France 3 weeks : May-Jun 2020

Hi,
It is too busy, alas. In particular :
- Dordogne is not a 2-night place, it's far from everywhere else and the going is slow. I would skip it.
- 3 nights in Provence is really tight.
- so is 2 nights in Normandy, if you plan to see Mt St Michel.

Based on this, I would skip Dordogne, to add a night each to Normandy and Provence.
I'd also consider skipping Bourgogne to add an extra day here and there.
So, I would take train from Paris to Caen, rent car in Caen for Normandy and Loire, drop car in Tours to take train to Avignon, rent new car there for Provence and Alps, drop car in Annecy for train back to Paris

If you plan on coming back for future visits I probably would cut some stuff out. Don't forget how much time train travel will cut into your schedule on each travel day. I don't know your interests but based on my taste I would cut a couple of nights out of Paris and add to the Dordogne which was my favourite region of what I've visited in France so far. Loved Lascaux caves, and Beynac was one of the most beautiful villages I've ever been to.

I've never been to the Alps, but I live an hour from the Rocky Mountains in Canada and so I'd check the weather for that time of year when near mountain ranges. In the Rockies the weather can still be cool and lakes still frozen with plenty of snow on hiking trails.

Right now you have 7 locations in 3 weeks. Even at a face pace you will be moving way too much. Your ratio of time in transit vs time 'there' is way off. While the idea of a 'road trip' loop of the whole country might be intriguing, it's not going to be as good as you think. I would seriously consider cutting the destinations almost in half. So maybe 4 bases in three weeks. And right now you are going in opposite directions from Paris - perhaps you could look at a map and decide which 'half' of the country is more interesting to you. For example you could do Paris - Burgundy (Beaune or Dijon) to the Alps to Provence and fly home from there (you could probably fly out of Marseille). Or do the other 'side' and do Paris - Normandy - Loire - (maybe Dordogne) and loop back to Paris to fly out of.

That is very tight schedule with no allowance for travel time between - you are going to be spending half a day travelling between places so that is going to eat into the time at each stop

Dordogne has so much to offer and 2 days is nowhere near enough

If I were you I would pick 3 of the places and not 5 (excluding Paris) and see more in each one

I agree with the others that you should tighten your priorities and eliminate some of the destinations. Which ones to eliminate? Well, that's always a tough question! I suggest you and your wife look over some guidebooks and videos and then have a frank discussion, with the goal of naming your top 3 places to visit in France. Her top 3 might be different from yours, and if so you can each give your reasons and hope to come to agreement. Don't forget to consider budget, as some places are more expensive than others.

All the places you've listed are attractive and worth visiting, although frankly of the Loire Valley towns Amboise would not be my favorite -- too crowded with tourists and hectic driving. I prefer the Loire region west of Tours, far enough away from Paris that the day-trip buses don't go there.

Remember that every time you change lodging, that's half a day right there to pack up, check out, navigate to the new place, check in, unpack, get your bearings. A two-night stay in a certain town means you get one full day to see that town. If you're talking about using a certain town as a "base" (e.g., Arles), then you need to stay at least three nights to get a day to see Arles plus a day of exploring Provence outside of Arles.

This is especially difficult if you are going to use trains and busses. Depart location A, train schedule constrains you to 9:45 am departure. Arrive Location B at 11:45pm. Get rental car 12:15pm. Drive to Location B lodging 1pm. Cannot check in until 3pm, try to figure out what to do with luggage.

You haven’t even had a chance to stop and eat somewhere and you’ve basically wasted a day.

I believe you have grossly underestimated the time it takes to travel from location to location. The result is virtually no time to explore or become familiar with the places once you arrive. You have little more than one day (which takes two nights) in Normandy, Loire, or Burgundy. If you plan of flying out the morning of the 21st day, you´ll only have hours in Burgundy because you will need to be back in Paris the night before your departure.

Over scheduling is very common for first time visitors to any area. To maximize time, I would push on to Normandy the day of your arrival, spend 3 to 4 nights, (you could easily add several nights in Brittany), move to the Loire Valley for 3 nights, and go to Burgundy for 3 to 4 nights. You could extend to Annecy or a bit of the Alps. At the end, go to Paris. This allows you to be in position for your flight home.

