France Trip Concept
 

Trip Concept. Arrive and depart from Paris. 25 total nights in early Jun. Use trains & buses. Primary interests: photography, easy walks / hikes, urban exploration, local food / wine / markets, history, architecture.

Take train from CDG after arrival from Asia

DIJON (3 nights, daytrip to Beune)
NIMES (5 nights, daytrips to Arles, Avignon & Aigues Mortes)
TOULOUSE (5 nights, daytrips to Carcassonne & Albi)
BORDEAUX (4 nights with daytrip to Saint-Emission)
TOURS (4 nights to explore Loire Valley)
PARIS (4 nights)

Does the allocation of nights seem reasonable?
Will the Lavender fields be in bloom and can they be seen from Avignon?

Tours is not the best base for the Loire IMO but rather Amboise - a much smaller city on a romantic stretch of the Loire with its own great chateau and trains via St-Pierre-des-Corp (Tours mainline station a few miles out of town) and you can get mini-bus tours from or from Amboise rent a bike and cycle to nearby Chenonceau. Chambord is reached by train to Blois then special bus in season to the Loire's largest chateau.

Amboise: https://www.google.com/search?q=ambo...w=1280&bih=625

Any trains are great - check www.oui.sncf for fares and on long-distance tickets chance to snag discounted tickets if booking early enough. www.trainline.eu is often said here to be easier to use than the sncf site and has same fares. www.seaat61.com has loads on booking own tickets online - for local trains just buy as you go along - general info BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

For the Loire, I would also pick a town other than Tours. The Lavendin in the Luberon near Bonnieux and also in the Valebsole plateau should be in bloom in mid to late June. Lavender around Senanque Abbey & Sault might not.

Stu Dudley

Consider renting a car for the Loire and many chateaus though reachable by public transit are hard to do so so you can see maybe one or two a day. With car you can see so many other things plus chateaus. Stu has car itineraries for many places in France - not sure he has one for Loire but maybe and would be a great guide for driving the Loire - also good from a base like Amboise or Chinon, etc.

You might want to include Montauban and Moissac while in Tpoulouse:

A few comments:
- There aren't any direct trains from CDG to Dijon. Change of trains in Paris required. Doable but annoying.
- You include both Dijon and Bordeaux wine regions. You do list wine as an area of interest, but Dijon itself, while pretty, is not a must-see in my opinion. I would be tempted to skip altogether and go to Lyon, which has amazing food, a solid wine culture (Beaujolais), and a direct train from CDG.
- Nîmes is a good Provence hub... except for lavender fields, for which (1) Avignon is closer and (2) a car rental is useful. Consider staying in Avignon instead, or in both! While in the area, do NOT miss Pont du Gard, it is truly stunning.
- 5 nights in Toulouse is a lot. You should instead spend a night in Carcassonne (on the way from Nîmes), then 3 in Toulouse (if you want to have time to go to Albi). The night thus saved should be spent in Paris (making it 5 nights).
- While Bayonne/Biarritz (suggested above) are lovely, they are also a long way from anywhere by train (3 hrs+ from Toulouse, 2 from Bordeaux), so it adds up
- The rest sounds fine, taking into account the advice from others.

Iwould suggest taking days away from Toulose and Bordeaux and basing in some dreamy Dordogne town

I would want more days in Paris.

I'd want more Paris also. DH and I did take a one-day Chateaux tour from Paris and I thought it would be such a pretty drive. I am not familiar with toulouse or tours so can't help. Maybe one day less in Bordeaux except it's not a huge train trip to Sarlat from there. I loved St. Emilion and it's any easy train trip from Bordeaux, albeit a strenuous walk up to the city.

that sure is slow travel, almost too slow for me

5 nights in Nimes is too much for me. Even with the day trips. I think you can see what there is to see in Nimes in one day. So I'd probably cut one day there.

Same for Toulouse, I'd cut one day there, also. I think you can see what there is to see in Toulouse in 2 days.
I'd cut a day in Bordeaux, also.

rest seems okay.

Unless you have a lot more things you want to see in Nimes than I can remember OR if you want to go somewhere else and will have a car. For example, using that as a base, you could also do a day trip to Uzes or just driving in the mountains or something.

The Avignon part is odd to me. No you can't see lavender fields from within Avignon itself. It's too early for lavender anyone, but I'm surprised you aren't adding some days to the east of the Rhone in that segment.

I would want a lot more time in Paris (huge) and less in the smaller towns and cities. I would never want to do so many "day trips". Changing location 6 times in addition to 6 different day trips in only 25 days wouldn't be for me. It's not really "slow" after you add in all that day tripping and changing locations so many times.

Sembach,

I sort of like your plan. Sure, you should tweak it, but at least you are not doing a zillion cities in a week. And my husband and I personally love day trips. We travel light, but we still hate packing and unpacking. We share most of your interests, but we might be a lot more into art than you are. Therefore, my recommendations will be about ease of travel, a bit better location, and forcing you into more wine. :)

Here is my reaction to some of the comments above:

"No direct train from CDG to Dijon"
It's just not that much of a hassle. Take a taxi to Gare de Lyon. But I'd spend one night in Paris before you start your travels so you can have a fresh start for the next legs.

