French sites without tourists

Good news is you have plenty of time to research and plan. I'd start by looking at travel videos on the RS youtube channel, Wolter's World, Globe Trekker, etc. See what interests you. Otherwise, you're just asking for a list of French places and sites without much context.

Are you renting car or just using trains etc?
I would recommend La Rochelle for a few days and also Dordogne region but you need a car to do these justice

You have to say how many days you have to travel before anything.
But you have the right idea by going in early May.

The Pays Basque, the Basque region in SW France isn't as crowded as other areas.
Provence is mainly rural so you can certainly enjoy being there. Take a train to Avignon from Paris.
Alsace is interesting, high speed train from Paris to Strasbourg. Then rent a car to explore the wine villages.
Burgundy..so many more places. Tell us more about your interests!

If you are driving around, with no specific destination in mind, the Michelin green guides for the regions of interest are a good resource. You can also look at www.viamichelin.com, click "michelin map" on the right (you might have to change the zoom level if it does not work), and browse the map to find towns, villages and sites with 1, 2 or 3 stars: it is the guide's rating of "attractiveness" for tourism. 90% of the 1-star and 50% of the two-star places will be off-the beaten track.

Or click/copy paste the huge link below to access the map.
Only works for the France map BTW.

https://www.viamichelin.com/static/1.295.0/html/michelinmap.html?lat=48.61793126331946&lon=-1.4496803283691406&zoom=12&headerLabel=Maps%20%26%20Route%20Planner&apiJsConfigUrl=%2Fapijs%2F1.66.0%2Fapi%2Fjs%3Fkey%3DJSBS20110216111214120400892678%24166489%26lang%3Deng%26protocol%3Dhttps%26loadModule%3DViaMichelin.Api.Custom.Core

Italy, Switzerland, and France. I would fly to Milan, take the train to Torino; then go somewhere in the French Alps, or maybe Lyon, and finish up in Switzerland - flying home from Zurich or Geneva.

Gascony?

This article is from the NY Times about Gascony. It is definitely off the beaten track.

I would recommend visiting an armagnac winery, Fourcès, Larressingle, and Condom the home of D'Artagnan.

^ ^ ^ Gascony-I was just about to post a link to this great article myself. Off the beaten track.

Hi Barbra, I'm certainly counting on it!

Thks FastEddie

The reason I didn't give much info is because I'm not sure really what I want to see, hence me jumping on this forum, but all help is appreciated. Thks again for your reply.

Thks Michael for all the great ideas, I will definitely look into all that you suggested. Muchly appreciated.

Hi Jazz+Travels

We're pretty flexible with how many days we're going to be in France. It just depends on how much there is to see. Nothing is set in concrete yet, in the very early stages of planning, but very roughly looking at four or five weeks for Italy - Switz - France - Italy all up. Thks.

Hi Suki
Thks for all of your ideas, sounds fabulous. We're definitely into wineries, seeing cute little villages and the like. We're happy to see the odd statue / museum but apart from that, just really want to see the countryside and all that it has to offer. We're taking the trains everywhere we go, don't have to worry about driving on the wrong side of the road, then! Ha! Also definitely want to try lots of different foods and wines as well while we're there. Thks again.

Thks Balso

I will definitely look into all of those links, thanks again. Now I've just got to work on my French language skills (or lack of) before I go. I took French speaking lessons when I was at school a million years ago but failed miserably! Ha! Your help is muchly appreciated.

Thanks traylaparks - great suggestion.

Thanks dlindstrom, you've got some great ideas there. Thks for your help.

Thks Dave, muchly appreciated.

Hi neighbour.
We were inFrance last July/August.
In the Alsace we stayed in the handsome little wine town of Barr. Great old 16th C town. Surrounded by vinyards and forested mountains. 3 ruined 13th C castles tucked away in the forests. Despite several open air concerts in town we saw very few tourists and didn't hear English being spoken.
We stayed at a nice hotel called Maison Rouge.

In the Loire Valley we spent a few days in a beautiful town called Loches. Fantastic place but it seems to miss out on the big tourist crowds other Loire towns get. We stayed in the quirky 15th C George Sands Hotel.
Also in the Loire we visited Langeais. It has a great chateau with a really good interior. There were only about 20 people touring the chateau that day.
Little Villefranche de Conflent is a beauty way down toward Spain. Gets a fair few daytrippers but I reckon would be pretty quiet mid week in May. A lot of people are there for the caves and the popular Petite Jaune train. It is fully enclosed by medieval walls and has a tunnel of stairs up to the hilltop fort.

If you are heading to Switzerland as well. My tips would be to visit the Bernese Oberland. Don't stay in Lauterbrunnen, Murren or Wengen. Instead of Lauterbrunnen head to Stechelberg and stay at the cheap rustic Alpenhof. If you are energetic leave your gear there and take a change of clothes and hike the 3 to 4 hours up to Ober Steinberg for an overnight. It has no hot water or electric lighting but oh boy does it have scenery.
Instead of Murren stay in Gimmelwald. If it is open I recommend the creaky old Mittaghorn Hotel.
Another favourite of ours in Switzerland was tiny Sonogno. It is in the Verzasca valley in the Ticino near Italy. Crowds of tourists won't be an issue.

Hi Mo'pak

That's a lot of great information there, can't wait to have a look at all the places you mentioned now. Looks like this arvo I'll be busy Googling! Ha! Thks again, that's fantastic!

