Driving from Nice to Siena and back-good or bad idea?
 

We can´t decide whether we should drive, fly or take the train for our journey from Nice to Siena, and return the same way
How long does the drive take if one drives at the end of June/early July which is holiday season?
Is the route scenic even if one uses the motorway closest to the coast?

We will be renting a house in Tuscany for 1 week and then a house in St Tropez for 1 week.
Our options are:
1: fly to Rome/Pisa/Florens and pick up car for week in Tuscany then
drive to Nice and spend week in Provence, drop off car at Nice Airport but with a very large drop-off fee ( 800 Euro) as we pick up car in Italy and returning in France

2: Fly to Nice Airport and drive to Tuscany ( Siena area ) and then after the week drive back from Siena to Saint Tropez for a week in Provence, drop off car at Nice airport

3: Fly to Rome/Pisa/Florens and pick up car,spend week in Tuscany and then return car at Rome/Pisa/Florens and then take train to Nice, pick up car and use for a week in Provence,return at Nice Airport

The driving there and back seems to be the easy option and when one check out distances it is "only" 488 km, but in reality how long will it take to drive?
Are there quick but nice places along the way to stop for lunch etc?

We picked up our car in Nice after staying there and ended up in Tuscany after touring more of northern Italy. We easily returned the car to Nice but decided to spend a night in Noli. This wasn’t necessary as the total drive was around five hours all on autostrada, autoroutes but we enjoyed our night and dinner in Noli.
Much of the highway goes through tunnels although some are high above as you approach Nice if I remember correctly. Car rentals in France are less expensive than in Italy.
You access the autoeoute right oitside the Nice airport, easy in and out. Nice small airport too.

Yeah drive but consider renting car in Florence and driving to St-Tropez and returning there but if huge dropoff fee drive over to nearby Italy and return car and take train to Nice but only if it saves lots of money.

Florence-Nice is a long train ride - and again could return car in say Ventimiglia or St Remo Italy and take train to Menton or Monaco and rent car for French part of trip. Train info: www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. Book long-distance trains in advance online yourselves - www.seat61.com has an avalanche of great info on doing just that.

If renting a car in France, check that it can be taken to Italy without adding insurance coverage. You can rent a car in France using the "basic" coverage offered through Autoeurope or Kemwel where your Visa card covers the CDW. I think that that option is not available in Italy.

As Michael mentions insurance requirements are different for Italy so it isn't just drop off fees.. I'd rent two different cars - one in Italy and one in France.

We have done both drive & train between Tuscany & Nice - several times. But never back & forth like you are doing. I hate that drive - but in your case, I would drive. The train isn't that great of an alternative. I don't think there are any convenient train options that don't have you driving quite a bit to get to or from a station in Italy. We had to drive from the Val d'Orcia (Tuscany) to La Spezia (long drive), and take a train to Genoa, change trains, then to Nice. It took most of one day after departing the Val d'Orcia about 5AM. (this was over 10 years ago - train schedules probably have changed since then).

As Michael stated, if you pick up a car in France & drive it in Italy - there might be some insurance issues. Your CC CDW can cover you in France - but probably not in Italy.

Stu Dudley

If I had that unfortunate decision to make, I suppose I would drive, but don't expect lovely scenery and charming little restos along the way to enjoy a nice lunch or anything like that. You'll end up at rest/truck stops that are marginally more interesting and with marginally better food than the ones on long stretches of highway in the USA. And add 20-25% more driving time than viamichelin.com suggests just because you will be unfamiliar with what you're doing.

You'll need theft insurance and maybe other types of insurance to drive a car in Italy that you don't need in France, so that's a consideration.

Thusfar, your plans seem complicated and expensive and not exactly "fun."

I've cycled along this route and frankly it is not impressive though the views of the sea are lovely, you can get the same view (and spot dolphins if you STOP) from any high point if you can stop safely. Basically you are driving through a series of small beach holiday resorts that just go on and on. Where there is no resort there is either a view, a line of cars, a tunnel, or a wall.
On top of this there are a few port cities with large scale road systems.

While bike lanes, in places, allowed us to get much nicer views than a car would have, nicer stopping points etc the idea of the drive is just not great.

I recommend you either choose France or Italy, if I was choosing a part of Italy then Tuscany/Umbria or even Piedmont is much nicer than Liguria

I am currently on the last couple of days of a 13 day car trip driving from Nice to Rome and back; currently staying near Lucca but having spent a couple of days in Siena before that. Heading back to Nice on the motorway you are interested in.

