I have planned a two week road trip that begins in Paris heading south to San Sebastian. After spending a few days in SS we'll be driving back to Paris. There are so many great place in between these two cities Any recommendations for "must-sees"...wineries, places to stay, etc? Any general advice on driving through France?

General driving advice: Autoroutes are fast, expensive, boring. Get off the highway!

A book that will help for driving tours: "France on Backroads" The Motorist's Guide to the French Countyside (Hunter) My edition has 30 detailed roadtrips all over France, many along your route. The trips are laid out circularly, but you can easily do just one half circle of any route that is along your way. Very helpful and detailed.

You will also need Michelin maps. The scenic routes are highlighted in green. The most practical format is the Michelin "Tourist and Motoring Atlas" which is a large yellow spiral=bound book of 189 1:200,000 scale maps that cover all of France.

We plot the routes from the first book onto the atlas maps, then choose a route that connects the places we want to go to using green highlighted roads and Backroad segments.

You will certainly receive many recommendations for places to stop along the way. I'll skip the famous ones and recommend my favorite cave, the Grotte du Peche Merle, which has wonderful real cave paintings you can almost touch and fantastic cave structures of the stalagtite-mite types and many other configurations. No manmade reconstructions.

ttt

If you get the Michelin Green Guide for France you will find at the beginning maps with the principal sights marked in green or orange highlights and on p. 62 a map of principal tourist routes. That might provide a good beginning. Check out also on this forum responses to Loire valley questions and questions on itineraries to the Dordogne and Bordeaux.

IMO, two weeks isn't very long for a round trip using exclusively back roads. Not having unlimited holidays, I find the French autoroutes very good - fast and mostly quite empty (*very* different from the motorways in the UK). I don't consider them expensive. I also find the French ones more interesting than the UK ones because they tend not to have embankments, so you can actually admire the surrounding country. Personally, I'd rather work out where I want to go and get there more quickly in order to have more time there, rather than driving all day.

French motorway service areas usually have nice picnic areas with tables and chairs; so if you don't want to go into a town for lunch (either due to lack of time or because there's nothing particularly interesting nearby) it can be nice to stock up on bread, cheeses, etc before you set off, have a picnic and get some fresh air. Although you don't say what time of year you are going ?

What time of year are you traveling, and how many days do you have to get from SS back to Paris?
There are all kinds of possibilities for places to see along the way - St-Jean-de-Luz and the Biarritz area; Bordeaux, St-Emilion, and the Dordogne; La Rochelle, Saintes, and the islands of Ré and Oléron - the options are fairly limitless.
As for general advice about driving in France, I agree it's much nicer to take the N and D roads than the autoroutes, if you have some time to spare. And do get the Michelin maps. Also, you'll need to know that when driving you have to have some sense already of the place names of towns and cities along your route, because road signs in France focus on place names rather than route numbers. If in doubt, follow "toutes directions."

I don't think there is enough space to list all of the "must sees" between Paris and Donostia-San Sebastian, but what I can do is to direct you to Maribel's Guides (http://maribelsguides.com) where you can download her free guide to the Basque Country (Pays Basque and País Vasco). The guide offers a tremendous amount of information on this area, including the "must sees".

Regarding driving through France. First, pick a good car, one that's comfortable enough to keep you from getting tired. A Renault Megan is about the right size for two people. Second, take it easy and have a couple of good regional maps. Michelin offers a good selection and the roads are generally shown properly. Third, relax and enjoy the drive, just remember, there will be a lot of traffic in the cities, especially Bordeaux. Driving in San Sebastian isn't that bad, but you'll find that you may need to study up on the some of basic Basque language when it comes to reading road signs (names of villages, etc.). They change once you pass Bordeaux.

You'll see a lot more of the countryside by staying off the main highways except when you want to go from point A to point B, ect. Most of the secondary roads are in good shape and the truck traffic is light most of the time.

If I were you, I would plan on driving south along the coast from around St. Jean-de-Monts, following the D38, picking up the D949 at Les Sablés-d'Olonne. Then head down to La Rochelle and Rochefort and finally to Royan before heading to Bordeaux, unless the ferry is running at Royan, which will take you across the Gironde to Pointe de Grave and the more famous area of the Bordeaux wine region.

From here you head south to Biarritz, St. Jean-de-Luz and Donostia-San Sebastián. This is where you'll need Maribel's Guide of the Basque Country.

Depending on how much time you have left after visiting the Basque Country, you might want to head inland, following the road north from Tarbes to Bergerac then on to Perigueux, Limoges, Tours, Orléans and finally back to Paris. I would save the rest of France for a dozen more driving trips. There is a lot to see and it's a big country.

