I am attending a business meeting in Paris for 5 days at the end of May. I will be going on city tours but my main interest would be to see the countryside as much as possible. I would like to rent a car and drive somewhere to see old villages and maybe even get to the Alps. Any suggestions?

We've never been in the direction of the Alps ... sounds wonderful. I will suggest the www.iti.fr site for driving directions anywhere around France. When you have your destinations chosen, you can use the iti site to plan your route ("fastest", "without tolls", "alternative/scenic"). The site will give you detailed directions plus drive time and estimated tolls. Print out your directions in kilometers, not miles, so that it matches with the road signs! We rented a car from the airport (CDG) and that worked well to avoid city driving.

We headed southeast out of Paris towards Beaunne and Dijon. Was about a 4-hr drive, I think. Lots of little towns on the way with old cathedrals, and the town of Beaunne was very picturesque.

If you're headed in the direction of Dijon, exit at Nitry and have a meal (lunch or dinner) at La Beursaudiere - - from the words "beurre" and "sauter", to "beursauder" is to cook in butter - - and the crumbs and other "stuff" that accumulates in the pan are known as "les beursaudieres". Despite the charm of the term, the cuisine in this corner of Burgundy is called morvandaise - - and is based a lot on poaching in red wine. Guaranteed to cleanse your arteries and delight your palate as well. <BR> <BR>And if you want to make Lyon your point of departure from the Autoroute du Soleil (to head towards the Alps), I would also recommend Chateau Longsard (to stay) - - www.chateauxandcountry.com/chateaux/longsard - - no dining services (yet, as far as I know). <BR> <BR>The Alps can provide a surprising number of different kinds of places to visit - - for luxury, you can't beat Talloires; to really get up into the mountains, head for the Queyras. Briancon is also great, on your way there. Lots of good places to stay and eat in Chamonix also (though this is one place that seems less "French" to me, and more international jet-set).

Drive Southeast out of Paris down A6, about 30 miles (I know I should km but I can't quite think that way) is a little village called Chateauneuf. It is a village of about 65 people. It is charming. It also has SUPER castle to go through. Eat lunch at the Hostellerie de Chateau and then wander through the castle and village. I can't recommend this highly enough.

Sorry on my last response I messed up. I should have said "about 30 miles north of Beaune" is Chateauneuf. The drive took us about 3 hours out of central Paris.