Alsace and Burgundy last week of may.

These are prime for both the riding and the drinking part. You have the right idea.

I would probably opt for traveling to and from Paris by train, then picking up a car the next day to explore and get to the other city (whichever one is second on your itinerary).

And would not schlep into Switzerland unless I had a few extra days, but it is not impossible. I just think you'll have a better trip if you don't cram that in. Really you will not be bored with those two regions in that time frame.

Have a blast!

Thank you.

Any suggestions on specific towns in these regions to stay in that are good for biking being our number one form of transportation?

Jake,

I've been to both but only biked in Burgundy. Alsace has a great reputation for cycling though. In both cases I think you want a small (ish) town. So not Dijon or Strasbourg

In Burgundy, Beaune is really a sort of sweet spot. It's small (but a city, not a village) and loaded with charm and good food; there's great wine in and outside of town. There are 2 or 3 days of good loop rides (maybe more) but if you are staying longer and really like to ride it might feel sort of cramped. But you have the car.

Oh, there's a tasting lunch in Aloxe Corton just north of Beaune. You get a choice of flights of wine with a traditional lunch (e.g. coq au vin). Very fun and bikeable, though those French roads got a bit tilty after lunch for some reason.

I think any of the smaller towns in Alsace would be fine to bike out of. Colmar, even. So I would figure out where you want to ride and find an HQ near the middle of that. Nice to be able to come home to the same locale as much as possible.

If you are more hardcore cyclists than I take you to be I might have some ore suggestions, but it's going to be hard to go wrong in these places.

Any suggestions on specific towns in these regions to stay in that are good for biking being our number one form of transportation?

If you enjoy biking in flat country I would say that Alsace is ideal. The three towns that I would recommend visiting are Mulhouse, Colmar and Riquewihr - with Riquewihr being my favorite.. I think most of these towns are pedestrian-only but they may permit biking. In any event I don't think any of these towns would be fun to cycle in. But getting from one town to another might be a great ride. We stayed in a Best Western just outside Riquewihr. It had AC and the summer was very hot. I would stay there again but I would classify it as more American than European.

I don't know enough about Burgundy to be able to give any advice.

You can post your question also on the Thorn Tree forum of Lonely Planet. Guess cycling specialist “French Mystique” is still active there and has his own website offering cycling tours around Paris. Hopefully he can help you too. www.frenchmystiquetours.com

I'm planning similar the first two weeks of May (arrive May 1 fly home May 16). I'm really interested in the feedback you get here.

Right now, my thought is to train to (probably) Auxerre, pick up a rental car, then stay two nights somewhere north of Morvan National Park (Avallon, Vezelay, Semur en Auxois, ?). After that another three nights at the south end of Morvan (Autun, Beaune, Givry, Chalon sur Saone, Dijon, ?) - probably not any further south than that.

From there, I'll spend around five nights in Alsace between Colmar and Strassbourg. Probably three nights closer to Colmar and two closer to Strassbourg.

I haven't checked connections yet, but I think I'll drop the car in Strassbourg, train to Reims for one night, then train back into to Paris for the balance of my time.

I'm going sans reservations, which is pretty normal for me. I'm not sure if my girlfriend will travel with me. Her father, in Tours, is very ill right now - so a lot is up in the air. I may be traveling solo and spending a few days in Normandie and/or Tours with her, or we may travel together. I'm flexible but definitely want to see this part of France this trip.