Hello, experienced travelers,

I am hoping some of you can share your insight. I have spent 1-2 hours searching to see if anyone has experience to share on driving from Frankfurt to Paris. A majority of discussions on this have people dissuading people from driving and taking the train.

We are staying in Europe for 6 weeks and I think it would be easier for us to have a car. We plan on driving from Frankfurt to a Marriott just outside of Disneyland Paris for 3 weeks (free parking!) and then from Paris to just outside of Rome at an SPG hotel (free parking!) for 3 weeks and back to Frankfurt to fly home.

We have 2 3 year old girls, so the idea of our first transatlantic flight and then dealing with public transportation seems more stressful to me than spending 5 hours on a highway learning to drive in Europe and picking up some countryside at the same time.

So to that end, I am wondering if anyone has any specific recommendations about this drive? We will be effectively taking a red-eye which will land around 2am our time at home, but I believe 9 in Germany. I typically stay up until 4-5am anyway due to work schedules - so assuming I can get a nap on the airplane (and I'm a pretty good napper), I should have no problem driving for the 5 hours. Our girls love taking naps in car seats, so they could nap in the car as well. For those worried about the endurance issue, I have no problem pulling over at a rest stop/gas station and taking a power nap if I'm feeling groggy.

I see two major routes Google Maps offers - one through Luxembourg (longer) and one pretty much staying on the same road. Any thoughts - given view/ease of drive/quality of places to stop? 30 extra minutes for a much easier/prettier drive would be worth it.

Also - does anyone have any recommendations on places to eat/stop along the way? Any brand name travel centers like Bucee's or Love's that should be a fairly reliable place to stop?

Any chain restaurants that are fairly American friendly or American period (i.e. McDonald's) to consider along the route?

We plan on doing more cultural/local things at a slow pace, which is why we're staying for 6 weeks, but the very first day, the first time ever dealing with foreign languages, new customs and 3 year old twins, I'd like to keep things as mundane and predictable as possible as we dip our toes in the water. I don't view this as a once in a lifetime trip (I hope it becomes a yearly trip with my newfound love of manufacturing miles!) - so I am not viewing this trip as a stressed boom-boom-boom get as much in, see as much as possible. For the first day, easy is preferable to fun.

But there is very little about the Frankfurt to Paris drive other than immediate recommendations to do the high speed train, talk about one-way dropoffs and things to that end, so I'd like to learn from someone(s) who have made the drive and has experience at it.

Thank you in advance for your help.