My friend and I are planning a trip to France for September. We plan on arriving Saturday morning (from NY) in Paris, spending a few days in Paris then off to Bordeaux. We are taking a wine tour of Bordeaux, which we have booked already, that goes from Tuesday till Saturday morning. We were thinking we would like to stay until Monday or Tuesday. We would also like to stop in Champagne for a day if possible. What would you suggest we do for the last 2 or 3 days of our trip, given the time/location constraints?

Any advice is much appreciated! Thanks!

Well, Champagne is not on your route but you could go there from Paris. If you want to stay fairly close to Bordeaux, you can consider a town in the French Basque region. Or you could visit Sarlat. I am assuming that your tour includes both St. Emilion and the Medoc and that you will have a car. What are you interested in doing?

It all depends on what you like to do.

If you are looking for a relaxing place to hang out, spend some time at the beach and enjoy some shopping and good restaurants, I can recommend the little Basque town of St Jean de Luz, down near the border of Spain. No car needed. Take a train from Bordeaux and then one back to Paris.

Champagne's kind of out of the way given the route you've planned, unless you go there between Paris and Bordeaux, and even then.........

I'd head up the coast and spend 2-3 days in and around Saintes, La Rochelle, Ile de Ré. Drop your car in La Rochelle and train back to Paris.

I think also that Champagne is out of your way unles you do it first from Paris. Other suggestions I like. I loved the basque country and like St Jean De Luz but I also stayed in La Rochelle and we visited the Ile de Ré.
All are wonderful but very different from each other.

Why not go to the Cognac region and do some Cognac tasting. It's just north of the Bordeaux area. You might also discover Pineau ces Charentes.

It's Pineau <b>d</b>es Charentes.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. We wanted to get a flavor for the French wine country and a feel of a couple French towns.

We're thinking we might spend a day in Champagne before we head to Boreaux. We don't need a rental car in Bordeaux with the tour group we'll be with. Is it possible to get from Bordeaux to Beaune without going through Paris? On the map they don't look that far apart from each other, but the website for the train seems to make us go through Paris. If that's the case, at that point though we could rent a car.

Of course you can go from Bordeaux to Beaune without going through Paris! But it is long (8 hours)because there are almost no motorways. Have a look at mappy.fr
http://tinyurl.com/agklo
But the countryside is lovely!

You should stick to what the others said about staying near Bordeaux.
Keep Burgundy for another trip.

happy travels!
corinne

Actually, from Bordeaux you can take the super highway A89 that parallels N89 past Thiers and then cut off before St. Etienne (heading toward Villefranche-s-Sa&ocirc;ne) to take A6 to Beaune. A89 is not completely finished, and it will be a very long day's drive.