Hi !
We are planing a 35 days family road trip for this summer in France (fingers crossed !) After 6 days in Paris, a week In britanny and Normandy, 2 days in Larochelle, 4 days in Dordogne, 1 night in Carcassonne and 6 days in Provence We are looking for some time (7 nights) between Provence and Paris. We have think about 3 nights in Annecy, one in Dijon...that leaves us with 3 nights.

We want to use those three nights somewhere between Provence and Annecy. Any ideas for a three nights stop ? Mays be some mountains .

Thanks !

You have only 1 night/1/2 day in Dijon/Burgundy. You won't see much in that little time. I suggest that you spend your 3 nights in Burgundy - perhaps Beaune & visit the villages & castles in that region. Stop in Troyes on the way back to Paris.

Stu Dudley

3 nights in Dijon, one day for the town and one day to visit the area outside Dijon. If you don't stop by Auxerre on the way to Dijon, that would be a good stop on that day.

https://flic.kr/p/7dT8Xs
https://flic.kr/p/7dTahS
and then 3 nights in Auxerre to visit the area around there. Between the two stops there are things to see as you drive from one to the other:

https://flic.kr/p/7dPdQZ
https://flic.kr/p/8pBQnD
https://flic.kr/p/7dPhVF
https://flic.kr/p/7dP8dc

Here is a link to my wife's Shutterfly book about our month-long vacation in Beaujolais & Burgundy. Towns include Dijon, Beaune, Troyes, Auxerre, Sens, Provins, Bourges, and many small villages & chateaux.

Click "Full screen"
https://stududley.shutterfly.com/38


Stu Dudley

No mountains between Dijon and Paris, unless you want to stay around Annecy, then straight on to Paris.

I would stay 3-4 nights in Dijon/Beaune, lots to see and do in that area. Spend a day in Troyes en route to Paris.

We’re all hopeful of travel later in 2021, part of the fun is in the planning, wish you all the very best...😊

Hi and thanks for all those answers !

I know Lyon is a must for many travellers. We like big cities too but also love some natural and outdoor. We have think about 3 nights somewhere in the Vercors or in les Écrins.

We know only one night in Dijon is short but that would be a stop on route from Annecy before going back to Paris to catch our flight back to Montréal (we woul sleep in an hotel near the airport the night before our departure). That one night stop could be in Beaune too.

Depending on the time of your flight, you might be able to stay in Sens on your last night. That's what we did, and purchased cheese at the market to take home, had it vacuum packed, specifying that it would be traveling at room temperature for a day. We found only one decent hotel in the town, in the very center just past the square book-ended by the cathedral and the market.

https://flic.kr/p/8pEYpo
https://flic.kr/p/8pEZwE

Three nights in Annecy is at least one too many for this type of trip.

Ma
For Annecy itself, but we want to use one day to go to Mont-Blanc cablecar and Chamonix from Annecy.

Stay in the Chamonix area and visit Annecy and surrounding area for the day.

https://flic.kr/p/28FKnZW
https://flic.kr/p/8pww7R

Based on our 1 week stay in the Chamonix area in about 2016, I would stay in Annecy, and visit Mt Blanc from Annecy when the weather is good (get there early). If you stay in Chamonix for 2-3 nights or so, it is very possible that you will never see Mt Blanc - and your Mt Blanc adventure will not be that great. You could get beautiful weather everywhere in the Alps - except on top of Mt Blanc.

Here is something I wrote about our week around Chamonix .in mid July.

Mt Blanc area weather

Several times each year, people on Fodors plan short trips to visit the Mt Blanc area, and inquire about the "normal" weather in the region, and whether they will be able to see & enjoy Mt Blanc - or will it be covered in clouds. The responses (guesses, usually) are normally vague.



