We're considering the region for the Fall or Spring of 2019. We spent a month in the Rhone area with a base in Avignon and it was wonderful. Where should we locate for travelling/exploring the area? We plan to Airbnb for the 3 weeks and have a rental car. We drink wine often yet love to hike/wander up hills and down.
thank you for your help
thanks, we are in the preliminary investigation of staying in the region and are wedded to no specific spot. When we stayed in Avignon, we did a day trip a day and rarely was our travel more than 2 hours or so. It was a wonderful trip and we'd like to approximate that trip. We could stay a week per spot for about 3-4 weeks if that would enrich the stay.
Thanks for your response
Carvil
We recently spent a week in the Perigord Noir region- a little ways from Bordeaux- and based ourselves in St. Vincent de Cosse, about 15 minutes away from Sarlat. It is an idyllic village yet within short driving distance of many sites that are interesting to us: prehistoric sites (e.g., various caves), medieval castles, cute villages. While we did not do any hiking, as the area is quite rural, I expect there would be some lovely hikes. There are also villages on hills like Beynac and La Roque Gageac, which are so quaint, and are a joy to wander up and down.
I have not driven in Europe, and have not yet been to SW France so this comment is based on no more than a vague impression:
If you wish to see the Dordogne during this trip, I suggest checking estimated driving times on ViaMichelin. I suspect that you will not cover ground as fast in that area as you were able to in Alsace, which would make staying in an optimal location very important.
Bordeaux is not very interesting
That's definitely not true. But it wouldn't be a place I'd want to spend 3 weeks. Two negatives would be the difficulty of parking and dealing with getting out of the city and back every day. Instead I'd suggest the Dordogne, preferably in the area near Sarlat, or the Basque and/or Bearn area to the south of Bordeaux. Those areas are especially good to combine the last 2 things the OP mentioned: wine and hiking. Here's a link to my travel blog which covers part of our Bearn visit. There's also more on the Bearn, as well as the Basque region 2 years before. http://mainelywinenews.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-week-in-bearn.html