"Dijon is not a must see"
Hmm, but the BURGUNDY region IS from my point of view. I like a good Burgundy over an excellent Bordeaux any day of the week. Yes, we all can argue away. If it were up to me, I'd stay in Beaune. You can do wine tasting forever there, and there's a special wine-tasting bike trail system. To get to Beaune: Gare de Lyon to Dijon; TER train to Beaune. And still--we enjoyed our one day/night in Dijon. Find a hotel that will take your luggage for the time you want to explore the town and then pick it up to get to Beaune.

"Tours is not the best base for the Loire IMO but rather Amboise"
I totally agree with this statement. Amboise is a really good center. The town itself is Leonardo de Vinci on steroids (that's a good thing), so you will always have something to come back to in terms of local sights and good restaurants after day trips. As has been suggested, the Loire is a great place for to have a car for your day trips. However, you are more than likely going to pick up your car in Tours, and I think you guys should make a pit stop at the Cathedral of Saint Gatianus of Tours. Its stained glass windows and carvings are among the most underrated in the country. And because the cathedral is just not that big and because there are no lines, you get a darn good view of them.

"No you can't see lavender fields from within Avignon itself"
That is correct. We stayed in Avignon for one day pre- and post- a cycle trip, and we enjoyed our time there, but lavender was NOT on view. But you are not going to see it anyway. You'll be just a tad too early. Various lavender fields come into bloom at different times, but the general season is the last week of June to the beginning of August when it is harvested. It is usually at its peak in early July, but this depends on the rainfall in the year.

I'd be interested in what you want to see and do in the area before I give an opinion on how you should spend your days in the Provence area. I loved the tour of the asylum that sheltered Van Gogh in St Remy. No, there are none of his paintings there, but prints of Van Gogh's works with various matching views are throughout. And because I was "injured reserve" during our bike trip, I got to pass through L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, a town NOT highlighted on our biking route. I personally wanted to move in there.

And no matter where you stay in Provence, I hope it's a hot day. I was raised to hate rosé wine. Little did I know that when the temperature is above 80 degrees, the general populace are chugging it down over ice. It could stand up to it! Provence rosé was a revelation.

"I would want more days in Paris"
Wouldn't we all?

Good luck planning. It's hard, but you have made a great start.
AZ





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>> Various lavender fields come into bloom at different times, but the general season is the last week of June to the beginning of August when it is harvested. <<

That's only true with Lavender - not the must more robust & prettier (IMO) Lavendin that you find around Bonnieux in the Luberon, Valensole plateau, and in the Drome department. Lavendin blooms much sooner. We actually saw about 10% of the Lavendin already harvested in late June one year when we stayed in the Ardeche for 2 weeks in late June.

Dijon is one of my favorite cities in France. To get there from CDG without going into Paris, you can take one of the many 2 hr trains to Lyon, and then take one of the 10 daily 1 1/2 to 2 hr daily trains to Dijon.

Stu Dudley

If by chance you mean St-Emillion by St-Emission, I'd give it a huge pass. Overpriced, over-selfied tourist trap.

I'd want more days in Paris,too.

Those dreamy towns or villages of the Dordogne can be overcrowded, depending on the season.

I see no problem with the present allocation of time given the excursions listed.

If OP likes medium-sized cities as seems then Tours would be a nice large city base - a very pleasant large city with a Latin Quarter type restaurant ghetto in town center and variety of restaurants, etc. and great rail links to all the Loire Valley. There was also a small zoo last time I was there - it's hard to appreciate the Loire here though as it shirts the city on the south and though you can walk to it there is nothing exceptional much about the river here in fact I found it quite blah. Part of the reason I love Amboise is because of the Loire there -having a picnic on its shores and having a serene view of town - especially if you go to the island area right in front of the chateau:

https://www.google.com/search?q=loir...w=1280&bih=625

I would add more nights to Paris. 4 nights gives you 3 full days. Paris is a beautiful, huge city with lots of sights, and it's a great city for just wandering around the neighborhoods. I would feel very frustrated if I only had 3 full days. It seems like you are trying to see a lot of France, but you are shortchanging Paris.

For the Loire Valley, we enjoyed staying in Blois and Chinon. I also recommend the Dordogne, which is gorgeous, but I can't compare it to some of the places on your itinerary. I haven't been to Toulouse, Dijon or Bordeaux.

We recently returned from Provence where we were visiting our daughter and her family. I wasn't able to do a lot because of mobility issues which should be corrected next week with surgery. However, we did do a scenic drive through part of Cote du Rhone; loved it and we want to return when we can see more. The countryside filled with vineyards is gorgeous. We visited Bedoin and Gigondas. My family toured the Barroux (sp?) Castle and really enjoyed it. Try to include this area in your trip to Provence if you can.

I would want more time in Paris.