17 Day family road trip Paris to Nice... Must see stops?

I was actually considering a similar trip. My two are close in age to your oldest two. My idea was to head a bit farther west than you are, though...so not all of my suggestions will help. (This is just a few of what is on my wish list.)

If you go farther west- I'd suggest the town of Oradour. Incredible history.
Near Lyon-- the suspended houses of Pont-en-Rouges. The Village Troglodytique de Barry (Avignon), Saint Paul de Mausole-- Van Gogh's Mental Institution-- (near Avignon).

Just a suggestion- last time we were in Paris, my kids were 9 and just about to turn 11. We had a really fun afternoon in Jardin d'Acclimation. It was this little amusement park and it was not touristy at all-- very French. Paris has some amazing parks/playgrounds, which are great for getting the energy out of the kids.

With 17 days I think you have enough. Continue to refer to your guide book while you are there as you may discover you have time to include something else

Thank you very much for your reply!! I love the suggestions!

Wow!!! That's a big question to ask of people who are not aware of your specific interests, time of year for travel and trip budget. Since French history is pre-Roman you might want to elaborate more there too. In order to have your 17 days tailored to your travel needs and not just based upon what others tell you, you might want to start out with guidebooks and web information including your children in on the planning. Assuredly, my must sees are different than yours.

We spent a month driving from Paris to Nice. We stayed in Joigny, Vezelay, Beaune, Avignon, Les Baux, Gordes, and Rammateulle en route to last stop in Nice. Day trips from Beaune to wine villages and Dijon, From Avignon, Les Baux and Gordes, travelled to villages in Provence, From Rammateulle, went to the beautiful beaches below the town and visited St-Tropez. From Nice, day trips to Cap Ferrat, Antibes, St-Paul de Vence. We had zero interest in Eze.

A couple of suggestions in northern Bourgogne in the general area of Vézelay: the town of Semur-en-Auxois and the Abbaye de Fontenay. The first has some pretty stunning round towers and some ramparts that would probably interest kids (perhaps a stop for lunch would be plenty of time), and the second is a peaceful abby in the forest that is pretty but also has a very early mechanical hammer driven by a water wheel that the monks used for iron work they made and sold to fund their abby. The hammer is not pounding these days for safety reasons, but the water wheel works and it's easy to see how the mechanism functioned.

There's a pretty cool castle near Beaune (Château de la Rochepot) that kids would probably find very interesting. It was built in the 1100s and rebuilt in the 1400s.

Just south of Macon (which is itself between Dijon and Lyon) and not far off the A6 Autoroute is a natural site called la Roche de Solutré. This is an impressive limestone scarp with stunning views of vineyards and the surrounding landscape. I think you can see Mont Blanc on a clear day. There's a pretty easy hike to the top. Keep an eye on your kids -- there are sheer vertical drops at the top that can be stomach-churning to peer over. Former French President Francois Mitterrand used to make an annual trek up the rock accompanied by friends and family. At the base of the rock, in a verdant valley surrounded by vineyards, is a small museum on the prehistory of the area. I think kids would find it interesting how similar was the technology (arrowheads, spearpoints, and various tools made of stone) that these paleolithic people used tens of thousands of years ago to those used by indigenous American people as late as the 1800s in North America. You could tour the museum and hike to the top and back in 3 hours or so.

Near Lyon is the medieval town of Pérouges that would probably interest most kids. When I've been there little kids seem to be enjoying themselves imagining knights walking the stone streets and passagways. There also are some Roman ruins both in Lyon as well as in the town of Vienne south of Lyon but those might be of more interest to older kids and adults.

I don't know if it would interest you, but a couple of days in Chamonix east of Lyon with cable car (télépherique) rides over to Helbronner in Italy and back would impress, I suspect, most children and adults. The views of the snow-capped peaks, glaciers, and the thin air at Aiguille du Midi likely will stick with them the rest of their lives.

I don't know much about Provence so I can't help you there.

It is very cool to sleep in Vezeley.

Amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my inquiry. Wonderful ideas and so very helpful to hear all of the different suggestions to my "big question" :)) I am so excited to research all of the options you provided!! Thank you again!!

We went on a trip in 2015 with our kids in this general area. They loved Chamonix. I recommend keeping an eye on swimming options and caves. Let me know if you would like more details on what we did.

Matt