Brittany & Loire Valley help.
 

Four of us will be spending 7 days & nights exploring the Loire Valley and Brittany this coming October. We will be driving from Paris after a flight from Italy. We are considering not reserving any hotels and just winging it through this area...sort of a just see where the day takes you trip.

Is this a good idea or should we reserve rooms along the way. We have been to the Normandy Beaches before and to Mont Saint-Michel, so we will concentrate our time in Dinan and the surrounding areas, and the Loire Valley.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, as well as any must see sights in the area.

In October it's quite feasible to wing it without reservations. The question is, with only a week to see two fairly large areas of France, do you really want to spend the time each day to scout out accommodations? At the very least, I'd have a Michelin guide or Hachette or Petit Futé with me so I could call ahead each morning and secure a bed for the night. But that, of course, begs the question of, if by the morning you know where you're going to end up that night, why couldn't you plan the whole thing ahead of time?

If you REALLY want to wing it, as it just wander from day to day with no plans at all, then you'll have to deal with fitting in an hour or more each day finding places to stay in all likelihood. I'd also make sure I was knowledgeable about what's open and what's closed on which days.

Thanks for your insights. Carrying the Michelin guide is a good idea. I've done this sort of thing before and, you're right, it takes about an hour to find a place.

One thing we did before was to ask the hotel we were staying at to recommend a hotel for the next night. Most of these Inns and Hotels are networked together. So they can easily and happily contact 2 or 3 for you...but that does mean you need a general idea of where you will end up at the end of the day.

I think it is a good idea to stay flexible. Especially the Cote d'Emeraude near Dinan requires some decent weather and if it rains cats and dogs (not uncommon in Brittany) you can change your plans.

Hotel search will be very easy if you have internet access (most hotels have a business center or at least a computer/printer for their guests). The largest hotel reservation chain (focussing on 3- and 2-star hotels) is Logis de France - usually charming, family-owned boutique hotels. You find at least one Logis Hotel in virtually every town in France. They have a printed guidebook. You can take a free copy in every Logis Hotel, but they also send it to you.

http://www.logishotels.com/

I sometimes travel in Brittany and in the Loire Valley without booking ahead. I carry some information with me on hotels that might suit, and a very good resource is the Logis de France guidebook that Echnaton recommends. With that, and a phone, I can cut down the time and effort involved in finding accommodation.

In general, it is fairly easy in October. Very few places fill up at that time of year.

We swear by the Logis de France. You can pick up a softbound copy of their affiliates at any Logis once you arrive.

Many thanks for the Logis de France tip. I'm thinking of booking the first night in Saumur...just to get our bearings. Is this a good location to see the Loire Valley? It looks good on the map.

It's a good location to see the western Loire. But if you're coming from Paris and heading ultimately to Brittany, I'd either split the time up in the Loire between Amboise/Blois and Saumur/Angers or pick someplace a little more central, like Chinon. Of course, if you're coming back through the Loire after visiting Brittany, Saumur makes sense.

What do you want to see in the Loire? If chateaux, then Saumur isn't the place to stay, Amboise is because it is much nearer the 3-4 best ones in the area (Chenonceau, Giverny, Chambord, Amboise Castle itself).

And Saumur is farther from Paris than Amboise. And don't miss the Abbaye de Fontevraud.

Yes, we want to see the Chateaux. Thanks StCirq...my eye completely skipped over Amboise. That makes more sense. The Abbey sounds great as well.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions about the drive from St. Malo to Quimper...any must sees or must eats?

Yes, you must eat food. Better for you than just drinking bilge water and eating roadside poppies. In terms of restaurants, no such thing as a must eat because who knows better than you what you like (or your budget for that matter)? In France, however, the lowest-priced eateries tend to be far lower quality than the mid-level prices (about E10-18 per entree), and you can talk to the foodies about whether bang for the buck is available at higher price points. Note that by the time you go to France, the Euro may well be closer to the dollar than it is now so your trip may be getting less expensive.

In Amboise, there are about 5-7 restaurants on the town side (as opposed to the river side) of the castle on the street right below the walls and there are one or two medium priced (not cheap, not excessive) that are good. I'm not foodie enough to remember names. If the weather doesn't suck, you can eat outside under the shadow of the chateau, which is pretty neat.

And if you go to the Chateau d'Amboise (and you should if you're going to the Loire Valley for the chateaux -- it should be right at the top of chateau visitors' lists right after Chenonceau and Chambord), <b>exit by the carriageway</b>, not by returning down the outside path that you climbed to the main entrance. Look at the columns alongside the carriageway for the unique designs, and you'll see why.

Thanks, BigRuss, for the tips. I will definitely visit the Chateau d'Amboise.

Let's see: if you are going to Dinan be sure to also see Dinard--especially the lovely old places along the coast.

Samour--the Hotel d'Anjou is nice.

Amboise--both the Hotel les Minimes, and the Clos de Amboise are nice--slightly different price ranges, and amenities accordingly.

In Amboise, also see the Leonardo da Vinci home/museum.

Amboise - Le Vieux Manoir - we loved staying there in 2008. If you enjoy a B&B experience, the couple who own it are actually American who used to own a B&B in Boston. They relocated to France via California. http://www.le-vieux-manoir.com/ It comes highly recommended in several guides: Michelin, Fodors, Alastair Sawday's Special Places to Stay. Another plus is that they have secure parking for your car.

Thanks for all the suggestions. The Le Vieux Manoir looks perfect for us.

we have stayed in Saumur and amboise and much prefer the former.

Annhig...what did you like about Saumur that made you favor it?

Annhig...what did you like about Saumur that made you favor it?>>

1) easy to get into and out of with minimum of traffic - great base for touring.

2) nice hotels [we stayed at the Europa from mempory - very traditional family french hotel but none the worse for that] close enough to the centre to enable us to walk to restaurants in the evening and not have to drive home, so both of us could drink.

3) a proper town with ordinary people, not overly geared towards tourism, with proper shops and cafes.

4) enough decent restaurants to give us a choice every night and not have to repeat ony.

5) plenty to see in the town itself, like the castle and old bits, the musee des blindes, the horse-riding school [not seen either of the last two, yet].

6) it's reasonably close to lots of places you might want to see like Villandry, Angers, Abbey de fontevraud, etc. etc.

7) we just liked it!

Jim,
Amboise and Saumur are both ideal bases. If you like Le Vieux Manoir, I would go with that as someone new to the area. The B&B is just as nice as in the photos, and Glorias advice (and she will give you advice)on where to go and at what time, and how to get there will get you twice as much vacation