France Itinerary Feedback

Instead of staying in Avignon you can stay in an adjacent town or in St. Remy.

Since you read a lot of previous posts, I'm sure you read the frequent advice not to drive the day after an overnight flight. Maybe you sleep better on planes than most of us, but I'd suggest spending that arrival day in Paris if possible. You could even move your Paris days (too few of course) to the front end of your trip, with the night before your return flight spent in Paris or at CDG. Or look for trains from CDG to St-Pierre-des-Corps (near Tours) or to Lyon (reversing the itinerary).

You're trying to do a lot in less than three weeks, but it seems like a smart itinerary. I haven't been to Provence or the Alps, but your other destinations are good ones. Overnight in Carcassonne is a good idea. Too bad you don't have more time in the Loire or Dordogne (or Paris).

Your mentioning the Marmottan makes me think you're Monet fans. If so, try not to miss the Orangerie where his water lily paintings are very well displayed.

I like that you start outside of Paris and end in Paris, staged for you ultimate departure the following morning.

Day 1 could be better planned. Personally I would not drive at all on arrival day after an all night, transatlantic flights. If you arrive CDG in the early afternoon, by the time you get your luggage, rent a car, and make your way to Giverny (you do not have time for Versailles), I am not sure how much time you will have there. The month during which you are traveling could significantly affect the desirability of your plan.

Have you detailed the drive time it will actually take to travel between points? Your itinerary has a lot of driving, way too much for many people and you will not have as much time to visit these locations as you think given this amount of travel.

I might purpose:

Day 1 - train from CDG/Montparnasse to Tours, pickup a rental and drive to your Loire Valley accommodation.
Day 4 - drive to Sarlat - spend 3 to 4 days. Include trips to Rocamadour and Conque.
Day 8, 9, 10 - drive to Languedoc via Cordes sur Ciel, Albi and Gorges du Tarn. Probably with Uzès as the Day 10 objective. I think Carcassonne is widely overrated and the alternate itinerary I have suggested is far more interesting.
Days 11 through 15 - western Provence. There are many places to stay, my favorite being Gordes but St Rémy or Ile sur Sorgue are among many of the possibilities for a base. I am surprised about your Avignon comment. The old walled city of Avignon is where tourists go and it is not that large at all, easily walked in half a day.

Skip Annecy - it s a long drive and your time is better spend in Provence. I could easily purpose a 10 day itinerary just for Provence or the area between Avignon and Aix-en-Provence. This area is a treasure trove of fabulous visits from as far north as Vaison-la-Romaine and south to the Camargue. Don´t be in a rush, it takes time to explore this region.

Day 16, I would take the TGV to Paris from Avignon or Aix-en-Provence for the final few days. With modifications such as these, you´ll spend more time exploring and a lot less time on the road.

I am purposing some of the often overlooked and under explored areas of France.

Tocard is spot on. Carcassonne is out of your way, so is Chamonix, and you will cut the driving distance in half starting in Tours and ending in Avignon.

So much good advice, thank you! I thought to pick up the car at CDG because the train would get us into Tours after 8pm on a Saturday, and I thought I read in other threads that it wouldn't be possible to pick up the car that late and not at all on Sunday. I may have misunderstood. I had put Paris at the end because our arrival day seemed to make getting to the various museums tricky due to which days they are closed, but maybe I should take another look. Carcassonne is because I fell in love with pictures of it years ago, and the Alps because my husband loves them. He and I need to sit down and consider where we are trying to do too much or drive too far. Dropping the car in Avignon and skipping the Alps makes sense, if I make sure I promise him another trip to just the Alps next year. Coming from Oregon, driving a few hours to get somewhere feels like a quick trip.

Definitely adding the Orangerie and thinking of more time in the Dordogne. I was thinking we could likely get to Giverny by about 4 pm, so likely after tours had already left for the day but still with time before closing. Versailles was the alternative because we could just walk around the gardens and it seems to close later. I guess the big X factor is whether the estimated drive time via Google is close to accurate or not. It suggested either or those is about 1 hour drive time from CDG, just in different directions.

Uzes is one of the other possible bases I had looked at. Definitely adding Albi and those to the route - truly making notes. Thank you all so much! We should arrive September 18 and leave October 7.

We picked up our car at CDG in the morning (around 8 am) after an overnight flight and drove to Giverny and then on to Bayeux. We never felt we were unsafe driving. It took over an hour to get out of the airport and the metro Paris area - there was a lot of traffic on small roads. We made several stops for coffee, Giverny, lunch, probably another coffee...
We arrived at Giverny early, I seem to recall it was just opening as we got there. We are both morning people so maybe that served us well for driving early in the day. You'll have to judge how you think you'll manage after a long, possibly sleepless flight.

Celeste has had a good experience driving upon arrival, but note that she is coming from the east coast. Coming from the west coast you have a much longer and more tiring travel day. I have gotten a car when I arrive if necessary, but limit my driving to one hour. Add about 25% to what the map indicates as the travel time. Since you wouldn’t see much of Giverny or Versailles you might consider the suggestion of taking the train to Tours. That would also give you some additional time in the Loire. I like St. Remy as a base in Provence. You should consider stopping at the Pont du Gard near Nimes as you go to Provence.