Itinerary for mid May, any thoughts?

If you have an interest in D-day beaches and towns, there might be more than you'd want to cover just on Day 4, so there might be additional sights you'd want to see on your way to Mont S.M. on Day 5.

On two separate trips, we've stayed in Beynac - our favorite town in the Dordogne region.

You're moving around a lot but I think this is doable. You may want to try to stay in the same place all 3 nights in the Loire valley, so you don't have to change hotels quite do much.

You seem to be quite interested in Joan of Arc. This may not fit your schedule but Orleans has a Joan of Arc festival each year, ending around her saint day, which is May 8 (I think). I remember seeing the parade one year -- with Joan riding a horse though Orleans. Orleans is not on the usual tour, but it may be a good stop for you.

I think you do not allocate enough time in the Dordogne to do all that you say that you want to do. Maybe if you are very nimble.

I also think you do not spend enough time there period, but that is another call entirely.

Starting in Rouen is not a bad move for some itineraries, but here it forces you to spend a day getting back to Paris. You'd be better off starting there and flying home from Toulouse. Spend that day in the Dordogne instead.

If you prefer to end in Paris for other reasons, then start in Toulouse and drive your itinerary backwards.

Adam makes a good point (as usual), avoid backtracking if you can. Since you're timing your Paris days for the Open, you might want to fly into Toulouse and start the trip there. Delta has a few flights from SLC with a change in Paris, American has more with changes in Dallas and Madrid. You might also have better weather luck starting in the south and moving north, though May should be a pretty good bet anywhere.

I think this is doable for energetic people, a little rushed for me now but not when I was 30 (back in the Nixon years). A few observations:

Honfleur is fine but there's less than meets the eye, the harbor and the double-nave church are the highlights, you may find you've seen enough on day 2 to leave early on day 3. This would be good because there's a lot in Bayeux, including the WWII museum besides what you mentioned. We spent most of a morning with the tapestry and related exhibits, one of the highlights of our last trip.

I'd hesitated about the drive from MSM to Chinon but Via Michelin shows it as under 4 hours. While that's likely to be an underestimate, you certainly have enough time to get there and see much of Chinon that afternoon. As you probably know, the chateau is a ruin, doesn't take long to visit. We stayed in the Best Western Hotel de France on the main square, a block or so from the elevator up the cliff to the chateau. Liked it fine. Great statue of Joan on horse a few blocks from the square.

For Amboise lodging, see this recent discussion on this forum. It refers to a mini-chateau that people seem to like (I haven't been), and other options. Try not to miss Chenonceau, it's one of the best!

For the Dordogne, we stayed at Le Petit Versailles in Beynac and liked it a lot. Good location for what you want to do. Sarlat is also great but takes longer to get in and out of. Try for market day (Wed and Sat?). Font de Gaume has limits on daily visitors, and not many English-language tours. If you can't get in, consider nearby Lascaux II. Even though it's "fake," it's an extremely faithful reproduction and you see the colors they way they really looked. Les Eyzies is indeed picturesque, with a very good museum up in the rocks as a bonus.

Carcassonne is best evenings and early mornings, the RS guide has recommendations within the walls, and there are some places outside near the main gate as well. Avoid Les Florentines B&B nearby.

This seems like a great trip, would be better if you had another week or so, but c'est la vie. Assume you will return!

You might want to consider open jaw so you don't have to travel all the way back to Paris and spend one less day traveling. We were in France last May for two weeks in the middle of the month. We flew into Marseille and ended up in Paris. The temperatures were really varied. Provence was like early summer. We had some days with highs in the 50s in the Dordogne and in Paris with day-long drizzle. You'll need to pack a little bit of everything to be prepared for the temps. Clothes that will dry overnight are a huge help in keeping the luggage weight down.