We are also planning a 3 week trip to France next June. This forum is a invaluable source of information and comments; everyone is so helpful. TripAdvisor, Frommers.com and Rick Steves are also very useful. We are using viamichelin.com for route/distance/time etc..

Here is our itinerary for now (3500/4000km):

day-1: Arriving in Paris-CDG Pickup our car
day-2: Versailles (we were in Paris on previous occasions)
day-3: drive to Berck-sur-mer (for personal reason)
day-4: drive to Bayeux /D-Day beaches
day-5: visit Mont-St-Michel
day-6: drive to Amboise
day-7: visit Villandry & gardens, Azay-le-Rideau, Chenonceau
day-8: Blois, Chambord
day-9: Troo / Montoire-sur-le-Loir
day-10: drive to Carcassonne
day-11: Carcassonne
day-12: Drive to Barcelona (with a stop in Banuyls for personal reason)
day-13: visit Barcelona using Bus Turistic (Stop and go bus)
day-14: walk along The Ramblas
day-15: drive to Arles
day-16: visit Avignon, Saint-Rémy
day-17: visit Nimes, Uzès, Pont-du-Gard
day-18: drive to Nice
day-19: visit Grasse
day-20: visit Monaco, Eze
day-21: visit St-Paul de Vence
day-22: fly home from Nice or fly first back to Paris and then home
day-23, 24.... need a week or two to recup.

There's so much to see and do there's no knowing where to begin!

But of everything and everywhere you simply must not miss the opportunity to visit Oradour-sur-Glane, about 25km NW of Limoges.
The town was destroyed by the SS on the 10th June 1944 as they moved north to counter the Normandy landings. The entire populace (bar a handful) were massacred; men, women and children all- in barns, sheds and, the women and children, in the church.

The entire town has been left as it was when the SS marched away that evening. It is an awful and awesome sight.

I can not recommend strongly enough that you should try to visit this town - it's certainly a sombre morning or afternoon (there's an excellent visitor's centre attached which tells the story) but one which will live long in the memory and make a lasting impression I am certain.

For more info search this sight for "Oradour" in the search box - I am sure I have contributed to a long and well reasoned thread on the matter.

Alternatively visit this web site (English) for an in-depth investiagation of all the facts and contributing factors with some excellent and evocative photographs:-

www.oradour.info

I do so hope I've persuaded you! Have a good trip whatever you decide...

Dr D.

jet29: Your proposed itinerary makes me dizzy! You have no time whatsoever to see the D-Day beaches and museums, etc., none to enjoy Arles, and all the way to Barcelona for 2 days! Your backside is going to meld right into the car seat

StCirq,

I agree with you that our schedule is very busy.

Our plan is to travel between 4 or 5 hours per day between "legs" (around 400km). We usually start at approx. 8:00AM and arrive by 1:00/1:30PM allowing us some down time to see the new surroundings and settle down at the hotel. There will be only one extra long journey from Amboise to Carcassonne (600km i.e. 2 nights stop with a easy, relaxing day in Carcassonne).
Our trip is scheduled for next June and the longer daylight hours allows us more touring time. The itinerary is not final and subject to many changes till then.

For lodging we are considering Logis-de-France network of places to stay. I agree with you that allowing only 2 full days(3 nights)in Barcelona is not enough time and will only give us a taste of the city but that's the only time we have.

BTW last year we did a trip to western Canada and drove for much longer stages with 3 or 4 nights stops without any problem (see our comments on this Fodors Forum).

Thank you for your concern and your helpful comments. We really appreciate everyone's input. This forum is great!

odb_nyc,
If we can be of any help planning your trip, this is the place to ask. For driving tips on driving in Europe check out this site:

www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/home.htm

look for the Tranportation topic and click on "Driving Europe Crazy"

jet29: La Loire and Le Loir are two different rivers. The latter flows into the former from the north. It is more logical to pass by Troo on the way to the Loire than to go there on the way south.

Dear Dr D - thank you very much for sharing the info on Oradour-sur-Glane. I had not heard of it before and it certainly sounds like somewhere everyone should visit.

Michael,

I agree with your logic regarding Troo but our goal is to drive directly to Amboise from Bayeux by way of Alençon, Le Mans and Tours. However, on our last day in Amboise we plan to have a leisurely drive to the unique little village of Troo, (only 53km away) driving on country road and enjoying ourselves. Of course our schedule in Amboise (and everywhere else for that matter) is directly dependent on the weather i.e. it would be impractical to visit Villandry Gardens on a rainy day.

BTW I am familiar with the distinction between La Loire and le Loir but thank you for the reminder.