Happy New Year.

We will be married in France (we know about the legal restrictions) this summer. We have a rough plan organized but are overwhelmed with the options regarding towns to base our explorations in. Any advice on the rough plan would be greatly appreciated.

As a quick backgrounder we enjoy: cycling (will be bringing our bikes from home), we will be staying near Sarlat for 1 week with our family and we love markets, great food, wine, culture and aren't terribly intersted in museums, tourist attractions, etc. We'd like to stay in smaller villages where the local culture isn't completely overcome with tourist garb.
p.s. we will have a car the entire time and hope to have a chance to cross paths with the Tour de France.

Arrive Paris

2-3 Days: Loire Valley - Dordogne - We'd like to see the Loire, maybe stretch our legs with a leisurely ride and then make our way to the Dordogne.

1 week: Dordogne - based 5 minutes outside Sarlat. Will be exploring local villages, countryside. Should we also visit Bordeaux? Or can it be skipped in lieu of the smaller villages?

Provence - 3-5 days...here we'd like to enjoy typical provence cuisine, see local villages, have a few dips in the Med. and cycling.

Alps - 2-3 days....all about cycling and seeing small mountain villages.

Alps, Dijon, back to Paris - 2-3 days. We'd like to make our way back to Paris with a few interesting stops along the way. We'd like to reserve 1 day and night for Paris. There our only ambition is to sit on a terrace, drink coffee and take in Paris.

Thank you very much for any advice and ideas.

Jen

I assume that by stretching the legs you mean bicycling. My impression from driving around the Loire is that the more pleasant roads are the ones along the secondary rivers such as the Cher and the Indre. This observation might influence your choice of castles to visit--Chenonceaux would be an obvious choice.

For different food experiences in the Dordogne, check out my photos, which also include copies of three very different menus and venues:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34653387

MAPPY is very handy for working out driving routes. The pitfall is trying to cover too much ground, spending too much time getting somewhere vs the actual time you have to spend once you get there. You need to consider how much driving you can tolerate in a day, factoring in time taken in negotiating through towns and finding hotels.

Sounds like a nice way to start a life together !

For the Provence portion of your trip, just take care with the cycling. We get quite a few cyclists here during the summer (especially during the tour) and they all tend to uderestimate the intensity of the sun and heat. We had one guest who took off for the Mt. Ventoux at 11am and barely made it back alive. And he was in phenominally good shape...

-Kevin

Hi Jen,

Congrats.

>1 week: Dordogne ...Sarlat. ...Should we also visit Bordeaux?

Not as a daytrip. A few days in the vicinity of St. Emilion with tours through the wine country and a day in Bordeaux would be nice.

>We'd like to reserve 1 day and night for Paris.

This won't be all of your time in Paris, will it? You should spend a week. (Actually you can spend a lifetime.)

You might find my trip report helpful in your planning:

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34676645

Photos at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-pla2au

Thank you for your replies. We've since looked at our time and have decided to skip northern France altogether in order to spend more valuable time in the areas we're most interested.

This means flying to Bordeaux instead of Paris and means we would spend the entire month in Bordeaux-Dorgdone Valley and Provence.

Can anyone recommend a "home base" for Provence? Ideally it would be nice to divide our time and spend 3-4 days near the Med. and 3-4 days in the countryside/mountains.

Thanks again!

Hi

So, you now have the chance to spend a couple of days driving to Languedoc en route to Provence ?

Peter

Yes we would. Would you recommend that Peter?

Congrats on the wedding. If you e-mail me at [email protected], I will send you my itinerary on the Dordogne, my 35+ page itinerary on the Languedoc region, and my 20+ page itinerary on Provence - which all explain the following in a lot more detail.

For 1 month, this is what I would do:

Fly to Bordeaux and spend the first day & night recovering from jet lag in St Emilion at the Logis du Remparts. It's a little touristy, but it's not far from Bordeaux and it's on the way to the Dordogne. Dine at Le Tertre.

Drive to the Dordogne & spend 10 days there. Ten days might seem like a long time, but there are lots of things to do & see in the Dordogne. I prefer to stay as close to the Dordogne river as possible, around the very picturesque villages of Roque Gageac or Beynac. Lots of places to take bike tours in that area. Also take a canoe trip down the Dordogne from Cenac to Beynac.

Next, spend 3 ½ days/3 nights driving through the Languedoc on the way to Provence. About 1 month ahead, make reservations for a tour at Pech Merle. From the Dordogne region, head south towards Cahors and then follow the Lot river east. Depending on the time of your reservation, either stop & visit St Cirq Lapopie for a visit, or where the Cele river hits the Lot river take the Cele to Pech Merle for a visit & then tour St Cirq Lapopie after the tour. Continue east on the beautiful Cele River towards Figeac. Stop at Figeac, get an English walking guide at the Tourist Office, and explore this very interesting town.

Take the N140 east from Figeac, and head to Conques. This is a very famous pilgrimage village - rated 3 stars in the Michelin Guide. It will be crowded with tourists in July, but if you get there a little later in the day, perhaps many of the tourist will have already left.

