Driving from Bruges to Carcassonne

Bruges to Orleans is about 4 and 1/2 hours, that's road time only, no allowances for unusual traffic or rest stops-- it will be longer after you add in for refueling or comfort stops.
You will go through/around Paris on one of the peripheral roads, traffic at that point is unpredictable, so maybe you want to add on some more time.
But still easily doable in one day.

The 2 Europe road trip planning websites are:
http://www.viamichelin.com/
http://www.rome2rio.com/

Also GoogleMaps.

rome2rio rox!

Parking in Orleans can be unpredictable, depending on where your hotel is. Last time I was there, it took an extra half hour or more to get parked, get baggage to the hotel, check in, etc.
Parking at the hotel, something you take for granted over here.
It's different over there.

Check if there is any extra fee for hiring a car in Belgium and dropping it in France. There can be very expensive charges for cross-border hire.

If the charge is a problem, I would suggest getting the local train from Bruges to Lille, to avoid expensive Thalys fares (you may have to change at Kortrijk, but it's not difficult), and hire your car in Lille.

As I live quite close to Bruges I´m familiar with the route to Paris. I have driven on my own a few times to Le Mans and is with enough rest in between doable in one day, certainly with two drivers. If you still want to drive from Bruges with a car you can do the following.

In this case is driving via Paris hard to avoid. What you can do is on the way from Bruges to Paris (E403 / A1) having a stop at service area´s (aires in French) along the freeway or making a little detour to Arras. As you will have already driven almost two hours, the two lovely main squares are a good place and a good time for a drink and you can easily park the car there. The exit to Arras is just before the toll road (péage) begins.

Before passing through Paris you can also have a stop in nice Senlis, reasonably close to freeway A1. Approaching CDG just before Paris follow the A3 Bordeaux - Nantes - Lyon so passing it at the eastern side of the city center till you hit the A86, but keep following the mentioned places. This route leads to A6 and A10 for going to Orléans.

From Orléans you can drive to/through the Loire Valley. Chambord is the most north of the well-known castles, I think certainly worth to see even it will be just the outside (inside is a bit empty). If possible put Chenonceaux on the list for it´s interior as well and Amboise for Leonardo da Vinci´s mansion and grave if of interest, depending the available time.

Further on the way to Sarlat I´m less sure, but there will be enough to see and visit I guess. Out of the way, but also leading from Orléans to Carcassonne is to consider driving over that spectacular Millau Bridge if you take freeway A75. A moving place to visit is Oradour-sur-Glane near Limoges.

Keep in mind that 28th of June is in the weekend summer holiday for most here begins and you risk to join the notorious traffic jams on the route to the south. However not sure it will be exactly that weekend, the next or both.

Wil is absolutely correct about June 28th. Since it's a Sunday, it will be heavy traffic toward Paris from vacationers returning, but most traffic will be coming from the south and west, not north. You could run into some Belgians and Dutch going south, though. Take the most outside route around Paris.

All of these notes about drop-off fees, traffic etc, are arguments for taking the train to Orleans. Pick up a car there, maybe even the next morning if your hotel is near the train station.

Of course that means your exploring will be limited to Orleans and south, but there is lots to see.

Thanks so very much for your replies everyone, this is so helpful. And great to hear that you all think the trip is do-able, accounting for the traffic, and fact it is the weekend/summer holidays ..... we may look at doing some early morning driving if that helps, but at least we will be prepared for it. Yes Kent, I have discovered the michelin maps site online, which is great (just have to overcome my block about reading maps online, I know it's silly - but I am getting into it) And Will, your information/tips about the freeways to follow and detours into Arras and Senlis is fabulous - thankyou so much. And we will definitely try to visit one or maybe two of the castles in the Loire Valley, perhaps choose between Chambord, or Chenonceaux - but we won't try to do too much in a day as thankfully we will get to return to the Loire a few weeks later. Amboise is definitely on our list. The route that would take us across the Millau Bridge is also very very tempting - and Oradour-sur-Glane - thank you for that also.

I shall return to the michelin map site and route planning with some more specific ideas ...

Regards the the car hire - we initially planned on catching trains all the way South, or mid way, and then hiring a car as some of you have suggested- but as we are traveling in France and Spain for a total of six weeks, and there are three of us traveling - it made more sense in the end to lease a car for the entire period of time as it ending up being more cost effective than the various travel costs and car hire at different points along the way - and we will have the freedom - the car lease was also a better deal than hiring, as it avoids the extra fees of different drop off points. It was also cheaper for the longest period, which is why w are picking it up a week earlier in Brussels, rather than a little later in France. I hope we have done the right thing!