Agreed with others that you may want to add another day in the Dordogne to feel less rushed. The drive from Amboise area to the Dordogne will take about 5 hours so you'll lose about half a day with hotel checkin et al. We stayed at La Villa Des Consuls in Sarlat. It was reasonably priced, beautifully decorated, well located just next to the historic center and many nice restaurants and has full laundry facilities onsite. The downside is that the parking for Villa Des Consuls is a secure garage a couple of blocks away, but having walkable ambiance during the evening was a worthwhile trade off for us. In mid-May it felt like the tourism season in Sarlat was just waking up. We were at the Marqueyssac gardens on a drizzly day and had the place almost entirely to ourselves. We warmed ourselves with a hot chocolate drink in their tea room and all was well : )

Michael,
I like your route and itinerary!
Note: I think the car rental agencies are attached to the Rouen train station, at least ours was. Very confusing to find when we had to drop off. You'll be glad your picking up there.
Rouen is a beautiful city lots to see. Don't miss Rouen Cathedral (Richard the Lionhearted's heart is buried there). Take time to go up into the Gros Horloge. Great old Medieval clock.
We didn't find much to see along the way between Bayeaux and Mont St. Michel. It's not a long drive, we mostly drove on the country roads for the ambience.
When we were at MSM the Abbey closed at 6:00 pm so we missed all of that but the town at the foot of the Abbey was still open all night long.
We never made it further south than Lyon.

Our route was Lyon-Chateauroux-MSM-Bayeux-Rouen train to Paris.

Have a great time!

Regarding the D-Day beaches, be aware that Victory Day is May 8. There are likely to be special events that day and possibly through the weekend. Depending which dates in May you plan to travel, you might want to take this into consideration.

JG, I think after a long, long flight from Utah to Paris, the idea of getting a rental car at the airport and driving straight to Rouen is madness. Strange car, strange countryside, strange highway signage + jet lag? Madness.

It all seems very rushed to me. Maybe you like seeing things in passing - I prefer to pick something up and look at it, metaphorically.

I visited Honfleur a few years ago. I don't see the big deal. I can replace it with many a French seaside town. The big bridge is no big deal either, but at upwards of €5 is expensive.

See my comments in the first sentence with reference to Normandy and the Normandy beaches. The invasion was over a 70 mile wide front and many events were not right on the coast. If you want to understand that area you need more time. For example, I was fairly rushed when I was at the museum at Arromanche and was there almost 4 hours, to say nothing of the dime in the area. The same for many other locations along there.

That's a lot of driving.

Hi Michael, I think you're trying to see too much in one trip. You are driving for several hours to get to a site, staying one night, then driving on to the next site. As you may be arriving late afternoon, check the hours of operation, i.e. Bayeux tapestry, cathedrals. Man;y of these small towns close up early and you may be arriving too late to see anything. In Sarlat we stayed at the Hotel Montaigne, and in Carcassonne at the Hotel Montmorency. Both nice, clean, and centrally located. Sounds like a nice trip but I think you should consider a few bases with two or three night stays.

Thanks for all of your replies. The reason for the train rides are two fold; 1) going to Rouen by train is to avoid the tired drive myself, especially with all the unfamiliarity, 2) the one back to Paris from Carcassone is just for the experience, always wanted a long train ride in Europe as we don't have then in the Western United States. I will consider doing the trip backwards from Toulouse though (hadn't considered that, thanks).

I'm getting the you should spend your Loire nights in the same place vibe, maybe it will be Chinon for 2 nights, then adding another day to the Dordogne as suggested. I'm conflicted though about where to spend my 3 nights, Dordogne or Loire Valley? Can someone help convince me about what to do? Which one would deserve another night?

I'm also hearing not much to see in Honfleur. We should probably spend that time on Bayeaux/D-Day sights.

I was thinking late May for Paris so I can watch a French Open match, but I thought it would be a little better weather there instead of mid-May. We'll be going May 15 through May 31/June 1. Thanks for your suggestions about early May, but we will not be there yet. Wish we had another week, but we'll be going back again someday, I'm sure of it! Thanks again.

Chacon a son goute, but to me there is no contest between the Perigord, with its amazing food, medieval fortresses, and neolithic art, and the Loire, with its empty Renaissance chateaux.

"We shall return" is a very helpful attitude. Consider that the Loire, an hour from Paris by rail, is by far the easiest to return to, and make as much hay in the SW as you can.

re: Loire time vs Dordogne time, it all depends on how you like to spend your time. I'm of the same feeling as Adam. In one (longish) day we saw Villandry, Chennonceau (absolute fav), and Amboise, by starting in Chinon and ending our day in Amboise, and you do get a complete slice of a several century period of French history in beautiful settings. But that was enough chateau time for one trip. The Perigord area offers prehistory/anthropology, stunning ancient art, and is geared more toward outdoor activities, as well as great food and historic chateau and fortresses. I think the main activities in Perigord are more participatory/active, which is personally more appealing to me.