Beaunne to southern Provence
 

This next July my wife and I will be visiting the Burgundy region for the first time and intend to base ourselves in Beaunne. We will probably spend 3 or 4 days there and then head south. Our last trip to France included a week in Provence but we want to return to visit some villages we missed the last trip. I am considering ST. Remy as a base. From there we will drive to Nice, return the car and fly on to Rome. Here's the question. Does anyone have any suggestions on which route to take between Beaunne and ST. Remy? I am not looking for the quickest route, I can get that from Michelin. I am hoping someone has some suggestion on a scenic route with perhaps an overnight stop on the way. Thanks in advance for the input.

For an interesting ride with some fantastic scenery, you could head down the highway to Lyon, then get off toward St-Etienne and go through Le Puy, Mende, and Florac, and then south to Nîmes. That would take you through some of the breathtaking parts of the Cévennes. If I were going to take this route, I'd allow myself two nights before arriving in the Bouche-du-Rhône.

Thanks so much, I will map this out and see how this works. Any ideas on where to stopover for the two nights?

You might want to make your first stop in Vienne, though it will take you just a tiny bit off your route. I've never been there, but have read about it - it is supposed to have the best concentration of architectural history in the Rhône Valley. I'm sure if you google it, you'll get lots of information.
For the second stop, I'd stay somewhere in the Cévennes in the general vicinity of Florac. If you want to drive the Gorges du Tarn, you might consider an overnight in St-Enemie. I stayed on my last visit in a friend of a friend's B&B way up in the mountains about 10 kms from Florac. I can check if the place is still open as a B&B (he was just getting started in the business at the time, and I've lost the URL). It was a beautiful place and the owner was an excellent cook. The whole area is full of villages with appealing little hotels and B&Bs - all in a vast moonscape-type terrain with astounding geological formations.

This is sounding better by the minute. If you can find the URL for the B&B we would appreciate it. Thanks again.

While StCirq searches for the URL, you may want to try this - on the Florac page you'll find a listing 8 B&B's within 10km of Florac...

http://www.gites-de-france.fr/eng/

I'm following up on that URL and will post when I find it. The name of the place is La Baume, but it is NOT the La Baume that appears when you google.

Here is the link to Richard Thème's wonderful B&Bin Saint Privas de Vallongues:

http://www.cevennes.com/labaume/

Many thanks for the URL. It looks wonderful. As soon as we finalize our schedule we will try for reservations. I will let you know how everything works out.

I absolutely agree that you should go to Le-Puy-en-Velay, an astonishing site. About an hour north of there is a wonderful small country hotel on a stream. Check this: www.mistou.fr.
We have stayed there a couple of times. Wonderful food, too. Heading south from Le Puy, yes the Gorge du Tarn is beautiful, as is the town of St. Enimie. But also consider heading south to Aubenas from Le Puy, then down to Vallon-Pont d'Arc and follow the Gorge de l'Ardeche. Where it flattens out at Pont St-Esprit, go south to Nimes, stopping at Pont du Gard. Spend the night in or near Nimes, explore the city (and Uzes) then on to St-Remy.

I'm a minority voice here. Perhaps the francophile community is divided between those who like the area west of the Rhone (the majority of posters to date) and those who prefer the area east of the Rhone, which includes myself.

I've been to the area west of the Rhone and I find the driving tough, the villages mean and the "douceur de vivre" lacking.

But I come from Canada, where we have "too much geography and not enough history". So I go to France in search of the opposite.

Between Lyon and St Remy I would tend to stay east and wander through my beloved Drome provencale, though that need not, for example, exclude the Gorges de l'Ardeche -- easily reachable on a day trip from the Drome.

On an issue less apt to controversion, viz. What to do between Beaune and Lyon? From Beaune you could (should!!) wander in easy stages through southern Burgundy/the Maconnais: Tournus, Brancion, Cluny etc. -- surely some of the loveliest of French countryside

I was there again in October. I'd recommend the pristine and chic Chateau de Beaufer near Tournus; across the Saone at Pont de Vaux is the hotel/ restaurant Le Raisin; for traditional French cuisine the wonderful Hotel de Bourgogne's restaurant in Cluny; Chateau d'Ige if you want Relais et Chateau accommodation near Cluny; or the Domaine Dauphin near Macon for an immaculately renovated (grand) farmhouse/ B&B.

Vienne I have never visited. I know it only as "the place with the big gas flare atop the refinery". I have always passed it with horror.

Vienne is actually quite pleasant, and it is blessed with significant Roman structures--there's an amphitheater and the Temple of Livia, raised in her memory by Claudius when he fulfilled his promise and made her a goddess. (Fans of the BBC's "I, Claudius" will remember that scene.)

In addition, there's a nice shopping district and a number of good to fine restaurants, of which the biggie is Pyramide.

The Maconnais was a highlight for me. The Northern side has a very beautiful countryside and the views from the hilltops over the surrounding valleys is delghtful as is the areas mostly white wine.