France Itinerary Help
 

We are planning three months in France next winter, December 28 – March 27. We have part of it arranged:

December 28 – January 5 – Paris - an apartment in the 17e

http://tinyurl.com/2uk6mr

January 5 – March 8 – Dordogne in Carlux

http://www.yourfriendsinfrance.org/le_fournil.html

It is the March 8 – 27 part that is giving us trouble.
We want to stay some of the time (10 nights?) in Argeles sur mer at

http://www.la-petite-reine-argeles.com/
With perhaps a day or two trip to Barcelona.

This leaves 8 days. (Last night will be at an airport hotel in order to return a car and catch a 7am flight). Our two choices are:
1) Back to Paris
2) Burgundy (Lyon and/or Dijon or Auxerre or Beaune are all places on our list for revisits)
Paris is a no-brainer, but 8 days in one place in Burgundy doesn’t seem to work.
Not worrying about what we like to do, can you help with the logistics? We could really use your expertise and possible accommodation recommendations. Consider the time of year and that we will have been in small centres.

Thanks and apologies for the vagueness of the question.

Stay at Coco's (active Fodorite) place in Dijon, or rent a Gite in the countryside of Burgundy.

http://www.myhomeindijon.com/

Stu Dudley

Robert

I didn't notice that it was your post - I skipped over the name before I made my first response.

What happened to the Gite you were trying to rent???? The place near Beaune I told you about would be a great location - nice & large, excellent view over the vineyards, (not much happening there in March). 10 mins from Beaune.

Stu Dudley

Thanks for the reply, Stu.

As you may recall we were stalled as reservations were not being taken until September (much closer in time now!). It turns out to be a Wednesday to Thursday (8 nights) and that gite is Sat. to Sat. Perhaps that doesn't matter at that time of year?

Coco's place is one that is high on our list (and has been for a couple of years) but 8 days seems a little much for Dijon and it does not seem conducive to being a base for car sight-seeing trips.

Lyon is not in Burgundy; it's in the Rhône Valley.

Send me a private e-mail at tripadvisor.com (I'm Catullus there) and I'll send you the 3 articles on Burgundy travel that I wrote for the bonjourparis.com web site.

Check Montpellier, France. It might make a nice base.

I concur...8 days in Burgundy would be heaven!!

I am jealous of your plans already!!

Robert
I have a serious problem with my primary drive and I lost all of my emails as well as my addresses.

Can you send an email direct to me so we can get to contact again.

Sorry for the problems but I guess it's something with this life.

Cheers

Blackduff

Thank you for the replies. It sounds like Burgundy is the choice even at that time of year.
It seems to be difficult to find a central location as a base for 8 days....

>> It turns out to be a Wednesday to Thursday (8 nights) and that gite is Sat. to Sat.<<

When we stayed in Burgundy for 2 weeks near Beaune, we found ourselves driving too much - a lot more freeway time than on similar vacations in other areas in France.

What you might consider is Wed through Friday nights in the Auxerre area, then Sat through Thursday night at the Gite in St Romain (Beaune). On Friday afternoon, drive to Paris for the flight home, or head to Lyon & take one of the many TGVs to CDG. Leaving Friday really only shortens your stay in the Sat to Sat rental by less than 1 day - you're "required" to depart by 10am on Sat anyway.

That will be one heck of a drive from Argeles to Burgundy!!! If this was my trip, after Argeles I would head over to Provence (I prefer that region over Burgundy anyway) and spend your 8 days there. Dump the car in Avignon Friday afternoon & take the TGV to CDG.

Another "less driving" itinerary would be Provence after the Dordogne, and then drive up to Burgundy. I prefer Provence over Roussillon too. IMO, Roussillon & Burgundy are equal - perhaps more to do in Roussillon with Barcelona, Girona, & the Costa Brava close by. We were busy sightseeing almost 100% of the time in Roussillon, but only about 70% of the time in Burgundy when we stayed in each location for 2 weeks.

Stu Dudley