isabel

I’m about to buy the tickets for my trip next summer so want to see if anyone has suggestions I may have not thought of. I’m flexible on the return date so want to get the basic itinerary mapped out before I buy the tickets, then I’m sure I’ll be back to work out the details.

The first two weeks of the trip will be me and my daughter (age 27), the rest of trip I’ll be solo. Leave NY Saturday June 22, arrive Paris Sunday June 23
Day 1 – arrive Paris; Day 2, 3, 4 Paris

Day 5 – train/car to Sarlat
Day 6, 7, 8 – day trips to LaRoche, Beynac, Domme, Rocamadur, St Cirq, Monpazier- and whatever else we can fit in. Sleep in Sarlat

Day 9 – drive to Avignon, stopping in Cahors en route, sleep in Avignon
Day 10 – day trip to Gordes and maybe Roussillon and/or Bonieux, sleep in Avignon
Day 11, 12, 13 – sleep in Arles, day trips to Pond du Gard, Uzes, St. Remy, Les Baux, Tarascon, Aigues-Mortes, Nimes
Day 14 – we need to be at Avignon train station by late afternoon so daughter can get train back to Paris for flight the following day. After I drop her I’ll go to Aix for the night. But we still have most of that day to see things in the Arles-Avignon area.

Note – the reason I have Avignon on days 9 and 10 followed by Arles instead of the other way around is that the Avignon festival begins on July 5 which is day 13 of this trip. The only other time I’ve been to Avignon was (12 years ago) also during the festival and I’d like to see it without the festival going on.

Day 15, 16 ,17 – Vence – other than Vence and St Paul du Vence am open to suggestions for what else to see with Vence as a base (other than Nice, Eze, and Antibes which I’ve been to recently).

Day 18 – drop car in Nice, train to Italy
Days 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 – to see Portovenere, Portofino, CT, S. Marugerita, Genova. Not sure where to base. Will use boats and trains.

Day 23 – Milano

Day 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 – Lake Geneva area – probably base in Lausanne, possibly Vevey. Want to see: Chateau Chillon, Rochers, Zermatt, Geneva, Gruyeres, possibly Yviore.

Day 29 – Bern en route to Basel for the night

Day 30, 31, 32 – Strasbourg – Day trip to Colmar. Not sure if I can do other towns in the region without a car.
Day 32 late afternoon train to CDG to overnight for flight the following day

Michael

<i>day trips to LaRoche, Beynac, Domme, Rocamadur, St Cirq, Monpazier- and whatever else we can fit in. Sleep in Sarlat</i>

Domme, La Roque-Gageac and Beynac can easily fit in a day. Monpazier would probably be better combined with Belvès and Cadouin, with a stop to visit the cemetery chapel in Monferrand.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...57623717079199

St. Cirq, unless you mean the village for which is related to a better known poster on this forum, would be St. Cirq-la-Popie, best seen when driving away from the Dordogne on your way to the Provence. You might be interested in my trip report from last summer; click on my name to find it.

StCirq

<<Day 5 – train/car to Sarlat>>

As explained on the Car Rental in the Dordogne thread, you do not want to take a train to Sarlat.

<<Day 6, 7, 8 – day trips to LaRoche, Beynac, Domme, Rocamadur, St Cirq, Monpazier- and whatever else we can fit in. Sleep in Sarlat>>

I assume you mean La Roque-Gageac?

If you mean St-Cirq-Lapopie, you shouldn't make it an excursion from Sarlat if you have plans to head to Cahors already - combine it with your travels south (and there are places that are far more interesting, IMO).Same with Rocamadour: instead of making loooong daytrips and circling back to Sarlat, you should plan a roughly north-to-south route that takes in these places.

Monpazier is a tiny bit of an outlier from the main sites around Sarlat, so you should consider combining it as well with another place or two: the Abbey at Cadouin, Belvès, Beaumont...there are many to choose from.

isabel

Thanks. I'll be fine tuning all this in the coming months, now just wanted to see if I had approximately the right number of days in each location. So I guess for the Dordogne portion it sounds OK?

StCirq - to be honest the main reason I put the town of your name on my list is that I've been reading your posts for years and it's always seemed intriguing. I'll either do it on the way to Cahors (which is on the way to Avignon, but probably enough time for a quick stop) or skip it.

Also, thanks for the car rental info, I just read that other thread and see that it doesn't make sense to train to Sarlat. Too bad the guide books don't know that.

StCirq

Hi, isabel.

My screen name has nothing to do with St-Cirq-Lapopie (which is the town I suggested visiting on the Cahors leg of your trip, and which isn't in the Dordogne). *My* St-Cirq (St-Cirq-du-Bugue) IS in the Dordogne, between Les Eyzies and Le Bugue, but it's not a town, it's a commune with no commerce except the Grotte du Sorcier. It's unlikely, unless you were lost or making a concerted effort to see every prehistoric site in the area, that you'd ever end up there (though please be my guest - it's darling!). St-Cirq-Lapopie is NOTHING like *my* St-Cirq, though it's very popular.

There are at least 8 villages/towns/communes in France named St-Cirq (and plenty of variations, like St-Cyr).

I think your plan sounds well-conceived.

Michael

<i>I'll either do it on the way to Cahors (which is on the way to Avignon, but probably enough time for a quick stop) or skip it.</i>

It's past Cahors.

sam94123

I'd base in St Remy...lovely village and equal distance to the areas you wish to visit. Nice B and B's there...and beautiful resort hotels.