StCirq

The Dordogne is a children's paradise, full of endless activities, but mid-July to mid-August it will be jammed (but so will La Rochelle, le Mont-St-Michel, and other popular spots, especially those near water).

lavandula

>I also think you might want to look for a Paris for Kids online guide or book. There's probably lots of new things to do that young parents have discovered that we haven't.<


We had one of these books in Paris for our daughter last year:

Little Globetrotters/The Books

Might make the trip more palatable for her.

Lavandula

geetika

menachem

In that case: Paris Plages and all its satellite activities! PP is there to give children who can't/don't leave the city during the summer a beach-like vacation. As Kerouac wrote, the boating classes in Bassin de la Villette are great. But my son, now 22, still remembers the Polynesian dance class he took when he was 10, at PP.

jpie

A couple of comments:

You might also consider the 14th for an apartment rental partly because it would put you close to Gare Montparnasse which would handy if you decide to take the train to St. Malo for instance, and the neighborhood in general around the Gare or Denfert puts you on a direct north south axis into the center of Paris which can make life easier in the city.

Also, after living in Paris many years without a car but renting them pretty often, I would recommend that you rent either at a train station agency or at the airports because in my experience you will have a much better choice or vehicles and the condition of the cars is likely to be better-I have gotten some real clunkers when I have rented at neighborhood agencies. My favorite rental offices in the past have been at gare Montparnasse and also the Hertz agency below the Carrousel-Louvre, but I wouldn't recommend that one if you don't feel comfortable driving in central Paris. Another good place to consider renting a car from if you go to Normandy or Brittany especially would be Porte Maillot. There are a number of agencies there an it puts you toward the right direction. But I still think it is worth thinking about just taking the train somewhere (La Rochelle, Rennes, etc.) and avoiding the Paris driving part. But really that is all about how you feel with the driving or the other hassles with the train, etc.

In terms of potential itineraries for 5 to 7 nights, I would have a lot of potential favorites! Here are some ideas:

1) Take a tgv to St Malo and pick up the car there and I would base either in Dinard (on the coast or Dinan area inland), both of which are smaller and easier to park in than St Malo. If you base a few nights in Dinard or St. Malo, then I would be tempted to not pick up the car until you are ready to leave to explore other places since you won't need a car for either of those cities. You can just take a cab from the gare to Dinard for instance, but you likely will for the Dinan area. By the way, Dinard has one of the best markets in France IMO, especially for shopping versus just the food. From there you could drive up towards the Mont and then I would be tempted to return the car in Le Havre so you can explore that area (be sure to go to Étretat-beautiful vistas and cut town). That whole drive is only around 4 hours, so with 5 or 7 nights you would have lots of time. You could also return the car in Rouen which is also a place worth visiting. Both of those cities would take you back into Paris arriving at St Lazarre.....anyway lots to explore in that area. If you detoured a bit you could also explore some of the WWII areas around St. Lo Bayeux etc. It really would depend on what pace you like.

2) Take a train from Montparnasse to Bordeeaux. Bordeaux is a great city to explore with a kid I think because it is kind of a mini Paris with better weather as a recent Guardian article described it. It is flat and has a great tram system so it makes it easy to explore by foot. When you decide to leave Bordeaux itself (definitely worth a 1-2 night stay depending on how early you arrive) then you could go a couple of directions from there:

a) Explore the whole area up to Nantes. We have a family home in St. Palais sur Mer so of course we are biased about this area-nice beaches-golden sand and good swimming. It will be crowded that time of year but less so than the Med side of France. And your are likely to only encounter French tourists since this area isn't as well traveled by international tourists as other parts of the Atlantic like Normandy for instance. Again this whole drive is only around 4 hours so would leave you lots of time. You could also explore the islands like Oleron ile de Re etc, although I recommend against that in July August unless you really want to see them because they will both be crowded but for definitely see La Rochell for instance since it well worth the stop and has great restaurants by the water and is super scenic by the port area. If you returned the car in Nantes you would take the train back to Montparnasse

b) go south all the way to Biarritz or even St. Sebastian or Bilbao and explore the basque country. Sare France is a nice little village and it is less crowded than the beach communities. If you did that route though I would return the car back in Bordeaux (if you aren't driving all the way to Paris) since the drop fee would be pricey on the Spanish side.

