Provence and the Riviera, but I can only get FF tix into Geneva, so am trying to figure out how to logically piece this together to get to the south of France from there. We'd arrive in Geneva late afternoon on a Saturday and would pick up a car at the airport. I thought Chamonix seemed a sensible first stop for a couple of nights (would not want to drive far since we would not get in until 3 pm-ish) - this would be the last weekend in August so I'm not sure if that would pose a problem in terms of finding 2 nights lodging in Chamonix - any advice / thoughts on that?

Anyway, my bigger question at this point is with regards to driving from Chamonix to Nice. ViaMichelin indicated that it takes approximately 4 hrs 40 mins, showing a route through Italy (along the E25 towards Genoa, then the E80 towards Nice). However, mappy.com is telling me it will take 7 1/2 hours (!!), routing me through France (past Grenoble and Digne les Bains). My experience in the past with both these sites is that they aren't always accurate for driving times, so I was hoping that some kind Fodorite might have had some experience with this and could offer some advice regarding best route and approximate driving time ... if it is likely to take 7 1/2 hrs we'll probably need to break it up or else figure something else out, so any suggestions would be welcome!

Go the Italy route. I drove from Grenoble to Nice and the 85 portion will wear you out!!! Mountainous with many, many hairpin curves. Scenic but the driver doesn't have much chance to enjoy.

I drove the Italy route from Nice to Aosta in 2003 and it was fine.

Cheers,

Jinx Hoover

The 7.5 hours timing, for the route you're mentioning, is about right.

There's a faster all-French route, though it's much longer and the tolls are quite high (though they're considerable if you take the tunnel into Italy and then stay on the motorways, which is the only way you'll do this in 4-5 hrs), if you skirt Geneva, take the A41 to Chambery, the A43/48/49 to Valence then the A7/A8 to Nice. With luck, you can do this in 4-5 hrs.

The 4.5 hrs estimate for the Italian route implies no queue to get into the tunnel. You easily spend an hour queueing.

If you like mountains and driving in them, take a few days to follow the road closest to the Italian border. It means half a dozen passes, but the scenery is superlative.

Here's a route that I'd strongly recommend...

Chamonix -> Megève -> Albertville -> St-Jean-de-Maurienne -> Valloire -> Col du Galibier -> Briançon -> Co d'Izoard -> (diversion to St Véran, the highest village in the Alps, at Château Queyras) -> Mont-Dauphin -> follow the Durance Valley to the Autoroute A51.

This can easily be done in one (marvelous) day with a picnic lunch along the route perhaps in St Véran.

Re-reading your post, I realize you're headed to Nice (I was headed for Provence). In that case, you'd leave my route at Mont-Dauphin and take the road that leads to Barcelonnette, etc. That's a much longer drive...

Unless you are in a big hurry to get there, I suggest you follow the more scenic route and enjoy it. Stop overnight somewhere around Briancon or a little farther south, then go on to Nice the next day. If you study the map you will find there is an endless selection of beautiful scenic roads in the big space between Grenoble and Torino. Most of these are easily drivable but with slower speeds and great scenery through the switchbacks and passes. Personally, I wouldn't waste the opportunity to see the scenery unless I had Brigitte Bardot waiting breathlessly for me in Nice.

<i>unless I had Brigitte Bardot waiting breathlessly for me in Nice.</i>

Even today?

Only in my dreams.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions ... however, I'm now back to the drawing board and won't be driving from Geneva to Nice after all. Long story ... sorry, but I feel the need to vent! I spent several very, very frustrating days trying to finalize this booking ... there are seats available for the flights I want but the #!*% FF program has a "system problem" that is preventing bookings on one of their partner airlines which was necessary to get us to Geneva and out of either Marseille or Nice ... they've had this "problem" for at least a week, it's still not fixed and they have no idea when they expect it to be fixed, I would just have to "keep calling back" and hope that the seats are still available whenever the system might eventually be fixed. Anyway, the only option that didn't involve the partner airline was to fly into and out of Paris ... not ideal for a Provence / Riviera trip, but I got fed up and didn't want to take the risk that there wouldn't be any more FF availability by the time their system is fixed, so I just booked flights in and out of Paris instead. So now I'm off to research how to best piece that together!