But - parking is something we definitely have to problem solve, so thank you for the reminder ... we have parking at some of the places we are staying, and we have pre-booked a space in a parking building in some of the bigger cities like Madrid (adds a little more to or costs!) - but yes, we do have to think and plan more carefully with regards to parking along the way .... or our plans for freedom will be severely curtailed by not being able to visit places we want to go, because we have nowhere sensible to park the car .....

So thanks again everyone for taking the time to reply, it is much appreciated. This is the trip of a lifetime for me. So excited I cannot sleep.

Kind regards,

Kate

You have given compelling reasons for the car, so I won't try to talk you out of it. Do note that parking stalls and ramps are narrower in Europe than in the US (your home isn't on display in your posting profile.) I hope you have the smallest possible car for six persons. Honestly, I wouldn't want to park a full-size sedan in an indoor or underground lot in Spain. I trust that you have made "coverage" arrangements so that you don't worry about scratches on the car each time you park. Even in a subcompact, I had to fold in the mirrors for medieval arches (I mean, on city streets!) in Arcos and Ronda, Spain.

Thank you Tim - I am starting to wonder if we should have stuck to the trains! - but it will all be part of the great adventure, and it is great to have some of these issues spelled out so clearly so we are forewarned. We are actually from the South Island of NZ, so we are used to driving on difficult roads, and long distances - but here there is hardly any traffic, and I suspect after this trip, we will never again complain about our miniscule parking problems. This trip will certainly be a very different experience for us.

The car we have is quite compact, but I can check with the parking spaces we have already contacted to check that it will actually be OK, and for a good part of this trip we are staying in private homes (through home exchange) where we do have good private parking - and because we are staying for at least 5-6 days in lots of places we can perhaps leave the car and use public transport and trains more often to explore further afield - but obviously we will want to drive around sometimes, and as you point out, there is the driving between destinations - so I need to do more research about the nature of some of the places and towns we want to visit or will be passing through - and perhaps we find parking on the outskirts sometimes, and explore more on foot etc .... these are all going to be problems we have to overcome, or like I mentioned, the freedom of having a car will be somewhat curtailed. We do have a good insurance package with the lease car - and are very lucky to have good back up insurance through my partners work as this trip is part of a bigger work sabbatical - but I suspect scratching the car, or knocking off side mirrors because we attempt to drive through places that are too narrow might not exactly come under our existing insurance contracts ....

It's going to be fun, for sure!

Thank you.

Buzzmarsh - Considering all ins and outs so well, that´s a solid preparation, I like that.

If your hotel in Bruges can´t offer parking space the big car parking next to the railwaystation is with 3,5€/24h the cheapest option. It´s public so always a risk of a scratch, but parked my car many times there and never had a problem, so still lucky so far.

Planning websites are nice, in practice however it will take more time to move around. Roads in Europe are very busy and many things slow down the traffic like passing trucks or rain. You can not always use the fast lane as you will have than constantly being talegated, so have to move to other lanes with slower moving traffic. Things like that. So add at least an hour on the planned time to go from Bruges to Orléans, without the necessary stops.

For driving through Paris you can use Michelin´s green "ZOOM France" maps Banlieue de Paris (Nr.101 - scale 1/53000) or Environs de Paris (Nr. 106 - scale 1/100000) with or without in combination with a GPS.
Studying the signs with Google Streetview to see how they look and direct can be helpfull too.

If possible try to get a tag for using the automatic tag lanes on toll roads in France.

Happy travels

did you say 6 people in a compact car? That ain't gonna work, unless each person has zero luggage.

No worries phred, there is only three of us, and I promise we will be packing light.

And thank you so much again, Wil - that is excellent news about the car parking next to the railway station, that could be perfect for us. And I know what you mean about the difference in actually experiencing things in practice - which is why forums like this are so good for getting more realistic information. We definitely have no problem with taking things slowly, as it doesn't matter if it takes us six or even seven hours to get to Orleans, with some stops along the way. I imagine we will stick to the slow lanes most of the way. We will have a GPS, but I'm definitely going to order those Michelin maps, and any others we will need. And Google Streetview! - yes - what a fabulous idea - I know what I will be doing for the rest of the day!

Thanks,
Kate