Driving from Geneva to Avignon
 

Planning a summer 2011 trip to Provence and finding airfare from Des Moines to Marseille, France extremely high and with bad (very long) return flights.

We can save $200 per person and get much more reasonable flying durations if we fly into and out of Geneva, Switzerland and then drive to a base location in or near Avignon.

Thoughts? Mapquest says 3h45m drive from Geneva is that accurate? I assume that is mountainous terrain? Will the cost of tolls eat up any savings? Any issues with renting a car in Switzerland and going to France. I assume not, but really don't have a clue as I've never rented a car in Europe.

Tell me if I'm just being cheap and should just eat the extra $ to fly into Marseille. I never believe my DH when he tells me these things, but total strangers on Fodors I do! Ha!

Geneva has both French and Swiss car rental offices. In '08 when we flew to Geneva, and visited France, we found that Swiss cars were more reasonably priced.

Check times, toll costs, and fuel costs using www.viamichelin.com. Figure costs from Marseille to Avignon also. For a 3-4 hr trip on Viamichelin - add about 15 mins to their estimate. I don't recall that drive to be very mountainous. Three hours is my limit for driving on arrival day from the US.

On your return, consider staying in Annecy the day before your flight home. We did not find Geneva to be very interesting.

I would put a heavier weight on travel time/convenience than on cost - as long as the cost savings is below $400-500. However, your cost threshold may be differernt than mine.

Stu Dudley

Thanks Stu, great information. I was actually thinking about spending the first night in Annecy, as I'm usually pretty spent by the flight. And then on the way back I've found that just staying near the departing airport is less stressful as well.