Europe self drive tour
 

A friend and I are booked to fly and drive from CDG airport at the end of April 2014. We have accommodation one night in Paris before our journey, Just wondering if it was best we avoid driving to Belgium, Amsterdam, Germany, Austria and Switzerland before ending in Italy then touring South of France before arriving back in Paris. I have been to these countries before but my friend has not so it was more for her benefit than anything. As we only have 28 days for the tour, I am wondering if it was best we just toured France and Italy before returning to Paris and then rail to London for 4 days. If I had thought about it earlier, we could have flown to Nice and hired a car from there instead. Would prefer to do back roads and avoid big city areas most of the way if possible. Would luv to her to see the Milleu bridge though. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

Tour France if you wish, but recognize that taking the car to Italy will be an added expense. You can do a one way rental in France, end close to the Italian border and then visit some highlights in Italy, such as Venice, Florence and Rome, by train. Then take a low-cost airline from Rome to London.

If you work your way down to Nice, there is an overnight train to Venice.

Driving routes can be plotted out on viamichelin. You need to decide on how many hours of driving you can tolerate per day. Autoroutes provide a quick way of getting long distances out of the way before enjoying more leisurely driving on N and D roads.

28 days, I'd limit myself to France, Belgium, Netherlands and the odd bit of Germany and I wouldn't even try and get all over France. I think you need to be very focused on where you want to go the French Motorways (all motorways) are not very pretty.

Amsterdam is a city, not a country. The country, the Netherlands, is easy to drive, and you can visit lots of lovely places the average tourist doesn't reach. For Amsterdam you could stay outside the city, where hotels are often cheaper, and get the train in. Driving and parking in the city is a pain, and expensive.

I found this post very confusing. You're starting in Paris and driving toward Italy. I don't understand the question about avoiding countries such as Belgium and Netherlands since they are north of Paris. Perhaps you could clarify what you mean by avoiding countries that are outside France and Italy and not on a route between the two countries.

Anyway...with only 28 days and wanting to keep to back roads you could not possibly cover both France and Italy. You need to make some choices as to where to visit so you're not aimlessly driving around. In case you were considering 5 countries and 3 cities in 28 days I would advise against it.

Is your friend OK with not visiting the major cities in Italy?