Best Plan for Travel from Paris - Loire Valley - Dordogne - Toulouse/Carcassonne - Nice

Hi!
Is you river trip a combination of the Avignon-Lyon Rhône river cruise, and the Rouen-Paris Seine river cruise? I am otherwise unaware of any river cruises that would combine the two regions, the canals in between are too small and would take forever.

If my assumption is correct, and if Nice truly interests you, then it is best added before the cruise. 4 nights are ideal to visit the Nice region, and it is easy to reach Avignon by train afterwards (4 hours). A car is unnecessary around Nice, not recommended even.

Similarly, it would be best to add Dordogne and Carcassonne before the cruise: land in Toulouse, stay 1 night or 2, rent car there, head to Dordogne (4 nights), then to Carcassonne (1 night), then drop car off in Avignon.

You have to choose between Nice and Dordogne/Carcassonne, it is awkward to do both! Personally I would pick Nice for convenience, but then I have yet to discover most of the delights of Dordogne (besides Rocamadour). As a vegetarian, it holds little appeal, because I know I will struggle.

Does the river cruise include any time in Paris? You need 3 full days for a good overview of Paris (as a minimum!), plus 1 day if Versailles interests you. So that's 4-5 nights if they are not already included.

Lastly, the Loire Valley is easy from Paris. Taking the train to Tours (St Pierre des Corps) and renting a car there is typically the most efficient way to go, but it is possible to visit by public transportation too (I am no expert here). It is really not the part of France I know best, but I think that 2 full days / 3 nights are good for that area, it is easy to get "overchateau'ed" in a longer stay.

I would not want to drive in or anywhere near Paris, so my suggestion is to take the train from Paris-St Lazare to Blois or Tours. From there you can rent a car (Avis has offices near either station) to wherever you are basing yourself in the Loire.

From the Loire to the Dordogne, expect about a 4 hour drive on the autoroute. French autoroutes are very efficient and have service centres ("aires") every half hour or so. They have tolls and are no more scenic than your average interstate.

You will definitely want to have a car in both the Loire and Dordogne.

To get to Nice, you can drive (about 8 hours), or drive 4 hours and drop off the car in Narbonne (seeing Carcassonne along the way). Again there is an Avis office near the station there. From Narbonne to Nice is about a 6 hour train connecting in Marseilles. That's a long day, so I would chop it up by staying overnight in Carcassonne.

You might want to edit your original post to indicate April, 2022 instead of 2021 -- unless I'm misunderstanding the date when you posted it.

I can't speak for the south of France, but IMO the Loire Valley is lovely and well worth a visit. It is easy to reach from Paris. I can attest that it is best to have a rental car there, not try to deal with buses etc., unless you sign up for a day tour in a van. There are numerous companies offering the latter, but I haven't tried any of them.

If you take the train from Paris to Tours, as a previous post suggests, you can rent a car in Tours -- BUT -- they may not have an automatic and/or they may not be open at the day and time when you're going to need a car. My advice would be to rent out of Orly airport. The availability of rental cars should be better, and Orly is located right near the Autoroute you'll take toward Tours. We made the mistake of renting out of Gare Montparnasse, which gave us the car we wanted when we wanted it, but required more than an hour of stressful stop-and-go navigation through the streets of Paris to reach the Autoroute.

If you have 10 days to spend, I'd stay 2 nights in Paris upon arrival, then 3 nights in a Loire Valley location (I can recommend Azay-le-Rideau, Hotel Biencourt). Two full days of chateaux, likely visiting two per day, is enough for most people. Azay is a straight shot to the Fortress of Chinon, which is fascinating and a nice variation on the typical Loire chateaux. The morning after your third night in the Loire, head south to your choice of towns in the south.

Hope this helps you decide how to allocate your time.

