I am planning to drive from Italy to Spain via France along the coast and would like to know which cities I should spend time in. I am open to doing part of the journey by train as I would not like to drive in the big Cities. I have about 3 weeks and plan to travel next year between May and June 2011. I would also request an itinerary based on the weather being pleasant as we travel from one end to the other. I would not mind hiring different cars at intervals and use the train -however I will be with family-my wife and 2 daughters(16 and 13) so could u recommend an itinerary and best means to travel. Also what kind of a budget would we be looking at -we are not fussy about hotels and can stay at 3 star hotels or B& B's ...
look forward to your reply....

From where in Spain to where in Italy? Both are countries of considerable size with quite a bit of coastal areas....:-?

You will definitely want to hire different cars at different intervals, because if you hire a car in Italy and drop it off in Spain you'll pay a whopping big fee.

Can't recommend an itinerary without knowing where you're starting and ending. The weather of course will be relatively pleasant in May and June, so that's not an issue. Three-star hotels will probably start at about 150 euro a night and go up to about 300. If you're really not fussy, there's no reason for a three-star hotel in Europe (their star rating system is not like the one in the USA).

usually there are very high "drop off" charges if you rent a car in one country and return it in another so you may want to begin to factor that into your plans. And please post your begin and end points - then you may get some more detailed replies.

Thanks so much for all your replies...was off Fodors for a while and just saw your replies! Apologies!...I will now be more regular and look forward to your replies!!
Ok, I am a little more organized now with my travel plans and we plan to start our holiday in the first week of June next year(2012) We come into Vienna and then want to do Vienna for a couple of nights and then head down to Italy where I want to travel by road/train to Tuscany and the Como areas and any other cities u recommend. Want to spend 10 days to 2 weeks in Italy(I also have an RCI affiliation but have to take it for a week,which would mean spending 7 nights at one city and driving around-dont know if that will be practical),then want to drive/train down to France where we have a friend near Cannes(so accommodation is ok),spend a week in France-any recommendations? Then want to go down to Barcelona and spend maybe a week there....problem is our flight out is from Vienna again,so will have to traverse back...any suggestions?? Thanks and look forward to your suggestions...

Your first posts were in 2011 and you said the trip was for June 2012. Now it is Jul, 2012. Has your trip changed to June, 2013?

Impossible to suggest an itinerary without knowing your interests. What do you and your family want to see/do in Italy? Are you into Art, food, nature? Why Vienna? Why Barcelona? Do you have some intense interest in Gaudi's work?

I take it you have more than three weeks now: 2 in Italy, 1 in France, 1 in Barcelona and 1 used for traveling back and forth and the 2 days in Vienna? This is alot of time traveling.

Some possibilities: If you have not booked flights already, might you skip Vienna and fly into Venice. Visit Italy and fly from Rome to Barcelona. Train to France. Fly home from France. You could change things around, but keep it simple as possible. You could rent a car in Tuscany and again in France.

If you actually still have only three weeks, you might skip Vienna and cut out Barcelona. Concentrate on Italy and France. Have you been to Paris? If not, possibly substitute Paris for Barcelona because you could take a train from S France to Paris and depart from there.

Is there a place in Tuscany or Rome where you could use your RCI? Even if you took it for a week and stayed only 5/6 nights, would it still be worth while?

The flight into and out of Vienna is a problem. Even if it saves a few dollars on airfare, it costs time and money to get from there to Italy and from Spain or France back to Vienna. That kind of thing is also exhausting. Look at open jaw or multi-city flights so you don't have to back track.

Even if you have bought your plane tickets, it might be worth the cost to change them so you don't have to return to Vienna, cutting your time shorter.

I'd skip Barcelona. It takes you even farther away from Vienna.

Look into cheap flights on European airlines. They can save you time. Here's a couple web sites: www.whichbudget.com and www.skyscanner.net.

Thanks so much! Yes, our trip is now for June 2013..and we have about 4 weeks to travel within...maybe you're right,we may just go to Rome directly,actually our daughter was flying in from the US and we thought of using Austrian Airlines and we would do the same,see a bit of Austria and then do Italy for 2 weeks and then do France for 10- 12 days...but I think your suggestion of doing Paris instead of Barcelona makes sense and we will rethink that...I want to do Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast in Italy and dont mind taking cars/trains etc..thank u all for your responses..they have been very helpful...pl send us any more suggestions

Ok,so we want to either start in Vienna,(if we use Austrian Airlines)or then directly from Rome...we want to do 2 weeks in Italy and then 10-12 days on the French Coast as well as maybe a few days in Paris after which we head back to either Vienna or Rome....we have 4 weeks to do all this...

Can you do open-jaw - fly into one city and fly out of another city?

The train ride to either Vienna or Rome is very long and will take up too much time. If you fly, then any savings that you might have achieved from buying a round-trip ticket from home to Europe will be swallowed up by your plane fare from France to Vienna/Rome.

It'll probably be best to fly into Vienna/Rome and fly out of Paris.

Are you planning on touring Austria? If not, then are you flying into Vienna just to rendezvous with your daughter (You don't seem to have any days allotted to Austria)? If you're not planning on touring Austria, wouldn't it be cheaper and more practical to have your daughter fly into Rome instead of Vienna?

easytraveler,yes maybe you are correct...actually we havent booked tickets for our daughter yet so maybe we'll have a look at her coming into Rome and meet her there...that way we only do Italy and France and leave out Austria and Spain...so how would u plan 4 weeks in these 2 countries? Cheers....