France Itinerary
 

Hi
My wife and I are in our early 60's, in shape and interested in a mix of nature, history and culture. This is our first time in France. Here is our two week itinerary in the countryside. We will end in Paris for 7 days. Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks !

Three weeks in France in the Fall:

Summary:

Four nights in Amboise, 4 nights in Sarlat, 1 night in Carcassone, 5 nights in St. Remy and 7 nights in Paris.

Details:

Day 1: Arrive in Paris, take train to Amboise, pick up car

Day 2: Tour Amboise and Chateaux and Chaumont

Day 3: Visit Chambord and Cheverny

Day 4: Bike loop 47 to Chenounceaux

Day 5: Drive to Sarlat (Any suggestions of where to stop along the way?)

Day 6: Visit cave paintings

Day 7: Visit Beynac and chateau, La Roque Gageac and Jardins de Marqueyssac

Day 8: Canoe trip (Vitracà Beynac)

Day 9: Drive to Carcasoone (stopping along the way at St-Cirq Lapopie, Crotte Du Pesh Merle and Rocamador

Day 10: Drive to St. Remy

Day 11: Visit Arles, Les Baux, Maussane les Alpilles

Day 12: Visit Avignon, Pont du Gard

Day 13: Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Roussilon, Gordes, Menerbes

Day 14: Cotes de Rhone driving tour

Day 15: train to Paris

Day 16-22: Paris

Looks pretty good to me, but I wouldn't drive to Sarlat -- boooooooring!. Drop the car in Tours and take the TGV to Bordeaux (then the local TER to Sarlat or even Périgueux) and pick up another car there. You can get TGV tickets in advance for as little as 19 euros, which is less than it will cost you to drive. And it would give you another day in the Périgord.

Which cave paintings? There are very few any more that you can get advanced tickets to - which means getting up at 0'dark-thirty and standing in line hoping for a spot. Of course there is always Lascaux, and Lascaux IV is pretty amazing.

Don't count on that canoe daytrip. Many outfits close down in the fall, and the rivers here, particularly the Dordogne, have been alternating overflowing and dry for most of the past year.

Overall, if it were me, I'd cut down the Loire Valley to three nights and add 1 or 2 to the Périgord. You'll see why when you start traveling around France.

Echoing St. Cirq
and she lives in the Dordogne
Loire to Dordogne.....quite unremarkable; but once you get there.....ooh

I recommend Peche Merle for original cave paintings. It's amazing! I think it is actually in the Lot Valley, but we easily drove there from Sarlat. Also enjoyed Grotte de Rouffignac. You take a train through the cave. has original cave drawings, ceiling domes, and hundreds of bears nests.

Have you made hotel reservations for Sarlat? I can recommend Villa Des Consuls.
La Villa des Consuls ? Appartements et chambres de charme au c?ur de la cité médiévale de Sarlat
Excellent location. Parking is nearby in a secure garage. We stayed in one of the apartments.

You have a great itinerary! We've been to all of your locations except for Carcassone.

A couple of places in Sarlat to look at. This i=one is a great location and parking not too difficult but not on site:

https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/sar...-c-jardin.html



This one is a bit outside of town but has A/C and a nice pool Hôtel Le Mas del Pechs

https://www.booking.com/searchresult...ers=&from_sf=1

You've already gotten some great advice, so Il'l just add a few comments.

First, are you sure you can see what you want in Arles and Avignon in the time you've allowed? I wanted closer to 1.5 to 2 days in each; YMMV.

Second, is there any chance that you will have jet lag on arrival? If so, please don’t drive for a day or two! Although many people are not aware of it, there is mounting evidence that driving with jet lag is just as dangerous -- to yourself and others -- as driving drunk, and nothing you can do will prevent the microsleeps (which you might not even notice) that are the apparent culprit. Seriously -- NOT a good idea, no matter your other constraints and no matter your prior experience! And please be patient with me if you think I’m being overly adamant, but I know too many people who have died or been seriously injured in accidents to which jet lag was a contributing factor, and I know too many people who will spend the rest of their lives dealing with the knowledge that they were responsible for accidents that resulted in multiple deaths, including those of children, all because they were too confident in their ability to drive safely with jet lag. The issue has become a bit of a cause célèbre for me….

Karen, the OP already has Pech-Merle on his itinerary, and yes, it's in the Lot.

jpie, Coté Jardin is very nice, but so is lejardin-sarlat.fr

OP, we stayed in a very spacious, quiet, well-located apartment in Carcassonne last year. I can dig up the coordinates if you like (though I'm not sure they'd do one-night rentals).

Thanks for all your insightful ideas. It's nice to know we are on the right track and we will check out the places everyone recommended. We just booked our first place to stay in Amboise yesterday !

I have a three more simple questions about our arrival.

1.We are flying into Dublin for a layover of a few hours. Is this where we enter the EU, therefore not having to do anything but disembark when we get to the airport in Paris ?

2.We are scheduled to arrive at Charles De Gaulle CDG airport at 9:30 AM. We are taking a train to Amboise. We can catch a 12:30 or a 2:00. We will buy tickets and seat reservations ahead. Is it reasonable to catch the 12:30 or should we wait until the 2:00 ? The TGV takes to St. Pierre des Corps where we will get a local train to Amboise

3. It is unclear if the TGV train leaves from CDG, therefore no need to going into Paris. On the SNCF sight, when I put in Roissy as the departure station or CDG 1, 2, or 3, the site mentions the Montparnasse station in Paris, so I am unclear whether we can go directly from the airport or have to go into town and board the TGV train there ?

Thanks so much for everyone's help. And if you are ever going to Greece or Portugal, drop a line. We know a little..

TGV, really important to have the right station. Do you have the train number? What does the actual booking page say?

Dublin, it depends on if you stay airside or not. Ask your flight company. Is it one flight company through or are you moving from one company to another?

The SNCF site is pretty clear. If you want to leave directly from CDG you will have to change at St-Pierre-des-Corps (or Massy, then St-Pierre-des-Corps).

You have the choice of going into Paris if you want and taking any number of trains: From Montparnasse: A TGV requiring a change in St-Pierre-des-Corps, a TGV requiring a change in Orléans. From Austerlitz: A direct TER to Amboise.

Not sure where you got the 12:30 and 2:00 times. I see many more options than that, and not those exact times, but I don't know your exact dates and am just putting in random ones.

You mention "in the fall" as the time of your trip. If it is more than 90 days away, the SNCF site won't show most of the trains yet. Pick a date 60 days away (same day of the week as you plan to travel in the fall) and look for a train that suits your needs. Then go to loco2.com and put in your request for your real date. They will email you as soon as tickets for that train becomes available. I did this for our trip in September and was able to get ridiculously low priced PREM TGV tickets on the first day they were available. Loco2 wants to sell you the tickets themselves (commission?), but I bought from SNCF to avoid third party potential hassles.