Southwestern France Itinerary advice
 

My husband and I are cycling the Camino de Santiago and will be finishing on June 30. We will be returning to the USA around July 19 and need a Southern France itinerary for July 1 - 19. We would like to see some of the Midi-Pyrenees, Pays-Basque, and the Languedoc areas. (We visited Sarlat, Provence, and Nice two years ago and want to see new places this year.)

Our current itinerary after completing the Camino de Santiago is:
• Drive from Santiago de Compostela to Santander; spend one night.
* Drive to San Sebastian, return rental car; spend 2 nights.
• Bus or train to St. Jean de Luz; spend 2 nights.
• Bus or train to Cauterets; spend 3 nights
• Road trip with two or three bases in towns such as: Auch, Cahors, Figeac, Najac, Rodez, Albi, Millau, Montpellier, Ceret, Foix, and Toulouse.

We are interested in road biking, especially by rivers, lakes, or canals. We also want to hike in beautiful scenery, and see cultural attractions.

We are presently overwhelmed and would appreciate itinerary suggestions.

Thank you.

You seem to have left out the pays Basque except for Saint-Jean de Luz. given your interests, you might find staying inland more interesting. I worte a trip report that included a few days in the pays Basque; click on my name to find it.

To whet your appetite:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...6289/show?rb=1

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...5948/show?rb=1

Hi Michael.
I looked at your trip report and like the idea of visiting the Pays Basque hill towns. To do this, we are thinking of adding a day in St. Jean de Luz, renting a car and doing a day trip to the hill towns. Then we will have one day in St. Jean de Luz for a coastal hike and a second day for the hill town day trip.
Do you know of a good driving route for this?
Thank you for your response.
Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Shelley

My pictures and my trip report will allow you to use a map and pin what looks or reads as interesting.

My impression is that nice coastal scenery is north of Basque country, around Arcachon. Rather than counting on walking along the coast, I would take the cog railroad up the mountain and hike down.

The canal du midi is the obvious place to head, though you could also look at the valleys that open up to the north towards Cahors or even the river into Bordeaux of Bergerac. All good riding, either on true bike paths or on very quiet back roads with only occasional lined areas on true roads. I generally avoid route nationals for biking as just too scary. This may help

http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/Midi_Guide.php

I've also written up a La Rochelle to Bergerac bike ride on Fodors a couple of years back.

Great idea. We are looking into bike rides in the area. Thanks for all the suggestions.