Jen526

I'm helping plan a driving trip to France for my parents that is happening the last two weeks of September. The overnight stops are already fixed, but individual sites to visit are not yet. I thought I'd toss some questions that have come up. (And before anyone yells, I know the below itinerary is probably overly ambitious. The goal is to sample a handful of areas vs. an in-depth visit to any one region.)

Night 1 @ Mont St. Michel: Arriving in Paris 8:00 AM-ish and driving to the Mont. How tight would it be to get up to Omaha Beach/Point du Hoc sites and get down to the Mont by, say, 4 or 5 PM at the latest?

Night 2,3,4 @ Tours: They have 2 full days in Loire area. We're thinking of picking a chateaux or two to the west of Tours for the first day and east for the second. Any votes for must-do's? Are son-et-lumieres still running in late September? Any recommendations of where to see one, if so?

Night 5 @ Toulouse: This is tricky. My mom has three things she's interested in that could feasibly happen in the stretch from Tours>Toulouse or Toulouse>Aix-en-Provence, but I doubt they can do 'em all, even if they don't do anything but sleep in Toulouse itself. The options are: Stop at Oradour sur Glane memorial, Visit a prehistoric site (Any recommendations of caves open the public? Mom's not really keen on the Lascaux reproduction that seems to be the main tourism draw for this sort of thing...), and Rennes-le-Chateau (worth a visit at all?) Thoughts on squeezing any/all of these in while driving through the region?

Nights 6,7,8: Aix-en-Provence. Another two full-days in one region. I read somewhere around here that it'd be feasible to do Pont du Gard, Uzes, and Nimes in one day, so that's the tentative plan for Day 1. Any recommendations for a good Day 2?

The rest of the trip is Paris. No real questions there.

Thanks in advance for any help. I'm sorry this was so long.

PalenqueBob

Though Tours is a fine enough city it would not be my suggested base. For one thing as most French towns i've driven in this size have horrendous traffic snarls - i'd base in a more pleasant smaller town like Chinon or Amboise - in fact i'd say skip Tours as in a few days time better spend elsewhere.

They are landing in Paris 8am and then driving most of the day to Normandy? How old are they? Why go all the way - stay around Giverny for instance or Rouen and leisurely drive by Les Andyles (sp) Honfleur, etc next day.

But it seems you have them driving first day MSM and hope to do the D-Day stuff en route - jet lag?

I'd take one day off the Loire and put one in here IMO

The Loire drive to Toulouse is not short either.

Seems they will be spending most of their time on the road.

Just my take.

TuckH

Jen, I'm not going to yell. I'll quietly, politely and firmly say:

This trip is 'overly ambitious'.

Your parents will NOT be able 'to sample a handful of areas' with this agenda. I think you grossly underestimate the size of France and the time it takes to travel between the stops you've picked out.

Christina

I stayed in Tours as a base, but I didn't have a car, so it was a good choice of bus/train connections. As for chateaux, I would def. say that Chenonceau is a must in that category. Maybe Amboise. Chambord is supposed to be in the top tier, but I wasn't there myself. I think to the West, the top ones would be Villandry, Usse and Azay-le-Rideau (where I did visit but didn't have much time due to poor train schedules).

As for Aix tours, I would not agree with whoever said you could do all that in one day. I mean, yes, it is feasible to drive by or through all those places in one day, but you won't be able to spend any time at them. If you don't want to spend a lot of time at Nimes, I guess so, but it just seems like drive-by tourism. Why even go to Uzes if you just want to drive by or stop for a few minutes? Now Pont du Gard is a spectacle in itself for the historic site, but you'd have to spend a couple hours there just due to the walking, I'd say. I know I wasn't there less than that and I'm not that fascinated with Roman ruins and didn't walk to lots of it.

If you are only in Aix-en-Provence two days, you'd probably want to spend at least one of those days in Aix, wouldn't you? Aix has some lovely old mansions and architecture in it. Other than that, I might do something different and take a bit of a drive around Montagne Ste Victoire to the east. You should visit the Abbaye de Silvacane from there, also, as well as the Luberon villages or Lourmarin. Actually, Aix isn't the best location for visiting Nimes, etc., and ignoring the Luberon and area around Aix, unless you are not at all interested in it, but then why not stay over near Uzes/Nimes?

rkkwan

First day is impossible, if you want to spend ANY time at the Normandy beaches at all.

When my friends and I did our road trip last September, we picked up car mid-morning at CDG, toured Giverny and Rouen before getting to the coast for overnight. Next day, just toured the WWII sites and then driving down to MSM, and we just made it before the ticket counter closes at 5pm.

And don't forget if you guys are arriving at CDG from the US, all of you will be very tired by mid-afternoon first day.

Jen526

I should've clarified that I'm coming into this late in the process and am kinda stuck with the overnights where they are. They set up the driving based on the drive-times given them by google's driving directions, and were comfortable that it wouldn't be too much driving for them. Their travel agent agreed with their sample itinerary when they ran it by her, too, and the bookings are made. (*sigh* sorry)

PalenqueBob

they'll have to change the bookings which should be possible as the itinerary is just not realistic - they will be on the road all the time and see nothing.

Wonder how the travel agent could even think that.

Michel_Paris

I'd compare travel by car and travel by train/TGV. You can get from Paris to the south of france in 3 hours.

You could, if you must....arrive in Paris, overnight there. Next day, trip organized tour of MSM. overnight in paris. Next day or two, either rent car in paris (eg. CDG) or in say...Orleans. Then drive around Loire for a few dyas. Return car...TGV to South, TGV back to Paris. Visit Paris.

