Dear Members,

My husband and I are planning a 2 week tour of Europe. We have earmarked these countries: France, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. We plan to drive as much as we can and take the train. We intend to arrive in Paris and maybe leave from Spain.

We need advise on the route we should take and where best to visit in each country.

1. For France would it best to drive around France first and then head back to Paris, take the train to Geneva and travel around Switzerland?
2. From Switzerland, how and where best should we enter Italy?
3. In Italy where best should we go?
4. From Italy how best should we get to Spain?
5. Is 2 weeks enough to cover these countries or can we squeeze in Germany?
6. Is crossing the border difficult?

These are just some of my questions now. Am reading all the advice on the forums and picking up all the tips and pointers. Would really appreciate your feedback. Thank you so much

IMO, these four countries are already too much for two weeks.

France alone is so large and so diverse that you can cover just 10% of it in two weeks. Same is true for Italy and for Spain. And, to make things worse, Italy and Spain are in different directions from France.

Frankly said, I would either skip Switzerland and Italy or Spain.

What you can do:

4 days Paris
2 days Alsace
4 days Switzerland
4 days Northern Italy

Or:

4 days Paris
4 days Provence
3 days Costa Brava
3 days Barcelona

To answer your questions:

1) In Paris, a car would be a hindrance. You can take the train from Paris to Strasbourg and rent a car there.

2) From Alsace, you drive via Basel, Zürich, Luzern. Then you drive through the Gotthardt tunnel to Italy.

3) In Italy, you can see Milano, Lago di Como, Lago Maggiore.

4) You won't have time to go to Spain. Otherwise, flying would be the only reasonable option.

5) If you want to say "We have been to Germany" you might drive from Alsace just across the border to Freiburg or Staufen and spend half a day there.

6) No. Not even passport checks. But do not bring meat into Switzerland. And do not forget a vignette BEFORE crossing the border into Switzerland.

Addendum: For returning a rental car in a different country, they charge hefty fees. I am not quite sure how to solve this problem (you could take the train to Basel, rent a car there, then drive into Alsace, then into Italy, then back to Zürich and return the car in Zürich. If you choose to drop Switzerland, Italy you can return the car in Perpignan after driving into Spain. Or you return the car in Perpignan before you drive into Spain, ride the train into Spain and rent another car in Spain.)

I don't think two weeks is enough time to "squeeze in" four countries, let alone five. Have you looked at a map and gotten a sense of how large these countries are? Even if you picked only one country, two weeks would be barely enough to see a quarter of each, if that. Besides, you're going in all different directions, and presumably changing hotels frequently, which eats up vacation time like crazy.

I think you need to do some more in-depth research, focusing on distances between places. www.mappy.com will help you with that, as will train schedules. Get a sense of the logistics that a trip such as you propose actually entails and I think you'll see why this isn't such a good idea.

Thank you all for your feedback. Since I last wrote, we have narrowed down our "ambitious" plan!

We will arrive in Venice, spend 2/3 nights there depending, then take a drive to Paris via Florence (maybe a night there), Milan, Geneva and to Paris. Is this more realistic you think?

Regarding car rental Echnaton, would it be more reasonable to drive from Venice to Geneva, return the car there and take the train into Paris?

Thank you again for your feedback

From Venice to Paris by your route, not including stops for photos, using the toilet, paying tolls, buying gas.

Yes, it is nicely split up by your "destinations" but it is still two full days of driving out of a 14 day trip, and all of it will be on expressways in order to make that schedule.

Is that how you want to spend your trip?

I am going to assume you can drive a standard shift. If not, look at the difference in cost for an automatic car picked up in Italy. Italy also has required insurance regulations that are different and more expensive than many of its neighbors.

I would also urge you to enquire carefully as to the cost of a cross-border car dropoff. You may be horrified.