cboris

Hello,

I'm facing a bit of a conundrum and I feel like the seasoned travellers on fodors might have an obvious solution for me.

The big picture is, we'll be in France & Italy for 8 weeks with summer with my 2 kids, ages 7 and 9 - 4 weeks in France, then 4 in Italy. We're starting in Paris for a little under a week (we have booked that apartment with much fodorite help!) and then moving to the Provencal countryside & the coast for the remaining 3 weeks. We have not booked accomodations for the remaining 3 weeks. My ideal would be about 10 nights in the country and 10 on the coast but as we're renting houses or apartments, it's difficult to do anything other than Saturday to Saturday stays.

My husband is an avid bicycle fan and we HAVE to see part of the Tour de France while we are there. The Tour will be starting in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux on Saturday, July 14th, which is also Bastille Day, and also likely the day we have to check out of our Provence rental. We are looking around Saint-Remy for our first rental. We have visited Saint Remy on a daytrip (last trip without kids stayed in Avignon, Arles & Aix) and we liked its vibe. Our next destination is the coast, somewhere between Saint-Tropez and Antibes maybe (last trip without kids stayed in Villefranche-sur-Mer and loved it but thought we would try a different area). Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux is about an hour north of Saint-Remy according to google maps. It is also about 3 hours from either Antibes or Saint-Tropez.

Does anyone know what time the Tour typically starts from a location? It's not on the Tour website yet and I'm not finding the answer by googling. I'm sure my husband would like to see the leaders but I don't know how spread out the rest of the riders are. How long should I expect to stay in Saint-Paul-T-C? Add to this that we'd love to see some fireworks, which I thought we could do in Avignon.

Would it be crazy to expect to be able to check out of our rental, drive an hour to S-P-T-C, then I don't even know what! I'd be willing to check into a hotel in Avignon for 1 night, but that could cause problems with our coastal rental, if we have to check in on Saturday. I really don't want to do a lot of moving around.

I guess another solution is to stay in Saint-Remy for 2 weeks and the coast for 1 week. That would solve our Saturday problem, but I'm really looking forward to time on the coast.

I'm sorry, I feel like this post is vague and maybe it's not even clear what my question is. I'm sort of trying to think out loud. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Thanks,
Christine

Christina

I don't know about rentals, but the Tour starting time depends on the route and distance scheduled for that day. I mean it takes longer to ride if the distance is farther, of course, and if the route is mountainous or more challenging vs. flat. So they vary the starting time depending on the route that day, but I think they usually plan that most of the riding is in the afternoon, and thus the starting time is usually around noon, plus or minus an hour or so as to actual start time. Of course this is a commercial race, so the important thing is the advertising caravane which comes first an hour or two before the riders. The caravane is actually fun to watch, a lot of very clever displays. You need to understand what that is when you view the schedule, it is not the riders.

I'm sure it is going to be super crowded in St Paul around any place you can see the riders, so not sure you can get there depending on your rental schedule and when you have to check out or what you have to do. I imagine the timing isn't too bad if they don't start until noon, for example.

AJPeabody

I watch the Tour on cable/DVR and to tell the truth, the people on the ground see the racers for about a minute as they race by. The video feed is the only way to follow the race as a race. As an event, the spectators find a spot to picnic and watch the sponsors' vehicles parade through ahead of the race. Also, since they close the race route roads, you have to be there the day before. Some spectators find a place to park their camper van where the route is visible for a distance and party until the big moment. For a tourist bent on seeing racers, it's either a very expensive hotel to watch the finale in Paris, or a room at a cafe hotel on the route in a small town and sit down for a day by the side of the road. Myself, if I were travelling in France during the tour, I'd avoid it. There won't be any rooms available and travel will be difficult.

saipanlady

What fun. We saw several stages of the Tour a few years ago. The best one was in Switzerland and we drove along the route (hours and hours ahead of the riders), until we were on a pretty good uphill (figuring they would be slower and more strung out), parked the car in a village in a farmer's field who was letting everyone do that and spent a wonderful day, in the sun, visiting with the 5000 other people who were doing the same thing. Aj is just wrong, they do NOT close the entire route for the entire day...some, like the famous mountain climbs, do get closed but most of them close only an hour or so before the caravan goes by...people live along most parts of the route, ya know. My partner, who is the cyclist, spent a lot of time poring over maps to figure out the day/location that would work for us some good maps of the routes here http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france We also saw a flat stage just outside Geneva and that one, as AJ said, zipped by in well uner 3 minutes.

Gretchen

From what I can gather by watching it avidly every year, a regular flat stage will start at about 1PM (if I have the time change correct). A mountain stage starts earlier. As others have said, you stake out a place and watch the cavalcade go by and then the racers whiz by.
DS and DDIL watched a Pyrenees ascent--Col d'Aspin and took the most amazing picture of all 4 "jerseys" in one picture--including Lance! They bicycled several of the legs on alternate days, and saw the end in paris.