Assistance finishing itinerary

Which coast? And what places do you plan to see there?

The French Riviera - We have not narrowed which towns yet. We are in beginning stages of planning!

I'm confused about the timing. Where do your two nights at Disneyland fit into the 14 (13? 12?) nights you have in France?

You can get to Nice from Paris by train in as little as 5 hr. 45 minutes. Driving will probably take over 9 hours excluding stops. Once you get to Nice or your preferred hotel base, there's frequent rail service to about all the Riviera coastal towns you might be interested in that are east of St.-Tropez. The trains tend to make a lot of stops, so they aren't terribly fast, but distances are short, and you don't have to worry about road traffic or parking issues. For places up in the hills (like St.-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse), there is bus service. It's usable but less convenient than the coastal trains. With limited time, you wouldn't want to plan too many bus trips. If you happen to be art fans, note that practically every little town on the Riviera seems to have a worthwhile art museum.

If you visit Burgundy on the way to Nice, travel times for that leg by train and by car will be much more similar--somewhere above 6-1/2 hours (again, driving time includes no stops).

Whether you absolutely need a car in Champagne and Burgundy depends on what you want to do in those areas. There is good train service from Paris to Dijon (Burgundy), but I think most people who visit wine areas want to get out into the countryside. For that, a car would be advantageous unless you plan to hire a private driver so you can do some tastings.

Our preferred dates of travel are departing Atlanta 9/14 and returning 9/29. Flights have not been booked, so we have a day or two on either end we can play with.

Add as much time as you can. Believe me, you'll be glad to have it. France is large and full of great destinations.

Based on a 9/15 arrival date (making 9/16 your first fully-functional sightseeing day), I guess it would probably be best to head straight to the Riviera initially. Your free time looks like it will be roughly evenly split between pre-race and post-race, but there's a bit more time before the race, so I'm suggesting that the most distant destination (and potentially the one needing the most time) fall on that side. I'm not sure how you're going to divvy up the other three bases, though. I guess a bit of your Paris time can be pre-race, then Burgundy, Champagne and more Paris after the race. Maybe.