France Road trip. Are we crazy?

it's easy to find gas and restrooms, they have big "transportation centers' with all that accessible.

I use Waze and their directors work great!

Well if you are crazy, so are we. We've had driving vacations in all the areas you describe, just not all at once. Gas and restrooms were never a problem, with the caveat that if you wont be near an autoroute, there may be more places closed on Sundays. So we made a point of making sure we had plenty of gas on Friday or Saturday.

molly,
You are not crazy. We are in our 80's and have almost always driven in France. Our last trip we did take some trains for longer distances because it worked out better time-wise in moving from base to base, but we got rentals from two locations (Marseille and Bordeaux). In planning our routes ahead of time, we always use a Michelin paper map for an area to plot out our routes and where we want to stop. Then I check that route on viamichelin.com to see the road #s, towns and sights along the way, travel times, etc., as well as choosing which route between places. (Some are strictly autoroutes, the A roads...faster but often more boring and expensive with tolls. Some show that they are scenic.) We almost always pick the more scenic routes (the D roads).

We have never had trouble finding gas and rest stops, although in a tiny town, with one gas station, you may find limited hours there. On autoroutes there are larger stops with gas, food etc., just as in the US. As others have suggested, pay attention to the road sign directions if there is a conflict with your online road instructions. Know the rules for roundabouts and learn the road signs (not difficult at all), pay attention to speed limits, know ahead of time where you will park the car in whatever town or city you stay in. Best if you have lodging that includes parking.

The drive from the Arles area to Sarlat may be long, but plan on a lunch stop for an hour or so to break up the drive. Having a car in Provence is much better for exploring and experiencing all there is to see. It is really essential in the Dordogne and Lot valleys. When we were 79 and 80 we spent 10 nights in a gite near La Roque Gageac in the Dordogne Valley and drove all over to see what we had planned to see and do. We didn't have any drives there that were more than an hour. We had no problem there. (A caveat...Sarlat can be a pain to get into and out of. We chose not to stay there because it is more tourist-heavy and trafficky. Our gite was a 15 minute drive away. We only went to the town of Sarlat 3 times...to visit the market on a Wed., to have a fancy dinner one night, and to have a simple dinner our last night in the area and find an ATM for some cash.)

I would keep the car and drive to the Loire. Find someplace to stop for lunch or sightseeing along the way (e.g. Oradour-sur-Glane). Count this a part of your sightseeing as well. Look at that Michelin map for the overall view.

How long is your trip? I ask because 3 nights in a place means only 2 full days there. Could you extend any of these stops? Provence, not including the Riviera is over 10,000 square miles, of which the Luberon is about 230 square miles. I would pick the things I want to focus on to plot out any driving routes. Likewise in the Dordogne. Two full days there is really, really short. However, in two full days you could get a taste of the area (The Dordogne region is almost 3500 square miles, but some popular things to visit aren't too far apart by car. Choose wisely to not feel rushed or frustrated.
With two days in the Loire you can comfortably visit 2 chateux in a day and still have a relaxed time. For me, I wouldn't want to see more than three chateaux because I would have chateau overload. There are other ways to spend time there (wineries, mushroom caves, troglodyte sites, gardens...) Bayeux is a good base for the DDay sights. Two full days give you a full day tour or drive to the beaches, with a stop at one of the museums in the area. If possible, be sure to be at the American cemetery for the flag-lowering ceremony...very moving. The museum in Bayeux and the church there are good. Alas the tapestry is not there at the moment. A drive to visit some cider-making operations can be fun. Check the forum for ideas about Normandy (11,000 sq. mi, includes Rouen and the drive along the Seine, not just WWII sights.)
Hope this helps!

We usually find a car through Autoeurope. Put in your preferences and parameters and they will show the rental company options. Often they give a better deal than renting from the companies themselves...it depends. They have good customer service and support, in our experience. Sometimes we have gone direct to the rental company and gotten a better deal. It can vary. Counting up over the years we have rented a car and driven in France 9-10 times, from our youth to our 80's. You will be fine!
I repeat the caveat about speed. There is no "cushion" as in the states. A camera which catches you over the speed limit may manifest itself several months later with a citation in the mail. (First, a fee from the rental company to cover their "cost" of providing your info to the traffic authorities. Then the ticket, which you should pay as soon as possible because the amount goes up if not paid within the time window. You can pay online by credit card if you wish.)
Speaking from experience.
Amusez-vouys bien!

Welcome Molly!

As others above have shared- you are not at all crazy. We have enjoyed several road trips in France and are about your age. We did a 3 week trip just the opposite of your itinerary
Paris-Honfleur-Bayeux-MSM-Amboise-Sarlat-St-Remy and Arles a few years ago.
Another was a 2 week trip just in Provence last spring, another was 2 weeks in Alsace/Burgundy region. All made our favorite trips list.
Yes they were a few long drives in there but that was not a problem. The rest areas are quite nice, well signed, clean bathrooms and have some pretty good food.

