Driving route from Amboise to St. Remy.

Which St Rèmy? The one south of Beaune? It's only a 4 hr drive. Or do you mean St Rèmy de Provence? If the latter, you could break it up with an overnight in Lyon.

Heather,
When you determine which St. Remy you are heading for, check viamichelin.com for route info. Enter starting point and endpoint (make sure you click on the correct one). it should give you 2 or 3 options (autoroute or smaller roads) and time and distance. Just know that you need to add time for gas/food/comfort stops to the times they give.

When I plan on our drives in France, I buy the Michelin paper map for the area I want and spread it out to see the "big" picture. I can more easily see spots along the way where I might choose to detour, or to stop and take a look or have a picnic, or to spend a night en route. You can order them through Amazon. They also make good souvenirs of our trips. (I mark our routes on the maps with a marker, after the fact, in case we deviate from our plan.)

Have a wonderful time in France!

Yes, we are driving from Amboise to St Remy en Provence. We live in So CA and drive to Northern CA a lot (it’s 7+ hours) so that’s our schema for distance driving and felt driving that in France should be fine. I am looking into breaking it up and staying one night in Lyon. Thanks for the recommendation.

Thank you @Judy. I love paper maps too! I will buy a Michelin map.

Lyon for an overnight feels non-optimal to me.
It is a big city with big city traffic, and it deserves more than just a few hours. Also, it takes you north of the usual route.

I would rather stay near Vienne (like in Condrieu), Tain l'Hermitage, or make the drive really scenic and travel via Le Puy en Velay.

The more we look at maps, look at our timeline, and think about our styles, my husband and I are leaning towards doing the drive all in one day. We will sightsee along the way and stop for food.

Heather,
As a SoCal person who has done MANY road trips in California, the Pacific Northwest, the desert Southwest (New Mexico, Az, Nevada, Utah...) the drive is not difficult. Long, yes, but very doable. I question Lyon as a stop though. As Balso said, the traffic of a big city will be a pain. Find a small town for your overnight stop if you decide to do so.

Do be aware of the speed limit. You don't get a pass in France for anything over the posted limit, and cameras are all over the place.
When you get to St. Remy, kick back and relax a bit in the town, as well as doing day trips from there. (I remember our family, sitting in a sort of park, eating ice cream and watching the old men playing petanque on a summer afternoon....idyllic!)

Judy,
I noticed you’re from So CA ….yes, we have also done a lot of road trips. I took the advice of plugging in my route on viamichelin.com and it gave me many options and all with interesting places to stop and sightsee along the way. None of the routes go through Lyon as that city is off to the east more like was mentioned above.

Once we get to St Remy we will truly relax as we’re there for 5 days at Chateau des Apilles, and like you said, having a car will allow us to visit sites near and around that area.
Thank you for your feedback….it helps!

Heather,
Great! Amusez-vous bien!

St Rémy-de-Provence is my favorite town in Provence, you will love it there!

The more we look at maps, look at our timeline, and think about our styles, my husband and I are leaning towards doing the drive all in one day. We will sightsee along the way and stop for food.

It's certainly feasible. There aren't many sights along the fastest route (Amboise - Bléré - Vierzon - Clermont - St Etienne - Givors - st Rémy), here is what I can think of:

1. Bourges is worthwhile but it would take a few hours to properly visit, and it is a bit early along the way.

2. Riom has an interesting old town with a beautiful basilica.

3. Thiers is a knifemaking town, you could buy a souvenir there (if you have checked luggage).

4. Vienne has cool Roman ruins in St Romain en Gal

5. Tain l'Hermitage has the Valrhona chocolate museum.

6. Orange has the Theater, if it is still open by the time you reach Orange it does not take very long to visit and the adjacent museum is skippable IMO.