Loire to Provence
 

In late October my wife and I are planning to travel from Paris to The Loire and then on to Provence, staying over in a number of places for two or three days each, with the idea of driving each day to some interesting places around each stopover. Chinon has been suggested as a good place to start whilst Uzes a good place to finish. Our problem is this: what is the best way (ie most interesting, things to see etc) to go between the two assuming we can stay at two or three other places for three or four days each? Does anyone out there in Fodor-land have some suggestions about this and even some good accommodation on this route? We don't speak French! Any ideas about a good car hire firm?

Hi P,

Seems like now is a good time to look up Provence at "Destinations", get some good guide books, check www.viamichelin.com for driving times, www.voyages-sncf.com for train schedules, and use the search function for reports.

www.kemwel.com is a good broker for auto rental.

Enjoy your research.

When you have a draft itinerary, we will help you tweak it.

((I))

I'd zoom from the Loire to the Dordogne, stopping at Oradour-sur-Glane for a couple of hours on the way, park myself in the Dordogne for at least a week, then amble through the Languedoc and end up in Provence. Or zoom to Dijon or Beaune, spend a few days there, and then meander through the Cévennes.

For car hire, AutoEurope.

Another idea (I drive this route several times each year to visit family) -

Stay Tours 2/3 days for the Loire section (lunch in Chinon, winetasting Vouvray and Chinon, visit chateaux)

Drive across country to Montlucon and stay 2 days (stay http://www.limousin-chambres-bb.com ?)

Drive A71 / A75 to Millau and stay 2 days

Drive A75 to Sete and stay 3 days

Drive A9 to Remoulins and take road to Uzes

This gives a variety of old towns, mountains, coast, chateaux, etc.
The A75 is the most picturesque and easiest North-South autoroute and it is free except for the Millau bridge.


Peter

Thank you for these really great ideas. Interestingly, I have just seen an article in the paper about the Milau bridge and vowed to go see it! We have 19 days all up to spend traveling from Paris to, say, Uzes/Avignon. We will then head north to Berne in Switzerland - two days to visit family and then by train back to Paris for a flight home. Originally we planned a "diagonal" (south east) journey from Chinon via Limoges to Uzes. This correspondence and the French Travel Bureau's advice has convinced me to plan a "south then east" journey.

The Millau viaduct is truly amazing! If that's the route you take allow at least 1/2 a day and take a drive in the Gorges du Tarn.

Amazing engineering by man and amazing engineering by nature in the same day!

We will certainly take up the suggestion of going down into the valley - I guess it's the only place to see the whole thing in all its glory.

I notice that some of the suggested roads are tollways. Not a problem in themselves, but if they are anything like the roads around Sydney (where I live) you wouldn't get much of a view of the surrounding countryside, nor could you meander through quaint towns and the like. Since the plan is to stay at places about 2 - 3 hours driving time apart, but to spend most of the day doing the trip,leaving time to stop and stare, we don't want to find that we get there fast but see nothing along the way. Is there a solution to this?

The A75 has the most magnificent views of the Massif Central and Cevennes.

The A9 is less picturesque, but you can use other roads to get to Uzes, via Pic St Loup, Sommieres, etc

You can get an idea of most of the views from google street view, e.g. :


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...07.71,,2,-0.75

Peter

The cheapest car rental I found was Kemwel, but that assumed that I carry the CDW on my credit card with no deductions. That is available to U.S. and Australian credit card holders. See my post on car rentals (click on my name).

We spent a week in Chinon Sept.'09. It is such a charming town. One of our favorite dinners in France in 7 trips was at an outside table under the trees at www.auchapeaurouge.fr in Chinon. This wesite is in French, but they do have an English menu.

We don't speak French either, but have traveled all over France easily. Just make sure you say Bon jour!

Thank you everyone for helping me focus on organising our trip. We have decided on : Chinon, Montulcon, Millau, Sete, Uzes. As you can see, not easily influenced by the opinion of others!! We have got a couple of "Drives around ..." books and they are helping us at each spot. (By the way, a great place to buy books on-line, with no postage costs, is the Book Depository in the UK.) I hope that the volcano ash has settled down by the time we are due to leave in October.