mjmom

We are meeting our adult children in Bordeaux because we will be in the Dordogne region for a birthday celebration. From Bordeaux we are trying to keep all happy with an itinerary that will take us back to Paris. We are trying to decide to have a car....we can drive to St. Emilllion etc, and then maybe drive back to Paris. The question is, what to see, and where to stay along the way. There will be lots of museums and cathedrals in Paris, so that is not the main goal on this portion. We are active people who love to see it all🤗, and will walk, walk, and walk. We will have one week from our meet n Bordeaux.
Anyone make this drive, or have suggestions? I’d really appreciate some guidance.

kerouac

Well, the first question is obviously how many days you want to devote to this trip? Many of us have driven this route numerous times and we have all seen different things.

StCirq

Unless you hug the coast, at least most of the way, it's a bore of a drive. La Rochelle, Ile de Ré, Ile d'Oléron, Nantes, Poitiers, cut inland to the Loire Valley for the last bit. Of course that's all possible on the trains, too.

Don't get too excited about St-Emilion.

jpie

Yes-totally with StCirq on this one-we have done this trip many times. That said you might look into picking up a car at the Bordeaux gare and dropping it at the gare in La Rochelle or at Nantes and then taking the TGV to Paris. If you took that route you probably would want to focus on the beach areas from Bordeaux north. We have a family home in St Palais sur Mer so we are partial to that particular village but there are lots of villages and islands that are lovely. There is also the area just south of Bordeaux near the dune du Pilat and that area. All of those areas have wonderful walks

If beach doesn't interest you then alternatively you might consider going up through the Loire Valley for some castle visits and then you could leave the car in Tours and take the TGV from there. And of course you can drive all the way into Paris but honestly the only nice part of the drive no matter what route you take is mostly out further from Paris. And you might find it cheaper to pick up a drop a car in Bordeaux. So you could just plot out a circle tour and then take the TGV from there-especially now that it is only around 2 hours to Paris.

mjmom

Thank you for your inputs! We are completely flexible at this point. We have a week before ending in Paris. We do not have to start in Bordeaux, we could fly to Nice and meet the kids there, since that is where our son wants to go, and then rent a car and drive around there and return the car, and fly to Paris? Thoughts on that? Is it more interesting?

StCirq

"More interesting" is entirely subjective. It's not more interesting to me, but it could well be for you. You'll have to do some homework and figure it out for yourselves.

jpie

"More interesting" for me would totally depend on the time of year. You can't pay me enough to go near Nice and the surrounding area in August for instance. But if it is more off season and your son really wants to go there then a week leaves you plenty of time to explore the area around Nice. Here is a thread you might look at if you haven't already seen them that might be helpful:

Home Base in the French Riviera