I feel like you're trying to accomplish too much in about 10 days, especially if you want to visit Nice and surroundings rather than arrive in town just in time for the river cruise. The Dordogne is a very interesting area. In addition to the tiny villages everyone talks about and the caves with prehistoric art (or fine replicas), there are some lovely towns (like Cahors and Perigueux) worth exploring and wonderful markets in Sarlat-le-Canada. I should note that I don't know what the weather in that area will be like in April; its attractions are mainly outdoor ones. Possible weather concerns aside, 4 days would be the minimum time I'd recommend in the Dordogne, which would mean 5 nights there.

Then there are many things to see in and around Nice. Again, 4 days would be my minimum; perhaps 3 if you have no interest in any of the (many) art museums in the area.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for your prompt responses. I am very grateful.

Based on some of your comments, I need to provide more information. And, I did correct my dates!!
I believe this is a new cruise on Grand Circle. It starts with 2 nights in Nice then we transfer to Arles and board M/S River Chanson. We are on the boat 7 days and end in Lyon after a few days there, then fast train to Paris for 3 days.

We have been to Paris a few times, and the time the tour allows us will work for Paris.

We are planning to arrive in Paris CDG about 10-12 days before the tour that starts in Nice. I'm thinking to head for Loire Valley from the airport. I appreciate the idea to perhaps rent the car in Tours, although I'm also considering including Chartres, So from Loire Valley to Dordogne and Toulouse/Carcassonne. Then end up in Nice to pick up the tour.

I like the idea of dropping the car in Narbonne, then training to Nice. That addresses my biggest question, do we want to drive
all the way to Nice, or would it make sense to turn the car in somewhere along the way?

Thanks for all the help! Any other input is appreciated!

Ok, thanks for the details!
So, then yes, it makes sense to drive from the Loire to Carcassonne via Dordogne. If you want to add Chartres, rent a car in Orly airport instead of the Loire, but I am not sure you have time.
And I would do Dordogne-Carcassonne-Toulouse and drop the car off in Toulouse, then fly to Nice. Easyjer flies the route and it saves you a full day on trains, with a chance to see Toulouse.

I would take a train from CDG to Chartres and sleep there before renting a car and driving to Blois (Loire Valley) or Amboise and make that your home base to explore the valley. I would also add Marseille to your itinerary and drop the car off there and visit the Calanques (fjords) before taking a direct train to Nice.

France is filled with places that you could add, but what you have now, is more than enough. Just from Toulouse, you could add Albi, Cordes-sur-ciel, Gaillac, Moissac, Montauban.... But you already have plenty. I'd just move it from Toulouse to Nice. Carcassonne is only one hour to the Toulouse airport.

Save the other side of the Rhône for another time. I spent six months in Cassis and there's weeks of things to see over there, too.

balso's suggestion of a direct Easy Jet flight from Toulouse to Nice is good. Otherwise, it's 6 hours by train from Narbonne to Nice with at least one change, or a minimum five hour drive according to viamichelin.com, if you don't stop, not even for un petit pipi. The autoroute along the coast from Narbonne to Nîmes is very heavily traveled with trucks returning from Spain. Definitely not my favorite. After Marseille, it's lighter traffic and easier to drive.

So you have three choices: plane, train, car. Bonne route.

Re: MaryPat's advice "train from CDG to Chartres and sleep there before renting a car" . . . we wanted to do that, but could not get a rental car in Chartres on our desired date. We didn't even get as far as trying to reserve an automatic. There weren't even any cars on that date, which was a Friday before a 3-day weekend. We were trying to book about 3 months ahead, but no go.

train from CDG to Chartres and sleep there before renting a car

Expedia shows a car rental place that's 15 minutes from Chartres city center: https://www.expedia.com/carsearch?locn=Chartres&loc2=Nice+%28NCE+-+Cote+d%27Azur%29&date1=10%2F15%2F2021&date2=10%2F16%2F2021&d1=2021-10-15&d2=2021-10-16&aarpcr=off&vend=&pickupIATACode=&dpln=4778&returnIATACode=NCE&drid1=4539214&time1=1030AM&time2=1030AM&dagv=1&subm=1&fdrp=0&ttyp=2&acop=2&rdus=10&rdct=1&styp=4