France Itinerary for 2 months: Please critique and advise!
 

My husband and I are taking a 3 1/2 month sabbatical and 2 months will be spent in France. I've been to France about 12 times and obviously love the country. We've also been taking private French lessons for about 6 months in anticipation of the trip! Ideally, we wanted to spend a week in each area of interest but as I began planning it didnt quite work out that way! Here goes:

June 17-24: Paris ( week apartment rental in St Germain)
June 24: Versailles ( ideally i anted to extend another day in paris but the apartment was already booked). Pick up rental car here.
June 25-26; Samois sur Seine . staying here specifically to see Django Reinhardt music festival.
June 27: Reims ( never been and thought it would be a good break on the way to Bastogne)
June 28-29: Bastogne ( this is a must as my DH is a big WW2 buff)
June 30-July 1: Colmar ( thought this was good break in the drive. I love Alsace but originally we were cutting it bc we spent a week there in 2012.
July 2-5 Burgundy area ( cottage rental ..could extend if I want to and have strongly considered an entire week in this area)
July 6-7: Annecy
July 9-10: Lyon or Vienne ( to specifically see the Jazz festival in their ampitheater. I could cut tis and am not that excited about Lyon for some reason . would drop off rental and take train to Nice
July 10-18 Nice ( apartment rental) . love Nice and want to be here for at least one day of the Jazz Festival and Bastille Day). We want to relax a bit here and its a break from driving for my husband too.
July 19-20: Moustiers St Marie and Gordes du Verdon Area
July 20-27: house rental in St Remy for one week to explore Provence
July 28-August 2; Dordogne/Sarlat.could extend this for a full week and have not booked accomodation yet
August 3-5; Basque area ( picked this over Bordeaux but can change)
August 5-7: Briittany ( was considering a full week here but then wanted to see Basque area)
August 8-14: Normandy area: Port en Bessin apartment rental for a week
August 14th: spend night in Giverny and drop off rental in Paris on the 15th and fly to Ireland for two weeks :)

I have purposely left out the Loire Valley bc we have already been there and while I enjoyed it I am not itching to go back. Bordeaux didn't make the cut either.

Thank you all for taking the time to review this! Even with two months we don't have enough time to do everything. Any must sees or something I have overlooked please advise. Thanks!

Legend has it that it never rains on the Django festival. Certainly true for my visit last year, I am happy to report. Buying tickets on-line was fiddly so I settled for going to an FNAC outlet when I arrived in Paris. They are just for admission; the seating in the concert area is mostly bleachers, unassigned, although I believe there is a VIP tent. As you surely know the action is under the tiny island's trees where young players show off against the old smoothies.
One small tip, which I have offered here before. There is a shuttle from the train station to the island. However, there was no service when I arrived mid-day as the driver took a two-hour French lunch. Plan accordingly. If you do go for two days you will have a chance to see the Fontainebleu chateau, a stiff walk through town from the station.
For the rest of your sojourn, bon voyage. I envy your stay.

just one word...

jealous.

I would add at least a couple of days to the Dordogne.

What a wonderful trip you have planned! Given your husband's interest in WWII you might consider a visit to the American Military Cemetery outside of Luxembourg City on your way from Bastogne to Colmar. Along with George Patton a couple of the guys from the "Band of Brothers" company are buried there (Skip Muck and Alex Penkala). Consider giving Lyon a little more time - it's a wonderful city with lots to see and, of course, eat. And finally, I think you have the order reversed for your visits to the Basque country and Dordogne - visit the latter on your way to Brittany. The Dordogne is definitely worth a few more days.

If you enjoy the Tour de France, your dates will be overlapping it. It would be fun to catch a stage.

thanks so much everyone... I may eliminate Basque and add to Dordogne and I will switch the order if I don't eliminate and thanks Southam for the festival info. I have had a hard time figuring out how to buy tix to the festivals so I think I will go to FNAC in Paris as well.

Roger...your info is so perfect for me to pass along to my husband. He will definitely enjoy that. He is researching private tours in Bastogne and Normandy as well. He did a solo trip to Normandy about 5 years ago and really enjoyed it.

apscordiales...I know I am extremely fortunate to be able to do this...thanks :)

Forgot to mention that your timing for a visit to Bastogne is really good as the new Bastogne War Museum is opening later this month. Like the old museum it's located just outside of town at the memorial. Here's the link: www.bastognewarmuseum.be/uk-bastogne-war-museum.

If going to Bastogne, I would consider a stop in Verdun to be appropriate, even if it isn't the same war.

Instead of Annecy, Go to Yvoire and stay at the Hotel Restaurant du Port. Seven rooms with balconies on the shore of Lac Leman. Great restaurant.

Looks like a nice trip. Tough choice how to divide up time between the Dordogne, Pays Basque and Brittany because they're all lovely places. If you want some ideas about Brittany you can have a look at two photo reports I made about vacationing in the area. One covers the area in/near The Gulf of Morbihan and the other covers the area near Dinan and Saint-Malo:

Dinan/Saint-Malo and environs: http://tinyurl.com/82azcyh

Gulf of Morbihan: http://tinyurl.com/8xuuryc

If you want some tips on Normandy you can have a look at this thread, which will cover sites in Lower Normandy from Giverny out to Bayeux:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic....html#39058384

There's some lovely countryside to explore in Normandy and south of Caen you might want to explore the Suisse Normande:

http://www.normandie-tourisme.fr/art...nde-399-2.html

http://otsuissenormande.e-monsite.co...-normande.html

I would also recommend exploring cidre and cheese country in the Pays d'Auge south of Deauville/Trouville and you can look at this thread to learn more about that area:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic....html#55447556

Looks delightful. I would suggest you throw caution to the winds and get excited about Lyon. We've found it a delightful city and are planning a third or fourth visit this year we like it so much. The food (esepcially at the Bouchons and the Paul Bocuse market hall) is some of the very best of France. It's nicely layed out for walking, has wonderful markets and nice old town areas and the cathedral is fanciful and fun with a mostly aqua interior--something I've never seen elsewhere.

Julie and French Mystique,

Thanks for the infoon Lyon and Normandy. I have a fews extra days after the apartment rental in Port en Bessin and can extend Normandy trip into another area for 2-3 days before we head over to Ireland. Roger, thank you for the info on the War Museum ( good timing on our end!) and also thanks to Ron on hotel advice near Lake Geneva.

Kerouac, I always enjoy your posts and thanks for the Verdun insight.