GaffaUK

Hiya

My partner and I are planning a 3 week car trip around France and it's borders. We are on a budget so we were thinking of camping at sites near some of the towns/sights along the way with the exception of big cities like Paris etc.

Possible Itinerary
Paris-Loire-Bordeaux-Rochamadour-Toulouse-Andorra-Barcelona-Perpignan-Montpelier-Avignon-Monaco-Genoa-Como-Lucerne-Basel-Black Forest-Strasburg-Frankfurt-Luxembourg-Paris.

I was wondering if you had any advice about the lesser know sights.

It seems a lot of guide books are stuffed with churches and a lot of dry stuff. I am interested in history and have travelled around Europe and some of the towns above before but this time I would more a 'chilled-out' road trip.

So things like water-parks, caving, woodland walks, nudist beaches, modern art galleries, fairly quiet atmospheric bars, etc.

thanks

nancy

You might look at Rick Steves travel books - I know he has 22 day itineraries and does a lot on a budget.
Personally, I always get his books wherever I'm going. Hasn't failed me yet.

GaffaUK

Thanks - I've been looking at Rick Steve's web site -ricksteves.com and it seems really good.

So far I'm thinking about going to some spa towns like Baden-Baden in Germany and Salies de Bearn in France.

Also thinking of stopping at Cap D'Agde in southern france - a nudist resort. Plus go hiking at Cinque Terre in Italy.

Any other cool places or activities along this route would be appreciated

Sue_xx_yy

GaffaUk

Since you've travelled around Europe before, you presumably know what travel speed you enjoy. However, you state you want something different from before, a more 'chilled-out' itinerary. Yet your itinerary involves 20 stops in 21 nights; perhaps you might want to play around a bit with a trip mileage planner like viamichelin.com in order to come up with how many hours of driving a day you can do, and still have time for the woodland walks, etc., that you want.

To the extent that my own experience can be applicable to your own requirements, my suggestion is that if you can get the overall route and the number of stops paced to your satisfaction, the sightseeing almost takes care of itself.

GaffaUK

thanks - I'll have a look at that website. I was doing a preliminary mileage check and it was on average 2hrs driving a day. Overall the trip is over 3 weeks - 24 days. So a extra day in Paris, Barcelona and Lucerne.

However I think you are right and it may be too much - so I may try cut a few stops. Yet it is tricky - how many scenic stops would you have going from Paris to Barcelona? Currently I was thinking 5. Loire/Bordeaux/Rochamadour/Toulouse/Andorra. I probably could reduce this to 3 (remove Bordeaux and Toulouse). Similar distance but less meandering.

I don't want to book any accomodation because this keeps the itinerary rigid and we may want to change the route or pace. However I like to aim for places that I know I have done the background info on and some guidebooks (michelin/rough guide/lonely planet) concentrate a lot on accomodation/restaurants/historical sites rather than some of things I mentioned. Certainly message boards like this contain lots of great ideas...

StCirq

I personally wouldn't bother to hightail it all the way from Bordeaux to Rocamadour. Why not just enjoy the Dordogne for at least a day or two? Unless you are a pilgrim, driving all the way from Bordeaux to Rocamadour seems like a waste of time.

I'd also skip Toulouse, but again that's a personal preference. I'd head into the Dordogne from Bordeaux and spend a couple of days and then make a beeline for Bayonne/Biarritz/St-Jean-de Luz or into the Pyrénnées.

jenviolin

Gaffa - when are you going? It can be risky not to book any accommodation at all in August (but I've gone that route sometimes!). You may get some really awful campsites, but maybe that's not important.
Check out Insight Guides; there is proportionately much more historical/cultural info than hotel/restaurant info.
Check out the museum 'Collection Beyeler' (spelling?) near Basel.

GaffaUK

We will be travelling from 4th Sept.
September should be a quieter month than August with most kids back at school etc.

Flying to Paris from UK on bmibaby airline. They were giving away free tickets on certain routes and days (not including airport tax). Decided to return back on a Sat so the total cost came to £40 each (about $65. Bargain

As I'm heading from Tours (Loire region) heading towards Barcelona on the first stretch I was considering skipping Bordeaux and spend longer in the Dordogne. My partner wanted to go to a vineyard so presumably there are plenty in the Dordogne. Any recommended ones? I've been to Rocamadour as a kid in the Eighties (Im 31 now) and remember as visually impressive place.

I also considered Biarritz but thought that would take me too far from the Barcelona route + we'll be seeing plenty of French resorts on the Med. But I'm open to it if people think it is particularly cool.