France Hiking
 

We are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to France. We plan to do a self-guided hiking trip with either Sherpa or HFHoliday or will accept any other suggestions.

Would like some input on your favorite areas to hike in France. We have no preference as of yet just trying to gather some info. After looking at Sherpa and HF itinerary we are thinking about Southern part.

Our trip will be around Oct 4-16, 2010. Coming form Philadelphia. A 58 and 62 year old. Have done self guided trips in the past couple years (Italy and England). Love hiking. Say we are on the moderate range. Enjoy going through little village and getting some culture. Not too interested in big cities. Might do a day or 2 in Paris.

If we do southern France do we fly into Paris from Philadelphia or is there a better suggestion.

What about Croatia?? Anyone hiked there and if so. How is transportation. Sherpa has a self-guided trip there.

We do self-guided because it is very convenient with luggage transport, maps and it makes it just easier with planning places to stay. We have enjoyed our last two.

Welcome any comments or suggestion.

Thanks in advance.

Hi 6 abc,

Is this your first trip to France? I ask because there plenty of places to hike, and you might begin by determining which part of France you would like to see. Some research might be in order.

Along that line, too, is the question of whether you need a self-guided tour. We have always done fine on our own, but that's a decision you need to make.

My wife and I have hiked--going east to west--in the Mercantour in the Alpes Maritimes, in Provence, in Dordogne, and in the Pyrenees. Given the date you are going, Provence or the Dordogne might be the best bet as weather could affect the other locations.

Provence and Dordogne also have plenty of sightseeing opportunities to balance the hiking.

G

Opps and I meant Corsica NOT Croatia in my initial post ( we had been thinking about Croatia but that is off our list for now) .

G,
This is our first trip to France. And we are in the initial research part of our trip. I guess we do the self-guided because we usually plan only a few months before our trips and this just seems to be a little easier although a lot more expensive. I wouldn't mind trying to do it on our own. Not sure if I have the time to plan all the routes and figure out places to stay but any suggestions would help

We usually start out looking at what the hiking companies have to offer and that is how we find out about the different areas of hiking. We have been looking at Provence and Dordogne.

Looking forward to advise from you and people who have been there. Thanks

You might read "A Walk Across France" by Miles Morland to get some ideas. He and his wife walked across Southern France from the Med. to the Atlantic. It's an older book, 1994, but it does give some good information and insight into hiking in that area. In fact, I enjoyed the book so much, I am thinking of a trip to that area next year (Languedoc).

France has a very sophisticated system of hiking trails - Les Grandes Randonnées. There are detailed maps for all of them and an excellent website.

I would recommend the Dordogne for incredibly varied terrain and beauty.

Also, try a little research on Cevennes (and donkeys !).

They are low range hills with little villages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels..._C%C3%A9vennes
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/535

Peter

Peter....I have enough trouble taking care of my husband when we travel, I don't know if I could handle taking care of a donkey too. :-) I am only kidding. I had seen that trip listed at Sherpa but decided I might not enjoy it. Thank you for the suggestion though.

I just got back from the bookstore and had surrounded myself with all the books about France. Now even more confused. I want to go everywhere. But with only about 10 days it is not much time especially when you are hiking 7-8 of them. I really slows your trip down but you get such a great sense of the country.

Their GR trail system sounds wonderful so I am sure that wherever we go it will be very manageable.

My choices thus far (picking from the Sherpa catalogue) are the Vermillion Coast, coastal and mountain hiking along the Pyrennes, The Dordgogne ( a small area) and Provencal walking through the Luberon and maybe Corsica - Mountains to sea getting here might be a challange. We will pick one of these and then have a few days to go somewhere else.

StCirq...have you hiked the Dordogne area?

G, could you give me a bit more info on your hikes...do you have a trip report posted...would really be interested on some pointers.

Thanks to all of you.
6ABC

6abc

Well you are right about the time factor as far as organizing everything. Although St. Cirq is very knowledgeable about the Dordogne, and France generally, I think I would tilt a little more to Provence for hiking, because you have, among other possibilities, the Luberon, les Dentelles de Montmirail, and if you want to dart down to the coast, les Calanques. Do a Google image search on the last two to tempt yourself.

Sightseeing also includes possibilities like Aix and Arles, both of which we like. There are a couple of great markets, too, although you would also find these in Dordogne.

Last summer we spent a week in Bédoin in northern Provence and one in Saignon in the Luberon. We rented a gîte in each town and did about seven hikes, which for us is about maximum in this time because we want to do some sightseeing and just have some down time.

If you are interested in the area, a good hiking resource is Janette Norton's "Walking in Provence" (I think she also has one for Dordogne). There's also a book called "Walking and Eating in Provence" by James Lasdun and Pia Davis. There's a lot on the web, too.

One of the assumptions here that no one has mentioned is that you would need to rent a car, something that would not apply I assume if you did one of the tours.

If you decided on Provence best bet would be to fly into Paris, then Marseilles, where you could pick up a car. For Dordogne, fly into Toulouse, I would think.

Sorry, no trip report.

