France Spain Italy too much in 1 month?
 

My wife and I are planning a month long European trip from Mid June to Mid July. The idea is to lease a car in Paris drive through the Loire Valley, eventually head to Bilbao, cut across to Barcelona, traverse southern France to Italy, spend a few days in Rome and then drive back to Paris.

The worry is that we might be planning too aggressive of an agenda. We are both in our late 20's and don't have children.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated, at this point the trip is very flexible.

hi ,slo matt,

thre's been a rash of you lucky folks with so much time off on this board recently.

IMO, what you are suggesting is by no means too much in the time you have, but you might like to take the opportunity to spend longer in one place.

We once did sort of the first half of your trip from the UK, driving down form Roscoff in Brittany, through the loire, via the dordogne/bordeau [it was a long time ago] across to san sebastian, as far south as salamanca, then back from santander. so Paris to BCN is very doable in a fortnight.

after that, I think that I would head over to the camargue and provence, and possibly rent an apartment for a week, before heading up to Paris.

you could fit in italy and rome too, but if I were you, I'd leave that for another trip.

I've not leased a car so I'm not usre whether you can do a one-way lease. if you can open jaw into paris and out of Rome would be better than driving back to paris, IMO.

regards, ann

Other than the drive back from Rome to Paris, it sounds wonderful. If you could arrange to fly in to Paris and out from Rome, as suggested above, I would like it better. But even if you can't, you could arrange the trip so that you passed through different areas on the way back and see more of the French countryside, and in my book that is always a good thing.

I think it is a bit much. Thirty days only nets you about 27 actual days "on the ground". Then if you plan on any time at all in Paris before you start your driving tour you'd have even less.

France and Spain and Italy are biiiiig places. If it were me - I'd spend the entire month in 1 country (or at very most 2). Rent cottages/apartments for a week at a time and use them as bases to tour around.

Is this your first trip to Europe? I would limit yourself to 1 or 2 countries and flying open jaw will save you lots of time--into Paris and out of Rome. We always do this and it is a little more expensive with the rental car but well worth it.

We have taken our boys, now ages 16 and 21, to Europe the past 5 summers and have had 3 weeks not including travel time. Our trip in 2003 was spent entirely in France and we still had lots we didn't see. Last summer we spent a week in Provence and 2 weeks in Italy (1 week at an agriturismo doing daytrips around Tuscany/Umbria which was pure heaven and the final week split between the Amalifi Coast and Rome.)

I would cut out Spain. Have you been to Venice, the Cinque Terre? There is so much to see between France and Rome. You will also want to just enjoy il dolce far niente--the sweetness of doing nothing!

Hi S,

See www.viamichelin for driving routes and times.

It's 13+ hr from Rome to Paris on the highways - that's 2 days

Paris to Bilbao is 1 - 1.5 days.

Bilbao to Barcelona is 1 day.

Barcelona to Rome is 1.5 days.

You will be driving for about 1/4 of your visit.

If you visit major cities, you will be paying for your car + parking fees (about 15E/day).

Suggestion:

A. Drop Spain.

B. Drop the car.

C. Do 2 weeks in France and 2 weeks in Ialy.

D. Do a 4 week driving tour of France.

E. Do a 4 week driving tour of Italy.

I would do D, but I have been to both countries more than once.

Get your plane tickets STAT.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

Thank you everyone for the informative replies. I bought the tickets yesterday! I understand when people say they would rather spend more time in just 1 or 2 countries. However, this might be the last time we have an adventure like this (planning on kids soon), and we want to make the most of it. My wife has been to Spain and Italy briefly a few years ago, and lived in Paris. I've visited Paris but nothing else in those 3 countries.

&quot;<i>we want to make the most of it</i>&quot; You aren't the first ti think this. That is a misconception a lot of folks have - that rushing around more lets them &quot;get more&quot; out of the trip. Unfortunately, just the opposite happens - they end up spending most of the time in train stations, on trains, in airports, on planes, checking in to hotels, checking out of hotels, etc.

You will get a lot more &quot;bang&quot; if you concentrate on fewer places over a smaller area.