I'd want more time in Paris, too.

And taking a day off Toulouse and a day off Bordeaux won't give you anywhere near enough time to enjoy the "dreamy" Dordogne, as Pal oddly puts it. That's a terrible idea. You need a week there to begin to appreciate it. Take those days off and add them to Paris.

And instead of St-Emilion, if you must take a daytrip from Bordeaux, go to Arcachon and Cap Ferret and the Dune du Pyla.

I doubt that the dunes wold be readily reachable via public transportation. A day trip to Cognac would make more sense, although there is a store in Bordeaux that sells only Cognac and possibly Armagnac.

Michael, your doubts are incorrect. The municipal bus system serves places like the Dune du Pyla.

Going back to the OP, I would very much like to know if all of these places are being visited by public transportation only, or if there is an option of car rental.

It's VERY easy to get to the Dune du Pyla, except in winter, but even then it's not a big deal.

I find Cognac and that whole area dreadfully boring, in terms of both landscape and things of interest in the towns.

Only 4 nights in Paris? Too little time. I would cut days and nights out of it to maximum 2-3. Paris has too much to offer than 4 nights, unless you've been there before and you know it quite well.

I'ts probably only me but I don't share the enthusiasm about Amboise. I would drop it altogether and go for other places in the Loire. The chateau is not that interesting. Even worse is Clos Luce, an extremely expansive tourist's trap boasting Da Vinci's name. The garden is nice but you don't have to spend 14 Eur for that. Tours is a big city and has extensive rail services to many places, there is enough to see in it (certainly the Cathedral) and you can get very easily to Chenonceau and most important to Blois which is in my opinion the most beautiful and certainly the most elaborate of the Loire's chateau.

It does help to actually read the whole thread. The OP said, just two posts before: "Paris: i didn’t add more days since I visited for the past two years and plan to go again in the fall. "

The chateau is not that interesting- the Amboise chateau to me is as interesting as any and has a long history - a chateau fort on its front facing the Loire rather than pleasure dome like most but a real for staying in Amboise (or Azay and other chateaus) is the son-et-lumiere show many nights in summer when a cast of hundreds of locals perform a multi-media show with translation and seances in English:

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

repeating this link because it ties in here for folks not reading whole thread.

No need to be grumpy. I didn't see the post when I was answering.