3 to 4 Weeks in France

If you were having a 3-4 weeks in France what parts would you visit to experience the country?

we are planing a trip and would like your help. We are into food ,wine and culture.

It will be a one time visit, and would love to have the total taste of France.

Ideas about transportation, hotels, wineries, restaurants etc. and best time to travel.

Hope to hear from all of you,

THANKS

|||

If you never been to Paris - this is a absolut must. I would spent about 5 days there, seeing all the sights

For a good Value hotel - Best Western Belloy

----

Versailles - 1 day

-----

Beaune and Dijon - for the vine - 2 days%26#39;

-----

Nice - I love that city - make it your base for a week. From here you can go to Monaco, Cannes, Vence, etc etc on day trips

We usually stay at the SAS Radisson, but it is kind of a bad location. I think we will try the Mercure Notre Dame next time.

----

Aix-en-Provence - make this your other base - go se Pont du Gard, Arles, Avignon, Nimes

We are going next month to Aix - have booked at the Hotel Cezanne - hope it is good

I am sure others have lots of other suggestions

For eating- buy the Michelin Guide - good guide to all the good places to eat in all of France

|||

LOVE2TRAVEL,

Thanks for your help, we are sure to include your advice in our planing. Have a nice time on your upcoming trip.

|||

I like all the suggestions you have received.

It%26#39;s hard to decide where to go...this gives you a taste.

We always return to Provence...but this year hope to add some of the Loire Valley.

My favourite are the weekly markets...Wed...St.Remy

Sun.....L%26#39;Isle Sur la Sorge

.....others can fill in the rest.

For a taste of the sea,I enjoy the small town of Cassis...not far from Aix.

St.Paul-de-Vence....NW of Nice is a wonderful %26quot;perched village%26quot;...and you need to see at least one of those...also Eze and Les Baux...but St.P de V. is my favourite!!

You%26#39;ll enjoy whatever you see...meals will be lovely...wine fabulous.

Are you sure this will be a %26quot;one time visit%26quot; ???? tell us after you visit !!

Enjoy,Sharon

|||

I love these places the most:

Loire - chateaux especially Amboise with chateaux %26amp; Clos Luce (da Vinci%26#39;s home). Loches. Chinon. Bourges

Champagne area - Reims

Perigourd - Dordogne -Lascaux

Lot - St Cirq la popie - Rocamadour

Gorge du Tarn

Somme - WW1 battle fields - Beaumont hamel, Vimy, Amiens - makes you feel so sad but glad to be alive

Brittany - Raguennes plage, trebeurden %26amp; tregastel

We are going back to the Gorges du Verdon this spring as Castillane %26amp; this canyon created some of my greatest holiday memories in the %26#39;70%26#39;s

least favourite (but still lovely)..

The north central area

Alsace lorraine

Gironde

Vendee

Normandy

|||

All excellent suggestions !

As you come from Boston, I should say : don%26#39;t go to the Atlantic cost, Bretagne, etc, but to places that are very different from what you know in MA !

And as you are lucky enough to have 3-4 weeks (what a change, not that kind of trip like everything about France in 7 days !), I would recommand :

Enjoy one whole week in Paris and surroundings (including Versailles).

Take the train to Tours and rent a car there to visit the beautiful Loire valley (vineyards and chateaux) : 2/3 days.

Take the TGV south (it is faster and more comfortable than driving), and stop at Antibes, that is a beautiful city and a perfect location to visit Nice, Cannes, Saint Paul de Vence, etc : 4/5 days

Then I would drive back to Paris taking 3/4 days, to be able to go to Nîmes, Arles, visit Provence, Avignon, stop in Lyon and Beaune (as you say you like gastronomy and wine, you must stop there !).

When do you plan to come in France ? We are going to get to Boston this summer for a 2 weeks home exchange !

|||

ONLY-LYON

Thanks for your response. I am sure, good ideas will be incorporated in our plans. Home exchange a good idea but we have arrangement already. having an small organic farm needed people to work the farm and green houses

|||

One place no-one has yet suggested is the Basque country. Not only is it beautiful, it will also give you the opportunity of visiting somewhere different. You can easliy make a trip across the border and visit the great Spanish town of San Sebastian. Terrific mountain scenery in the Pyrenees nearby, the surfing capital of Europe as well as great food. What%26#39;s not to like? St. Jean de Luz is a great place to stay and Biarritz worth a visit..

