Is it total lunacy to drive to Alps with 2 small DCs?

[Undercovamutha]

DCs are 3.5y and 12m, and we are thinking of going to Annecy (near Geneva) in June. It would cost about £400 for us to fly (and that is by FAR the cheapest - easyjet), or the drive is apparently approx 14 hours (plus ferry of course) - about 4 hours in the UK and 10 once in France.

I would prefer to drive as we can take all our crap stuff with us, but it does seem like a very long way. We have always flown before having DCs and since DCs we have always holidayed in UK - but am fed up of that now and need some different culture!

So has anyone else done a similar drive. If so:

1. Was it do-able with 2 LOs?
2. How did you do it - overnight stay, drive through night????
3. Was it worth it for a 7 day holiday (driving would be in addition to the 7 days).

TIA.

Have you checked how much is the road tolls? I remember driving through Alps region, and at one point we had to pay around 80 euro or something equally ridiculous for the toll.. I think the ferry, petrol plus tolls will cost almost the same. Sayng that, I always, drive, love the fact of having all my stuff and being able to buy things without thinking how to get them home...

Yes I've done it (UK - Italy and back) and:

1. doable but very very stressful and tiring
2. on the way there we drove through the night, by far preferable to daytime because kids are asleep but you feel like shit in the morning
3. yes it was worth it because at the end of the day when you include airport taxes and car hire etc. it all adds up, having your own car is extremely convenient.

Thanks. Am not so worried about the cost differential between the flights and driving (although would prefer not to pay an 80€ toll!). I would prefer to take the car so we can have more flexibility (and I was once delayed by 12 hours for a flight to Geneva so it has put me off - how in Gods name I would have managed if I'd had DCs with me I don't know!).

Like the idea of driving through the night in theory but not sure how confidant I am of driving on the 'wrong' side of the road (DH is super confidant driving abroad) and I guess I would have to swap with DH if we drove through the night?

How old were your kids Endangered?

we've done it several times (I hate flying), the first time the little one was 3 and the older one 4. What worked best for us was having 1 person doing the driving and 1 responsible for kid management, even at night. If your DH is a good confident driver I'd let him do it all, just plan your breaks in advance. Central Italy-Calais takes about 18 hours non-stop so you should be able to do Calais-Annecy in much less.