c) Go from Bordeaux to explore the Dordogne. Most people like to base around the Sarlat area since that is very central to the sites. St Cirq is the expert about that area but I will chime in to say that when I was there last June I stayed at 2 nice places (both booked on booking.com)

Côté Jardin 13 rue du Collège - Place Pasteur 24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda +33 6 03 11 52 96 (this is an amazing location 500 ft from tourist office in Sarlat but on the edge of city and parking isn't impossible thanks to a couple of public lots nearby. It is a a very small b&b with 3 little cottages on the property and really lovely family)

Hôtel Le Mas del Pechs: 10 route des Pechs, 24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda, FrancePhone: +33 5 53 31 12 11 (this up above Sarlat with free parking and a pool which was great-much calmer than the city and made it easy to visit other places)

The Dordogne would be busy but so worth it-I always describe this area to friends as a place where you get an amazing bang for your buck! If you did this trip I would explore towards Rocamadour and then return the car to Bordeaux-again the one way drive to Rocamadour is only 3 1/2 hours so you could have a slow paced trip

Or last but not least,

d) You could also consider taking a train to Tours and driving down to Bordeaux and explore the Loire Valley castles, Bordeaux and the beaches and return the car again on Bordeaux.

I can't remember if anyway else mentioned it but another day trip or overnight trip might be to Chartres and/or Giverny. They have a very cool Chartres in Lights event it runs from from April 27 to October 12 every night and would be very fun. You could also take the train to Chartres spend the night and then pick up a car there and continue to Normandy the Loire, etc.

https://www.chartresenlumieres.com/en/

A couple of other comments-in general, I would prefer to take the train out of Paris just because that by using the TGV you can get so much further and have so much more time in 5-7 nights. I have driven in and out of Paris a million times and the hassle is getting less and less worth it-especially since the traffic time to get in and out adds up and the scenery just isn't that interesting til you get about an hour out in any direction.

Since you will be in France in the summer I highly recommend renting apartment and hotels with A/C both for the coll and the noise-you won't regret it!

And if you noticed I didn't recommend you go south towards the Med this time of year mostly because of the heat and crowds but it you decide to go that direction let us know since I know lots of people will have suggestions there

jpie

Also, I meant to mention Blablacar.com. That is a French ridesharing site that all my nieces and nephew use in France all the time, and they have expanded across Europe. It isn't shady like just paying for a ride off of a message board-it is a well respected carpooling site with more like a verified community like uber or airbnb.

You can generally get a ride when you are a week or so out from the date you want to go. So you might explore that site to see if you think it would work for you-it could really great for day trips out to somewhere and train back for instance-but it obviously can be kind of random in terms of dates and locations but you can look and see if it might work for you-I am posting the English site but blablacar.fr works to if you are a French speaker:

https://www.blablacar.co.uk/

ladydem

Thank you all for such incredible recommendations! This is really really helpful and now with so many wonderful options, I need to spend time doing some more research - especially for the trip outside of Paris. Initially I started with 2-3 nights and I am already at 5-7 and I might perhaps few more days there

jpie - many thanks for taking the time to write such detailed and informative response. Truly appreciate it! All the possible itineraries sound wonderful so am mapping things out, looking at pictures, train+car options etc to help narrow it down.

I will soon be back with first draft of Itinerary for a review by you all!

jpie

I will be excited to hear your ideas after you have spent some more research time! And my apologies for all the typos in my post-I was kind of on the run when I was posting. There are tons of people that can give you very detailed info as you start to narrow down your preferences and I will be interested to follow since we are always looking for new ideas too

frvrtrvlng

I am looking forward to seeing your final itinerary too!

ladydem

It is very hard to narrow down from so many amazing options!! Here is what we are thinking right now....feels little rushed but given that we will have to skip places that kids don't enjoy, I think allocated times are not too bad.


