3 weeks in France... thoughts?

[mart242]

I'm heading to France for 3 weeks in mid-september with my wife and 3 years old son. We'll spend a few days (~4) in Paris at first (I have an aunt living within 30 minutes of Paris by public transit). I'll then rent a car and we're off to visit my grand-mother near Switzerland (just on the otherside of lac Leman / lake Geneva. She's in Thonon-les-bains to be exact). I might stop on the road on the way there if there's something to see (Dijon? ) We'll spend a few days at my grandmother's place to relax there (really nice little city) and go for a day or two in Switzerland. From there, we'll also have a day trip to Chamonix / Mont Blanc to go up the aiguille du midi and the walking glacier or whatever it's called.

That leaves us with ~10 - 12 days of stuff to visit around France. We'll definitely head to Provence for a few days and have a day trip to Monaco. We don't want to spend days in the car but still want to see quite a few things along the way so we were not thinking of staying more than 2 nights at the same place (beside Paris and Thonon). We'll drive during my son's nap time so it shouldn't be too bad.

From Thonon-les-bains, driving to ~Nice is 600km and it's the same distance no matter if I stay on the french side or cross through Italy (driving near Torino) and then following the coast... Any thoughts on this?
Here's what google maps recommends: http://maps.google.fr/maps?f=d&hl=fr&geocode=&saddr=Thonon-les-Bains&daddr=Nice&sll=45.176229,8.088684&sspn=1.227516,2.406006&ie=UTF8&ll=45.038595,7.5175&spn=9.843144,19.248047&z=6&om=1

I could then stay in Villefranche-sur-mer (which was where Ronin's famous car chase was filmed!) for 2 (or 3?) nights and have a day trip to Monaco to visit their aquarium and see how the rich folks live!

From there, head out west to go towards Marseilles (or Cassis) and go see the calanques, aix-en-provence, spend the night around there.

After that, time to head towards Paris but... Carcassonne is apparently well worth the detour so maybe head towards there and spend a night. Chateaux de la Loire would be awesome.

Visiting the castles in The Loire would be nice but that's completely in the west and Carcassonne is already pushing it...

Any thoughts on this? Finances aren't tight or unlimited... but why waste money for no reason. We'll sleep in cheap hotels (ETAP, ...) and we'll buy food in bakeries / grocery stores most of the time to save some $$$ because it really adds up quickly!

Damn! I've mapped everything. If I want to see all that stuff, that's quite a road trip!
http://maps.google.fr/maps?f=d&hl=fr&geocode=&saddr=Saint-maur-des-fosses&daddr=Thonon+les+bains+to:Casale+Monferrato,+italy +to:Villefranche+sur+mer+to:Cassis+to:Carcassonne+ to:Brive-la-gaillarde+to:Chambord,+Loir-et-Cher,+Centre,+France+to:CDG&mrcr=7&mra=pe&sll=45.1123,3.900146&sspn=9.832511,19.248047&ie=UTF8&z=6&om=1

I could always trunk the last section of my trip, depending on how it goes... better to have too much stuff planned than not enough! I'm still in the planning stage so that's why I'm asking for advice.

Any thoughts?

[CoffeeAddict]

Damn that looks like an AMAZING road trip
I actually did the western half of the country with the GF and it was awesome by car. The miles just go by in no time! The highway system there is fantastic, signage is clear and the roundabouts are easy to navigate.

One thing I noticed was that when I went 2 years ago it was still a relatively new thing apparently for cars coming into the roundabout to stop first before merging. I think before it was customary to just drive into the roundabout with no stop and the cars on the roundabout were expected to let you in. I think for us canadians it's a natural thing but if you've driven in France a long time ago it may be an adjustment.

When you can I would recommend taking side highways as opposed to the mainn highway IF you have the extra couple of hours of driving time to get to your dstination. I can't remember how many times we decided to do this and we ended up seeing stuff that we didn't plan on seeing. Best stop on the route that was totally unplanned was the Baynac Castle as shown here
http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/345032/baynac-castle-dordogne-france/

Looking at your route on the western side I would plan to drive right through Blois and Orleans. Both are pretty small uninteresting cities and the hotel selection at both are pretty bleh.

Limoges looked pretty but we didn't stop there.

The Chateaus in the Loire were awesome!
There's a hotel on the grounds of Chambord that was really cheap (79 euros for a rooms) that looked over Chambord! The restaurant was top notch as well serving wild boar from the grounds!

If you decide to skip the chateaus and decide to go for wine instead i's not a big detour to go to St. Emillion near Bordeaux. The Chateau in St. Emillion is a 5 diamond resort/hotel and well worth the pricey stay. We got lucky and got a fantastic room in the tower for half of rack rate because we just dropped in at around 8pm.

Also worth a detour if you can swing it is Rocamadour. Probably my favourite town in the countryside. Absolutely stunning location. If you end up there make sure you pick up a Laguiole wine pull from the shop there. Cheapest prices on Laguiole pulls I've ever seen!

