83 days driving in Europe

We are leasing a car in France this summer and have 83 days to travel from Paris to Paris, after having spent five nights based in Paris having fun and adjusting to time-zones. We will be travelling from mid-May.

We have had quite a time trying to work out a viable itinerary and so far are contemplating the general route below. We thought adding Greece would definitely be too much.

Thoughts and advice on the route and distances would be appreciated.

Days - including travel and stops along the way

Drive from Paris to:

1 Versaille - Rouen

1 Mont St Michel

3 Tours

3 Bordeaux

1 Bilbao

2 Madrid

1 Cordoba

1 Sevilla

1 Cadiz

1 Granada

2 Beaches

1 Valencia

3 Barcelona

1 Carcasonne

3 Nice/Monaco

1 Pisa

3 Florence

4 Rome

4 Naples/Amalfi Coast

3 Venice

3 Salzburg/Linz

3 Vienna

3 Budapest

2 Krakow

3 Prague

2 Dresden

3 Berlin

3 Amsterdam

3 Brussels

2 Cologne

2 Heidelberg

5 Munich - Bavaria

2 Zurich

2 Interlaken/Jungfrau

3 Milan (via Lakes)

2 Lyon

2 Dijon

9 Unplanned Days along the way

1 Paris

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Hi. Type in %26quot;via michelin%26quot; on search engine, they will tell you the best routes, journey lenght and time and even how much petrol and tolls will cost.

I%26#39;m plannin a similar trip myself but using trains, planes and automobiles when in france.

Good luck.

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In case anybody is also considering a long drive, this is how our itinerary ended up:

11-May-07 Paris

12-May-07 Paris

13-May-07 Paris

14-May-07 Paris

15-May-07 Paris

16-May-07 Honfleur

17-May-07 Mont-St-Michel

18-May-07 Mosnes - near Versaiiles

19-May-07 Perigeaux

20-May-07 Sarlat

21-May-07 Biarritz

22-May-07 Artziniega

23-May-07 Madrid

24-May-07 Madrid

25-May-07 Barcelona

26-May-07 Barcelona

27-May-07 Barcelona

28-May-07 Girona

29-May-07 Figueres

30-May-07 Cazouls-les-Beziers

31-May-07 Avignon

1-Jun-07 Lourmarin

2-Jun-07 Frejus

3-Jun-07 Cannes

4-Jun-07 Ceriale

5-Jun-07 Sestri Levante

6-Jun-07 Florence

7-Jun-07 Florence

8-Jun-07 Florence

9-Jun-07 Siena

10-Jun-07 Tarquini

11-Jun-07 Rome

12-Jun-07 Rome

13-Jun-07 Rome

14-Jun-07 Lungomare

15-Jun-07 Sorrento (Piano di)

16-Jun-07 Casino

17-Jun-07 Lido

18-Jun-07 Venice

19-Jun-07 Venice

20-Jun-07 Lienz

21-Jun-07 salzburg

22-Jun-07 salzburg

23-Jun-07 Melk

24-Jun-07 Vienna

25-Jun-07 Vienna

26-Jun-07 Vienna

27-Jun-07 Gyor

28-Jun-07 Kesthely

29-Jun-07 Budapest

30-Jun-07 Budapest

1-Jul-07 Banksa Bystrica

2-Jul-07 Krakow

3-Jul-07 Krakow

4-Jul-07 Olomouc

5-Jul-07 Prague

6-Jul-07 Prague

7-Jul-07 Bayreuth

8-Jul-07 Rothenburg

9-Jul-07 Munich

10-Jul-07 Munich

11-Jul-07 como lake

12-Jul-07 Milan

13-Jul-07 Bellinzano

14-Jul-07 Lauterbrunnen

15-Jul-07 Bern

16-Jul-07 Fieldberg

17-Jul-07 Aha - near Schluchsee

18-Jul-07 Offenberg

19-Jul-07 Strasbourg - outskirts

20-Jul-07 Heidelberg

21-Jul-07 Rudesheim

22-Jul-07 Rudesheim

23-Jul-07 Remagen

24-Jul-07 Amsterdam

25-Jul-07 Amsterdam

26-Jul-07 Amsterdam

27-Jul-07 Noordwijk

28-Jul-07 Gouda

29-Jul-07 Brugge

30-Jul-07 Tournai

31-Jul-07 Luxembourg

1-Aug-07 Beauclair

2-Aug-07 Paris

3-Aug-07 Paris

4-Aug-07 Paris

5-Aug-07 Paris

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On top of driving times, you need to add time for negotiating your way through cities and towns and checking in and out of hotels. This looks to me like way too much of all that vs the actual amount of quality time you have left.

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We did this trip last year. The secret for us was having a GPS. It directed us to the tourist office of each town we planned to stay in that night. On each occassion we were then able to find accommodation in our price range. We allowed about an hour a day for finding accommodation - which we treated as part of the travel experience.

Another trick is to make sure of arriving before the tourist office closed, often around 6pm but sometimes earlier.

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My wife and I go to Europe each 1 or 2 years for around 60 days using a Peugeot 307SW lease. We travel around 10,000 - 11,000km each trip. We use www.map24.com to check the distances and travel times and allow an additional 50km per day for sightseeing. Sometimes the 50km is simply a detour en route for the more scenic option. We tend to stop for 1 night for 3-4 days then spend 2 nights on a location, then after 15 days we will put down roots in an apartment with kitchen and laundry for 3-4 days.

I haven%26#39;t worked out the distance you are travelling, but if you are averaging around 200km per day overall, even if some days you are travelling 600-800km on motorway, I think you will be fine.

I don%26#39;t know how many are in your party but that may have some influence on your tolerance levels to driving.

We also travel typically from mid May to end July and we have significantly improved our enjoyment by booking ALL of our accommodation in advance. We carry out the research and bookings on the web and have experienced only one problem in 5 trips and that was the result of a large hotel recording our reservation for the wrong month and being full when we arrived. This was quickly remedied after a few words with the manager. We have managed to stay in some wonderful hotels and apartments that we would not otherwise have found.

I am sure you will enjoy your trip.

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