tomboy

Each region has its unique attributes, and each person is unique.
So what I like, others might not.
That said:
I find northern France (Brittany, Normandy, Alsace, etc) to be more like the US (urbanized, "sophisticated", "developed") than southern France. (less..., less....less...) (MidiPyrnees, Dordogne, Luberon, Provence)
If I were deported, I'd select southern France as a new home.
The other night, we were talking, and couldn't remember a single disappointing day in the south.
Te

VANAARLE

I am not willing to decide for you. They are polls apart.I liked them both. Le Mans is a lot smaller. Go when there is no racing and a lovely old city center very tranquil/relaxing. Nantes is a huge city activities in the various public buildings and streets. One unique exhibition is Les machines.
Driving long distances back home is not the same as long distances in Europe. Different road manners, much higher speeds, different method of signing the road all make it the experience a bit more taxing. The toll roads in France are not cheap.

hetismij2

Go spend the time on the Brittany coast, along from MSM. Have some down time and explore the coast and inland. Seriously you will love it.
Hire bikes and cycle along the Canal d'Ile-et-Rance.
But please do take the train to Rennes rather than fly.

How anyone can think of Normandy and Brittany (or much of Northern France for that matter) as urbanised and developed is beyond me, unless they have never actually been or have only visited Rouen.

BritishCaicos

I have a house near Bordeaux - I agree it’s sensational.

Currently one of the best food/ wine scenes in the world combined with the best seafood in the world on the Arcachon basin.

hetismij2

Hope you and your house are safe given the huge fires down there right now.

Bordeaux may be sensational but it seems out of the way given the current plan OP has.

StuDudley

""Bordeaux may be sensational but it seems out of the way given the current plan OP has.""

I really don't know what the OP's current plan is. She mentions Carcassonne as a destination. Carcassonne is 3 1/2 hrs from Bordeaux, and 8 hrs from Rennes. One needs to drive past Bordeaux and Nantes to get to Rennes from Carcassonne.

I'm not a bit fan of Nantes. Too much of it was destroyed in WWII and not built back so greatly. Same with St Malo. We visited it 3 time on our last trip to France in '19 - plus several visits before that. From the outside it is quite impressive. Once on the inside, the building architecture is "blocky" and not very interesting, IMO. "Old" Le Mans is quite small - but beautiful. The main area in Le Mans where the market is held is very "ordinary" and boring.

Stu Dudley

hetismij2

She is determined to go to Mont St Michel, hence Rennes. So if she is sticking to that the surely it makes sense to spend the extra days in Brittany?
Seeing a bit more of that area is a good contrast to the south, and an area for walking, cycling. Great food and Cider is worth exploring for those not used to it being an alcoholic drink.

StuDudley

Carcassone & MSM are 10 hours apart by car!!. And Provence is mentioned also. This itinerary is similar to my first visit to Europe in 1977. All I remember is the inside of the car and arriving at a destination about 6PM. My mother & sister "bailed out" on us half-way through the trip, and my wife refused to go on another similar itinerary with me.

Stu Dudley

BritishCaicos

Hets

the fires are currently confined to the huge forest of Landes - originally planted by Napoleon with fire breaks which we’re idiotically planted over some years ago. The only way the firefighters can currently fight the fires is to rebuild the fire breaks. They are near impossible to extinguish as the land is also ancient woodland with peat soil which is burning under the surface.

Look at google maps from space - the forest is the huge wedge of dark green in a triangle from the Spanish border up North of Bordeaux and then extending East - we are 60k from the edge but daily smell the smoke - 3 weeks ago the smoke hit Paris. The upper Loire is about to dry up - this is just biblical but rain is forecast next week.

OP - I drove up to MSM for the first time - on Sunday , it looked impressive, ticked it off and moved on - to a stunning village up the coast called Carteret where I could have spent days eating seafood and watching the yachts come and go. MSM is an epic tourist Mecca.

kerouac

Of course right now there are even fires in Brittany for the first time in decades, if not a century.

