We are traveling to france in mid-aug for a total of 18 days (excluding travel to and from the US). We want to have a balanced itin between sightseeing in Paris and touring the beautiful countryside and historical places by car. We will be traveling with my 4 year old son who is a seasoned traveler (we did the UK last year by car as well).
Here is our draft itin. Would love to hear feedback.
6 nights in Paris (w/ day trips to Versailles and either Chartres or Fontainblue).
1 night in Mont St. Michelle (sightsee Giverny and Bayeux on the way)
2 nights in Amboise
1 night in Sarlat
2 nights in Avignon
3 nights in Nice
1 night in Chamonix
1 night in Lyon
Back to Paris for final night in France
Is this itinerary too heavy?
How long does it take to drive to Chamonix from Nice?
We are also considering the option of spending more time in the Provence/ south of France regions and flying back to Paris from Nice on the final night.
Any suggestions, recommendations are welcome! Thanks in advance.
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Your drive from Paris to Mont St-Michel is going to be a very long day--I%26#39;d really recommend breaking up the trip with one overnight stop somewhere, perhaps at Honfleur and then continuing on to MSM the next morning.
You might want to go to mappy.com or viamichelin.com and enter your departure and arrival objectives to get an idea of driving time--but note that the time estimates tend to be on the short side.
Chamonix to Nice will be a good long drive.
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Holy Moley....I think you should scale *way* back, especially with a four-year-old. My son is a seasoned traveler too, but I wouldn%26#39;t subject him to that.
Not only is the trip from Paris to MSM a long one -- there%26#39;s no way you can stop in Giverny and Bayeaux and still be at MSM by nightfall.
You%26#39;re then that far *back* to Paris, and Amboise is another two hours past Paris, if traffic is good. (and it%26#39;s not always good)
Four hours to Sarlat from Amboise...again if everything goes well...Sarlat is *not* close to any route, so lots of beautiful back roads, but in August you *will* have traffic...lots of it.
Sarlat to Avignon is a *really* hard drive...it took us a full day, and we were childless at the time.
Avignon-Nice -- another several hour drive.
Nice-Chamonix -- not sure, as I haven%26#39;t driven it, but Avignon-Lyon is a full day.
Lyon-Paris is about 4 hours.
You%26#39;ve got a simply staggering amount of road time scheduled -- it%26#39;s not fun for you, and will be sheer hell for a four-year-old strapped into a car seat. You%26#39;ll have the honor of seeing a beautiful country from a car window.
And yes, I *do* do this with kids -- regularly.
My suggestion? Cut the trip in half -- either see the north or the south, but not both...rent a cottage and do day trips -- it works *much* easier on both kids and parents...and you might actually get a chance to *relax*.
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If you are travelling mid-August when would you be trying to return to Paris. The roads will be very busy with returning traffic the week-end of the 25th, 26th and 27th August. According to Bison-Fute the last three Saturdays in August are classified red for returning traffic. Nice to Chamonix is 5 hours if you go via Italy on the autostradas, if you go via the French autoroutes it is 7 hours, if you go over the mountains I do not think it is possible comfortably in one day. The first two timings are without stops. If you want to do as much travelling as you have planned I would advice against the long drive up from the South. Have some more time to relax.
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I agree with the previous posters for the most part that your planned itinerary is over-ambitious. Your first day will probbaly involve at least six hours in the car. Don%26#39;t forget you will not only have to find your way from A to B but also find convenient parking when you get to B. Then add a minimum of four hours visiting Giverny and Bayeux.
Day two will be half consumed visiting Le Mont St Michel and then you will have at least a four hour drive via Rennes and Le Mans to get to Amboise. (The fastest route doe not take you anywhere near Paris.)
Amboise to Sarlat is about a five hour drive, Sarlat to Avignon about six hours. Nice to Chamonix you have already been told about, and Lyon to Paris is another five hour drive or thereabouts. All your other drives from place to place are at least 3 hours. I%26#39;m estimating all of these times and not including any significant time for stops along the way, but you can check www.viamichelin.com for their estimates, which include NO time for stops and are generally optimistic in my experience. I%26#39;ve driven almost all of your stages one way or another, many of them several times.
