Spain to Italy and Switzerland by car?

I'm visiting Europe for about 6 weeks this summer and will want to have
a car for at least some of the time. I've used Europe-by-Car to lease
a car before and had a good experience with this company. The price is
not a problem, and I'm accustomed to driving in Europe.

What I'm wondering about is whether I will want to do all that driving.
I'm wondering if I should take trains from city to city and rent a car
as needed for country tours.

How many hours should I expect it to take, for example, to drive from
Barcelona to Nice?
We're likely to return to the US from Zurich and spend a day or two
getting there from Florence. Will that be a pleasant drive? How long?
How difficult?

One advantage of a car is avoiding all the transfers from train to
train, train to hotel, and back. There are two of us with more luggage
than we really need ... as usual :-) Then again, there are hassles
and expenses associated with parking, and finding your way around
strange places.

Many thanks for any advice you have.

--Don

wrote:


How many hours should I expect it to take, for example, to drive from
Barcelona to Nice?

Not that much of a drive, 6-7 hours and a considerable amount of tolls
(40 euro, at least).

Be careful of speeding in French highways, there are plenty of radars
and the police won't let you go unless you pay them cash (of course,
they will usually be kind enough to escort you to an ATM if you don't
have the funds handy).


J.

kirjoitti
glegroups.com...
I'm visiting Europe for about 6 weeks this summer and will want to have
a car for at least some of the time. I've used Europe-by-Car to lease
a car before and had a good experience with this company. The price is
not a problem, and I'm accustomed to driving in Europe.

What I'm wondering about is whether I will want to do all that driving.
I'm wondering if I should take trains from city to city and rent a car
as needed for country tours.

I have rented a car for five weeks in the Southern Europe. I intend to do
all the intercity riding by it.


How many hours should I expect it to take, for example, to drive from
Barcelona to Nice?

The distance between downtown locations of the two cities is something like
660 kilometers. A fast route is to drive E80 and A8. It might take something
like 7-8 hours.

We're likely to return to the US from Zurich and spend a day or two
getting there from Florence. Will that be a pleasant drive? How long?
How difficult?

Not difficult. A fast route is pretty similar to the leg between Barcelona
and Nice: about 600 kilometers between city centre locations of the two
towns and it would take about as much time as the other journey.

One advantage of a car is avoiding all the transfers from train to
train, train to hotel, and back. There are two of us with more luggage
than we really need ... as usual :-) Then again, there are hassles
and expenses associated with parking, and finding your way around
strange places.

This isn't going to be a minor problem. Those who drive thousands of
kilometers in Europe during their holiday, a GPS receiver with installed
road maps covering the Western Europe should be a very good an investment.
Cars are rented out by these gadgets. A tourist can naturally bring his
gear along. Paper maps (for instance in form of Atlases) are very good in
terms of quick references and planning routes in advance. GPS maps are
detailed enough to show the street grid of any city.

Markku Grönroos wrote:

[]
I have rented a car for five weeks in the Southern Europe. I intend to do
all the intercity riding by it.

Legally? I'm impressed...

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

On Wed, 1 Feb 2006 19:35:33 +0200, "Markku Grönroos"
wrote:


kirjoitti
oglegroups.com...
I'm visiting Europe for about 6 weeks this summer and will want to have
a car for at least some of the time. I've used Europe-by-Car to lease
a car before and had a good experience with this company. The price is
not a problem, and I'm accustomed to driving in Europe.

What I'm wondering about is whether I will want to do all that driving.
I'm wondering if I should take trains from city to city and rent a car
as needed for country tours.

I have rented a car for five weeks in the Southern Europe. I intend to do
all the intercity riding by it.


How many hours should I expect it to take, for example, to drive from
Barcelona to Nice?

The distance between downtown locations of the two cities is something like
660 kilometers. A fast route is to drive E80 and A8. It might take something
like 7-8 hours.

We're likely to return to the US from Zurich and spend a day or two
getting there from Florence. Will that be a pleasant drive? How long?
How difficult?

Not difficult. A fast route is pretty similar to the leg between Barcelona
and Nice: about 600 kilometers between city centre locations of the two
towns and it would take about as much time as the other journey.

One advantage of a car is avoiding all the transfers from train to
train, train to hotel, and back. There are two of us with more luggage
than we really need ... as usual :-) Then again, there are hassles
and expenses associated with parking, and finding your way around
strange places.

This isn't going to be a minor problem. Those who drive thousands of
kilometers in Europe during their holiday, a GPS receiver with installed
road maps covering the Western Europe should be a very good an investment.
Cars are rented out by these gadgets. A tourist can naturally bring his
gear along. Paper maps (for instance in form of Atlases) are very good in
terms of quick references and planning routes in advance. GPS maps are
detailed enough to show the street grid of any city.

Chi l'avrebbe pensato...

You are quite a resource when not drunk, Markkku!
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

a écrit :

I'm visiting Europe for about 6 weeks this summer and will want to
have
a car for at least some of the time. I've used Europe-by-Car to
lease
a car before and had a good experience with this company. The price
is
not a problem, and I'm accustomed to driving in Europe.

What I'm wondering about is whether I will want to do all that
driving.
I'm wondering if I should take trains from city to city and rent a
car
as needed for country tours.

How many hours should I expect it to take, for example, to drive
from
Barcelona to Nice?

For somehow realistic estimation of road trips, I used and still
use www.viamichelin.com and www.sbb.ch for railway or other
public transporation (bus and lake steamers) connections.
But for most trips, driving highway is relatively fast, but not much
to see - driving off-highway takes much more time.
You can select the specific option at www.michelin.com

We're likely to return to the US from Zurich and spend a day or two
getting there from Florence. Will that be a pleasant drive? How
long?
How difficult?

