driving from Chartres to Chamonix
 

My husband and I will be renting a car and driving from Chartres to Chamonix mid May. Any ideas on which route to take that might include a castle? From Chamonix we'll go to Provence and then down to Cinque Terre, all in 8 days. Is it necessary to obtain an international driver's license?

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Jenny---<BR>An international driver's license is not necessary, but sometimes it helps with ID. There's a Chateau de St. Augustin southeast of Bourges. Not far from Chamonix is Chateau de Thorens Glieres, northeast of Annecy. Have fun.

Hi, Jenny. You can find driving directions for this or any other itinerary at www.viamichelin.com or www.mappy.fr (availble in English). It is a pretty long trip; Michelin says 5h46 and Mappy says 6h35 and that's using almost all autoroute and not taking into account any stops. In addition, their estimates are often on the optimistic side.<BR>You don't say whether you are planning to do this in one day or two. If only one, you won't have much time to stop and sightsee along the way. If two, you could spend a night in Beaune which would be a little over half way. It's an interesting town and I believe there are a few castles in the area. The Mappy itinerary also has you passing near Rambouillet and Fontainebleau, both of which have castles, but they would be very early in your trip.<BR>On the Mappy site you can click on the names of towns along the route and find lots of information about sights to see, hotels, restaurants, etc.<BR>Regarding the International Drivers License, in 30+ years of traveling in France, I got an IDL only once and was never asked for it. But then, I was never involved in an accident either.<BR>Hope this is helpful. Have a great trip.

Pardon me if you know this, but the first thing to do is to see what the route options are and how much driving per day you wish to do. The ones I like to use are mappy and viamichelin. We do a driving tour of France every year and are happy to offer suggestions.