I'm travelling to Lyon for business in July and just found out that I'll have about 5 days of "free time" following my business meeting. I will have a car and am wondering what the best use of time would be. I've been to Paris (I love it) but I don't want to do Paris on this trip. I'm considering wandering my way to Bordeaux but am not sure. Any suggestions would be very welcomed.

Why go way over in the east to Bordeaux when all of the Drôme, the Ardeche, and Provence are all spread out just south of Lyon? In five days you could have a lovely time without hurrying. The drive east is long, as there are few direct roads, whereas from Lyon it's a beautiful drive south on the Autoroute du Soleil or one of the routes nationales.

I'm with Underhill--a drive through the Northern Rhone wine regions, with maybe a detour into the Ardeche, then a day or so in the Drome (I'd recommend Grignan), followed by a few days in Northern Provence (Vaucluse to Avignon at the most).

Another option would be to head north through Beaujolais to Burgundy. Beaune and the surrounding area are lovely, and would be more temperate in July than the South.

Or, you could head toward the Alps to Annecy. So many options. . . but Bordeaux would not be as convenient from Lyon as the others.

Grenoble is one hour by train. Also Dijon is not too far.

aaaahhhhhh! Dijon! I wouldn't hesitate! ;-)

Annecy would be a great day trip! I was based in Lyon several years ago for a graduate school international business trip, and we stopped in Annecy on our way back from Geneva. We only had a few hours there, and it left me wanting more time to explore.

P.S. Don't know if you've been to Lyon before, but it also has lots to offer!

My favorite little town near Lyon is Perouges. It is a fortified hilltop village of medieval houses and cobblestone streets that goes back to the 13th century. The Three Musketeers was filmed here. You can probably see everything in a couple of hours. We had the best meal of our trip at a little restaurnat here, unfortunately it was quite a few years ago and the name escapes me. We were there in November and ate in front of a wonderful fireplace. It started snowing outside so when we got done eating we took our 10 year old son outside and had a snowball fight. Gads it was so fun! But then my poor husband had to try and maneuver our rental car down the narrow cobblestone streets covered with snow, not an easy task but he did it beautifully.