Finally, I think you need to forget about Corsica for this trip.

Good luck.

WOW! Thanks G,

Your input will help out a lot. Point taken on Corsica. It is now off the list.

We usually don't rent a car until after our 8 days of hiking so we can do a little touring on our own.

You said you rented a gite. Just googled it (when did google become a verb??). Sounds like a good idea. If we decide not to do a Sherpa trip and rent a place where is a good place to start. Any sites you would recommend? Boy I am really picking your brain I hope you don't mind.

Will look into the books you recommended also the one that Barb wrote about.

Thanks again
6abc

Fodorite lizcakes has done a trip report about a walking trip with her husband in France (as well as another one in Italy). Very detailed and fun to read. She has useful tips about planning. Here's a link to the Fontainebleau to Dijon trip. I broke up the URL because it's too long for one line. Just join them together.

www.fodors.com/community/europe/

walk-from-fontainebleau-to-dijon.cfm

Been doing a lot or research and have decided to head to Provence.

Still trying to decide whether to do a self guided hiking trip or rent a gite as G suggested.

Anyone have any suggestions or places they have rented for a week in this area.

Thinking of flying in abd out of Marseilles as G suggested then hiking in the Luberon for a few days and then exploring the coast around Nice and Monaco. Comments...?

Hi 6abc,

I think you'll like Provence a lot. Here are some sites you can use to check out gîtes in the area. You will find a wide range of prices and amenities. The Slow Travel site also has information on hiking. By the way, once you get there you can often find good hiking advice at the local Tourist Bureau.

Before you decide on a gîte, you might want to figure out some specific hikes, so you don't need to drive too far. The Luberon can be slow going sometimes because its hilly. We like staying not too far from Apt, a decent-sized town good for supplies, restaurant, etc., but that's a personal preference. Apt does have a large market on Saturday mornings.

I would also definitely plan on a visit to the Pont du Gard, which is magnificent. There's actually a hike into it, if you want to maintain the hiking theme. I'd plan on a picnic lunch by the river, too.

Aix isn't far by car and has a good market on Thursdays. You could combine that with a nice lunch and exploring the town and its museum.

Here are the links:

http://www.homelidays.com/

http://www.abritel.fr

http://www.sloweurope.com/vacation-r...e/provence.php

http://www.luberon-news.com/

http://www.slowtrav.com/france/


good luck

October is getting chilly and the days are shortening. Gites will be easy to book and hotels with spaces (some may even have closed for the winter). I might read "Travels with a Donkey" to get a view on some fine walking. Grand Randonees are a good idea, Local Tourist Information will have give away sheets showing local walks so even if you have not planned a trip you can walk just locally. You will find that every village and town will have its own web site showing hotels, gite etc.

I prefered a walk in the Jura (the bit almost into the Alps) fine meadows or even along the Ridge of the vosges ending in the Ballon d'alsace. Fine views of the alps, castles e tc

Last trip we did was walk up the Gorge du Tarn

A little info. www.walking-languedoc.com/Hiking_in_France.html

Oh, what a delightful dilemma, 6abc! :) Great recommendation by Gustave to read the "Walking and Eating in Provence" book. We've used their "Walking and Eating in Tuscany" book for a few hikes and foudn it very reliable and user-friendly. Provence is lovely any time of year and will be warmer in October than other regions of France. I was going to suggest some hiking in the French Alps around Chamonix, with a trip up Mont Blanc, but that may be too late in the year for it. Happy trails to you...Let us know how your trip goes!
From a Francophile who loves to Hike in Europe! (http://findthefound.org/2010/06/10/l...nto-your-sole/)

Oh my I think I am falling in Love....with Provence...that is... and I haven't even gotten there yet...what a wonderful pre-trip feeling. My head is spinning with all the good info I have been getting from Fodors and Slow trav. I am sure we won't go wrong with wherever we stay. My husband is even getting into exploring all the info. WOW that is a first. He is usually so busy at work and the next day he wakes up and is in Italy or England or somewhere. But this time he is really getting into it. The charm of the area is getting to him.

We have finally decided to rent a place for a week or two instead of doing the self-guided. It will be much cheaper that way and give us more freedom to do more exploring.

Still confused on which town to base ourselves in. Want a place that is pretty central to alot of hiking has a few restaurants and of course a bakery. Still looking for a good hiking book in English just to get some ideas before we get there and to help us pick place. I will try the Walking and eating book suggested.

We are very opened to any info on places that any of you have stayed in and I will check out places on slow trav. There are just so many to chose from.

SUGGESTION needed...Will do about one week in in the center area of Provence and would like to do several days along the coast and do some hiking on the coast. Ideas on the coastal hikes and where people have stayed??? and with that in mind would it be better to fly into Nice or Marceille (coming from Philadelphia Pa)we are not doing Paris this trip.

I will check out all the links you have all given me and let you know how things are going.

Also in the process of brushing up on a little French. Let's see it was 1968 when I took my last French class. Holy cow that sound so awful...

Thanks again will start checking out the above info.

6ABC