We prefer to have a rental with GPS in the car- much easier than following maps on a smartphone or relying on cell service. We also plan with a paper map and bring that along with us. Old school but all my life I have loved paper maps!

If we ever got off the route the GPS never let us down and we enjoyed the smaller roads/unplanned detours very much! Easy driving, beautiful scenery.

I would give some of your locations more than 3 nights- which is really just 2 full days in a location. Especially the locations that you have driven 6-7 hours to get to. For example we spent 4 nights in Sarlat and wished we had more.
Also wished we had given more than 2 nights to Bayeux/Normandy.

You will want a car in Provence and I think your rental options in Arles are going to be a bit limited- we returned there and took train to Nice. I think it was Hertz in Arles and it was just a small garage where we dropped. I wouldn’t count on there being a good selection of cars for pick up. Use AutoEurope.com to see what they offer.
Avignon TGV station would have more selection and definitely better hours.

As mentioned above- parking at your lodgings is important-
I can recommend some lovely places in St-Remy, Sarlat and Amboise.

I’m with Judy on the Loire Valley- it wasn’t our favorite stop- we stayed 2 nights and did visit 2 chateaux and that was enough for us. We were there during a heat wave though so that probably colored our view.

Oradour-su-Glane should be on your must do list. Incredibly important and very moving. We had lunch there on our way to Sarlat.

Where will you be coming from before you start this portion of your travel?

Be careful not to rely too heavily on Google Maps' driving times. This is especially true for the Arles-to-Sarlat leg during weekends, these routes can be busy and are prone to some traffic jams, especially if you take the highways.

I noticed the 'Road Trip" in the title, so I assume you already know that staying just 3 nights (only 2 full days) won't give you a real feel for the Dordogne region. At best, you'll just get a quick look at Sarlat, which is the main tourist hub of the area.

I think the same applies to the Loire Valley and Normandy.

So, in my opinion, let's just say that in practice you'll be taking a trip from Arles to Paris with extended stops and spending a lot of time in the car rather than actually experiencing these different regions as you seem to be suggesting in your message.

We requested a gps in our car; knowing it might not actually happen. It did. It spoke to us in French for many days until we figured out how to change the language. If you can follow the arrows, then you're good to go. We found the roads in the Normandy/Brittany regions in such incredible shape. Such clean highways too! We didn't encounter any problems getting gas, though we heard that sometimes it's difficult to get gas if there is no attendant. (Sorry, I can't remember whether it was a credit card situation we heard about.) I always err on the side of filling up whether we need it or not.

The only trouble we had was when we were pulled into a roadside stop with gas and a huge area with food courts and restrooms, there was a teenager clearly taking driving instructions. She absolutely was going to sideswipe our parked car, as her instructor was trying to correct her, and I rolled down the window signally that they needed to let us back out of our space because we weren't going to take the chance of her wiping our car out. Somehow gestures and panicked faces don't need a common language.

Let me add a few details from personal experience.

1. Parking garages are tight. Favor getting a smaller car than you might otherwise. I'm currently struggling with a Citroen C5 Aircross that's just too big.

2. Stay to the right on autoroutes except to pass.

3. French drivers are better than American drivers. Just accept it and don't be embarrassed. Americans have had many years to pick up our bad driving habits.

4. Study up on priorité à droite.

I drove around France for a month last summer. Some thoughts and tips:

1. The inability to get gas at unstaffed stations is a real consideration due to the fact that the kiosk likely won’t accept your credit cards. Don’t let the tank get too low, and if you’re at 1/2 tank or less and see a gas station with an attendant or connecting store fill up.

2. Get a hybrid if you can. The car we rented must have gotten around 60mpg

3. I agree that French are generally good drivers (didn’t really notice any outright stupid or dangerous driving behavior) but they sure do drive fast on back roads and tailgate like nobody’s business. I thought it was me going too slow until I noticed lines of cars going in the other direction all about 6” off each other”s bumper.

4. A 6 hour drive is a little too much for me. I kept it at 3 hours total. Maybe consider an overnight stop? You can stop in an interesting small town usually park easily walk around and have dinner.

5. Check the hotel location and make sure it’s car accessible — you don’t want to have to drive into any of the “old towns”. I made the mistake of booking a place in a congested tight area and driving to it was a little hair raising.

