kerryandwayne

Hi There, My partner and I are travelling to Europe from New Zealand next year 1 June to 1 July. We fly into Rome and will spend a couple of days there and then we will travel through Tuscany to Cinque Terre, Monaco, through the South of France, Paris, London then fly back to New Zealand. We are in our early 60's and my partner wants to drive. Not sure what is the best way to do this, to get a car in Rome and travel through Tuscany staying a few days in Montepulinco as friends will be there. But really would like to know if it is possible to rent a car from Rome and travel for the month leaving it in Paris. Do you pay fees to get the car back to Rome. Just some suggestions with regard to this and the best way to do the trip. Open to suggestions as it seems very confusing at present. Many thanks in advance for any help

RonZ

The question of cross-border drop-off fees comes up so much that I called up Autoeurope and asked a while back. From e.g. Cinque Terre to Nice they estimated €650-€850. You could drop the car at La Spezia, take the train to the CT village of your choice, then trains to Ventimiglia. That will take about 4 hours with 2 or 3 changes, tickets on the Trenitala web site. Then tickets for a local train to Menton [the closest, about 15 minutes]and another car.

bvlenci

Driving from Rome to Montepulciano and around Tuscany is a great idea. From there it gets complicated. You can't drive into any of the Cinque Terre villages, and at that time of year, when the the place is sinking under the weight of the tourists, you may not get anywhere near it with the car.

From there on, it's hard to judge. There are usually very large cross-border dropoff surcharges. You could get to Monaco by train, if you really want to go there, and perhaps rent another car there. You don't say whether you want to stop anywhere between there and Paris, so I can't say whether it would make sense to rent another car.

sundriedtopepo

Rent a car when leaving Rome, use it while in Tuscany, take the Freccia train from Florence making a connection to the smaller local train in La Spezia, I think it is, to arrive in the Cinque Terre. You will not need a car here, and probably not until after you leave Monaco. Depending where you go from there, pick up a second rental, drive around Southern France, are you meaning Provence? When you are ready to go to Paris, drop the car again and take the TGV to Paris. Gets you there fast and into the center.
This is our usual method for travelling in Europe. Car when you need it, ie countryside and train into and out of large cities and when covering large distances fast.

StCirq

It's not really all that confusing. If you pick up a car in Italy and drop it in France you'll pay a king's ransom. Somebody has to get the car back to Italy.

You can't have a car in Cinque Terre, so ditch it before you get there. Use public transportation to get along the coast to Monaco, then rent another car for visiting inland Provence if that's your intention, then ditch that car too and take the TGV back to Paris. Surely you don't want to drive through France from Provence back to Paris unless you have loads of time and want to meander through, say, les Alpilles and then around Lyon and then around Burgundy or more west through Languedoc and the Midi-Pyrennées and maybe the Dordogne and then up through the Loire. But you say you have only a month, so those scenarios wouldn't really work for you.

kerryandwayne

Thanks so much for your help, will put some more thought into it, as it is a very busy time do you think we should book all accommodation along the way have booked currently at Montepulinco but on in Cinque Terre

PalenQ

Ilike sundried's proposal about renting car then returning it in Italy and taking train to Nice - rent car there to avoidpotentially steep drop-off charges for returning it in France.

And I'd drive in southern France - spending lots of time there and then say ending up in Avignon or Bordeaux and taking train back to Paris -no need to drive in Paris and most do not want to.

Book early on French trains for nifty discounted tickets - www.voyages-sncf.com is the official site that is easy to book your own tickets on- for lots of info on trains also check www.seat61.com- adroit advice on discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (check their online European Planning & Rail Guide for lots on places to go in both countries by train or car; www.ricksteves.com.

sundriedtopepo

I would want to book my room in the Cinque Terre by end of January, but I am pretty conservative. It will be a very busy time, for sure.

I'm also a bit spoiled, but I like to choose first class on the fast trains, they are very comfy and pleasant with lots of room for luggage. And you can get good rates if you book ahead as PalenQ says above.

PalenQ

Yes I too am an aficionado of first class on trains - especially longer runs and if I have some luggage and these tickets are also discounted and at times may not be much more than the cheapest available 2nd cl ticket.

PalenQ

and yeh book CT hotels ASAP for high season - can also stay in places like nearby Camogli and take the train in.

PalenQ

We once based in Santa Margharita Ligure and took the train to Monterosso and hiked the seven-miles between all 5 villages and then train back to SML -a nice enough seaside town just a few miles from Portofino - we hiked there thru forests - so if only wanting to see the CT consider day tripping in -hotels may be more available and not needing to book so so early.