To give you an idea of driving times in the country i was EASILY able to drive from the area around St. Malo to the area around Bordeaux within 5 hours or so. The distances in France seem a lot shorter than in Ontario for whatever reason :D

[CoffeeAddict]

This is a really rough map of our driving route. Everything after Dinan in the north was done in two weeks no problem. We were not rushing and saw a ton of stuff along the way.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=paris,+france&daddr=D486+%4049.727450,+0.380090+to:N137+%4048.58 4030,+-1.951550+to:N844+%4047.159040,+-1.545440+to:A10+%4045.773120,+-0.668110+to:A20+%4045.324310,+1.572240+to:D920%2FR oute+Nationale+%4046.796710,+1.726330+to:D976%2FRu e+Nationale+%4047.366850,+0.786590+to:A71+%4047.89 4730,+1.853170+to:Rue+d'Allonnes%2FN154+%4048.4344 00,+1.507330+to:48.79239,2.037964+to:Avenue+d'Ital ie+%4048.822200,+2.358490&mrcr=9,10&mrsp=10&sz=8&mra=dpe&sll=47.989922,1.252441&sspn=2.6065,4.954834&ie=UTF8&ll=47.405785,1.175537&spn=5.271782,9.909668&z=7&om=1

The points are more to shape the map than to show the stops we made. The google map app is painfully slow to work with on a mac in safari!

[Jyeatbvg69]

see versaille. its a full day trip, but well worth it. theres nothing like it in the world. i was 15 when i went there, and even i appreciated its deep history and magnificent structures and land. i am now 17.

[CoffeeAddict]

One thing i forgot to mention for groceries on the road is...
RUE LECLERC!

They are MONSTER grocery stores out in the countryside that will have absolutely everything you need at a reasonable price. We picked up tons of baguettes, cheeses, sausages and bubbly water for food on the go.

Nothing like taking a wheel of local camembert, stuffing it into a fresh baguette with some local sausage and eating it in the car :D All for under 10 euros for a baguette length sandwhich :D

[mart242]

Versailles is an excellent idea. Maybe I could skip Carcassonne and head staight north / north west towards the Loire (lots of castles) and then Versailles.


We also thought about going to Eurodisney for a day but I'm not too sure abotu this one. My son will have turned 3 the week before so I don't know how much he'd enjoy the rides and mickey mouse stuff all day... (and it's' quite expensive!) I'll buy a little cooler to keep the supplies cold in the car. :)

[nalababe]

When in the France/Italy/Geneva corner a day trip to Annecy would be a nice addition....

Do a google search...

[doltbuster]

I would spend a few days in the Normandy region. The only con is its north of everything you plan on going to. You definitely have to visit Mont St. Michel and have crepe while watching the sunset at St. Malo. Make sure you buy the butter cookies in Normandy! In addition, Vimy Ridge only about an hour away if that's your cup of tea. Anyways, have a great time, I know I did.

[mart242]

Annecy has been added to my list. We'll go with my grand-mother, it's ~75km from where she lives!

I've found a deal on a nice appartment pretty close to a beach near Perpignan. My dad knows the owner really well so I think that we'll spend a week there. ~300$ for it, being able to leave the luggage somewhere instead of worrying about having our stuff in the car stolen (south of france = happens frequently!) and have a "base camp" would be nice since we're travelling with a child. He would have a backyard to play while we cook dinner, we'd be able to sit on the balcony while he sleeps, .... It's really close to spain (nice day trip!) As well as within 90 minutes of Carcassonne and a few other interesting things. That could allow us to relax quite a bit at the end of our trip. It sure cuts on the amount of stuff we can do and visit but being able to relax for a week would be awesome.

Doing this might also mean cutting on our day trip to Monaco... (but having one in spain instead).

Hmm...

[brooksjames]

I lived in France last year and saw a lot of the country, so maybe my experiences might help you decide what to visit:

Marseille/Aix en Provence/Provence region is an absolute must. Even in September you should be able to hit the beaches no problem. I went swimming November 1 in Cassis last year and it was awesome.

I lived in Nantes and saw quite a bit of the Loire region. It was a lot of fun, but I can't say that I would return just for tourism. The region has a lot of stuff to do, especially if you do have access to a car, but to me it didn't compare to Paris or Provence. There's a new chateaux in Nantes and the one in Angers is pretty cool too. La Baule (the beach) is a pretty cool area as well. It's the biggest beach in France apparently. Be warned, not sure how it will be for September, but I was there in the fall of last year and it rained like mad.

I never made it out to Mont St Michel, but if you're in the region i've definetly heard it's worth a trip. Pretty touristy but very cool. Look it up if you haven't heard of it.

If you're going from Paris to Provence, it would probably be worth a day stop in Grenoble and another day in Lyon.

[mart242]

Thanks brookjames.

I'll be staying there for 1 week:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=saint-cyprien-plage,+france&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=44.25371,76.992187&ie=UTF8&ll=46.149394,3.713379&spn=9.726584,19.248047&z=6&om=1
It's just outside of Perpignan... not in Provence but pretty close. It's close to spain as well as within daytrip distance to carcassonne and a few other things so that will make for a few nice day trips. To get there, I'll be driving from ~Geneve and going through Monaco so I'll be in Provence for a day or two. I'm still debating if I should go through Grenoble / Lyon or through Italy. I'll head up back to Paris once my week is up with a two day trip (and will spend a day in the Loire).

Lots of stuff to see in France, so little time... and with a 3 years old child, we can't do as much! I also have to visit some relatives so that cuts the trip by a few days.

[bkushner]

Hey, go to Fodors.com Europe forums section and do some searches. They will give you the best information. I've asked a Stu Dudley to email me his itineraries. He spends 2 months in France every year. If he sends them I can forward. I had them last year when I went but deleted them. You can post your ideas on there as well ad the travel experts will give you the best info.
Cheers