6. I don’t necessarily agree that “3 nights in a place is only 2 days”. If it’s only a 2 hour drive then it certainly can be 3 days in a place, or it could be 4 days in a place followed by 2 days at the next depending on what time you plan to travel there. My current itinerary is configured like this (mostly 3 night stays with relatively short drives) and I think this affords a lot of flexibility. For example if we like a place we can choose to stay there for the day or transfer on to the next since you’re only looking at 2-3 hours out of the day for travel time.

We stayed Feb-March in Bretagne, and made a road trip to Carcassonne, visiting Sarlat-la-Canada (there are 2 places named Sarlat) and the Dordogne on the way.

Several observations:

1) French drivers are very polite and careful. We were often let in when we needed to merge, and none of that competitive stuff. Few if any cars weaving in and out on the big highways. There seems to be a fair amount of tailgating.

2) The roundabouts (rond-points) are everywhere and sometimes 1 every K, even on big highways. You must be bold but not foolhardy.

3) We used Google maps in English. The maps are not often all that helpful. Google maps are all about "named roads" - "take the 1st exit from the roundabout to take Rue de la Roi". Pay attention to the dashboard display which will show a little icon as to which exit to take and to the number of the exits.

4) Parking in large cities can be challenging but not impossible. Our car was not broken in by thieves. However, we left nothing in the vehicle.

5) We saw, in 2M, no persons being stopped by police. We were stopped 1 time to do a breathalizer. Speeding is common. But one note of caution - when a "speed enforcement zone" is shown by a sign, obey the limits. The sign has a "radar symbol" of concentric half-circles. Drivers obey the limit until they spot the camera, usually a 4-5ft pillar.

Check the hotel location and make sure it’s car accessible — you don’t want to have to drive into any of the “old towns”. I made the mistake of booking a place in a congested tight area and driving to it was a little hair raising.

Carcassonne consists of a modern town around a very old core and the walled city, which is not the center of Carcassonne. We made the mistake of entering the old city, a warren of 1-way streets, tight corners, and HORROR road work making it impossible to get out. We spent 10 minutes at one point trying to figure out how to get out of a box created by 1-way streets and a blockage. I still occasionally have PTSD about this.

You tube has several excellent “how to” type videos about driving in France. Good information regarding getting to know some traffic signs and right of way. Take a few moments to watch before you go.

Personally I would break these long drives up. It depends on what you are interested in but it seems to me like you are passing by a lot of very beautiful and interesting places just to get to the next “well known” region.

How long is this trip total and what is the day by day itinerary so far? I’ve found that there are some very helpful France experts on this forum so maybe they can offer some advice.

I don't think you're crazy, but I think you'll be spending an excessive amount of time going and too little time seeing and enjoying. I understand you're trying to "experience" very different parts of France with 3-night (2 day) visits, but I don't think that's possible with such a short amount of time in each region. Imagine if a foreign tourist could be magically transported between Boston, Santa Fe, San Diego, Omaha, Memphis, and Seattle, each for only 2-3 days. He could go home and honestly say he saw many parts of the USA, but I don't think he really "experienced" New England, the American Southwest, etc.

Your plan is logistically possible. You can certainly drive between the destinations you mention in the time you're giving yourselves, but I doubt that it would be enjoyable or accomplish your goal of "experiencing" such diverse regions.

I agree with Anita - what's the point of such long drives? Eliminate Normandy, and stick with the Southwest - Carcassonne and the Languedoc are very nice. Stay in the general area for 6 nights. The Dordogne has the caves with ancient drawings - Lascaux and so forth. Many wineries in the area, several fine castles - 6 days would be a good start on this area.

The point of long drives is to see the countryside. One doesn't really do that from a TGV.

Hello Molly,
I have read your post but not all of the comments, so some of my information may duplicate what others have said. That said,
we are both 80 and have done numerous road trips in Europe - UK, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, France, and Italy. Some random pointers:
be sure you have a pin number for your credit cards ( easy to get on the credit card's websites) since many gas stations require them.

Be sure you have either a Michelin map or a road atlas with you, even if you have GPS. GPS doesn't always understand how to find you an alternate route if there are road closures or traffic collisions blocking your chosen route. It will just keep trying to send you back the same way!

Parking is hard to find in little towns/ villages on market days.

Carcassonne is an excellent overnight stop between Provence and the Dordogne. We drove that way a few years ago. Stopped enroute in the Camarque to visit a park with about 500 wild flamingos and then Aques Mortes. Overnighted at Hotel Donjon right in the middle of walled Carcassonne. Next day stopped at Saint Cirq Lapopie and Pech Merle on the way to Sarlat. We stayed in Sarlat and really enjoyed being there early morning and early evening.

On the Autoroutes you will find 2 kinds of rest areas. The small and the large.

