Very early stages of trying to figure out if it's feasible to take a five-week road trip beginning in France and ending in Lisbon. We are a well-traveled and fairly active couple in our early 70s, have done this kind of trip before in France, Spain, and the UK. We enjoy walking, local cuisine, history, smaller villages, vineyards, old city centers, and taking the backroads, especially scenic routes. Not into shopping or WWII sites. We like to rent apartments and gites as we travel, usually staying between three to five days in each place, using them as bases from which to explore surrounding countryside and villages. I've looked into a rental car, and while expensive, it is possible for us to pick up in Bordeaux and drop off in Lisbon.

Plan is to fly into CDG (from California), spend a night or two in Paris, take the train to Bordeaux, where we will rent a car to begin our road trip. We will stay in the city of Bordeaux for a couple days before renting the car and starting our exploration of the surrounding area, then making our way southward toward Spain and Bilbao. I am imagining we will spend a week to a week and a half exploring the area. I'd much appreciate ideas for places in Bordeaux region not to be missed. Towns we might want to use as a base after we leave the city?

This is where I am getting stuck - the best way to get to Portugal from Bilbao. I don't want to repeat earlier trips. We enjoyed an amazing three-week road trip through Galicia a number of years ago - beginning in Madrid, driving to Leon, Santiago de Compostela, and throughout Galica and along the west coast ending in Vigo. We've visited Salamanca twice, as well, on other trips. I hate to think of just taking the toll road through Spain to get to Portugal, but I think we may be wise to reserve the better part of our time for Portugal, a country we have not yet visited.

So ... Portugal! We should have about three and a half weeks to explore. The only parameter I have now is that we want to fly back to the US from Lisbon, so that should be the last place we stay. I just checked out a guidebook from my library, and I'm looking at various websites and Fodor's forum posts - but would very much appreciate any ideas for planning this adventure. I do realize this is a very broad question - so I will be taking advice and checking back in as I develop an itinerary. Thank you!

Have you investigated the drop off fees from picking up a rental car in one country and returning it to another country?? We were quoted 1000€ to do that. We returned our car in the country where we picked it up and got another rental car just across the border and then no big drop fees.

Duplicate

Heading out of Bordeaux, the bassin d'Arcachon and the nearby dunes. Some of the best oysters we ever ate were in the hamlet of l'Herbe located on the northern peninsula enclosing the bassin. From Belisaire you would take the ferry across the mouth of the bay and go to the due du Pylat,

https://flic.kr/p/a76Ca3 https://flic.kr/p/a73LTe https://flic.kr/p/a76FBC
Farther south in the Landes there is an eco-musée which consists of farm houses when the Landes were considered a wilderness. Access is only by a two or three mile ride on a historical train.

https://flic.kr/p/a76H49 https://flic.kr/p/a76Kub
I do not think that you can avoid Galicia on your way to Portugal, but you could access Portugal from Bragança and Lindoso

https://flic.kr/p/7NqHy2 https://flic.kr/p/7MTo1k
I've written a trip report that covers the Aquitaine, and another one that covers northern Portugal. They might provide some additional ideas. Click on my name and scroll through my trip reports to find them.

As for the car rental, given the length of your travels and the convenience of a single car for a one way trip, look into leasing a car. The drop-off fee will be the same as the pick-up fee in a foreign country; the most common leases are with Peugeot or Renault. https://www.autoeurope.com/peugeot-europe-lease/ and poke around the Autoeurope web site and you will find other lease options.

Not practical, as we will be passing through Spain on our way to Portugal.

Thank you - I wasn't sure if leasing could work with separate country drop-off. Just looked at the AutoEurope site, and if we can get what they are showing as a possibility, it will be a pretty significant savings over renting. I will have to call them after the weekend.