Road trips to Italy or southern France

Hello TT!

Planning on taking my better half and her IN-LAWS on a road trip in May. However, don't have the patience to book flights, hotels, etc. (In-Laws visit is nightmarish enough!). Plan to book a decent huge COMBI VAN (need to get that too...any reasonable private car rental places around munich?) and then head off to Italy or south of France.
Have heard that usually, stay is not a problem with PENSIONS which are usually located just outside cities. I suppose they shouldnt be all that booked up either. Has anyone had a road trip to Italy / France? Cant really bank on youth hostels, considering the company I would be having and dont want to make it super expensive with flashy hotels either.

Any hints about stays during road trips are welcome.

Thanks
Vin

I would usually recommend hostels, but with that company maybe not...? Some places have really nice private suites ect that might work for you. Kinda depends on where you go and the attitudes of the people your traveling with. When I was in the south of France and western part of Spain in 2002 we stayed in hostels and a few B&B style places had a great time. If you plan to stay long in any location you might think of renting a villa or something for a week or two?

I don't really know, but when I went to Sicily at the end of May I booked nothing and had absolutely no issues at all finding nice places on the cheapo to stay, much better deals than what I found over the internet before going (which is why I thought I'd just take the risk). Often in small towns people rent out their houses/flats and it's cheap and not complicated. I think Italy would be easier than the South of France but who knows...in Italy the Agriturismo (I think that's what it's called!) is big and there are tons of places. Also a lot of the camping villages have superb bungalows...really nice and inexpensive.

Did something like this last year, using the Languedoc-Roussilion region as a base to do short trips.
I rented an apartment in the region for bugger all from a company called Welcome Cottages, which had a range of different locations to choose from, and basically act as an advertising company for independent renters.

Munich -> Salzburg -> Bad Gastein -> take train under mountain -> Paluzza -> Aviano -> Treviso/Venezia -> Dolomiti/Agordo -> Merano -> Sölden -> Füssen -> Munich.

In May is should be beautiful and simply stay at small places along the way except in Treviso/Venezia where you will need a bit of luxury. Stay on the back roads and enjoy the scenery and take your time. Nothing ruins a roadtrip faster than trying to get somewhere in a hurry.

i've done a couple of road trips to italy and france. in italy i had trouble finding really cheap sleeps, so i usually had to pay around 90 -120 € for a double room in ok hotels in milano. i just randomly asked and drove around and found them. in france i mostly stayed at etaps and formule 1's that were maybe around 45 - 60 € for two people. i kind of like the cheap chain hotels in france and belgium because the reservations are fairly easy, or at least you can always pick up a little brochure so you can find one for the next night if you don't know exactly how far you'll be going. and there haven't been any surprises (not super clean, but not too bad either and private bathrooms and showers).

Have been in various regions in Italy, no problem with accommodation when travelling off season (as long as you don't consider the first week of may you should be fine).
Liked this place a lot, if you happen to come across the Emilia-Romagna
http://www.lanterna.it/
Be prepared to pay extra for car rental across borders, some companies will not allow certain cars to be taken to Italy at all.