Small ones are easy off and on and have areas for picnics and a toilet. Toilets are often automatic and self cleaning, but may be not too spiffy. Often the toilets are unisex, metal and require interesting methods of hovering, and often there is no paper. Easier for gents than ladies sometimes. Or there may be a small toilet block with traditional toilets, often the seats are missing (designed that way) and again best if you have your own paper.

Large ones have a filling station, food, cafe, truck parking and car parking (follow the pictograms) and segregated toilets in the main building. And attended. With either a woman or a man who does both sets of toilets - don't be surprised. Missing seats but usually paper.

hope that helps.

oh, and on the Autoroutes in France they don't cost anything, unlike other nearby countries.

there are the small rest areas every few km, the big ones are maybe 20 to 40 km apart.

Good comments from Nigel regarding the bathrooms on the road. However, there are definitely tolls to be paid on many autoroutes. Some are at the off ramps, some are intermitent along your route. And some don't charge. The word to look for is "peage". We have had good luck just using our credit card at the machine without getting out of the car.

Don't miss St. Paul de Vence.

My problem isn’t your age. We did pretty ambitious driving trips when we were 70 and 71.

My problem would be the same if you were thirty. You’re trying to cover too much ground, period, without making allowances for weather, fatigue, a head cold, a traffic jam, or simply that awful feeling when you really wish you had another day or two in a place to begin to do it justice.

If you’re going to visit the Dordogne, I’d consider giving the Loire a miss; it can’t compare in terms of scenery. “Experiencing” Normandy isn’t something you can do by visiting Bayeux or any other single towns; it’s a huge, incredibly diverse place, from rural to, in Rouen, urban. You’d barely get a glimpse of it in two days, depending on your interests. What’s your priority? The Normandy beaches and Pointe du Hoc ? Ruins like the abbey at Jumieges? Richard the Lionhearted’s powerful fortress at Les Andelys? Honfleur? The beautiful villages like Beuvron en Auge? Driving within Normandy can be slow; don’t underestimate how long it will take to get from place to place.

In short, I guess I’m firmly in the corner of “less can be much, much more.” I think you’re going to be spending a lot more time in your car than anywhere else. France is so amazing, it deserves more than a drive-by.

P.S. a strong second for Oradour-sur-Glane. It will move you profoundly and shake you to your core.

@Judy, Nigel meant that the toilets aren't paid; he didn't mean the autoroutes. I had to read the sentence a couple of times, too, until I understood the meaning.

Oh, I see! Merci!

I’d recommend just 3 hour travel days if you can, otherwise you’re going to have lots of wish I had more time along the way.

I’ve done three road trips in France, planning my forth for this fall. Lots and lots of patience in cities and large towns. Smart returning the car outside of Paris.

Hello,
I can't say how much driving is best for you but here are a few driving tips based on my recent driving trip in France 2 weeks ago:

1) Unlike previously mentioned, autoroutes marked "A" are not all free, there are several tolls depending on where you are. One type of toll is "Flux libre" meaning you drive though without stopping and later go online within 72 hours to pay the toll by entering your credit card. There are many well marked signs in French and English telling you the name of the website you need to go to. Some tolls require you to take a ticket then at the end of the toll area you tap your credit card to pay. The A autoroutes are in excellent condition. I would not recommend the "scenic" routes because these are narrow, not lit at night and not as well maintained.
2) If you can drive in any major city in the US, you will be fine driving in France. I agree with others on this thread, the drivers are better than those in the US.
3) If you wish to have all your luggage in the back of the car to avoid anyone being tempted to break into your car by seeing your suitcases, be aware that their cars have much smaller luggage space.
4). Gas was not always easy to get; some stations were closed, one was completely out of fuel, others didn't take my credit cards. The station I found most reliable was TotalEnergies. My strategy was never to get below a 1/2 a tank.
5) I used Car Play Apple Maps and it was excellent. Many small town roads are nearly impossible to navigate by paper map because the names of roads are not consistently well labeled. I have no idea how anyone did it prior to GPS.
6) I rented with EuropCar and had no problems. My travel agent said it was the only company she trusted.
7) Returning car: I picked up at CDG airport and returned to Orly airport. Orly is easier but neither was as difficult as I worried. Remember that airport rentals have much longer hours of operation should you find yourself coming in at a later time than anticipated.

Let me add that French autoroutes are the finest highways I've ever driven on. And the exorbitant tolls are what pays for them and their upkeep. The rest stops (aires) are also terrific and appropriately spaced from a distance perspective. Finally, I agree that Total Energies are the most reliable fueling stations.

I actually quite enjoy driving in France, but TGV is a better choice whenever it's available.

Thank you for the outpouring of thoughtful and informative responses. I am humbled and very appreciative of your suggestions and your time..
Thank you, to all that nudged us to travel less miles and enjoy more. We have dropped the Dordogne region for another time. This group is amazing!