My wife and I are planning our own Tour de France next summer. It will be both our first time there. We will have 12 days to explore the whole country, and I want to see it all! or as much as possible. More than hitting all the cathedrals, chateaux, champagne/wine houses we are interested in just soaking in all of France via the back roads and not so much on the expressway, and then try to find a particular region to go back to.

Here are my thoughts on an itinerary.
Day 1:Arrive a.m. Paris Stay the day and night,
Day 2: Drive to Reims one day/night there,
Day 3: Metz or Nancy
Day 4: Strausbourg or Colomar
Day 5: Djon/Lyon
Day 6: Dignes Les Bain
Day 7: Cote d'azure
Day 8: Biaaritz
Day 9: Bourdeax
Day 10: Tours/Blois
Day 11-12: Paris

Is thid do-able? or should I concentrate on two-3 specific regions. Here is what I Must see:
Paris: Louvre, Notre Dame.
In the Country: Chatres, Chambourd, Usse,

Other than that I am open, I just want as I said before to experience all that I can in France, I love it so much. No place has ever pulled me to it so much as France has.

Thanks for you help.
Sean

wow! what a race!
I'm afraid you'll spend too little time in each town (especially between la côte d'azur and Biarritz)and drive half a day everyday. exhausting!
there are so many things to see in each town (Dijon for ex;-)).
to help you find the names on viamichelin.com you have to write them properly....
Strasbourg, Colmar, Dijon, (Cote d'azur is not a town but a part of PACA region "Provence Alpes, Côte d'azur" ..) Biarritz, Bordeaux.
I'm sure fodorites will give you give advice on where to go and what to skip!

welcome to France wherever you go!

I've never been one for spending days in a single place, but with that itinerary, you may end up feeling disappointed that you didn't linger a little longer.

Driving in France is a great experience - one that you will never forget, but it can be stressful, confusing and time consuming. Your schedule leaves little time for logistical realities such as getting lost (not always a bad thing), finding your hotel when you first arrive in a new town, finding the most appropriate parking garages in larger towns like Strasbourg and Dijon, etc. Also, the back roads can be awfully slow (but unquestionably scenic).

One suggestion would be to leave out the southernmost destinations and focus on Paris, Alsace, Burgundy and the Loire Valley. Alsace is one of the most beautiful regions of Europe.

Regardless of your choices, you will have a memorable trip, and there will always be regrets (if only we could have visited ...). Fortunately, there is a lot of good advice in this forum that can help you minimize those regrets.

Hi.

Depending on your age and your vigor, you may wish to rethink this itinerary. It is very ambitious and I fear that in your effort to see as much as possible, you will actually see less.

On a typical day you will arise to drive to the next town; you'll find your hotel (Have you booked ten hotels? If you are going to wing it, add another hour or two for searching out lodging and do not underestimate the stress this will cause.), unpack, then head out for a few hours of roaming. Then do it all again the next day...and the next. (And don't forget to add several hours for the visit to a foreign divorce lawyer whom you will probably need.)

At our age (mid-50's) we have learned that we must never stay in one place less than two nights. This is far more restful and it provides time for quality exploration.

Good luck and have a great time.

Thank you Pilchard,

You may be right. I may have to pick and choose a little more carefully about what regions I want to visit and spend a bit more time in those.

Any thoughts on what regions would be best /scenic, and most savory to the senses?

Is Provence worth the traffic and tourists?

Given the distances you want to cover, you will not have time for the backroads. If you like wine, Alsace, Burgundy and the Loire valley might make more sense. Get the Michelin Green Guide, look at their maps at the front which lists the major sites, read about them, and then start figuring out what you can do given the amount of time.

..far, far too much IM (HumbleO). Firstly, you will be travelling at high tourist season so no meandering in the country with thoughts of finding a lovely little in by chance...could happen but don't count on it. France has excellent but very expensive autoroutes fast; but not at all scenic!!As a first timer, don't underestimate jet lag. Figure yours and last day a bit of a write off as well as the day of departure. Plan to stay at least 2 nights in any given hotel or preferably 3 with day trips. You need more time in Paris. I would suggest that you pick 1 other region (excluding day tours from Paris)...read a little and once another region is decided upon, ask again. My comment re hotel relates to time- everytime you move it is almost half a day taken up doing so and your trip really isn't that long.

..terrible typos..figure first and last day.ect and try to ignore the others

There are more responses on your original thread--click on your name to find them.

Wow, slogdog.......My head is spinning looking at your ambitious itinerary! You'll be constantly on the move. How can you really enjoy any of it? With distances and traffic, you won't be spending a day in each place....you'll be driving!

First of all, with this being your first visit to France, Paris deserves a GREAT deal more time than you're alloting for it. The things you most want to see are Notre Dame, Chartres, Chambord and Usse (not familiar with Usse). You could easily make a day trip to Chartres from Paris, then spend a couple of days in chateaux country. There so much more to Paris than cathedrals, enough to keep you busy for days.

Hope you re-think your whirlwind itinerary. More is not necessarily better.

This is so dumb it has to be a troll!

Like many above I think you are attempting too much in too short a period of time. I won't give my own personal example from an organized tour of "the best of France" we took some years ago. We literally went from one end of the country to the other, spent a lot of time on expressways, saw one "highlight" each day at the most and had the greatest tour of the stae of maintenance on French superhighways imaginable.

I am replying because I, personally, think this is not a "troll" post but one from someone who is asking for advice and here is mine:

do those things you "must" see and give yourself at least a couple of days to do that alone. That first day in Paris should be given over to jetlag unless you want to fall asleep while standing in front of the Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo or sag on the stairs leading up to the Winged Victory. The Louvre is the LARGEST palace in Europe and believe me, they've crammed it full.

Take at least a day to see Chartres, too. It is easy to reach by train as well as by road but that takes time in and of itself..not a lot of travel time but time nonetheless.

Chambord? Absolutely, but I think you might come away more satisfied if you spent a couple of days in the Loire around, say Blois/Amboise or Tours..perhaps using one of those as a base. Chenonceau ( a nice contrast to the "bulk" of Chambord) is an easy drive from Amboise; Chambord somewhat farther (I definitely recommend a car for this area...gives you much more flexibility). For chateau gardens there is nothing, IMO, quite like Villandry..it isn't as big as Versailles but it is impressive, as is the interior.

I would do all of these things first and then if there is any time left over, perhaps one other place..and not too far away. Save some of this for the inevitable return trip.

Let me think..."we will have 12 days to explore the whole country"....I am with Adeben--- this whole proposal is so dumb that it has to be a troll.

ttt

I think you're getting good advice, but do want to add that Nancy is a lovely small city and very rarely visited by Americans; we liked it very much. Also, Alsace is enchanting. But you must revise your itinerary! Way too much.

What does "troll" mean?

Sue