We just returned from a week's stay in a Gite close to Mt Blanc, on a hillside in the village of Domancy - within the Sallanches Basin. Domancy is about a 25 min drive west of Chamonix. We've stayed in 65 gites in different regions in France, and this one was perhaps the best gite we've stayed in so far. Probably the most comfortable and certainly the best views. The Gite had floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides with spectacular views of the Sallanches Basin and a "postcard" view of Mt Blanc - when it wasn't covered in clouds. On Thursday this week (July 21) a stage of the Tour de France goes through Domancy on a time-trial leg of the race. The TdF will be in the region on July 22 & 23 also.

https://www.gites-de-france.com/fr/a...lanc-74g103018


This trip was our fourth visit to the Alps, for a total of 5 1/2 weeks. It's our observation from prior trips that the weather is normally less cloudy in the morning than in the evening.

Here is what we experienced:



Saturday July 9 - we arrived around 4PM and Mt Blanc was visible - with a few clouds covering the face. We checked the weather forecast on the internet, and it was expected to be mostly sunny on Sunday, partly cloudy on Monday - with a thunderstorm in the evening. Tuesday through Thursday were to be mostly cloudy with rain & thunderstorms. We decided it might be best to take some "lifts" in the area on Sunday & Monday - before the rains started.



Sunday July 10. We left our Gite early and took the 8:40 departure on the Tramway to Mont Blanc from the St Gervais station (10 mins from our gite). This is a normal mountain train that goes to the Nid d'Aigle. We had good views of Mt Blanc with just a few clouds. The entire trip (with a 1 hr "look-around" at Nid d'Aigle) took 3 hours. When we returned to our gite around 1:30PM, Mt Blanc was perfectly clear with no clouds at all. We took lots if pictures from the gite.



About 4PM we took the Mont d'Arbois cable car from St Gervais up to Mt Arbois. Mt Blanc was completely covered in clouds as were most of the high peaks around the Sallanches basin.



The temperatures were in the low 90s F in Domancy today. We dined outside on our deck at the gite - admiring what we could see of Mt Blanc (very little).



Monday July 10. The weather looked pretty good - so we left our Gite at 8:15am and were on the Le Brevent lift in Chamonix at 8:45. The weather was excellent - good visibility, but a few clouds "running by" to make the pictures more dramatic. We had a hot chocolate at the cafe on top, and then lasagne and wine for lunch at 11:30. We spent around 2 1/2 hrs wandering around Le Brevent. By the time we departed, Mt Blanc and the other peaks in the area were almost 100% hidden behind clouds.



This night we had dinner in Chamonix and Mt Blanc was mostly hidden in clouds. As we returned home from dinner - it was raining heavily.



Tuesday July 12. Rain all day. We rarely saw Mt Blanc. By 6PM, there were many low clouds and we could not see Mt Blanc at all, nor any of the peaks in the Sallanches basin around us.



Wednesday July 13. Very low clouds & fog. We could not see Mt Blanc, the other peaks, and even St Gervais. Rain started around 3PM, and it was 55 F for a high in Domancy.



Thursday July 14. Extremely foggy with low clouds in the AM - lower than yesterday. You would not even know that you were in the Alps. Very poor visibility. Rain at 1PM. Low fog lifted a little - but we never saw Mt Blanc. High temps in Chamonix today was 44F. Tomorrow's forecast is to be somewhat better.



Friday July 15. Weather looked OK, so we got an early start and drove through Chamonix (temp 41F) to Argentiere and took the Aiguille des Grands Montets lift. It had snowed sometime in the past 2-3 days and the temperature at the top of the lift was minus 8C, and there was 13CM of fresh show. We were cold - but the views were spectacular. Mt Blanc was mostly clear with a few clouds for dramatic effect. We spent around 2 1/2 hrs engaged with this lift - having lunch at the mid-level stop - where it was somewhat warmer.



Starting around noon - Mt Blanc was in & out of clouds. When we got back to our gite in the early afternoon - Mt Blanc was entirely hidden in clouds.



Saturday July 16. Mt Blanc weather was perfect - the morning we departed (naturally). The weather forecast for the following week called for perfect sunny weather - and warmer. For the upcoming Tour de France.



In summary, we were there for around 6 1/2 days and had three half-days where we could see & enjoy Mt Blanc and four days which we could not.

Stu Dudley