first trip to France
 

My wife and I are spending 3 weeks in France for the first time. We are 50 yrs old. Planning to spend 5 days in Paris then wondering what to do rest of time. We enjoy walking and had thought of doing a walking holiday through the dordogne which my cousin did. Or else thought of catching a train down south then driving around. We did that in Italy few yrs ago and used Karen Browns books for recomendations. Would appreciate any suggestions of what people consider a must to see and do
Thanks

First off with that much time total I would definitely spend more than 5 days in Paris.
That is a wonderful amount of time and you should be able to do justice to several areas of France.
How about renting a car from your landing in CDG and driving around Normandy for a week. Drop the car, train to Paris for a week.
Train to Provence, rent a car and see the wonderful little towns. Train to CDG for your return.

What time of year?

Assuming your trip in in the spring or summer I would consider:

-A week in Paris, exploring its museums, sights, restaurants, beauty (no car)
-A week in Provence: TGV to Avignon, rent car. Visit St. Remy, Les Baux, Aix-en-Provence, Lourmarin, Gordes, Abbey Senanque-if lavender in bloom.
-A week in Paris as a base with day trips to Normandy, Chartres, Versailles, etc.-perhaps a few days of this week in Loire or Burgundy.

Good luck.

Anthony

I think the post above mine sounds terrific.

Have you been to London? It's less than three hours away from Paris by Eurostar. Even a day trip consisting of a bus tour would be better than never experiencing this fascinating city. Two commercial tours are

<b>http://www.theoriginaltour.com
http://www.bigbus.co.uk</b>

Or you can DiY with this map and a One-Day Bus Pass:

<b>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/cen_bus.pdf</b>

Hi m,

For our upcoming 3 weeks in France we will,

Fly into Bordeaux - 3 days in the Bordeaux region
Drive to Carcassone and on to
Albi - 1 night
The Tarn Gorges - 1 night
Conques - 1 night - to
Figeac to Cahors - 1 night
The Dordogne - 5 nights in Beynac
Return car in Libourne - train to
Paris - 7 nights fly home.

Hope this helps,

((I))