hopingtotravel

I've been making a tentative itinerary through Normandy and Brittany. As far down the coast from LaRochelle, I'm starting to run out of days. At first I planned to go all the way to St. Jean de Luz, then San Sebastien, maybe Pamplona and fly out of Toulouse. Then, I thought, well while I'm in Normandy I should spend more time just driving its country roads, and maybe even heading over to Chinon for one or two nights. I've seen the eastern Loire, but not the western.

I've already been through the Dordogne, but did consider going east that way, then down through Figeac and flying out of Toulouse.

Is there a scenic one-day drive from LaRochelle to Biarritz? Or is that just a long freeway haul? The trip will already be running to 17 or more days by the time I get that far. Should I just fly from LaRochelle back to Paris?

Suggestions anyone?

seafox

I just did something similar. I used St Jean as a base (hotel la Marisa was very nice) and did short trips to Spain (Bilbao and SS) as well as along the coast. I flew out of Biarritz to Paris and then connected home via JFK. It was painless.

ekscrunchy

Yes, you can easily fly home from Biarritz. I think there was a post on the rooute you are asking about; Mikelg, I think, told about it so you could try searching...

St. Jean de Luz makes a great base for the Pays Basque and San Sebastian....maybe you should skip Pamplona on this trip...you need to do the inland Pays Basque including St. Jean Pied de Port....

Take a look at my recent trip report for San Sebastian..

Michael

I would spend part of the day driving down to Bordeaux, stopping by some of the Romanesque churches in the Saintonge and perhaps in Cognac for a tasting, and then would drop off the car and take the TGV to Paris (try to get a PREM ticket).

hopingtotravel

Thanks. I have jealously read the reports on this area. However, my trip has gotten to an unwieldy 18 days before I even get out of Brittany, so will hope to get back someday and do the Basque area separately.

gracejoan3

Brittany is a large area. I have been gathering information on it for some time now.

I would only do it completely by itself. I would not combine it with any other area. I have pretty much decided a month in 3 different locations would do it.