But....I think you will be burnt out by
all of this moving around. It is an ambitious schedule.

sheila

YOu should tell your mum she's wrong about Lascaux II. It's fabby.

If she's really opposed, then have a look at Gargas.

Michel_Paris

It might help to go to a site like viamichelin.com and see what the driving times are between the cities you'd like to visit. I'd be thrilled about driving for the first few days...but that might wear off after a week-10days of it.

annhig

hi, jen

here's another vote for Villandry - and the abbey at Fontavraud near-by is pretty special too.

I agree that their itinerary i pretty tight. frankly, asssuming that main interest is in Normandy beaches, I'd skip either toulouse or provence. the distances are killing.

when we were much, much younger, me and DH "did" France and bits of a few other countries. in 2 1/2 weeks, we did calais to the loire, the dordogne, northern provence, annecy, southern germany [to visit friends] and back to calais. they are planning to do more in less time.

also, to see the dordogne, they don't need to go to toulouse - Sarlat is much further north, and a charming place. to experience provence, they don't need to go to Aix - there are other places much further west/North like Nime or Oranges and therefore more accessible for them.

if there is any chance of cancelling toulouse &/or aix, they should take it.

if they don't believe us, put their itinerary into Michelin, or Mappy. they won't be sampling, they'll be driving!

sorry to have to agree with the others,

regards, ann

Jen526

So, I spent some time with the online thingies myself, and honestly, none of these drives are anything I don't do on a fairly regular basis.

Day 1 (Assuming no Omaha Beach): Paris-to-MSM is like driving from Akron,Ohio to Detroit, MI. Probably get there by early/mid afternoon and have the rest of the afternoon/evening to explore, relax a bit, and take it easy.

Day 2: Spend the morning/early afternoon in Detroit/MSM, then drive back to Cleveland/Loire-area.

Day 3 & 4:
Plop down in the Loire for a couple days. These days can be as light or heavy on the driving as they need. They can sacrifice "must see" for "close to base", if the driving is really an issue. The goal was to have the options documented and mapped out a bit so they could pick and choose real-time.

Day 5 & 6: OK, these are long ones. Day 5 is like Cleveland to Chicago, then back to Toledo the next day. Doesn't leave much time to "do" Chicago, but I think Toulouse is just a stopover to break up the trip to Provence for them. They don't have any must-see's there, just the potential detour to one of the points of interest I mentioned in my earlier post...

Day 7 & 8:
Again, a couple days with as little or as much driving as they feel like.

Day 9:
Another long driving day, but they've budgeted the whole day for the drive, so they can break it up with interesting stops, if necessary, and there's four days in Paris at the end of it, so again, they can take the next day a little easier if necessary while getting comfortable with the city.
---------------------------
I dunno. I'm not sure I buy all the doom and gloom. I get that it's not the "right" way to do it, but if these are the places they want to hit, and they can live with themselves that they didn't see every tourist spot in an eighty-mile radius, I just don't see that 3 heavier driving days and 2 moderate ones, out of 14 total, is really such a crime.

Oh well, I came into this trying to help narrow down and clarify potential highlights, not to argue itinerary, so I'll shut up now. I'll pass on the suggestions. Thanks for your time, folks.

StCirq

Well, Jen: Perhaps you're not getting that it's NOT like driving in the USA. It's totally unfamiliar, the signage is different, the scenery unfamiliar, the other drivers exhibiting behaviors you're not used to.

Even those of us who've driven in Europe for 3 decades know it's going to take us longer to get somewhere driving in France than it is in familiar territory. You WILL get lost.

This does not sound like an enjoyable, and possibly not even a do-able trip. But suit yourself and have fun.

rkkwan

I disagree. I find driving around France very pleasurable. Once you're outside Paris, traffic also very light.

If you're used to driving 4-5 hours a day here in the US for a few consecutive days, you won't find the drives that difficult or exhausting.

Road signs are very good until you get into city centers.

PalenqueBob

Jen526 - is this a jest - you gotta me kidding - OK have them do it but if i were you i'd take the advise that this is a nightmare itinerary - get real

StCirq

rkkwan:

I agree I love driving in France and it's easy to get around and traffic and generally light outside major cities, BUT I'm used to it, and I'm guessing you are too, and if you don't, e.g., know how to follow signage from one place to another (knowing the intermediary towns/villages/cities, as opposed to route numbers), you can spend hours being lost.

And can you really agree that Day 1 of her itinerary is possible? It looks totally insane to me, and I love driving all over France. She really thinks she's going to land in France at 8 am and see the D-Day beaches and be back at le MSM by 4 or 5 pm? And some travel agent agrees with this? Shows ya why most folks steer clear of travel agents for on-the-ground information. Or do you think this is reasonable?

And staying in Tours is just SO not the best idea for the Loire when you have all these lovely villages to choose from, and you're going to be fighting traffic to get into and out of Tours every night.

But I'll stop now. She actually didn't want our advice to begin with, so pfffff! as the French would say.

rkkwan

Wait a second. Is Jen's going with them, or just the parents? If only the parents are going/driving, then why does it matter that Jen can drive between Cleveland and Chicago everyday?

I'm confused...

rkkwan

StCirq - I posted earlier myself that Day 1 is impossible if they plan to see any of the Normandy Coast. But driving straight from CDG and get to MSM by 4-5pm is not a problem.

StCirq

Sorry I missed that, rkkwan. I agree completely you can GET to le MSM the first day.

Jen526

>She actually didn't want our advice to begin with, so pfffff!

For the record, I very much appreciated the response from rkkwan about the feasibility of D-day area on Day 1 and other answers to questions I actually *asked*. I was remiss in not offering thanks earlier. I apologize.