chrisyyc

Hello fellow travellers, here's our planned itinerary:

1. 4 nights Paris - Rented an apartment and we'll spend the time in Montmartre area with just one daytrip to Versailles. We've been to Paris a couple times before, so this is just one of many yet to happen returning visits

2. Rent car and drive to Bayeux, Normandie, and spend two nights there. This area is also a repeat visit for us. Loved Normandy the first time. This time the plan is to go to the German cemetery and see the tapestry - both were missed last time. And to drink lots of calvados!

3. Two nights in Mont St Michel and St Malo, which will be first time visits. Now here I would need some help please. Should we book two separate hotels in these places or stay in one hotel from where we can visit both sites? If staying in one hotel, should it be in St Malo or closer to St Michel? I understand that parking is not possible and accommodation is very expensive in St Michel. Any suggestions would be great. Maybe we should skip St Malo altogether?

4. From St Michel the plan is to drive towards Carcassonne with two night stops along the way. I was thinking Chateau d'Angers and Chateau de Chambourd to keep with the castle/medieval theme. Has anyone visited these places? Any other suggestions? Other than visiting some nice touristic sites we're looking forward to great French cuisine and plenty of good red wine, so if you know of a nice village or town that offers both please let me know!

5. Two nights in Carcassonne, basically just visit the old cite. Never been there but it's been on my list for many years so looking forward to it.

6. 2 nights Avignon - also first time visit.

7. Finally drive to Cannes, return the car, rent an apartment there and spend a week on the beach with a few side trips in the area. We've never been to Cote d'Azur so I'm sure there will be plenty for us to do.

8. Fly back home from Nice.

What do you think?

Many thanks!

StuDudley

I'm confused with #4. Do you plan to stop 1 night in Angers and another night in Chambord??? Then drive 7 hrs to Carcassonne?? Where does "other than visiting some nice touristic sites" fit in?? The Loire chateaux area us ultra-touristy.

IMO, 2 nights in Carcassonne is about 1 too many. It is about a 3 hr visit.

I would leave Bayeux early so that you get to MSM by 8:30 am, visit 3 hrs, then on to St Malo & stay there. Or go directly to St Malo & visit MSM early the next morning.

1 1/2 days in Provence?????

Stu Dudley

chrisyyc

Hi Stu, thanks for your reply. Yes I would stop in Angers and Chambord one night each, unless there's better ideas out there.

Good idea about Carcassonne, maybe i'll just stay one night and add another day to Avignon.

The plan is not to "do" Loire or Provence this time, just to make some quick stops on our way to Cannes. Of course we'll have to come back some other time and visit those areas properly. So, I guess I'm asking what those stops should be. Other than skipping Carcassonne altogether, I'm open for any ideas.

BTW, we do this many times, driving quickly thru one area, maybe for only one day or two, we just fall in love with the place then come back again and again. This is how I discovered Bavaria and Normandy for example.

Michael

I stayed between the Mont St. Michel and St. Malo when we were there. You can find the name of the B&B in my old trip report that starts with Ghent; click on my name to find it.

SusannahT

I am not a huge fan of Angers but love Chambord, Chenonceau, Amboise & Chaumont. Maybe 2 nights in that area

I agree - one night Carcassonne would suffice.

I am also not a fan of Avignon but love Pont du Gard

27again

I second the thumbs down on Avignon -- especially with a car. One night is certainly enough. What about Chateauneuf du Pape? (SP?) lovely old town, good food, and their white wine is to die for (don't remember how far out of your way that would be, but years ago we did Avignon to CNP and Cannes.) Be sure to have the local specialty of veal in cream at MSMichel. Wealso liked Arles. We timed our trip so as to coincide with several weekly markets which was great fun. Lunch andnext day's breakfast bought in the market! Enjoy!

Gretchen

If you're going to just "drive by" these places, why not spend more somewhere like Brittany and then train to the south and rent another car there. What if you don't fall in love/discover these places and have wasted days of your trip? LOL

chrisyyc

Thanks Michael, I will check that B&B.
Susannah and 27, good suggestions, we'll try.
Gretchen, MSMichel and Carcassonne are a must for me on this trip. Everything else between Paris and Cannes is flexible. I think driving is our best option, we enjoy doing it, yes including in Europe, and when we travel 3 or 4 it's cheaper than by train. Sometimes we also avoid toll roads and take our time seeing more of the country side.

I'm surprised about Avignon, I thought it should be the first place to visit in Provence. Again about the car, we just drive to a hotel and park it there until it's time to leave. We usually walk or use local transit while in a city.

StuDudley

chrisyyc

As others have (directly or indirectly) noted (including me), you are making the typical first-timer mistake of picking destinations that are very far apart from each other. You'll be spending most of your vacation time sitting in the car getting from A to B, instead if spending "quality" time actually "being at" and enjoying A & B. You didn't respond to my comment about the 7 hr drive from Chambord to Carcassonne. We've driven the autoroute between these two destinations many times (never at once, however) - and it is not scenic at all, for most of the way. If you leave Chambord at 9am, you'll likely get to Carcassonne at 4pm. By the time you check into your hotel & are "ready to go" - the last chateau tour of the day may have already departed. So you'll have seen nothing but roadway for the entire day. And you will have passed right by one of our two favorite regions in France - the lovely Dordogne. Many people are disappointed with Carcassonne because it is somewhat of a "fake". If that ends up being the case with you, then it will be 3 very disappointing days "lost", out of a total 21 days.

