Dordogne to Lyon
 

We are planning a 3 week visit to France & Italy in September, flying into Paris and out of Milan. We have visited Paris several times and previously visited Provence, Lyon, Burgundy and Alsace. Our plans are loosely as follows:

3 nights Paris.
TGV to Bordeaux and pick up a car, maybe spend 1night in St Emilion.
5 nights in Dordogne, using one location as a base (though where remains uncertain as we know little of the region)
2 nights in Montpellier. We would like to stop for a visit to Carcassone en route to Montpellier.
Drive from Montpellier to Lyon and drop off car. 1 night in Lyons then board the 6 hour high speed train to Milan.

I would appreciate all opinions and comments on this itinerary.

If you know little of the Dordogne, just relying on general appreciation of other travelers, it might be useful to look at some travel guides that will tell you what to see, where to stay, and where to eat.

Why two nights in Montpellier?

Use viamichelin.com to determine driving time between destinations. You may discover that the driving time might force you to make an overnight stop between the Dordogne and Montpellier if you want to visit Carcassonne (count on a 3 hour visit or more, depending on the exhibit in the castle).

Why park your car in Montpellier (VERY difficult) for 2 nights and then drive to Lyon (3+ hrs - not very scenic) when the TGV can take you there in 1 3/4 to 2 hrs? Driving into Lyon is difficult.

We love Montpellier - we were there just last year. 2 nights/1 1/4 days would be fine. We dined at La Diligence - which was fantastic www.la-diligence.com

I have a 20+ page itinerary I wrote for the Dordogne based on our 10 weeks worth of visits there. I've sent it to over 1,500 people on Fodors. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail

Stu Dudley

I agree, doesn't make sense to have the car in Montpellier. Why not leave it there or maybe ditch it earlier, even. You can take the train from Carcassonne to Montpellier direct in only 1:30 hours, for example. Unless you want to drive that route.

>>You can take the train from Carcassonne to Montpellier direct in only 1:30 hours<<

Better yet.

Be aware, the train station & probably the rental car return offices are not near La Cite - but in the larger bastide town area


>>Unless you want to drive that route.<<

Which is mostly not scenic

Stu Dudley