Covid permitting, hubby and I will be in France in October. First time renting a car in France. We did rent a car in Italy two years ago and it went well.
We plan on driving from Avignon to Amboise. Would like help with best scenic route. We have plenty of time, so also thinking about stopping overnight at a “cute” French village.
As always your help and expertise is much appreciated.
That is a long drive, about 10 hours without any stop, and I would not attempt it in a single day. You can take the autoroute the entire way and make Amboise in almost 7 hours with no stops. Autoroute costs alone will exceed 110€. If you stop much along the way, it will be 2 full days of driving.
I would not take A7 towards Lyon. There is not much of anything to see near the autoroute unless you want to make it 3 days.
That leaves A75 farther to the west which has a number of wonderful points of interest up to Clermont Ferrand. Between Clermont Ferrand and Amboise, it is not really a compelling area. I would probably just rejoin the autoroute, A71, near Clermont Ferrand and stay on it until Amboise.
Back to points before Clermont Ferrand, from Avignon you can choose either the road via Le Puy-en-Velay which is a wonderful city and should not really be missed. Or you can head to A75 passing just south of Mende. A75 is a toll free autoroute. The only charge is 5€ when passing over the Viaduc de Millau which will be south of your position. To cross the viaduc you would need to travel A9 towards Montpellier and pickup A75 from Monpellier. It would add time but the viaduc is one of the current engineering marvels of the world.
I would take A75 but divert west to pickup Saint Chély d´Aubrac or specifically Aubrac itself just to have lunch at Chez Germaine. You could also head to Laquiole to purchase some of their famous knives. If you were to do this, buy knives from Calmels, the original Laquiole knife producer. I would proceed north to St Flour and rejoin A75 northbound.
Another amazing point of interest along A75 is the Viaduc de Garabit just south of St Flour. This bridge was constructed by Gustav Eiffel, it really looks like a horizontal Eiffel Tower. It is illuminated at night projecting itself over the lake in a very majestic manner. I often stay at the Beau Site Hotel. The views from the dining room at night of the illumined bridge are amazing.
There is a lot to see and to visit between Avignon and Clermont Ferrand and, in my opinion, not much thereafter.
If you want to avoid motorways, check the maps on viaMichelin.com. In the “RouteOptions” choose “Discovery” from the drop down menu. then explore the towns on and near the route(s). At the top of the map, click the castle icon and historic or interesting sites will be highlighted on the map. It’s a good starting point.
And if you zoom way in on the ViaMichelin map, the most scenic roads will be outlined in green.
Unlike Tocard, I know nothing of the route from Avignon to Cleremont Ferrand - not much of interest for me there :)
I would travel to Brive-la-Gaillarde via the Millau Viaduct the first day. Brive is bigger than an cute village, but it's attractive and will give you many more options of places to stay. The second day I would travel via Limoges and Oradour-sur-Glane and the Brenne Parc Naturel. Something like this https://goo.gl/maps/hLKS3AjxBKnS1btKA
That will give you a balance of interesting roads with views, and fast roads to make up time.
Thanks all for the suggestions. We have decided to return car in Avignon and fly from Marseille to Tours. Not crazy about a ten hour car ride.
You will have to check which 3 days of the year you can fly from Avignon to Tours.
or TGV Avignon to Gare de Lyon, Paris (very quick), and then cross the river to Gare Montparnasse and TGV to Tours (actually Saint-Pierre-des-Corps) and a short trip back up the classic train line to Amboise, or when you get to Paris just cross the river by the bridge right into Austerlitz station (a very short walk) and the classic train goes right to Amboise (via Orleans). That's what I'd do...
If you are in Avignon, turn the car in at the Avignon TGV station. 2.5 jours to Paris, change stations, and then another train to Tours.
Thanks Nigel and Bets. Hadn’t thought about going through Paris.
Yes, take the train. There are frequent departures from Avignon to Paris where you can change to a train to Amboise. And while there has been direct flights from Marseille to Tours (who knows what the situation will be like after the pandemic?), they have not been that frequent.
There are some over complicated train routes being suggested.
It's easy.:
Avignon TGV dep 09:40 TGV 6112
Paris Gare de Lyon arr 12:21
walking distance 800 m
Paris Austerlitz dep 13:16 TER14047
Amboise(St-Pierre) arr 15:09
Thanks to all. We’ve decided train makes the most sense.