If you are going to Dordogne just to see the caves, I believe that all you now can access are the mock-ups, not the actually caves which have very limited access in an attempt to preserve them as much as possible.

You could easily spend two weeks in Provence and not see everything. I would save it for another trip unless you swapped it for Normandy/Loire Valley.

Paris itself takes 3 to 4 days just to see the basics. If you want to visit the surroundings, add almost one day for each destination such as Versailles, Chantilly, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Fontainebleau though you could combine the last two in one outing.

It might be helpful to list what it is you want to visit in each region. Rather than saying I want to go the the Loire Valley, list the specifics of what you want to see. Visiting a few châteaux east of Tours and a few west of Tours, will take three nights but includes absolutely no travel time between regions. Once you consider the detail, you´ll easily determine you have not allocated sufficient time.

For an estimate of how much time you should allow between locations, check with www.mappy.com or www.viamichelin.com

There is a sample itinerary on this website that hits a lot of the places you mentioned. It seems rushed to me, as I am not a fan of one night stays, but to each their own. If I was going to do this I would rent a car for the whole time (minus Paris) so that I don't waste time waiting for trains. Also, don't discount the effects of jet lag. Some people don't seem affected as much, but I am usually a zombie the first couple of days in Europe (I live in western Canada, those in eastern time zones probably fare a bit better) as it is an eight hour time change for me. Anyway, here is the itinerary I mentioned, and it might at least give you a jumping off point. https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/france/itinerary

Thanks a lot for the advice on all fronts. This has been a routine thing for me over my last 2 Europe trips. I initially plan way too optimistically...and then trim the plans based on the advice on this forum. AM in the process of modifying my plan. Will get back.

While I've learned to plan fewer sites on a trip to better enjoy the ones I select, and I defer to those with more experience in these places - I say to each his own. Do your research on travel times, average visit time and pad with 10-25% to those times. Be harshly realistic. Things always take longer and things go wrong. Prioritize your sites (we used tiny sticky notes with site names on a map and edited what just didn't make sense if it wasn't high on the priority). Not everyone travels the same way. I'm an early riser, when everything's still closed, so I travel super early and don't "waste" time waiting for places to open. (I don't enjoy staying out late, so I'm not going to lose sleep by doing this.) I don't stop for a coffee every two hours, or spend 3 hours at a meal. Just not my thing. But I totally respect those for whom this is a huge part of the trip. However, I might spend an hour reading every label in one room of a museum, an hour sitting on a bench contemplating a cathedral, or 3 hours wandering the gardens of a castle. It's YOUR interests and YOUR trip. Definitely take advice from people here - they have a lot of good ideas. But if you're convinced you'll never come again and feel you must cram in as much as possible - and can roll with it if things to go wrong in the "perfectly" planned itinerary (those have been some of our best memories)! Go for it and sleep when you get home :-)

In addition to all of the good points that have been made already:
I would emphasize taking careful consideration of the train schedules and timing (and which lines have TGV vs. only TER). For example, the most efficient travel from Avignon (or Arles) to Chamonix is about 7 hours by train, or 4.5 hours by car.

If you do not have a car in the Provence region, I would consider Nîmes as a base as well: the train connections are better than in Arles (and the TGV goes through the new Nîmes station, but not to Arles). But they are both awesome towns! Depending on what you want to do in Provence (the lavender starts blooming in the last week of June/early July), 3 days might be tight (I'd allow a day each for Arles, Nîmes, and Avignon, add a visit to Pont du Gard, and the countryside (e.g., Les Baux, small villages, vineyards and farms, or the Camargue) which are easier by car, but possible by bus + train.

In the Alps - if you are a hiker, it might be difficult to leave after only 3 days. :-) In Chamonix, you will not need a car (and it will be difficult to park if your lodging does not offer parking); the local busses runs up and down the valley (it is free for visitors, you can get a pass at the tourism office, which is valid also on the train that runs from Les Houches to Suisse).

Also, depending on the type of activities you will be planning, keep in mind the public holidays in France at the end of May and early June. A lot of things close, but many museums will still be open, too. (It's better to know about them and plan around than to be surprised and find your destinations closed!)

best wishes!