To everyone who has offered me suggestions around this trip, thank you....

I am now in the process of finalizing my itinerary for my month in France this August. My aim is to see three parts of the country: Paris, Brittany and the Cote D'Azur.

I need your advice. Does the following look okay? My intent is to spend as little time as possible actually traveling (train and plane), and to use each of the stops as home bases for day trips (by bus/train, as I do not drive)....

Paris - 6 days

Brittany:
Dinan - 4 days
Vannes - 4 days
Quimper - 3 days

Cote D'Azur:
Hyeres - 4 days
Menton - 4 days
Nice - 5 days

Am I spending too long in any of the above destinations, given that I'll be visiting them for not only the towns themselves, but as bases for day trips?

If what I've got here is do-able, then I'll go ahead and start with my reservations. Looking forward to your imput!

tania

If you have a car, my advice would be to not move quite so much, particulary on the Cote where it is so easy to get around.

Now, having said that, the traffic can be brutal in August.

I would base myself in Nice or somewhere between Nice and Cannes. And, if you aren't interested much in the beaches, you might want to opt for one of the hill towns such as Vence or St. Paul de Vence.

Brittany is larger so two or three locations might be a good idea.

We've spent 5 weeks vacationing in Brittany, and 16 weeks on the Cote.

Like I've stated several times here, I think northern Brittany around Dinan is prettier than southern Brittany around Vannes or Quimper - although Vannes is one of my 2 favorite towns in Brittany (other is Rennes).

I would perhaps allocate:

- 6 nights in Paris

TGV to Vannes

- 1 night in Vannes (it's quite small - try to make it on market day - Sat, I think)

TGV to Quimper & pick up car

- 3/4 nights in Quimper, visiting the Crozan Peninsula, Pointe du Raz, Pont Aven, and scenic inlets south of Pont Aven from there.

- Drive north to Perros Guirec & visit the Pink Rocks area. Perros Guirec is nothing special, but the Pink Rocks are quite nice. Good area for walking at dusk. Don't know how bad crowds are in Aug. Stay overnight there. I think the drive from Quimper to Dinan would be too long.

- 4/5 nights Dinan. You could visit the Pink Rocks from Dinan - but you'll get there when everyone else is there too.

- Drive to Rennes, dump car, & stay overnight

- Take the TGV from Rennes directly to Marseille & pick up car there.

I agree with others about locations on the Cote. No need to stay in Menton & Nice - I would just stay in Nice. Also, I've never stayed in Hyeres, but we've driven through a couple of times & saw no reason to stop. I think the Nice Hinterland is just as interesting as the coast, so don't just spend your time along the coast.

August might already be impossible to get a reservation for St Tropez (lots of hotels will close soon, if not already) but I would stay there for at least 3 nights. It's quite a different feeling from what you will experience in Nice, Menton, or Hyeres. Besides the village and the famous beaches, there are lots of stuff to do around there. We usually leave St Tropez by 10:30am and spend mid-day at the beach, or visiting the pretty countryside & small villages.

So:
- 3 nights in St Tropez

- 6/7 nights in Nice

This leaves you with some days left over. Perhaps I would add a few days to Brittany & reduce the driving from Quimper to Dinan. Or, you could stay a couple of days in Provence - in the Luberon perhaps (take TGV from Rennes to Avignon & pick up a car there). Luberon to St Tropez is about a 2 hr drive.

Do you have either my Brittany itineary or my Cote d'Azur & Provence itinerary? If not, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll send you one.

Stu Dudley

Hi tania,

ditto more or less what Stu said.

we spent a few days recently in Brittany and far preferred the north to the south. without a car, you won't find much to do/see in quimper - it's a nice town but 1/2 day plus an hour for the faiance museum and n factory just outside town should do it nicely.

personlly I woudl concentrate on the dinan -vannes area, and possibly rennes ,which is also a very nice and interesting place.

closer to Paris, there is Rouen [en route to Dinan] and if you stayed longer in dinan, you could hire a bike and explore that way - nice in august I think.

and have you considered mont st. michel?

regards, ann

You did not mention either car travel or train travel. I would not even attemt to visit Brittany without a car.

You could spend about 4-5 days on the Cote without a car, but I would sure want to rent one for 4/5 days and wander into the Alps and also visit all the cute perched villages around there.

Stu Dudley

Hi Stu,

Yes, I do have your Brittany and Cote D'Azur itinerary (and thanks again for it!)

But like I said in my initial post, I DON'T drive, so unfortunately, much of your suggestions about driving around Brittany aren't helping me!

The hinterlands north of Nice definitely interest me, but as day trips (almost all of my day trips along the coast will be to the north--but staying along the coast is just easier re: transportation).

St Tropez, unfortunately, doesn't interest me....

My dividing Nice and Menton is non-negotiable! Menton is supposed to be beautiful, and in walking distance from Italy! Also, I like the idea of staying in a small town over a big city. I'll be staying in Nice at the end for the museums and because I'll be flying home from there.


Annhig,

Mont St Michel is definitely a consideration. Providing it's do-able as a day trip from Dinan, I'm going to look into it.

>>But like I said in my initial post, I DON'T drive, so unfortunately, much of your suggestions about driving around Brittany aren't helping me!<<

I respond to many, many posts. I don't remember things from one thread to another for a specific poster. On this thread, you did not indicate that you don't drive. If you had, you would have saved me about 30 minutes worth of research. It's a beautiful day here in San Fransisco. I regret that I spent time helpijng you when my info was worthless because of something you "didn't" tell me.

Your assumptions about St Tropez and Menton are not consistent with my observations. Like I indicated, I've spent 16 weeks there.

Regards
Stu Dudley

> On this thread, you did not indicate that you don't drive.If you had, you would have saved me about 30 minutes worth of research. It's a beautiful day here in San Fransisco. I regret that I spent time helpijng you when my info was worthless because of something you "didn't" tell me.

Stu you just missed it. Tania did wrote " by bus/train, as I do not drive" in her first post ABOVE.

You can get to Menton by bus or train very easily from Nice and also go further to Ventimiglia which is in Italy. Menton has a lovely beach and old town but not much else. We frequently take the train or bus to Menton and then walk back along the pedestrian path towards Nice. We usually stop at Roquebrune after having lunch on the beach at the great little fish restaurant there.

Yep - you're right - I did miss it. Sorry.

Stu Dudley