Where will you find the best dress: France, Italy, or Spain?

Best driving route - UK, France, Spain, S. France, Italy, Switz, Holland, UK?

• Hey all, We're planning a driving trip around Europe in June for about 5 weeks. We want to drive from London, through France maybe down to San Sebastian, over to Barca, all round the South of France into Italy. Down Italy to Napoli, then back up to Zurich via Milan. Then finally on to Amsterdam and back to London. We have google maps our route but obviously I'm sure there are some much nice routes to take. Has anyone done this route before? How long did it take, cost etc? We really want to find a nice route that someone may have already done and follow it so not to get too lost but I can't find anything on the web that actually shows the route on a map? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

• Answer:

  There are so many possible routes that it is impossible to give you a 'best' route. Also because we do not know your wishes and likes. How many hours do you want to drive, how much of your driving do you want to drive on the motorway and how big a percentage on the small roads. Where do you want to stay for your travels, do you like to go into big cities, stay in motels on the edge of the cities or do you want to stay in the small villages in old fashioned inns and home stays. If you rent a car in London you will get one that is made to drive on the left side of the road, while most of Europe, all of the continent, drives on the right. It is possible to drive with an English car in Europe, but it does not make much sense. Unless you want to do some driving around the south of England I would take a train over to the continent and rent your car from France. When in Europe buy a road map as soon as you arrive in each new country and select one that shows the nice roads with an extra marking on the map, often it is a green line along the line that shows the road, but all map makers can have their own way to show it. With those maps you can select which local roads you prefer to take. Between each two main cities you can chose a fast and a touristic route, they will never be the same though. Cost is also hard to determine. Are you renting a rolls royce and stay in 4 star hotels where available, or are you renting a tiny cheap car that does not use much gas and staying in hostels. If the last count on about $US 100 per person per day, eating out and driving about 4 hours per day. If you stay in 2 star hotels, dine out in fine but not to expensive restaurants, double that. For the Hilton's and RR travel I can not guess the budget, but it will be high. By the way, from the Netherlands there are 3 ferries to the UK but the only one that is useful for London is the Hook of Holland-Harwich ferry, which is either overnight or gets you in England late in the evening. Cheaper and more convenient is one of the ferries in Belgium or France, Calais is only 3 hours from the Dutch borders. Added: If you do not yet have a GPS now it a good time to get one, makes driving the smaller roads pleasant rather than a maze where you get lost all the time. And a GPS can show you POI, points of interest. You can set it for the kind of points, like sights, museums, hotels and so on. When driving longer distances I prefer the touristy information during the day and the hotels when it gets late afternoon, so I reset the satnav a few times each day. But I do not drive, I am just navigator. A bit extra driving gets you in Brittany, most villages are worth staying, small hotels are plenty and often have the same feel as B&B/guesthouses in the UK, eg family run and 10 rooms or so. A bit farther to the south, and nearer your likely route are Rochefort and La Rochelle, I would say La Rochelle is a more charming town and likely to fit your requirements better. But if you are willing to have to travel on a bit if you do not find accommodation, traveling without reservations is easy and you just stop where you like it. Most of the best places are the tiny spots on the map that do not make it into guidebooks. Just stop somewhere for a drink in the afternoon and look whether you like it there. If your French is up to it, ask the locals, they often know a friend of a friend who has a cottage or rents out rooms or tell you their favorite hotel with cafe. The French are willing to pay the road tolls, as those roads are so much faster, if you go for scenic and have the time, the smaller roads are better. Do allow yourself twice the time though, and restrict the distances per day, as the driving is much less smooth and will take more effort from the driver. It is always possible and often way better to park your car outside big cities and get in by train, but I do not know where to park in each instance, as I travel mostly by train and when traveling by car I avoid big cities. You can search Yahoo Answers, as this is a regular question. You can also ask again for the cities you want to use this, in the section for that city or country. If you are from England, use your own car, expect the same for petrol cost as it would at home, for the overal costs, I guess you will need about 75 pound per person per day for the days you stay in a B&B or small hotel, staying with friends will likely be cheaper, depending on how much each of you will pay when you go out together.