I have a flight to Nice and out of Paris at the end of May, returning in mid June.

The plan has been to travel west from Nice, probably stay a few days around St. Raphael, visit the Esterel mountains as well as the coast around St. Raphael.

Then drive on, probably stay in Cassis, in order to visit Marseille. I've stayed in Cassis a couple of years ago, have seen the Calanques. I've seen suggestions that it's probably better to stay outside of Marseille if you have a car. Of course I could return the car and stay in Marseille but I may need to get to the airport early.

Original plan was to fly to Bordeaux and then visit the area as well as Biarritz (a couple of hours drive) and the rest of French Basque coast. Would be 3-4 nights in each location, before flying back to Paris to overnight before flying back.

But instead of Bordeaux and Biarritz, I'm playing with the idea of flying from Marseille to Funchal and spend about 6-7 nights on Madeira. The easiest way to transit to Madeira appears to be to fly out of Lisbon.

But without specifically planning to be in mainland Portugal, it's hard to plan for a visit to Madeira.

Weather is suppose to be temperate or warm most of the year but I've heard that they can have intense winds which delay or cancel arriving flights.

The flight from Marseille to Funchal isn't too bad, other than departing around 6 AM, but with a minimal layover in Lisbon. You end up arriving around noon.

Then there is a direct flight from Funchal to Paris Orly.

So it's do-able but the risk is flight delays or cancellations in Funchal.

Otherwise, the original plan of Bordeaux and Biarritz isn't bad. I've not been to Bordeaux but had a brief day visit to Biarritz out of San Sebastian years ago. I'm not big on wine but I would certainly visit St. Emilion for the views.

That is my main criterium for destinations, the scenery, whether natural landscapes or towns and villages with historic architecture.

Bordeaux and Biarritz would be probably more reliable to stay on schedule. But Madeira isn't an easy place to get to and this may be as good an opportunity as any other, unless I plan a specific visit to Portugal again.

Anyone been to these destinations?

What did you end up doing? Funnily enough I am poking around for my fall plans and my options include going somewhere entirely new (Madeira) or possibly considering finally getting myself to Bordeaux (but I've been to France so many times...)

Well I had to not go on this trip because of an unforeseen event.

I was going to fly from Marseille to Caen and then drive to Etretat.

I happened to have picked a day when there was going to be big celebrations for anniversary of D-Day so the hotel prices in Caen were unreal for the dates. So it would have been about a 90 minute drive to Etretat and I had booked a place with views of the falaises and not too far from the cliff walks.

Bordeaux was more expensive for that period too and I didn't want to take a long flight to Madeira. Next time I go to Lisbon, I will try to make it out to Madeira.

I hope you get to make up the time soon!