France Itinerary Advice - Dordogne, Loire, and Paris

There is no huge difference in weather or crowds in a one or two week period: late September is about the same as early October.
You talk of fall foliage but I don't think there's anyone here that can predict the geographical area and timing of fall foliage with the kind of accuracy you're looking for.
About that time of the year, you're always rolling the dice a bit, weatherwise.
To increase slightly the odds of better weather, go earlier in September, why wait, once it's after the first week in September.

Also, we don't have tickets booked yet. We can fly RT out of Paris if that makes more sense with suggestions. Thanks,

I've done it both ways: RT to/from Paris; or open jaw into Paris and out of another suitable airport near where you end up, for example Marseilles Regional Airport, if you were in Provence. From the Loire, you come back and depart out of Paris.

You need more time in the Sarlat area, which is the Dordogne.
If you don't want to spend the extra time to see the Dordogne, then I suggest you skip Toulouse, fly into Paris, rent a car at CDG, and drive directly to Chinon in the Loire Valley. Then return to Paris, turn in the rental car, and enjoy your 4 nights in Paris. In fact, that would give you 5 nights in Paris, which you need if you're Paris first-timers.

Spend her birthday in Paris, one of the world's most romantic cities.

Would you recommend 3 nights Sarlat and 2 nights Chinon?

Yes, remember 3 nights = only 2 full days of sightseeing.
But if you haven't been to Paris before, don't short-change Paris. Would be better to lengthen the trip by a day or two, to have a sufficient number of full days in Paris.

She has been to Paris on a college trip with a girlfriend but I've never seen it before. Ready to see it together. Great food for thought here. Perhaps we can visit a medieval village as a day-trip from Paris or a third and/or fourth night on the road, giving us at least 5 nights in Paris instead. Going to spend some time researching that...Thanks for the advice! Do you have any recommendations for a village? I figure if we're going to Chinon we'll get our fill of the ornate and Renaissance architecture and we'd like to get some of the rural, rustic, medieval too.

You'll find villages in the Dordogne area.
I can't tell you anymore, because someone just reminded me I have an obsessive-compulsive disorder to answer questions here, so I have to stop giving advice and request that you buy a guidebook.
Sorry, I would have given more advice, but not now, I'm too embarrassed.

Ha! No worries...definitely appreciate you taking the time to answer questions. I've got the RS guidebook and am trying to muddle my way through it. There's a LOT of info in there. Wish there were pictures to go with it all.

You could easily skip dordogne this trip to allow more time for loire valley. There are so many castles and so little time for the Loire. The dordorgne should be saved for when u have more time to savour. It is a beautiful area to see but at slower pace we spent 5 days there see the prehistoric caves, raft the river, castles,
Villages oh so quaint, but u need time. Sarlat is just a start.
Hope u make a decision for just paris and loire valley this trip with your 11 days.

JS and Kent, thanks so much for all the advice. We need to spend more time thinking about which area we really want to see (Dordogne or Loire), since it doesn't sounds like we'll have time to see both and really enjoy them. Right now we are leaning towards spending 4 nights in Dordogne and 5 nights in Paris. I'm thinking we could hop on one of the tours to see the chateaux with one of our Paris days. Not as good as spending more time there, but at least we'd get a taste for the area and hope to be able to go back on another trip.

If I had to choose between the Dordogne and the Loire, no question, I'd opt for the Dordogne. I found that a couple of chateaux were enough for me. The Dordogne, on the other hand, offers varied delights: castles, quaint villages, prehistoric sights, medieval towns, caves - -painted and not, and canoeing on the river. One day and a bit are not enough time. If you cut out the Loire and, instead, spend those days based in Sarlat, you would get two good tastes of very different parts of France.

If I might enter a timid opinion (& Kent, I very much LIKE your information!), I would compare going to Loire Castles to going to Newport Mansions in the USA. It seems like a wonderful bargain to get a ticket for five to be experienced in 2 days, but you're absolutely fed up with them by the end of the first day & are loathe to have them at any price on day 2.

We are doing both the Dordogne & the Loire Valley & have reserved 5 days for the Dordogne & 2 for the Loire. We'll be based in Sarlat-la-Caneda & plan to really mix it up in our visiting the area with trips outdoors (caves & castles & vineyards!) & in (restaurants & museums) with emphasis on all sorts of things. In the Loire we'll be in Azay-le-Rideau, chosen because the town itself is said to be great but also for easy access to other chateaux.

Hope that helps but I speak with no experience except in exhaustive planning. Whatever we do - we're in FRANCE! Hooray!