My wife & I have been vacationing to Europe every year since 1977. Our earlier trips were normally 3 weeks in length. We both retired early in 1999 so that we could spend more time exploring Europe. How we normally make 2 trips to Europe (mainly France) each year and usually spend 5 weeks there in June & 4 weeks in Sept.

Your two "wanta see" destinations seem to be Normandy/Brittany and Cannes. You couldn't have picked two spots further apart than these two places and still be in France.

Here is what I would do to allow you to spend more time "being there" instead of "getting there".

- 4 nights Paris

- 2 nights Bayeux to see the tapestry & German cemetery. This is a "repeat" trip for you, so you might want to spend some time with yourself to really decide if it is worth it to repeat something instead of spending the time elsewhere at some place "new". Only the tapestry & German cemetery does not seem worth 2 days out of 21 to me.

- 3 nights in Brittany, with a side trip to MSM. Brittany is our third favorite region in France after Provence & the Dordogne. I have added a day here and I would stay in/near Dinan - not St Malo. Some people are also disappointed with St Malo because much of it was destroyed in WWII by Patton's army, and re-construction was done a little sloppily. We like it, however.

- Drive 3 3/4 hrs from Dinan to Blois and stay 2 nights in the Loire - either In Blois or Chenonceaux. Visit Chambord, Chenonnceaux, Blois, Amboise, and the gardens in Villandry. I believe all of these chateaux offer self-guided tours - so you can be very "efficient" in visiting them (less time-consuming than a guided tour - in French). I think most of the chateaux around Angers are guided - except for Angers itself (which is actually a ruin - the main feature is the tapestry there),

- Drive 5 1/4 hrs to Sarlat la Caneda in the Dordogne and spend 4 nights there. As I mentioned earlier, this is tied with Provence as our favorite region in France (after Paris). IMO, the Dordogne has more diversity of things to do than anywhere else in France (except Paris). Caves with stalactites & mites, caves with pre-historic cave-man painting, boat trips along the Dordogne river, "cure little villages", Sarlat, markets, lovely countryside, many many chateaux that are different from the ones in the Loire, etc.

- Get an early start and drive 3 1/2 hrs to Carcassonne and visit for 3 hrs. Have lunch there. Then drive 4 1/2 hrs to Cannes and spend a week there. If you leave Sarlat at 8:00, you should get to Carcassonne at 11:30. Have lunch (many outside dining spots), and then spend 2-3 hrs visiting the chateau & village (purchase your tickets to the chateau as you enter through the main rampart gates). If you leave Carcassonne at 2:30PM you should get to Cannes at 7:00. If this is to late of an arrival in Cannes, either leave Sarlat at 7am or/and spend only 2 hrs in Carcassonne (have sandwiches for lunch instead of a 1 1/2 hr sit-down lunch).

If I count the nights correctly, this is:
- 4 nights Paris
- 2 nights in Bayeux
- 3 nights Dinan/St Malo
- 2 nights Loire region
- 4 nights/3 days Dordogne
- 7 nights/6 days Cannes, with a visit to Carcassonne on the way to Cannes

This is 22 nights. If you need to cut a night, I would cut Paris by 1 night or eliminate Bayeux entirely.

Less time getting there & more time being there.

I agree with others to forget Avignon. Although Avignon is one of our favorite cities in France, you'll be driving through some pretty ugly urban sprawl to get there & it might spoil your "image" of Provence enough so that you won't want to return to spend more time in Provence & see what keeps us returning there (18 weeks so far - and 2 more next year).

I have detailed itineraries for :
- Normandy & Brittany
- Dordogne
- Cote d'Azur & Provence
that I've sent to over 3,000 people on Fodors (really). If you would like copies of them, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach them to the reply e-mail

Stu Dudley

chrisyyc

Wow Stu, many thanks for your detailed advice. I will email you next week for itineraries, thanks!
I'm not a first timer in Europe and I like driving but I think your itinerary is much better than mine, obviously as it's based on your extensive experience of travelling in France. So we'll do as you suggest. But we only have 21 nights and apt in Paris and 2 nights in Bayeux are already booked, as is the apt in Cannes. All else is not. So where should we cut a night?

StuDudley

>>So where should we cut a night?<<

Dinan, but leave Bayeux for Dinan very early so that you get to Dinan early (or visit MSM on the way). And then depart Dinan in the early afternoon so that you can get 2 1/2 good days in Brittany & still get to the Loire in time to visit a Chateau on your first day there. If you have kids, they might enjoy the song & light shows in the evenings at various chateaux (Chenonceaux had a good one).

Kids will also enjoy Chateau Castelnaud in the Dordogne with its Medieval warfare museum. Also the Birds of Prey show at Ch Milandes (and also Josephien Baker's "story").

Stu Dudley

chrisyyc

Awesome, you're the best Stu
I'll start booking. Thanks!