Logistics on itinerary

canaanski - You have an interesting itinerary. Do you reallly need to rent a car again to tour provence?

I see no benefit to going back through Paris - train tickets aren't cheap and you'd still spend a day doing it, including change of stations in Paris. You could move Chartres to the start of the trip and pick up the car there, if you want to keep it in the plan. You could drive from Amboise to Arles in one full day, if you wished, or stop almost anywhere for another small town in another distinctive region.

The Dordogne is a great destination, especially if you can spend a couple of nights and Sarlat is under a 5 hour drive from Amboise, not counting stops. That's probably why it's the suggested route on this France itinerary from Rick: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/france/itinerary. If you like Toulouse Lautrec, then Albi is a great stop for his museum, and a rather different gothic cathedral.

I'd roll Giverny into Paris by adding a day to Paris and doing it as a day-trip. I would also do Chartres as a day-trip from Paris and then take the train from the Loire Valley to Avignon. Most of those train trips call for you to go into Paris and change trains and I would try to avoid that by looking the schedules but I still think the drive to Chartres followed by the train raises more issues than it solves. Mainly where will you leave your stuff? In the car? At the cathedral? With a luggage service? There is an early morning direct TGV (not a bullet train) from Saint-Pierre-des-Corps to Lyon that you could consider. As to your time in Normandy, I think basing in Bayeux is better for you because of the things that you mention wanting to do. I'd take the train to Caen and rent a car there and use Bayeux as my Normandy and Le-Mont-St-Michel base. I would not drive from the Loire Valley to Provence but my husband would so it really is a matter of what you like. Do you like long road trips (7 -8 hours of driving in a day just to get to your destination)? Provence sounds like a great idea for your trip given your interest in Van Gogh. What viaduct are you planning to see in the Provence area? Do you mean Pont du Gard? If so, just take the train and then drive there from Avignon. I really do not see any disadvantage to renting a car and turning in and then renting one again. Trains, IMO, are the better choice for covering big areas of the country when you are trying to get from place to place as opposed to a trip where you will have plenty of time to stop along the way. In any event, depending on where you stay in Provence and what you want to see, you may not even need a car there.

Between Bayeux and St. Malo I would suggest you stay in Bayeux. It is a beautiful town, with a wonderful tapestry, good cathedral, and close proximity to D-day beaches. But I have to admit that it has been a long time since I visited St. Malo, so my opinion may be skewed. Peter

Reading the input from all of you is helpful. New question: Do i need to be wary of trying to time an itinerary to rent a car on a Saturday or Sunday? Are there limited hours to worry about.

For Saturday's you have to check what time the agencies close just as you would for a weekday. For Sundays, as far as I know many car rental agencies (other than at large airports and maybe some big city locations) are closed. You can address that if you so must rent on a Sunday by renting through the SNCF + Avis program that uses station employees to deliver cars to renters. The service is not available at every train station. You can learn more about it at https://en.oui.sncf/en/train/train-services/train-avis. Two caveats: it's not the cheapest way to get a car and, unlike some other agencies, Avis charges one-way rental fees.