SOUTH OF FRANCE / ITALY ITINERARY SUGGESTIONS
 

Hello,
My son will be studying in LaCoste, France March-June, 2017. My husband and I are planning to visit him for 2 1/2 weeks in mid-May. I am overwhelmed with the itinerary planning. We've been to Europe previously - Paris, Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Switzerland, Austria, Venice. I would like to concentrate on Italy - Dolomites, Tuscany, possibly Amalfi. My husband wants to add in Croatia again. We will do it all by car (we tend to do A LOT of driving, so it does not intimidate us).

We have not purchased tickets yet. Any thoughts, suggestions would be appreciated.
Alison

So you're traveling to France, picking up a car and visiting your son. At that point, how many days do you have left, how you plan to get to Italy, what are the options for the last location before you head for home?

We will have 12 days left after visiting our son.

Cross-border drop-off fees for car rentals are very high, so you will probably want to dump the car in France, then proceed into Italy. I would look into doing that in Menton, taking the local train to Ventimiglia [15 minutes] and then on into Italy. Genoa would be one possibility, on to maybe Florence the next day for an entry to Tuscany. Italy trains here using italian city names:

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

The other option would be to dump the car in Marseille, fly non-stop to Milan [Malpensa Aeroporto] or Rome the next day. See flights on skyscanner.com.

Okay here's how I start. Having a loose idea of where I want to go, I get on google maps, star each location by making it a Favourite, then star several places that are important to me in that area.

Now zoom out, and have an overview of the areas that you are interested in. Calculate how many days you might need for say, the Dolomites, and each of the other areas. You will quickly be able to ascertain if you have too many places to see.

Now further refine by picking the transit hub of each area, that is, the town/city in which you will be arriving to the area. Calculate driving and train times from one area to the next.

Make culling decisions as necessary. Now do some more in depth research to get a more accurate idea of your must-sees in each area, and how much time it will take to get from place to place.

With the 4 places you have in mind, that gives 3 days in each, not counting driving days, and some distances are quite far.

Do you want to spend any time in Provence at all?

My mistake, more like 4 days in each.

You may consider that with the trouble getting to Italy and some of the travel times involved with only 11 days, that you may elect to stay in France. Anyway, use viamichelin.com for driving routes. Google maps is very inaccurate in Europe. And read this about driving in Italy, especially the part about ZTL's.

http://driventoit.blogspot.com.au/

Ron, I find viamichelin very lovely with their green routes etc, but I have a hard time looking at the darn thing, it's so cluttered. And so many ads now, which it didn't used to have. But yes, more accurate for timing, for sure.

I keep reading that Via Michelin has more accurate driving times than Google Maps for driving in Europe, and it has never seemed true to me. We use Google Maps as our navigator fairly often, and their estimated arrival times are usually quite accurate.

Just now, I put both to the test, checking routes from our home in Le Marche to four destinations we travel to fairly often. The Google estimated times matched our experience quite well. Then I checked the same four destinations on Via Michelin. The estimates were very much the same, sometimes shorter and sometimes longer.

I don't know if this old saw ever was accurate, but, if so, I suspect it no longer is.

That's good to know!

Thanks bvlenci, good to know. I usually take Google time and double it for doddling and photo stops, getting in and out of towns, having lunch etc :)

Thank you, all, for your thoughts, tips and help. I am a SERIOUS amateur photographer and have a few places on the bucket list to check off. In particular, I am interested in Tuscany (classic sunrise images), and either Cinque Terre or the Amalfi Coast (unsure which towns make most sense to stay in at this point). I also have a strong desire to get into the Dolomites.

My husband is not a fan of big, crowded cities so Roma and Florence are probably off the table.

I have no problem doing a big loop around France and Italy to return the car to the airport of origin. Our vacations are typically always fast paced - that's how we like to be. As far as Provence is concerned, I would prefer to be there in July for the lavendar fields but that will have to be for another trip. Provence will be focused family time with our son.

Thank you for the continued discussion.
Alison

If you are trying to decide between Cinque Terre and Amalfi, coming from France, you may want to choose CT. Geographically, Amalfi does not fit into the Tuscany, Dolomites and Croatia idea as well as CT. And it's so photogenic!

sundried has a great idea - I also like a quick check on rome2rio.com for ideas of travel time and costs. You are very wise to pin down your itinerary/end point before purchasing air tickets!

The Amalfi Coast is way too far for a twelve day trip.
With twelve days some of Tuscany and the Cinque Terre. I would never describe Florence as a big city. Charming, filled with some of the wofld's best art.
You don't like crowds? Cinque Terre has them in droves. Choose Santa Margherita Ligure or Camogli instead and day trip by train to the CT.
Since you seem to want to leave France, then visit Tuscany or the Piemonte( fewer tourists, beautiful landscapes). Umbria,less touristed too.
The Dolomites are stunning but with only 12 days you need to make choices. Pair the Dolomites with Verona or Venice.

As noted, if your husband doesn't like crowds, stay away from the Cinque Terre between Easter and the end of October. Google "images crowds Cinque Terre" and read this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...-cinque-terre/

HappyTravlr has offered some good alternatives.

I will disagree with the above posters regarding CT. Just there in late September, and although it was crowded, I was prepared. We enjoyed our wanderings in the early and late part of the day, when the cruise trippers were not around. We rented a small boat and traversed the bays by ourselves, even anchoring and swimming - by ourselves. We felt pretty smug because we saw the loaded ferries passing by. Rented a room with a fantastic balcony in Vernazza and spent mid afternoon lounging and people watching from our perch above the beach. If you stay outside the five villages and travel in, you will be among the day trippers and feel like sardine.

I will agree that Florence does not qualify as a big city, but it definitely gets crowded, so one can apply the same approach.