Can anyone offer any suggestions for a driving route from Paris to Lake Maggiore? I am not sure if I should go through the Bernese Oberland region or go more south - genova and through the Simplon pass.

Also any thoughts on my itinerary?

Paris 13-15 July
Drive through Switzerland and stay overnight on the 15th on the way to Stresa Italy
Stresa 16-18 July
Drive through the dolomites - to Garmisch
Garmisch 19-20 July
Drive to Prague
Prague 21-22 July

Any ideas on where to stop on the drive through the dolomites?

Your ideas are appreciated. Thanks!!

You're kidding, right?

No, why??

This is a first trip here for my sister and her daughter. They want a 'taste' of different places, we plan to have an afternoon, evening, full day and morning in each place before a 4-6 hr drive to the next. We get to Paris around 1200, relax at a cafe for lunch, see some sites we've mapped out, Seine river cruise in the evening. Fat tire bike tour the next 1/2 day and take in the main sites. Dinner at a sidewalk cafe and watch the fireworks at night.

so do you have a suggestion for a Switzerland route?

And then you will drive back to Paris in one day? Or drop the car in Prague? Or is this your own car?

I suggest that you use viaMichelin.com and play around with different options: fast route, scenic route, etc. Give one or more intermediate stops if you want to force one itinerary over another. By using Michelin, you'll have a sense of how much time you will have given your constraints. You might find out that the superhighway is your only way.

Unfortunately you lack a basic understanding of European geography and your itinerary thoughts are totally unrealistic. This is what prompted StCirq's response.

My suggestion is for you to obtain a good map or two. Scale back your expectations and come up with a reasonable and practical agenda.

On routes recommenden by viaMichelin (mainly four-lane highways, no sightseeing, no scenic routes, no visiting, no nothing):

Paris-Stresa 530 miles
Stresa-Garmisch 333 miles
Garmisch-Prague 295 miles

a total of 1158 miles for a driving time of just under 19 hours.

Forget it, and plan a different itinerary

(or go ahead and be a disappointed fool)

OK I get the message! We may take the Prague piece out!! The car is mine - we do not need to go back to Paris. The idea was to spend time at each final destination as opposed to stopping and sight seeing along the way. I have been on Michelin - very helpful site.

kimkau

it sounds like you have not travelled much internationally and just asked an innocent question and gotten lots of snarky responses.

1. Distances

Like many from the western US, Canada, and Australia, to me driving 600 miles a day is not unusual and pretty much the norm for the "driving days" of vacations. Recognizing Europe is more compact, I conservatively planned 300 - 400 miles per day the first time I planned a trip to Europe. Luckily, we didn't reserve ahead ... we were able to change our itinerary on the fly once we got there ... ended up seeing much less, driving at the max. 100 - 200 miles on a hard day, but seeing much more in depth.

In the US you can easily travel many hundreds of miles without the scenery changing too dramatically, and can easily travel hours between any town worth stopping for to lunch. In Europe every corner you come around will have lots of interest and hundreds of years of history.

2. Wanting to see it all

When we planned our first trip to Europe we realized that even getting to Europe was lucky ... most from the US never get a chance at any trip to EU, and we figured that if we were lucky we'd get there only 3 or 4 times in our life. So we wanted to "see-it-all" in a "whirlwind". Within a day after arriving on our first trip we realized we couldn't .. by trying to do so we'd in fact see nothing.

So we ended up concentrating on a small slice of germany, Austria, and Czech. And although it was a small slice to us, that area was considered huge by veteran travellers and people from EU.

Having now been to EU twice, planning a third time, and hoping for maybe a 4th and 5th times in our lives if we're lucky, we've changed our intentions.

We're just concentrating on a few areas more in-depth, realizing that its impossible to see all of EU and all of the world... just pick the spots most atrtractive to your interests and get to know them well. We've even begun to learn a language in depth, and some words, phrases, sentences in a couple of others. We've ended up getting to know people. Getting a feel for the places we've been to.

3. Eye candy

Travelling in the western US is mostly about seeing eye candy - those sweet sights of nature and the few remarkable cities.
And when we go to EU we look for lots of that eye candy too - the famous sights, buildings, scenery. But now we look for much richer and more sustaining things. We take time to get a feel for the culture, to meet people, to get to know a few places in depth. That way, by seeing less, you actually "see" (experience and learn) far more.

It's heartbreakingly painful to winnow things you'd really like to see down to just a few things. But it is worth it to do so

Excellent reply elbegwa. It should be read as a preliminary to almost all of the itinerary queries on this board.

Europe may seem small on the outside, but there's an awful lot on the inside.

Thanks elbegewa, yes an excellent reply in the midst of a tough crowd! I am living in germany now and have travelled quite a bit but never on road trips - only single destinations by train/plane. Your perspective on traveling in the states makes sense so...

I am in process of changing my plans.....thanks!