Italy - Driving from Florence to Paris?

My husband and I have a trip planned to Italy and France in mid-October. We are planning to take 2 days to drive from Florence to Paris and would love any advice on route or sites to see/places to stay along the route. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! :)

How wonderful!

I'd suggest Provence (Aix-en-Provence??) on the 1st night and then the Burgundy Region (in the Mâcon are the 2nd).

Drive from Florence to Marseille via Genoa (passing near to 'Le Cinque Terre' and Portofino and then all the way along the Italian and then French Rivieras) - (although at 600Km it's a helluva drive!); and then up through Avignon and Nice.



My husband and I have a trip planned to Italy and France in mid-October. We are planning to take 2 days to drive from Florence to Paris and would love any advice on route or sites to see/places to stay along the route. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! :)

I'd worry about what car rental rate you'll get. Probably something with a horrible drop off fee (cross-country drop-offs in Europe are very expensive).

A lot of the driving will be on autostradas and autoroutes and are not that scenic.

that's 1200km. (750 miles) with a few mountains in the way. i have not driven since the enforcement of the 120 or 150kph speed limits went in effect, but either take an overnight train, or take 4-5 days and smell the flowers. there are a lot of great places to spend time. as mentioned above, before you get into it very far, check the cost of a rental, check 2 or 3 if it comes in well under €1000. if you have a new car pickup, or a 3+week whatever it is called, you can avoid this. otherwise the dropofffee is a killer.

If you're not experienced European travelers and have never driven in Europe, you might want to rethink this plan. The autostrade and autoroute can be terrifying to first time American drivers, as can city traffic, winding secondary mountain roads, and driving through old villages with narrow streets. If you do pursue this, allow a few more days to enjoy the experience and rent a car that has enough power and mass for expressway driving.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I greatly appreciate the help. I've finalized a few more details of our trip. Our entire trip is 10 days. We live in California and we're flying into Rome first. We plan to spend 3 nights in Rome, then take the train from Rome to Florence. My husband is an artist who has never been to Europe and we plan to cover as much ground as possible and see all we can during our 10 days (we know we'll be on a dead run, but we figure we can relax when we get home!). I work in the wine industry, and want to see some of our properties as well along the way. We plan to spend a couple of days in Florence, one day devoted to art and architecture and the other to my company's properties in Tuscany and the a few of the surrounding cities (Siena, Montalcino, Montepulciano). I've done this route before, so I'm fairly comfortable with the plan for Tuscany. Since we'll have a car for Tuscany, I'm wondering if we should hang onto the car and drive to Paris or dump the car back in Florence, take the train to Milan, then drive from Milan to Paris? (Would hope to leave the car outside Paris city limits and take a cab/car to our hotel.) Would taking the train to Milan carve some time off the total drive? We'll end our trip with 3 nights in Paris, but struggling with the decision of how to get from Florence to Paris. We could fly, but driving would be less expensive (even with gas, tolls and the high drop off fee) and would give us an opportunity to see more sights and some of the France wine country as well. We like road trips and we're not fearful of driving the roads outside the city (would not elect to drive in Rome or Paris). Bottom line is we have 2 days with a one night stay somewhere to get from Florence to Paris. As before, I greatly appreciate any advice all of you very knowledge folks possess! Thanks again for the generous help.

We faced a similar decision for the end of an Italian holiday planned for September/October. After a month in Italy we were going to drive from Tuscany to Paris. In the end we extended our stay by adding five nights in Provence (in the village of Cucuron) but decided to spend our final day there and fly from Marseille to Paris. The flight was only 101 Euros for two and it saved us a very long days drive. Fortunately our car rental was a Eurolease so there was no penalty for dropping it off in another city (original collection will be in Paris).
Enjoy your trip!

Thanks everyone for your advice. I was originally avoiding flying between Florence and Paris as a one-way flight was $700 each (flying out of Paris to home in the states). However, I ended up booking a round trip ticket for only $260 each (and just won't use the return leg). Thanks again for all the advice. I appreciate it!

...However, I ended up booking a round trip ticket for only $260 each (and just won't use the return leg)...

VERY savvy! Good thinking ^

Glad to hear that you'll allow reason to prevail. Not a great idea to rush that trip through many great regions just because of time constraints. Do it when you'll be able to savor the journey and absorb the environs. Flying makes sense.
If you should need some ideas for off the beaten path sites in Florence, I'd suggest checking out this book from the City Secrets (http://www.amazon.com/City-Secrets-Florence-Venice-Essential/dp/0983540004/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335643874&sr=1-5) series. Lot's of insider tips. Enjoy the art and vineyards.

Thanks Skeeter. I'll check out the series!