Itinerary review: 34 nights in April/May, Paris to Bordeaux

bethhech1,
Congratulations on your nice lengthy stay in France. Your plan sounds very nice, but I would make one change for sure. Unless you want to see just about every DDay sight, I would stay 4-5 nights in Bayeux max, and add that time to the Dordogne (Sarlat), or spend a night in Carcassonne and/or Albi. The Dordogne has tons of things to see and do and a week there will be full and varied.
Are you flying out of Bordeaux for your return home, or will you take the TGV to Paris or CDG? It is easy to drop your car at the airport in Bordeaux, or at the train station.

Bon voyage!

Although without knowing why you chose to stay x nights in one place, I wonder why you change accommodation for example between Chinon and Amboise which are bearly 50 miles apart. .

7 nights in Bayeux and 5 nights in Bordeaux seems like a lot to me, unless you have planned specific trips and visits around these cities.

To visit the Dordogne valley there is much better than Sarlat which is the meeting place for tourists from all over the world (including many North Americans)

P.S. Check viamichelin.com for drive times and route choices. The Route des Abbayes between Rouen and Bayeux is a perfect drive for your "travel slow" intentions. You may have a long-ish drive from Amboise to Sarlat. Your other drives shouldn't be too long, except Brittany to the Loire. And of course, Bordeaux will be great for wineries (plus St.Emilion).

JoLui is correct about Sarlat. We rented a house through Gites-de-France for 10 nights between Vitrac and La Roque Gageac. You will have a car, and parking in Sarlat can be a pain. Check out some of the many towns and villages in the area before commiting to a busy town like Sarlat, as beautiful as it is with its golden stone buildings. And she is correct about your changing lodging between Chinon and Amboise. Of course, you may have very good reasons for this plan. Your two locations in Brittany sound okay, as driving in Brittany is different than driving in the Loire Valley.
Bonne chance et bon voyage!

Five days in Bordeaux too much? Scarcely enough IMO!

Seriously, all this is purely a function of your individual interests. Enjoy your trip! (And you've given me places to think about visiting next summer.)

My husband is quite into visiting WWII sites, although we don’t intend to hit them all (not sure you can even do that in a week, there are so many). We do want to spend time in Caen, Honfleur, Le Havre, Falaise Castle without rushing. We are also thinking about heading over to Jersey for a day trip just for something a little different. But worth planning out a bit more to see if we can repurpose a day or two here for Dordogne area.

The Chinon / Amboise stays were definitely in the forefront of my mind. Frankly, I think I just became overwhelmed by reading all the posts on pros/cons of each and trying to decide which was a better fit for us. In the end I decided maybe best to stay both West and East of Tours. But perhaps better to just pick one and stick with it. Chinon to Sarlat will be a bit of a longer drive, but not that much more. Yes, I’ve been checking routes using viamichelin.com

JoLui, Judy would you recommend staying somewhere other than Sarlat?

We are flying out of Bordeaux (through CDG) home.

bethhech1,
When we spent 10 days in the Dordogne last June, we rented a large house (There were seven of us on a family trip). We rented through gites-de-france. They have apartments, houses, even cabins on their site, of varying sizes. We have found chambres d'hote there also, for one night or more. I would check it out. It has been around longer than AirBandB, and is very reliable. Our house was called "Le Petit Fort" and was between Vitrac and La Roque Gageac. Go to the site and check it out for an idea. This was a bit deluxe for us, but it was reasonable considering there were seven people for 10 nights for about $3000.00. (4 bedrooms, three baths, swimming pool, run of the chateau grounds, access to the river, caretakers on site, modern kitchen, only about 5 km to Ceynac for groceries, boulangerie, etc.) We would have breakfast at our place, do some sightseeing or activity during the day, having lunch out, then return to our "home" for dinner there. It was slow travel, not terribly structured, and a happy and peaceful interlude. Parking on site also! And a 10-15 minute drive to Sarlat, for example.
We have also reserved chambres d'hote in Bretagne, the Loire Valley and for one night stays through Gites-de-France. Give them a try.
Best of luck!

