Normandy, Loire, Dordogne & Provence Recs
 

Hi there.

I've been reading through some posts and not finding exactly what I'm looking for, so hopefully some of you who travel to France frequently can offer some recommendations for us. We will be in France for 2 weeks in early June: ~3/4 days each in Normandy (Bayeux, Honfleur); Loire (Amboise); Dordogne (Sarlat au Canada); and Provence (Avignon). We will also stay one night on Mont Saint Michel. We are looking for some guidance on:

1) Restaurants - don't have to be super fancy, but we love less touristy, local restaurants with really great food and a fun or unique atmosphere or nice views.

2) Wineries - scenic and good wine. Bonus points if you can bike to them from any of our home bases (not sure if that's even possible from some of the cities)

3) Excursions - particularly things we may not have considered which are unique, immersive experiences (for example, cheese farms, cooking classes, particularly lovely biking or hiking trails, lesser known towns worth a visit, etc.) We are planning to canoe the river in Dordogne but would love to find more things like this.

We will have a car the entire time, so we are not opposed to driving a little bit to get out of town for a nice meal, etc. (esp. Honfleur and Amboise which I have been told cater more to the tourist crowd. Already know we have little hope of a great restaurant on MSM!).

Thanks so much for any favorite experiences you can share!
Emily

Just one person’s opinion who has driven to many places in France, but I think you are covering way too much in a relatively small amount of time, with too much time in the car, with hardly any time to see anything.

I would suggest either staying to the north, Normandy, and then the Loire, OR go south to the Dordogne and/or Provence.

We loved our 2 visits to the Loire, many visits to Provence, and my favorite a week in the Dordogne. If you choose just 1 or 2 of these areas I’m sure Fodorites can suggest some restaurants, but at the pace you will be driving I think you will be eating in your car, just sayin’

I too have been to each of your destinations and more than once and agree that you are trying to cover too much territory in too little time.

Agree with above in terms of what you're trying to fit in.

For restaurant recommendations, might be helpful if you gave your budget.

And for sightseeing/experiences, sort of unknown what you would consider something you might not have otherwise come across when we do not know what you've researched or what your interests are.

Suggest checking out StuDudley's many itineraries, planning threads and trip reports (his itineraries are voluminous - you do not need to go to every point). He should have some under the Trip Report section for your perusal for more ideas in many of the areas you're looking at.

Agree, agree, agree. You won't be able to accomplish this and stay sane.

In June, I would go to the Dordogne, and then to Provence to witness the Lavender in bloom. Stop in Carcassonne between the two destinations for an overnight & visit.

Attached are 4 itineraries for destinations you are considering.

Stu Dudley

Ditto all three above. Too much territory in such a short time. Stay to the north or to the south.

Glad Stu responded with suggestions as I recommended OP to review. OP, click on Stu's name for his many contributions in addition to what he has already posted.

Thank you for all the feedback, I truly appreciate it. I see all of Stu's itineraries and will read them at length as I already see a lot of great suggestions there!

As for the amount of time we will spend driving, we will be in the car about 20 hours over a period of 18 days, but I based our trip off of a suggested Rick Steve's itinerary that covers the regions we are visiting (actually also includes Paris and Riviera) in even fewer days than we have planned, so I'm hoping we'll be ok. We like to road trip and are very active travelers, and I've planned in stops on the days we have a drive of 4-5 hrs so we can enjoy something en route and stretch our legs. Hopefully it will be manageable. I do have us spending one overnight in Carcassone between Sarlat and Avignon that I did not mention to break up that drive. I would love to be able to enjoy a week or more in each place, but unfortunately, we are also working with limited vacation time and such so we have constraints there.

As I have mentioned on other threads, the government sponsored program, Bienvenue a la Ferme, is a great resources for visiting farms, from buying direct from the farmer to educational programs to having prepared meals.

https://eunw.short.gy/WSmhtL

The link above should take you to the site where I have already narrowed the choices down to Cremeries (cheese producers are in this category). There are 972 listed in France. From the map, you can zoom in on any area to investigate your choices, each with a picture gallery. If you want to select a different category you can do that as well.

