Suggestions for itenirary
 

Will be in landing in Paris June 8th and departing out of Paris June 23rd. Will see Omaha Beach, Loire Valley and onto Biarritz. Then east to the Riviera among other places before departure.
Any suggestions for how long to see the loire valley and other places to consider seeing?

Got another one!

You don;t say how you will be traveling - train? car? or how many of you there are - or ages or interests - so it's hard to provide specifics.

However, you have listed 5 places for 14 days so far - so subtracting 5 days travel from one to another - that's 9 days so lightly less than 2 days per area. While it's certainly possible to see the area of Normandy where the invasion beaches are (with Bayeaux) in 2 days and also Biarritz - 2 days is very limited time for the Loire and just silly assuming it's your first visit to Paris. I would allow 5 days minimum (6 nights) for Paris, 3 for the Loire and 3 for the Riviera - which doesn;t give you much time for other places.

I think you need to get a map - or a train schedule - and plot out travel times and what you want to see in each place. That will give you a better idea of how much time you need more - and how much time for travel in between.

There are a host of other great places to see in France - but in your limited time you just won;t get to them.

The Riviera is way out of the way for the rest of your trip. With the amount of time you have, I suggest dropping that destination and "other places" you don't specify and sticking with Paris, Normandy and the Loire. There is plenty to see and do in those three locations in 2 weeks.

What does "got another one!" mean?

People come here asking questions precisely because they would like some help from people they already are willing to concede know more about travel than they do.

If people find it so irritating to deal with that, why don't they get a different hobby? Surely in New York it is easy to find people to who like humiliation games.

ChipNitty,

Not everybody needs to spend a certain amount of time in X location their "first time" and " must see" certain sights. Are you just flying into Paris and moving on or are you planning to see some things there?

Thanks Zeppole. Appreciate your empathy regarding nytraveler comments. I lived there (New York) when my wife was completing her medical residency,..and understand how "they" can be.

There will be 3 of us travelling and we are renting a car. We can see Paris at the beginning and end of our 2 weeks there.

Just noting spelling number 34 of itinerary. Who knew there could be so many?

OK, you've got 14 days on the ground. When you say Omaha Beach, is that the only place you plan to visit in Normandy? If so, I'd suggest skipping that leg of the itinerary. Alternatively, spend 3 days there to see all the sights. That leaves 11 days. Don't know why you'd include Biarritz. In any event, I hope you don't plan to do all this by car, because France has a fabulous fast train system that MIGHT make it possible for you to see all these areas in 14 days, but still iffy. With a car, it would be close to impossible and not much fun, given the drives you'd likely be taking between places.

Suggest you go to the Loire and Normandy each for 3 days, then back to Paris, take the TGV to Avignon, visit Provencce for 3 days, 2 days on the Riviera, then fly back to Paris from Nice."Other places" just won't fit in in such a short trip.

So:

- Nights of June 8-11. Land in Paris & spend 3 nights there to get a "sniff" of Paris. If you normally have problems with jet lag, I would add a night.

- June 12. Pick up car in Paris or take train to Bayeux or Caen & pick up a car there. Any way you plan it, you won't start visiting the D-Day beaches till sometime between 1 & 3PM.

- Nights of June 12-13. It took us a good 1 1/2 days to visit the Caen Museum, other museums, and the landing spots, so you'll need to spend 2 nights there with a very active daytime schedule

- June 14 - drive to the Loire - 3 hrs, so you won't get there & ready to go till around noon.

- Nights of June 14-16. Some people get "chateaued out" after about 4-5 & others (like us) never do. I think 2 1/2 days of chateau-hopping is an average aggressive plan.

- June 17. Drive 5 hours to Biarritz - arrive around 2PM & be ready to go at 3PM.

- Note - on the way to Biarritz, you passed one of my favorite spots in France - La Rochelle. We spent a good 1 1/2 days there recently & didn't even visit the Ile de Re. We enjoyed La Rochelle more than any cities around Biarritz.

- Nights of June 17-19. We spent 2 weeks in the Pays Basque a few years ago - but we stayed a little inland close to St Jean Pied du Port. In addition to visiting the coastal cities, we spent a great amount of time in the Bearn area and also the "high" Pyrenees. Assuming you just want to visit the coastal towns & a little stuff inland, I would allow 2 1/2 days of sightseeing.

- June 20. Drive 5-6 hours to Provence, with a stop in Carcassone along the way. You won't get to Provence (with a 3 hr visit of Carcassonne) till 6pm & ready to go at 7, which leaves you with no time do anything else that day.

- Note - you passed the Dordogne on the way to Provence - one of our two favorite regions in France (with Provence).

- June 20-22. Only two days to see all the fabulous stuff in Provence - and during Lavender blooming season (it might be late this year). What a shame!!! For a bare minimum, I would suggest 4 full sightseeing days during lavender season. We've spent 16 weeks in Provence, & will be there this year when you'll be there.

- June 23. Get up at the crack of dawn and take the early TGV from Avignon directly to CDG for your departure. Good luck!!!

Stu Dudley

Thanks Stu Dudley for the advice ! I appreciate your suggestions and will definitely take it into account when finalizing my itenirary.