After Conques, head north on the D901 and then the D107 east to pick up the Lot River again at Entraygues. This is a cute town worth exploring if you have the time. Continue east on the Lot to my favorite small village in this area - Estaing. Stay there for the night at the Auberge St Fleuret. Estaing is a wonderful medieval village with a large chateau at the edge of town. Lots of picture taking venues. The hotel is family owned, very reasonable priced, and has one of my favorite restaurants in the Lot River region.

Next day visit some of the cute villages along the Lot - Estaing, Espalion, St Come, Ste Eulalie, & St Geniez. Many of these villages are classified as "the Most Beautiful Villages of France". See my Languedoc itinerary for much more detail about this area.

After exploring the Lot River region, head out to the majestic Gorges du Tarn. From St Geniez, head south on the D95 to St Martin, then head east on the D45 to La Canourgue - my favorite "undiscovered" village. From St Canourgue, head south on the veru scenic D998/D43 to La Malene on the Gorges du Tarn. Spend the better part of the day exploring the Gorges. Stay in either the cute town of Ste Enimie in a simple hotel (the town is worth exploring), or stay in a chateau near la Malene for a splurge.

Here are two possible routes for heading into Provence:

Leave the Gorges du Tarn at the south end at La Rozier & head towards Millau. In Millau follow the map (see my itinerary) and pick up the D991 east that goes through the lovely Canyon de la Dourbie. If you like weird rock formations and want to hike a bit (not much), visit the Chaos de Montpellier le Vieux along the way. Then continue on the D991 through Nante, and after Nante pick up the D55 to La Couvertoireade. Visit this very interesting village. After visiting the village, continue south on the D55 and pick up the A75 south at Le Caylar. Continue on the A75 south then east. When the A75 hits the N109, take the N109 east to Gignac. From Gignac, head north on the D32 towards Anaine, then the D27 northwest to St Guilhem le Desert & Grotte de Clamouse. Visit both these place – St Guilhem is a gem, and Clamouse is a fantastic cave with stalactites & mites. From St Guilhem, retrace your route back to Gignac and use your #339 map to get you to Pezanas. Stay overnight in/near Pezenas. I don’t have any hotel or restaurant recommendations in this area – perhaps ask Peter for recs. Next day explore Pezenas. If you are there on a Saturday, there is a fantastic market in town – one of the best in the region. Pezenas is a very cute town – sort of a cross between St Remy & l’Isle sur la Sorgue (lots of antique shops at the edge of town). Pick up the freeway towards Montpellier, then Nimes, and into Provence.

Another route out of the Gorges du Tarn to Provence would be to head east from Ste Enemie & exit the Gorges at Florac. From Florac, head southeast on the DD907/D983 and drive along the very scenic Corniche de Cevennes (D9) to St Jean du Gard. From St Jean, head towards Anduze & visit this cute village. From Anduze, consult your 339 map & work your way to Uzes (not much that exciting in between). Stay overnight in Uzes & explore this town along with some of it’s neighbors. St Quentin la Poterie is a pottery town – my wife purchased some beautiful plates there. My favorite restaurant in this area is L’Olivier in Serviers (http://www.l-olivier.fr/) - just northwest of Uzes. If you look at your map, you will no doubt see that the Pont du Gard is very close by and is a “must see” for the Provence region. Castillion du Gard is another cute town to visit.

After a 3 ½ day drive through the Languedoc, I would recommend that you stay 4 days in Provence near St Remy, and 4 days in the Luberon. Perhaps see if Kevin has some room for you at his B&B. I have lots of detail in my Provence itinerary. Don’t forget to take my Lavender Route, and see my Provence Fabric section (my wife has over 50 Provence tablecloths).


For your Med fix, I would spend 3 days in St Tropez, and 2 days near Nice in St Paul de Vence. Again, lots of detail & suggestions in my Provence/Cote Itinerary. St Paul is only about 20 mins away from the Nice airport, where you could fly home from.

Stu Dudley

Jen - forgot to mention something. The Luberon Valley is laced with bike paths that are for "bikes only" or walkers (no cars). They are very well marked. We've walked down many of them. Kevin & his son take a lot of cycling trips in that region.

Stu Dudley

Le Clos du Buis in Bonnieux in the Luberon is an excellent B&B and a great base for Provence. Try Il Fournil for an evening meal when Pierre is not cooking, the terrace is wonderful and the caves exotic if the weather is poor. Reserve ahead, the locals eat here. I've never seen a couple spend 15 minutes smelling and then 15 minutes sipping before drinking a wine. If Pierre is cooking, you MUST eat at Le Clos du Buis! Bonnieux isn't much, definitely not ruined by tourists but close to all those places that have been. The hotel has their own .com, check it out.

Ira, I just have to say that your pictures are fantastic. For two years now DH and I have been planning to visit different regions of France, but we always end up putting it off in favor of other European regions. Your pictures are gorgeous (I especially like the one of Beynac) and has me longing to visit.

Tracy