Day 1: Pick up car from CDG by 10am and drive to Giverny for Monet house and gardens. Drive to Etretat in late afternoon.
Day 2: Explore Etretat/Fecamp the morning. Drive to Bayeux via Honfleur.
Day 3: D Day beaches
Day 4: Drive to Mont St Michel after spending morning in Bayeux. Visit the Abbey late in the evening.
Day 5: Guided walk out in the sand. Drive to St-Malo (perhaps visit Fougères OR Dinan before reaching St-Malo??)
Day 6: Explore St-Malo & Dinard
Day7: Now from there, I am thinking about two possible options

1. take a train back to Paris from St Malo
2. Add 2-3 nights and explore an area that’s easy to get to from St Malo using public transportation. Perhaps Rennes? Small coastal villages (Locronan, Pont-Aven etc) look nice but not sure if I want to drive all the way there.

Many thanks for comments and suggestions!

StCirq

I hope you're not driving to Giverny after an all-night flight. Bad news for you and everyone else on the road.

What are places that the kids won't enjoy? It's all beautiful in that part of the world. Hard to imagine anyone who's not jaded beyond belief wouldn't be wowed by just the scenery, never mind the history (your kids are up to date on all the history, yes? Otherwise, you can't put it into context).

PalenQ

Maybe take train CDG to Rouen - nice old city with famous cathedral that appears in Monet's works a lot - recover from jet lag and drive the few miles to Giverny and then drive to the coast.

The Loire is an easy day's drive from St-Malo and spend a few days chataeauing - Amboise makes a perfect base. Take train to Paris after returning car at St-Pierre-des-Corps - Tours mainline station - book trains early for discounts - www.oui.sncf -book direct with French Railways - lots on booking own trains www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and rickstves.com.

kerouac

It wouldn't really be a problem to drive from CDG to Giverny, which is not a great distance, but to continue to Etretat after a visit to Giverny would likely be folly, because those are not easy roads. Find a place near Giverny to spend the night.

ladydem

Let me rethink Giverny vs Rouen. We really want to visit Monet gardens which is why I was trying to keep it as a stop but I guess it might be better to do a daytrip another time.

StCirq we won't be jetlagged. Before starting on this roadtrip, we are spending 3.5 weeks in greece and 8 days in Paris. After the roadtrip, we will have at least a week again in Paris. I am sure that my kid will enjoy the scenery and anything outdoors. But in his own words "let's not spend much time in cathedrals and museums" Doesn't mean that we will skip that completely but we will have to keep a time check

ladydem

PalenQ thanks for recommending Amboise. I am looking into it. Do we need a car for it or is it easy to get to from St Malo using train/bus?

jpie

Here are a couple of comments:

I think in general it is is pretty good but I would add on the couple of days if you can. I really think I would keep the car though and explore the area a few more days and* would base in Dinard versus St. Malo personally since it is smaller and I think you will find it a better experience with a 9 year old. I would then return the car either to St Malo or Rennes.. St. Malo is much smaller than Rennes, so you might find it an easier car return Rennes is a nice town-a university town with a cute historic center but it tends to be more interesting I think for either college age travelers interested in nightlife etc. So if you will only have one night there, I am not sure that is really worth it.

Also, Brittany is an area with no "tolled highways" and the speed limit is slower there so I think it would be better if you could base in Dinard (or St Malo) 3 nights versus 2 and explore more of Brittany. Brest is kind of cool and they have an Aquarium/ecopark called Océanopolis there which I bet you would love! I did a business project there and got to see the backstage of the park and it is really cool.

https://www.oceanopolis.com/en/welcome

So you could extend the trip a bit and spend your last night in Brest and just return the car in Brest and the train station and catch a direct tgv back to Paris (4hours) Brest is half the size of Rennes and this would give you a trip that really focuses on the coast.

jpie

Also, I think you wouldn't have a problem driving on from Giverny to Etretat-from CDG to Giverny to Etretat is only 3 hours, so even with the stop at Monet's Garden, I wouldn't find it too hard I don't think. kerouac is right that the roads aren't super fast but they aren't that hard in my recollection....

kerouac

It would mostly depend on how late you leave Giverny.

gomiki

Regarding < area around censier daubenton > That is the metro stop nearest the apartment we rent when we visit Paris. We love the area. Rue Mouffetard is a market street and closed off
during the day. Rue Mouffetard Market There is a small playground at the Church of St. Medard on the corner. Everything you might need is on that street. The Metro connection is good and you can walk to many attractions from here.