Thinking_man

I had posted earlier about driving from Montpellier to Barcelona to Lourdes to Toulouse. After reviewing the forum suggestion and valuing my wife's opinion I decided to kill it.

We decided to fly from Paris to Toulouse on Fri June 23rd early AM and rent a car immediately. We need to be back in Toulouse the night of Tue June 27th so that we can fly out on June 28th early AM back to the US.

Option1: So basically we will have 4-5 days and I would like suggestions for a road trip that includes Lourdes as part of it.

Option 2: The other thought is should I rent the car in Paris and drive down the west coast and end in Toulouse via Lourdes ??

Much appreciated !!

kja

IMO, Toulouse is a gem that merits several days. JMO. I'm sure you realize that you can take a high-speed train from Paris to Toulouse.

If there is <b>any</b> chance that you will have jet lag, I would strongly encourage you to take public transportation for your first night or two. There is mounting evidence that driving with jet lag is just as dangerous -- to yourself and others -- as driving drunk, and <b>nothing</b> you can do will prevent the microsleeps (which you might not even notice) that are the apparent culprit.

Do you have the <i>Michelin Green Guide</i>? I highly recommend it.

Good luck!

StuDudley

No driving from Paris to Toulouse via the west coast. A pure "drive" (with no stops) is really not that scenic - and it is a long drive.

Not sure why you want to focus on Lourdes - unless it is a religious thing. If you want to explore the Pyrenees - there are better locations. On your other thread, I posted a portion of my Pyrenees itinerary. We've spent 10 weeks in the Pyrenees between Biarritz & Perpignan. We've also spent 12 week in the Languedoc region - often starting or ending a trip in Toulouse (our second favorite city in France). I developed a 30+ page itinerary for the Languedoc, and a shorter one for the Pyrenees. If you would like a copy of either, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach them to the reply e-mail. Specify which one you want - I have others and I receive around 5-8 itinerary requests every day.

Stu Dudley

Thinking_man

kja - I would have been in Paris for about 6 days (air show) prior to this trip.

Stu - Yes, Lourdes is a religious thing and hence the trip to Southern France. I will email you separately.

aliced

Take the train or fly to Toulouse, stay Friday and Saturday nights, perhaps Sunday too; leave for Lourdes later in afternoon with your car, arrive for dinner, spend Monday and half of Tuesday there, return car to Toulouse. Check car rental options on a Sunday, however, likely open at airport but not near train! Wonderful walkable city where you do not want a car. My husband still has nightmares parking our (rather large by European standards) Fiat 500 on an upper deck lot of our hotel and incurring too many scratches getting in and out. Wish we had an extra day (from 3 nights) to explore the Canal du Midi in Toulouse. If you do leave on Sunday, it is not too out of the way to spend a couple hours in Carcassonne before continuing down to Lourdes, think see it at dusk would be even more worthwhile.

Christina

I would agree with Alice, I don't quite understand why you want to avoid Toulouse unless you've already been there a lot.

You only have 4-5 days, so if you spend a couple in Lourdes, and a couple in Toulouse, that's about it. Carcassonne is out of the way between those two, but you would have enough time to go there before returning to Toulouse, if you want. Or go there first.

I"m not understanding why you want to drive everywhere, why would you drive from Paris to Toulouse?

Michael

Lourdes or the towns into the Pyrenees (Argelès-Gazost, Pierrefitte-Nestalas) would make a good base to visit the mountains: Col de Tourmalet, Gavarnie. One or the other makes for a nice day trip.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7623717915043/

Cathinjoetown

Lourdes is about a two-hours' drive from Toulouse by autoroute but I would at least over night in Toulouse city centre to see something of a very pretty city and to avoid driving jet-lagged.

Lourdes has more hotel rooms per capita than I believe any other town in Europe, primarily to house all the pilgrims. Because many come on package pilgrimages, if you want to stay in the town, book early. Lourdes, apart from the basilica, is a pleasant enough market town with lots of merchandising based on the 19th c events, some people find it off-putting. If you prefer a larger town/city, Pau has a lovely old town, incredible views and a bit of "Englishness" because Wellington's army came through there during the Napoleanic Wars--it's still very French.

I just moved back from the States after 7 years in that area, about an hour from Toulouse and 20 minutes from St. Gaudens. I can't help with hotels in Lourdes but let me know your budget and interests if you're looking for a place in Toulouse.