Paris to Provence
 

First week of June, we are driving from Paris to Provence (to spend 1 week in Provence)-- we will need to stay one night on the way there and are looking for suggestions --routes to take, towns to visit, places to see and suggestions for dinner. Any advice?

I guess the first question would be why are you driving.Take the train and rent the car in Provence. it's a long and not very interesting drive. Bettr ways to spend time!!

We need to rent a van (to fit 6 adults and luggage) and there are none available in Provence - will get the van when we arrive in Paris and head down

Just looking at the map of France, Limoges, Clermont-Ferrand and Lyon are about half way and are the largest on the first view. I've only been to Lyon of the 3 and it may be a tad out of your way. Limoges has the prettiest pictures on google.

Other Fodorites, what's Vichy like? It was on our lists but we never got to it. It looks about half way.

With a van, a larger town may be more practical. Where are you staying in Provence?

It might be good to stay in a smaller town with a car so you don't have as much trouble getting a place to park it or driving around an urban center. I think Limoges and Clermont-Ferrand are pretty far to the west (especially Limoges) in driving from Paris to Provence, but I guess it depends how much time you want to spend on the drive.

I recommend some place in Burgundy, such as Beaune or even Dijon. Dijon is a fairly manageable smaller city. You can just take the A6 from Paris directly to Beaune. To go to Dijon, take the A38 over to it just a bit north of Beaune.

If you want to go farther, I might make a slight detour to the west of the A7 and go to Le Puy-en-Velay but that's off some of the major big highways (you'd take A47 SW from Lyon, then route N88 to Le Puy). see http://www.ot-lepuyenvelay.fr/

What Christina says makes sense also.

Again, any suggestions?

You can always see what www.viamichelin.com suggests and choose a mid-point for stopping overnight.

We just rented a van from Europcar through Kemwell. We picked it up at Marseille Gare Saint Charles. We were a party of 4 adults with huge suitcases and we had more than enough space.

I find it really hard to believe you can't find a van to rent in Provence (which is a huge area, with lots of cities and a bazillion rental car outfits).

And if not, I'd rent two cars and switch off "friends".