Itinerary help/comments
 

I, my husband and two daughters, ages 14 and 23 are planning a trip to France this August and this is what we've got so far:

Aug15,16,17- booked the Hotel La Bourdonnais in the 7th arr. in Paris.

Aug 18,19 -booked the Le Tardif in Bayeux

Aug 20 -Hotel du Guesclin on Mont St. Michel

Aug 21,22,23 -booked the Manoir de Echeneau in Vouvray in the Loire Valley

We plan to fly home on the 29th of August, but at this point are not sure where to conclude our trip. One option is to go to the Alsace region, then return to Paris for a night prior to our flight out. Another choice would be to see Annency/Chamonix and fly out of Geneva.

Ideally, we'd love to see both these regions, but I don't think we have enough time to do them justice.

We are not devoted to seeing sights exclusively.....we'd like to incorporate some activity into our travels...biking, hiking, kayaking.

Right now, we're thinking about renting a car when we leave Paris, and keeping it until we depart, but I'm still exploring the possibilities of rail/car combos.

Any recommendations/comments are greatly appreciated.
thanks,
Lori

You could easily return to Paris and finish there. You hardly have 2.5 days, assuming arrival and departure.
When I plan a multi location trip to France, I usually try to do my "outside" Paris itinerary first, getting my transport from CDG either by car rental or TGV. For Normandy we rented at CDG and struck out (but just did Normandy). You could easily add a day or so to that, seeing Rouen and Honfleur on the way to Bayeux. Then drive on to MSM and the Loire.
Turn the car in at the Loire, and train to Paris and finish your trip there.
You have a nice amount of time, but I'd expand your times a bit for the areas you have. For sure more in Paris.
Then it is an easy ride to CDG to return home without another hotel change.

It's a 6 1/2 hr non-scenic drive to both Annecy & Colmar - so driving there will eat up almost an entire day.

If this was my trip, I would change the Vouvray reservations to make it your last destination before heading back to Paris for the flight home. Then after MSM, I would continue on to Brittany. Stay around the Dinan area for 3 nights. Then Rennes for a night (one of my Top 5 cities in France), then on to the Loire.

IMO, Brittany is different from Normandy, and the coast is prettier.

Stu Dudley

Stu and Gretchen...thanks for your suggestions.
I also wanted to make Paris our last stop, but my 23 y/o thinks it's the perfect place to begin our trip.

Stu...while Brittany sounds gorgeous(as does all of France!), we really wanted to incorporate some mountains into this trip. While the Vosges don't really compare to the Alps, the Alsace area seems very different from the really "French" France. But, then again, there's Mt. Blanc!!!!

Decisions, decisions!

Have you been to Paris before? If not, you have almost no time at all there. I'd add at least 3 or 4 days and more would be better.

I've never been...husband has. We basically want to walk,walk,walk...do a cruise on the Seine and spend a couple of hours at the Louvre. We really wish to see just the highlights of Paris on this trip and spend more time exploring the countryside of France.