Hey there,
Was hoping someone could give me some advice for our upcoming trip in May.

We are catching a train from Paris to Nice and then we were hoping to hire a car there and drive to Monaco and then from there up to Lucerne. Does anyone know how long this would take and if the Monaco-Lucerne leg is relatively easy? We have a two year old that will be with us so we thought a car might be easier than a train.

Also is there a good place to stop on the way for a rest or overnight that is mostly English speaking?

Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

Check with Michelin for roads and driving time: http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichel...aHomePage.htmY

The site will give you the choice of several itineraries and driving time. But in any case, you will driving through the Alps. Do you consider that to be relatively easy?

The drive will be motorways only (if you go for the fastest option), so it will be easy, indeed.
Since the whole trip is only 550km, you could do it in one day.
I would not know which areas qualify as "English speaking", maybe the region around Lake Como / Lake Lugano - but they still speak Italian there ;-)

You may also want to check your rental car company how much the usually hefty fee for international drop-off will be.

HI K,

You will have a very hefty drop off fee for pickup in France and drop off in another country.

Also, it is not cheap to rent a car for only 1 day.

It is 0:16 hr from Nice to Monaco by train. Why not visit Monaco from Nice?

The easiest way Nice/Lucerne is via Milan (1 stop).

You might want to consider an overnight stop in Milan.

It will be cheaper than the car drop off fee.

Hope this helps.

This is not a very good idea, for the reasons ira has pointed out: a 1-day car rental will cost as much as a 3-day rental, and in addition you'll likely pay several hundred dollars to drop the car off in a country other than the one you picked it up in.

Mostly English-speaking? I can't even fathom what you mean by this.