Florence-Zurich is no big deal .... close to all highway.
If via Bologna, this first section is in a hilly area, then
flat no-fun to Milano, depending on daytime expect
heavy traffic in Milano ara, continue on highway to
lake Lucerne with as shortest route the old "Axenstrasse"
with at least a few scenic sections before using again
the highway near Schwyz. Of course options for plenty of
more scenic detours mainly in central Alps area (such as
St.Gotthard pass road instead of the highway tunnel);
if time and weather allows, I would probably drive from
Airolo via Nufenen and Furka-Pass to Andermatt ......

One advantage of a car is avoiding all the transfers from train to
train, train to hotel, and back. There are two of us with more
luggage
than we really need ... as usual :-) Then again, there are
hassles
and expenses associated with parking, and finding your way around
strange places.

Traffic in many cities have really become a major
problem, and if its not for traffic, then its for parking.
Most of Florence is now closed for motorized vehicules
other than taxis - so best probably is to check ahead
if you will be allowed to drive to your hotel in Florence.
Imho Florence, Nice and Zurich have become over the
years "no-parking-cities" - very little public parking and
most of time expensive.

So if I had not special reason for using a car especially
in Nice, Florence and Zurich, I would rather avoid and
opt for either train or plane.

An option I would also consider would be night train
from Florence to Lugano or Bellinzona, get a rental
car for driving some scenic routes in the Alps, stay at
a hotel near Zurich (where you can park a car) or return
the car once in Zurich for using public transportation
including the trip to Zurich airport.

If you are interested in scenic tours in Switzerland,
check
http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reiselust/int-gaeste.htm for
options by train,
http://www.post.ch/en/pag_rf_schweizer_alpen.htm
by postal bus services.

If interested in scenic road trips in central Switzerland
or places to stay near Zurich, feel free to send me an
e-mail to jer (at) iprolink (dot) ch - just no promises for
quick replies

David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy wrote:
Markku Grönroos wrote:

[]

I have rented a car for five weeks in the Southern Europe. I intend to do
all the intercity riding by it.


Legally? I'm impressed...


Why?

wrote:
I'm visiting Europe for about 6 weeks this summer and will want to have
a car for at least some of the time. I've used Europe-by-Car to lease
a car before and had a good experience with this company. The price is
not a problem, and I'm accustomed to driving in Europe.

What I'm wondering about is whether I will want to do all that driving.
I'm wondering if I should take trains from city to city and rent a car
as needed for country tours.

How many hours should I expect it to take, for example, to drive from
Barcelona to Nice?
We're likely to return to the US from Zurich and spend a day or two
getting there from Florence. Will that be a pleasant drive? How long?
How difficult?

One advantage of a car is avoiding all the transfers from train to
train, train to hotel, and back. There are two of us with more luggage
than we really need ... as usual :-) Then again, there are hassles
and expenses associated with parking, and finding your way around
strange places.

Many thanks for any advice you have.

--Don

www.viamichelin.com not only gives driving directions and times, but
also highway toll costs and estimated fuel costs.
The Florence-Zurich stretch is 600km and 6 hours estimated. The drive
round Milan might take longer depending on the traffic, which can be
really bad at times. The stretch over the alps through Switzerland is
more scenic and interesting, and for some scenery, you should consider
stopping off somewhere in the mountains if you have the time and the
weather is good.
In summer, it might be advisable to avoid Friday afternoons when
everybody heads out somewhere, and late August, the weekends when all
the Germans head home in their VWs.. We've done the trip several times
and hit jams on several occasions.

We're likely to return to the US from Zurich and spend a day or two
getting there from Florence. Will that be a pleasant drive? How long?
How difficult?

The highway Florence-Milan-Zurich an easy way, with a good map or a GPS
navigator.
The problem could be traffic in rush hours during working days. Or the great
traffic for holidays, here called exodous and counter-exodous, in the
weekends during july-august.
Without traffic, it'takes 3-4 hours Florence-Milan and 4-5 hours
Milan-Zurich.
You can stop on Apennines and Alps mountains, with nice lakes.
Or you can see cities, like Bologna, Modena, Parma, Milan, Como: not the
best of Italy, but interesting.

An idea could be leave Florence, sleep on Swiss Alps or lake Como, and then
Bellinzona-San Gottardo-Zurich. A longer way is to stop in St.Moritz or
Davos.

One advantage of a car is avoiding all the transfers from train to
train, train to hotel, and back. There are two of us with more luggage
than we really need ... as usual :-)

The main thing is if you want to stay in city centers or ride the
countryside. For example, you could stay all the time in Florence or see
around Tuscany.
If the second, you better take your own car and a nice hotel in the country.

Then again, there are hassles
and expenses associated with parking, and finding your way around
strange places.

On the highway, you pay a kilometric toll in Italy, instead in Swiss should
be a fixed fee entering.
If go to Florence by car, you better park it one time, and then move just by
bus and foots.

ciao
--
Giovanni,
Rent a house:
http://it.geocities.com/giovanniboit/case/index.htm
Una buona tavola, 141 ricette:
http://it.geocities.com/giovanniboit...e/Default.html
email:

Thank you everyone for you informative responses. This is a great
board.
The more I think about driving for about 2000 miles through Spain,
France, Italy, and Switzerland, and about finding my way in cities I've
not driven, or can't drive into anyway, and then the expense of the
rental, tolls, gasoline, ... the more I'm thinking of taking the train
renting cars locally when I want to get out of the city.
Many thanks
Don

PS Giovanni, those rental houses look wonderful.