I do think you have too much on your itinerary, and, except for Avignon and Nice where I think you have barely time for a minimlal visit, I don%26#39;t see where the time is to see the places you are driving past and through and/or stopping at. As I see it you have eight journeys, none really less than a half day, some considerably more, planned in an 11 day period. And you plan to %26quot;visit%26quot; - or rather drive through - seven regions, Normandy, the Loire valley. the Dordogne, Provence, the Riviera [No, Underhill, the Riviera is not in Provence IMO :-)] , the Alps, and Burgundy, each of which really needs close to a week at a minimum to begin to explore properly. I%26#39;ve probably spent as much as three months of my life in a couple of them and still don%26#39;t think I have exhausted what they have to offer.
By the way, you won%26#39;t really get to see much of what you are flying through, since the Autoroutes, though pleasanter for the most part than most US Interstates, are not designed as scenic routes.
But it%26#39;s your trip and your 4 year old...
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The more I think about this...it%26#39;s possible, but still won%26#39;t be a laid-back trip!
Cut the time in Paris -- do the day trips, take the small one to the excellent playground at Jardins du Luxembourg....but keep it to three-four days. A four-year-old simply doesn%26#39;t dig wandering around busy city streets and wandering galleries...(voice of experience) Seven days is way more than you need, and real drain on your budget with the weak dollar.
That will get you another couple of nights to slow things down.
End in Avignon, and take the TGV back to Paris. I think it%26#39;s four hours now on the new routing (used to be six), and is an experience in itself. Kids dig trains, too. (I dig the TGV, whizzing through the countryside, and I%26#39;m a LOOONG way from being a kid!)
Cut some off, spread the rest around, and you might have a workable journey. Leave a %26quot;fluff%26quot; day or two as you might find somewhere you want to stay, do some laundry, REST -- it IS your vacation, right?...so:
4 days/3 nights in Paris w/day trips
1 day to Honfleur (gorgeous port town on the Northern Coast), stopping at Giverny -- night in Honfleur
next day to Mont St. Michelle, stopping at Normandy beaches and Bayeaux
1 night at MSM
(recommend a stop at Fougeres -- not far from MSM and a *very* neat castle -- kid friendly and fairy-tale-ish)
then:
2 Nights in Amboise
2 Nights in Sarlat
2-3 %26quot;fluff%26quot; days
2 nights in Avignon
This leaves a day or two to visit Montpellier (see the Ouef at night -- wonderful!) Orange (see the amphitheatre and coliseum) Nimes (more Roman ruins), the fabulous Pont du Gard, and maybe even work in a slight detour to Carcassonne and/or Arles and/or Aix. A very pleasant side trip in Provence is Ile-sur-la-Sorgue -- they have an enormous marche du brocantes (antique market) there -- your option to avoid it or seek it out!.
Then take the TGV from Avignon back to the Gare du Nord and one last day in Paris to repack and get ready to leave.
Don%26#39;t forget to breathe...have fun...and enjoy la belle France.
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Thanks to ALL of you seasoned travelers for your suggestions. We got the initial itinerary from Rick Steves which admits it will be a whirlwind tour, but doable none the less. As much as we would like to spend a week in each region, unfortunately we are victims of corporate america and vacation time is severely limited.
We like the idea of cutting back on # days in Paris, we will likely spend 1-2 more days in Avignon and 2-3 more days in Nice. Dump the idea of Chamonix and fly back to Paris from Nice.
A more leisurely sampling of France would simply have to wait until retirement !! :-)
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I%26#39;ve used Rick Steves%26#39;s guides for general info, expecially train routes, but find that he or his writers try to %26quot;bag%26quot; far too much in their itineraries, even though that%26#39;s against what he calls his travel philosophy. So right on with your revisions!
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