Some people on this forum are not big fans of Rick Steves' advice on France (including me). Most of the content in his France stuff was actually written by his colleague Steve Smith (Google it). I have read many of his books that other people have given me, and most have ended up in the recycle bin. His Budapest book is fantastic, however.

IMO, Rick Steves' advice & books are mostly written for first-timers. Tempting them with an action packed (impossible, IMO) itinerary. Which is probably a good marketing plan. When I was a first-timer in the late 1970s, I thought I could keep up a pace like you are planning. We were traveling with my mother & sister. They "bailed out" half way through the trip & flew home (sister was a flight attendant & could fly her & mom for free). My wife stated that she would never go on another trip with me. We remembered very little about that trip when we got home. Three years later we pretty much did the same trip - only staying longer in each destination, and cutting back on the number of destinations.

Since we retired early in 1999 so we could travel more, my wife & I have spent 2 months in Europe every year (except 9/11 year, & Covid years). About 85% in France. We have rented 82 different Gites (houses) in France, and have stayed in them for 129 weeks. This excludes many months in Paris, and apartments in Nice, St Tropez, & Lyon. We travel all over in France.

You are planning something that is similar to my first trip. And 100% of the Fodors respondents say the same (so far). Maybe you are Superwoman and don't need sleep, re-coop time, cafe-sitting, or (as Rick Steves states) "a vacation from your vacation".

Read the first couple of sections in my Provence itinerary about shops and some museums & castles closing on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, holidays, and during lunch. Rigid hours for lunch & dinner. You can't pack as much into a day in France as you can in the US (if that's where you are from).

Good Luck!!!

Stu Dudley

I will read through the itineraries shared today. Sounds like many of you have had the opportunity to become deeply acquainted with France.What a gift! When my husband and I travel solo we have more time to work with, but our two daughters will be joining so we are limited on time, unfortunately. And not necessarily a Rick Steve's fan, but I read many travel sites and that was just one which suggested this itinerary which worked with our timeline. All of our flights and accommodations are locked in at this point, and given that it's the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy the chance to make changes has long since passed! Hopefully we will still have a lovely time, despite the concerns about the tight schedule. Thanks again to those of you who shared some points of interest or restaurants to consider!

It sounds like you are well organized with flights , car, and accommodations locked in. France is a lovely country and the driving seemed quite doable. We will look forward to your trip report.
You did ask for restaurant recommendations. I The food in France is exceptional, the presentation, even in the smallest establishment, is photo worthy.

Of all the towns you are visiting, I’ll give you a suggestion in Sarlat called Chez Le Gaulois. It’s a tiny place with the best tartiflette I’ve ever tasted. So many wonderful restaurants in Sarlat, some bigger and fancier, but this one was our favorite on our week stay there. A Fodorite led us to it and it was so good we went there twice.

l'Essentiel in Périgueux. It was our restaurant to take friends for an upscale lunch. That was before it obtained a Michelin star.

We will be dining there on Sept 20!!

Stu Dudley

From Bayeux to Avignon is quite a distance (600 miles). For comparison, that is about the same as from Atlanta to Detroit in the US. Sometimes it is better to see the distance comparisons on a map of a place you know. I use milesofme.com to do that comparison from my city. For your cities: Bayeux to Amboise: 195 miles Amboise to Sarlat au Canada: 225 miles Sarlat au Canada to Avignon: 350 miles

When you factor in driving in a foreign country in a rented car, these distances are even more imposing. Spending 18 days seeing the sites in a trip from Atlanta to Detroit (following a long flight) would be absolutely exhausting.

Good luck in whatever itinerary you land on, you'll love france.

Thank you so much TPAYT ! I will look into this restaurant as we will be staying in walking distance.

I will check into this! Thank you.

Thank you, shelemm this is a great website.

Not far from Sarlat is Le Bugue, with a huge wine store Julien de Savignac. It’s worth going there rather than their smaller branch in Sarlat, if you are likely to be buying more than a couple of bottles. We fell in love with Pécharmant, a good value appellation from the Bergerac area. Look also for the excellent foie gras and cheese stores in Le Bugue.
We ate well at Bistro des Glycines in Les Eyzies.

Thanks FTOttawa !