italian and french riviera
 

We are travelling to Cinque terre end of this month. Our travel agent says we can drive to Monte Carlo or other parts of french riviera very easily from there. Is that true ? I don't want to be surprised once I am there. How long does it take to cross over to the french side and will it be crowded highway ? What kind of condition is the highway ? Can anyone share their experiences on this ?

Two hours
A lot of tunnels
Not crowded at all (at least not when we did it in April)
Road was well maintained

We found the drive pleasant.

Have fun in Cinque Terre, if you are in Monterroso, eat at Miky's. Their seafood risotto is wonderful!

Thanks ! Planning to stay at Hotel Cinque Terre in Monterosso for 3 nights and planning to just drive out to french riviera or at least to Monte Carlo just for fun...Would you know how long of a drive it is on a normal day with traffic - I have two kids who might get restless if it's too long. Also in general how's travel in Italy by car esp. from Florence to Cinque Terre via Pisa and from Cinque terre to Genoa or Milan. We have a flight from there to Prague.

You can find out car travel time estimates on your own:

http://www.viamichelin.com/

I hope you know about the ZTL (Zona a Traffico Limitato) in several cities you mentioned.

Actually, I think travel time is closer to 3 1/4 hrs each way. We hate that drive. A hundred tunnels (or at least it seems like 100) where you are constantly going from light to dark to light to dark. Around Genoa, there are a few opportunities to get lost & make a wrong turn & end up on surface streets. We've driven it 6-8 times. The last time we needed to get from La Spezia to Nice we took a train - which was quite time consuming but less hectic.

Stu Dudley

Not a fun drive---stay on that coast and enjoy.
Both Portofino and Portovenere are more fun than Monaco anyway

Thanks everyone ! What is ZTL ? Is it something like the toll roads in the USA ?