I disagree with the poster who tried to steer you away from Normandy. I find it fascinating and with great places to visit and a rich history. Besides, the D-day beaches and the associated sites and the cemeteries are all places we should all go at least once in our lives to pay our respects.

There is magnificent scenery in many parts of France. The Côte d%26#39;Azur and Provence are wonderful in May to mid-June, dreadfully crowded in most of July and August and wonderful again in the second part of September and into October. The Alps are beautiful in late spring also. My favourite time to visit Paris is mid-September to mid-October but late spring is a great time to visit there too.

I would plan a 4 week visit from mid-May to mid-June ideally, from early September to early October as a second choice.

Get a copy of the DK Eyewitness Guide to France as it is well illustrated and a Michelin 1:200 000 scale road atlas and start planning! When you zero in on perhaps three regions besides Paris (as much as I would recommentd) you will probably want the more detailed Michelin guides to those regions.

You might want to consider a short term lease (I think 17 days is the minimum but it might be 21 these days) rather than a rental for your vehicle. I wouldn%26#39;t recommend trying to do extensive touring only by train.

Enjoy the planning process!

|||

Hi Irishrover - re the comment about Normandy - for Americans I agree the Normandy coast %26amp; Caen museum (exceptional) is interesting but for Brits the Somme is more poignant as an emblem of overwhelming self-sacrifice. I%26#39;ve done both several times and they aren%26#39;t comparable eg the mulberry v Vimy - even tho%26#39; my own father in law was in normandy (%26amp; arnhem) %26amp; goes annually to play his bagpipes with his old comrades.

Basically all of France is a joy. I consider Paris a separate entity - the people are different - and I would not combine a trip to Paris with the rest of France - i%26#39;d do it on its own as a 5 - 7 day trip.

|||

First off, for a %26quot;one time visit%26quot; I%26#39;d recommend doing whatever it takes to get a full 4 weeks in country. At a moderately paced rate of travel that%26#39;ll give you just enough time to feel like you%26#39;ve had a decent sampling and provide the basis for planning your next trip. Your challenge is going to be deciding your priorities at the expense of so many other good things that have to be passed up.

A plan that worked for us involved dividing the trip into 4 roughly week-long segments: Paris, Dordogne, Provence and Burgundy. We chose this approach because it seemed like a good combination of scenic beauty, distinctive cuisines (and wine!), great history, and a fairly straightforward path of travel. Yes, we were very much aware that just about any four regions of France would give us this but we had to start somewhere. Our first trip was in April-May but I%26#39;d love to do this route in September or early October. We don%26#39;t like lots of crowds so avoided summer.

Our only reservations before leaving home were the Paris lodging and the leased car which we arranged to pick up in Bordeaux. After Paris, TGV to Bordeaux then an easy drive into the Dordogne for a few days. Between Dordogne and Provence there are plenty of enjoyable route options -some of which have been mentioned by other posters. In Provence we based in Arles but you might want to spend one or two nights each in two or three locations. Then up the A7 to Burgundy for the last leg of the trip. After several days in Burgundy (split between Beaune and Semur) we drove to Senlis for our last night and then dropped the car at CDG before coming home.

Because we had the car for about 22 days we opted for a lease/purchase from RenaultUSA which worked out very well and we used another time also with good results. In recent trips for short-term rentals we%26#39;ve been very pleased with Autoeurope (Europecar). For guidebooks we used Rick Steves%26#39;, Fodors and the DK publication. Before leaving Paris we picked up a copy of the spiral-bound Michelin road Atlas - be sure to get the larger 1:200,000 edition!

Happy planning!

.

|||

Roger Samson

Report88

Irishrovr

Thank you very much for your advice. Our planing looks better evrytime I read your postings.

we will be incorporating lots of your ideas in our planing. Your travel experience will help a lot of us 1st. travlers to France, I am sure.