We are considering driving from Barcelona thru Southern France, into Italy to Luca in Tuscany, a distance of 690 miles, in mid-June, 2007. Has anyone out there done this or something close? We are thinking we should allow 2 days. Should we allow more days? What are the roads like? Is there a lot of traffic? Are we nuts thinking to do this? What is the geography like? Any help is very much appreciated.
Bruce
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Hello and welcome.
Before you get too far down the line you might want to check with the car hire companies how much they will charge to take a car from Spain through France and then leave it in Italy. If the cost they come up with is reasonable to you. Then you can start the rest of your planning.
While you are doing that you can look at www.viamichelin.com for routes, costings and timings.
Hope that starts you off in the right direction.
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*In theory* you could do it in one very long day%26#39;s driving, but two days would be a minimum to do it in any degree of comfort. The entire distance is limited access highway, mostly well-engineered, especially in France. The Italian section is somewhat older and can be a bit trying especially in bad weather but June *should* be OK.
Traffic can also be very heavy, especially between Marseille and Genoa but generally July and August are worse than June.
Much of the scenery is splendid. If I didn%26#39;t have to I wouldn%26#39;t want to make this drive in two days, mostly because there is so much to see along the way that you won%26#39;t even get a glimpse of from the highway. I%26#39;d probably want a week to do it any kind of justice, and I%26#39;d probably make much of the drive on roads other than the highways.
viamichelin.com will help with estimated driving times and fuel and toll costs. be aware that there will probably be a hefty repatriation charge for dropping your car off in a different country. Also make sure that you are fully covered by insurance. Insurance costs for Italy tend to be higher than for Spain or France.
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Is there an echo here???
Perhaps it is great minds think alike or fools seldom differ?
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Sorry, JBart. Didn%26#39;t mean to tread on your heels. That%26#39;s what comes of multi-tasking!
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I can tell you how we did it- we spent 3 days in Barcelona -then rented an Avis car there and drove north. We planned on stopping in Perpinone but when we arrived there, it appeared to be a bigger city with more traffic than we were hoping for, so we kept going on to Carcassonne- spent 3 days there- wonderful- and on to the Dordogne region of France. If you%26#39;re looking for small villages, great wine and food and the ancient caves, than plan to stop at Montolieu, Abli, Domme and Sarlat. Anywhere along the Lot river is just picture perfect. we were there the first week of October so I can%26#39;t tell you about how it is in June- and I can%26#39;t tell you about driving to Italy from there- but the trip from Barcelona through the southern region is worth it. we made a similar trip several years later, starting in Barcelona again and driving into Arles, Avignon and that region- again- lots of wine, good food, art etc. We had no problems with the rental agency or the car.
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