The motorway from Nice to Siena is a motorway - I know of few motorways that offer fantastic views and this one is no better or worse than most others - you get some decent views, but I wouldn’t call it scenic ( and there are a lot of tunnels!)



Either:

1. Do Siena - Nice in one day - probably allow 5:30 - 6:00 hours to drive and stop somewhere like Camoglia for lunch. It has a large car park on the edge of the village.

2. Devote one night of your Tuscany time to an overnight stop - over - somewhere near CT?

Sorry, hadn’t appreciated my option2 wouldn’t work for you.

There are always a lot of trucks on the (Spain -) Nice - Genoa higway, all the year round.

But why not change a little bit your 3 versions in order to avoid to drop off the car in another country:

1: fly to Rome/Pisa/Florens and pick up car for week in Tuscany then
drive to Nice and spend week in Provence, leave family at Nice and drive up to San Remo (Italy), drop off the car and go back to Nice by public transport (takes about 2 hrs).
2:
3: Fly to Rome/Pisa/Florens and pick up car,spend week in Tuscany and then return car at Rome and then fly to Nice (with easyjet), pick up car and use for a week in Provence, return at Nice Airport

Camogli!

jtpj777:would be fun to hear what you thought of Lucca and Siena and if you have places to recommend, i.e sights, restaurants etc.?

Lucca seems to have two camps here - those who love it and those who do not - I liked it a lot - for one thing flat and many ancient towers and a Roman relics, etc. Walk the walls too. Siena is great too and everyone here seems to like it.

It would also be useful to pick up a guidebook or two and read about both Lucca and Siena, both of which are hugely popular tourist towns and have thousands and thousands of recommendations for sights and restos and everything else, in print and on screen. You really are not doing yourself any favors by relying, apparently, on travelboard info instead of your own research for this vacation.

StCirq: I have done research but I always find it fun and interesting to hear from fellow travellers who has visited the areas and towns.
I don´t find your remark very helpful though. I will do even more research ( from guide books) about the area once we decided where we will base ourselves. but my initial question was regarding driving from Nice to Siena ( and then it spilled over into other areas)

You already got my take on that drive, and yes, from someone who has visited the area and towns - many, many times. As already mentioned, it won't be a fun drive and no, there won't be cutesy little places to stop off and have a nice lunch if you take the motorways. And Siena and Lucca are huge tourist draws, so there's nothing much new there. Bilbo and others have given you great advice - your plan so far leaves a lot to be desired, and until you sort it out it's hardly worth the time to worry about restaurants and those sorts of details.

1: fly to Rome/Pisa/Florens and pick up car for week in Tuscany then
drive to Nice and spend week in Provence, leave family at Nice and drive up to San Remo (Italy), drop off the car and go back to Nice by public transport (takes about 2 hrs).

It would be better to drop off the car in San Remo, cross the border by train to Menton or Nice and get a French rental. On the French side there are options such as having the CC carry the CDW which lower the cost of the rental considerably.

Cilla 2,

Quite difficult to recommend things when I don't know much about your likes and dislikes; however, I really enjoyed the two nights we had in Siena. For me, the main sites are the Duomo - an absolutely incredible building with the most impressive frescoes, and the Campo.

The Tourist Information Office across from the Duomo had leaflets in English with suggestions for one, two and three day trips in Siena. The Duomo and Ospedale di Santa Caterina Della Scala alone could take up much of one day - indeed the passes that cover both are valid for three days to allow one to spread the visit according to your energy levels ( mine is pretty low these days!).

For eating, we followed some recommendations from the owner of our hotel - very contrasting. One a very small, cheap taverna, " Il Rialto" on Via Del Rialto, that was far enough away from the tourist hubbub to be quite quiet ( in March at least) and was recommended for the " pici" pasta that is, I think, common to Tuscany. The other was a very popular restaurant - San Giuseppe on Via di Fontanella. Very good traditional Tuscan restaurant but no sign of any fish, only meat dishes. If you want to go there you would have to book ahead. Prices reasonable - especially compared to the South of France!

Can't help the same with Lucca as we only travelled there for the day. After Rome and Siena it doesn't have the same, " wow" factor; however, I really liked Lucca itself as a place just to wander the streets- a walk on the city walls was also pleasant. It seemed to have many interesting places to eat and drink on its many piazzas - we had a very pleasant drink on Piazza San Michele.

I have to say that both Siena and Lucca were quite busy, even though it is only late March, so I imagine that June into July won't be any quieter!

Hope that this information can be of some help.

Between Pistoia and Lucca there is a very good cantina (is that the right word?) worth a stop for lunch or a trip for dinner. It is almost a suburb of Pistoia, so some distance from Lucca.

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