2 nights in Vannes gives you only 1.5 days of exploration. There are way too many prehistoric sites to visit. I'd take 2 nights from Bayeux and give them to Vannes. Carnac was a very wealthy prehistoric kingdom. Many of its dolmans are underwater now
I'd take another from Bordeaux and add to the Dordogne, and as others said, stay elsewhere. We chose a totally different area near Les Ezyies.
Both Chinon and Amboise are close but can make sense if you are exploring east of Amboise but west of Chinon. You start getting into the areas with historic troglodyte homes and farms. To me the most interesting chateau in the whole area is Brézé, a very early troglodyte chateau with a Renaissance chateau built above and a good vineyard for tastings.
As Judy said, Gites de France has been around for decades. We used to get paper catalogues. The offerings are inspected and rated, none of this loosey goosey stuff on some listing sites. The French government runs a tight ship and Gîtes de France complies. The bed and breakfast offerings on farms or in homes would suit your short stays. Cottages for longer, but some require stays of one week.
Cottages will rent sheets and towels for those not traveling with them. Expect really clean lodging, not hastily cleaned places with a one-hour turnover
that we find on line and we've run into in person. That won't happen with the farmers.

Have made use of Gîtes de France for many years and never had a bad experience, always good value for the money. Best offers outside the beaten track places.

By virtue of wanting to remain neutral I did not suggest staying longer in Dordogne although it is (almost) my region. But I'm obviously not against the idea of ​​adding a night or two. :-))

As for staying Sarlat, it's up to you. The disadvantage of Sarlat is that it is too touristy and above all that it is a little too far west in the region. You won't find any good travel guide that doesn't include the part further east (Lot and Quercy valley). Well-informed visitors know this well. Which of course does not prevent you from visiting Sarlat and the surrounding area (my intention is obviously not to denigrate Sarlat but to put things straight)

To illustrate my point, see this map and locate Sarlat la Canéda.

https://www.vallee-dordogne.com/app/uploads/ot-dordogne/2022/03/carte-vallee-dordorgne.pdf

I also made a map with most of the places to see and things to do (villages, caves, castles, towns, etc.) with photo, a short text, and website when available:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1OdPOg8AgsNn0Jlv1cNHkujaWv9p_Jpc&usp=sharing

Given all the possibilities you understand why it is difficult to recommend a specific place.

Like the previous advices, I recommend the “Gites de France” which is an organization that has existed since the 70s, originally created by farmers (long before Airbnb!).
You will find all kinds of accommodation managed by individuals, from simple rooms to castles with swimming pools.

Like hotels, they are classified into several categories depending on the services offered. Accommodations are regularly visited by the organization to check that they meet the required standards.
You will often see in the countryside at the side of the roads the logo with the green man on a France map background.

https://www.gites-de-france.com/fr

Note that it seems that the English version offers fewer accommodations (only those who speak English)

What a great trip!

There are a couple items I would like to weigh in on.

In Loire Valley, take a look at Azay-le-Rideau, specifically Le Grand Monarque Hotel
https://legrandmonarque.com/

We stayed there three nights in April 2023. We have found there are advantages to avoid staying in larger villages and cities. In a smaller village, negotiating your way out/in for daily adventures will be easier.
Azay seems just the right size with a nice selection of restaurants and essentials. This small village of about 3,000 is built around the Chateau le Rideau which is on an island in the Indre River. You can walk there from the hotel.

You can pick up a map of Walk of Discovery at the tourist office in the village.

Azay was hit by a terrible flood in 2016 and have not only restored the chateau but built a massive, beautiful water mediation facility in a park nearby.

Which brings me to Sarlat as Judy mentions. Great to visit, but would not stay there. There are lots of villages nearby to consider, we chose Saint-Cyprien about 15 minutes away and visited Sarlat twice during our two week stay. We rented a VRBO house 4 beds, 5 baths, DM me if you would like details.
Saint Cyprien proved to be the perfect central location to explore the region. We were there about the same time you were. There is plenty of parking outside the city, easy walk in. Just be mindful of market days Wed and Sat if memory serves, get there early on these days 8am- 9am.

Happy tripping!

JoLui- what a great map! I completely agree and would add: skip La Roque and Beynac ( have become too touristy). We loved Domme for the shopping. Do visit Carennac, Collanges la Rouge ( avoiding holidays and weekends) , Beaulieu sur Dordogne and La Popie (sp?). Skip Rocamador, again too touristy. I also recommend checking out small villages not listed in Les Plus Beaux Village (most beautiful villages of France) - there are some real charming villages where people actually live without catering to tourists.