We arrive in Paris on day 1 (August 29, 2009)and are planning the following trip, so far:

Days 1-4 - Paris (Relais Bosquet)- a relaxing 4 days as we spent a whirlwind 7 days there 2 years ago, and now just want to experience Paris at a greatly reduced pace.

Days 5-8 -Loire Valley (Chateau Des Ormeaux) - arriving by car from Paris and enjoying the countryside/chateaus and pool.

Days 9-17 -here is the tricky part, with the following options:

(a) as we are using Amex points, we have an opportunity for a free stop-over, so we can drive from Amboise to Paris airport, drop off the car and fly to Barcelona.
If we do this, we want 4-5 days in Barcelona (hotel Jazz) including an excursion to Dali museum. We however, do not know how best to use the final days at our disposal, so we need suggestions.

(b) if we do not use the free stop-ove, we will drive somewhere near the French/Spain border where Autoeurope has a drop-off, and will then go by train to Barcelona from that drop-off location.
This however gives us these days 9 to 14 (we return to Toronto from Barcelona on day 18)to visit and enjoy anywhere practical and recommended between Amboise and Barcelona.

We need, and would appreciate any help at all!!!

Thanks.

Can anybody assist?

Hi nevertooold,

not sure I've understood your "fixed points" yet -

you fly into Paris and out of BCN 17 days later?

if that's right, it would make sense to make your stay in BCN the LAST thing you do, wouldn't it?

do you have to fly Paris - BCN? why not Paris - Madrid, or bilbao, or Seville, then train to BCN for your last 4-5 days?

does this help?

regards, ann

If we decide to drive from Paris to Amboise, and then to Dordogne (before Barcelona), how many days would you recommend for Dordogne, and what location as a base?

We really have no desire to spend time in any Spanish area than Barcelona on this trip.

Hi again, never,

well you can't spend too long in the Dordogne IMHO, so you could easily fill the rest of your time there before heading off to BCN.

this would give you Days 9-13 [5 nights] in the Dordogne, which would be fine for a first visit.

Sarlat is a very nice place to stay and reasonably central to most of what you would want to see.

regards, ann