Help with European Campervan itinerary

Hi there, we are going to travel through Europe for 3 months in Aug/Sep/Oct 2010 and would be interested in anyone's suggestions/comments/improvements on our itinerary. Are we missing any must-see cities? Should we spend more/less time in each location?

We are travelling with our 5 year old and potentially my mother so would ideally like to travel in a campervan so as to avoid checking in and out of hotels/unpacking/repacking bags etc so any tips on this would also be appreciated. at first glance it seems to be more expensive than accommodation, is that correct although could end up being cheaper as we could cook our own food... plus we really like the idea of staying longer or shorter in places as we choose, rather than being committed to set dates and having to move on

i've never travelled to europe although my boyfriend has many times on business so neither of us has arranged this kind of trip before.

Itinerary
Paris 7 nights (hotel), day trip to Giverny/Monet's Garden
TGV to Bordeaux/Biarritz 4 days
Pick up campervan in Bordeaux
Drive to Valencia 3 days
Barcelona 3 days
South of France 10 days
Cinque Terre/Portofino area 5 days
Venice 5 days
Florence 5 days
Rome 3 days
Amalfi Coast 7 days
Drop Campervan (hopefully! is it possible to do a one way campervan trip from france and drop the van in italy?)
Sicily 3 days
Ferry to Malta 3 days
Fly to Greece 4 days
Greek Islands 7 days
Pick up another campervan in Greece
Drive to & through Montenegro 5 days
Croatia 7 days
Drop campervan if possible
Fly to Prague 4 days

this comes to about 85 days which leaves about 5 extra days in between to allow for travel time between locations

I really look forward to hearing back from any seasoned European travellers and any tips on campervan hire places and cheap accommodation in paris, sicily, malta and greek islands

warm regards,
sophie

Two brief comments:

• Do you have any mountain experience? Assuming you're not going to make a major detour through the Atlantic (E70) or Mediterranean (E15) coast to get to Valencia, the Pyrenees are not easy to drive in, especially not with a big bulky campervan. Depending on length and weight of the contraption, bear in mind that you might need a special driver's license. The rental agency will be able to tell you that, but do ask in advance!
• I don't know of any agency where you can pick up a campervan in one country and drop it off in the next. Even for normal cars, this is highly unusual in Europe, and rather extreme surcharges apply in the few agencies that allow this. Mind you, I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but if you find such a rental company, please post back here. That would be valuable information to many of us

[ Edit: Edited on 23-Jul-2009, at 04:47 by bentivogli ]

Drop Campervan (hopefully! is it possible to do a one way campervan trip from france and drop the van in italy?)

No, you have to return the Campervan to the company where you rented it in the first place.

Most companies offering Campervan rental are small local mom&pop companies with only one outfit. If you rent from them it is understood that you'll bring the campervan back to them.

With what you are planning you'd be better off with renting a normal car and taking a tent and camping gear.

Renting a campervan is expensive in Europe, renting it for full 3 months is almost cost-prohibitive. But for normal cars there are special offers, just enter "long term car rental Europe" into a search engine.

Since you won't be able to fly with the car (and there are only a selected drop-off places for the car when you go for long-term car rental) you better cut out a few places off your initiary and add some others that are somewhat enroute.

For example: I would not go to Spain and drive down to Valencia without making the detour to Granada.

http://looklex.com/spain/index.htm

And Sicily in 3 days without your own vehicle? Impossible.

Not to mention flying to Greece from Italy. There aren't many budget airlines going this route, so you are left with Alitalia and Olympic. Do you have any idea what that costs? Most people are more sensible, they take the ferry to Greece. I would thus take the car to Greece too then drive up to Croatia and then back to Italy with another ferry to drop the car off in Rome.