I can second the suggestions of Loches and Villefranche de Conflent. In fact, the entire area around Villefranche, while not undiscovered, is full of charming towns and interesting sights. If you want good sources for off the beaten track places to visit, I highly recommend the Cadogan guides. Unfortunately, they seem to be available only on line. Back Roads France, published by Eyewitness Guides, also will lead you to some hidden gems.

Early May is the busiest time of the year for tourism, just behind the end of August. There is a public holiday every week, and also the school holidays.

The good news is that about 75% of them will be French tourists, the bad news is that they tend to go back to where their parents (or grandparents) are. This means that no matter where you go there will be more people than normal.

If you're aiming at French sites/towns with few or no tourists, literally or relative to elsewhere in France, try northern France...Arras, Amiens, Compiegne, Compiegne, Lille, Beauvais, Cambrai, Lens, Douai,

A good way to get out in the countryside is to take public transportation to a town in a pretty region and then rent a bike for a day. Or pick a long distance trail (France has many of them) and walk a few days. You can get lists if accommodations. The most famous long distance trail might be the Chemin de St Jasques de Compostelle, which has several branches in France.

For several years now we've done most of our travelling in France to fairly obscure or otherwise low tourist areas; even French friends have said we've been to places that most French people don't know about or visit. Included are the Basque region (as others have mentioned), the Doubs, parts of the Jura, parts of the Isere, and the Ain departement, including the Bugey region. I'm attaching the link to my travel blog so you can take a look at where I've been if you're interested. http://mainelywinenews.blogspot.com/

While worth visiting, Lyon is certainly not off the beaten path. Beaujolais is, as are parts of Bourgogne.

We just spent a week in Loches and had a great time. We rented a little apartment and only ate out once (we did eat at friends’ houses twice). Market day is Wednesday and Saturday and a lot of fun. There were very few tourists there, but plenty to see and do.

If you go, avoid the Georges Sand Hotel. We had family stay there on another trip. It’s seedy and dodgy.

BTW, the French drive on the same side of the road as we do. You will really need a car to get around and explore.

Interesting that the Georges Sands hotel is supposedly seedy and dodgy. I would have called it very tired, but the restaurant is OK. Nothing in Loches is dodgy, its such a wholesome town, well loved by the hundreds of English people who own holiday homes in the area.

I love Loches, it's our local market. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is where our tax office is...

Interesting that the Georges Sands hotel is supposedly seedy and dodgy. I would have called it very tired, but the restaurant is OK.

They double billed a family member who provided credit card evidence. They have yet to refund. The the wi-fi is practically non-existent.

Go to Grenoble

Villefranche-de-Conflent, while cute as can be, was swamped when I visited it in summer 2017. The ground floor of most buildings seemed to be a food purveyor or a touristy shop. I'm glad I saw it but certainly wouldn't want to spend more than one night there. I imagine other places in the area are comparatively deserted, and the SNCF Yellow Train is a no-worries way to see some Pyrenees scenery. Of course, I didn't see Villefranche at night since I was a day-tripper myself.

I'm currently traveling through south-central and southwestern France (in Bayonne today), and I haven't hit anything foreign-touristy yet. Foix is an attractive town that would make a nice mid-day stop, but they're renovating the interior of the castle (its only significant "sight") so you can't go inside. Tarbes is larger but was much less visually interesting to me. Pau I preferred to Tarbes, but I didn't see the best of it (gardens and turn-of-the century villas) because if would.not.stop.raining. Be aware that, though many tourist-industry workers, as well as some folks on the street, speak English in this part of France, you may not find comprehensive English signage at all sights.

Weather is an issue in this area. I'm in the middle of about 6 or 7 days of predicted overcast/rainy days. So far only Pau was a significant problem. Unfortunately, it was the place I was most looking forward to. Perhaps I'll go back there for a day when I finish up in the Basque Country. It has not been cold, fortunately. With socked-in skies the high temperatures have mostly been at least in the mid-50s F.

Can't comment on the billing problem Doug Mac's family had with George Sands.
Personally I loved the place and we had no issues in any way certainly not seedy.
Yep it is a bit weary, it is a very old building. We found it's quirkyness utterly charming.
The restaurant was very adequate and what a great place to sit and eat.
The brekky room is awesome. And I loved the little arch and winding old stairs up to our room.
However it is probably not suitable for the needy type of tourist.

Acraven you may have been a bit unlucky.
We were in V de C several days last summer and never found it swamped by tourists. I checked all my photos and while there were plenty of people on the streets around mid day it was not particularly crowded.
We sat in the church with 2 other couples.
We wandered the ramparts on our own.
We hiked up the 1000 steps to Fort Liberia passing a few coming the other way.
There was a tour group of maybe 12 and a couple of dozen other tourists at Fort Liberia.
By late arvo/early evening the narrow streets and alleyways were virtually deserted although restaurants seemed pretty busy in the evenings.
We found it worthwhile to stay more than one night.

One thing I have noticed is once I start exploring I seem to quickly leave the crowds behind.

Doug Mac re the French driving on the same side of the road AS WE DO.
Well actually they drive on the other side of the road to me and to most Crazy Kiwis.

Yes! I second the the suggestion to Grenoble on the Route Napoleon.

So sorry! I totally missed you home country!

I understand. We spent 10 days driving through the wilds of Scotland. I only tried to kill a Scot twice! :D