StuDudley

Deleted double post

scrb11

I was also researching Bordeaux (but would try to visit Biarritz if I'm going that way) vs. Normandy, specifically Etretat, though if I went up there, I'd try to also visit Omaha Beach and MSM as well.

I would pair it with Cote d'Azur.

Normandy is hard to reach by air. The small airports in the north of France are not served by many direct flights other than Paris it seems. And from Paris, you're probably better off driving or taking the train. So it seems fly from NCE to CDG and either train or rent a car to drive north or NW.

Bordeaux, it seems more justification to fly to BOD because IIRC Paris to Bordeaux by train was like 6 hours or so.

bilboburgler

As a small boy I loved Carteret.

victoriainwanderland

We would be flying into France as we will be coming from Lisbon - arriving in either Bordeaux (if we stop there) or Toulouse. This has made us evaluate further whether we just leave MSM for another time since it really will require us to go to the other side of the country. We will likely discuss it further tomorrow though at this point if we stick with MSM, we will stay in Rennes for longer to explore some of Brittany, otherwise if we skip MSM we will do Bordeaux and maybe Dijon so as to keep our trip predominantly in the south of France.

lavandula

I have been to both Le Mans and Nantes. Le Mans has a cathedral where the interior is all white, it's very beautiful. And the remnants of the old city walls are stones cemented together with a rust-brown mortar, which gets its colour because the (12th century?) builders put ox blood in the mortar. I remember being amazed that there would still be that colour after all those centuries. It is quite a nice city but I agree about the market square, nothing special. The market is open on a Sunday morning as are some restaurants so if you found yourself with nothing to do on a Sunday this might be a nice way to pass time.

I don't remember much about Nantes - I went there from a base in Quimper when I was 19 and I don't remember the city that well. I found a bandes dessinnées shop and bought Tintin prints there, black and white reproductions from what I think is 'The Broken Ear'. They are framed and on my wall even today. I wanted to visit Nantes because in my French class when I was still in school my teachers played us a song by a chanteuse called Barbara, called 'Nantes': . I found the song so atmospheric that I wanted to go there, or rather, there was an opportunity to go there from my base. The song has lines about the grey skies and rain in Nantes and the weather did not disappoint!

Neither Le Mans or Nantes would be my first pick in that area but I liked them both. But Quimper was really nice, lots of medieval buildings and distinctive pottery. There are many places in Brittany that I haven't yet seen, but I've also been to Mont Saint Michel and Rennes. Rennes and Fougères could keep you for a couple of days, and Fougères is really worthwhile. If you are casting around for something to see in that area, I would say, see those latter two.

Lavandula

StuDudley

""Bordeaux and maybe Dijon so as to keep our trip predominantly in the south of France.'

Dijon is tied with Toulouse as our second favorite city in France (after Paris). But it is 4 1/4 hrs away from Provence by car. Why do you want to drive so much??? I would not consider Dijon to be in the "south of France". It is only a 3 1/2 hr drive from Paris.

Spend your time in Toulouse, Bordeaux, Aix, and Avignon for your "city fix". IMO, Provence, Languedoc, and the Dordogne countryside offers a larger & more interesting variety of stuff to do & see than Burgundy does. And there are plenty of vineyards & wineries to visit in the Cote du Rhone in Provence. READ MY ITINERARIES!!!

Stu Dudley

victoriainwanderland

I am not sure what part of it seems to be problematic as we will be going to Lyon after Avignon and understand Dijon is a manageable 2.5 hours from Lyon by train. We will not be driving (the only driving we will do is if we do decide to trek to Rennes to see MSM). I have read through your itineraries and have made extensive notes to the extent they have been applicable regarding our journey. For the most part we had our itinerary planned but with the additional days available it has thrown a spanner in the works hence we are now re-formulating it to decide on what is best.

kerouac

With the completion of the TGV line a few years ago, rail travel time is just over 2 hours, so it's faster than flying.

scrb11

I would be originating from Nice or maybe Marseille.

kerouac

Perhaps, but your post was talking about Paris to Bordeaux. I am not a mind reader.