Nice stop from Paris on the way to Beynac, France?

We did a similar trip from Paris to the Dordogne last fall with a destination of Cadouin not far from Beynac. We stopped at Uzerche which was a really lovely little town only a couple of hours from our destination. It is the kind of place that affords you the chance for a nice stroll in a charming town, along the river etc and a nice meal before a leisurely breakfast and completing the trip the next day. Lovely little town. We stayed at the Hotel Joyet de Maubec. Lovely place, excellent dinner on a terrace overlooking the river (obviously would be inside during winter) and nice breakfast. Our room has a view of the river and we walked down from the hotel and then walked along the opposite side of the river looking back up at the medieval town. We love stops in small towns like this that provide a nice break and a pleasant scenic afternoon. This one was recommended by a French acquaintances who does a lot of travel and knows these off the beaten track spots. (I would guess it was about 5 hours driving from Paris and then a couple more on down to Beynac from there.

Two times I have flown into Cdg, trained directly to Tours and picked up the rental car in tours. Spent 2 nights in the Loire before moving on to the Dordogne.

Thank you all for your replies. Let me be more specific. We are staying for 1 month in the Dordogne (traveling about) and then driving to Italy for another month. We wanted to 'lease not rent' a car and thus we are picking it up in Paris. I don't want to drive too too far as we will be tired from the long plane trip from the U.S. How about Versailles? That's not too far, eh? About an hour or so from CDG?

Oh if you are picking up after a long fight, then definitely don't drive south; just get out of town. Versailles is okay.

Thank you Janet!!! Have you stayed there...I'm sure I can find something but your other little town sounded so wonderful I would
love your opinion if you have one!

Orleans or Bourges might be too far south for you but either would be a worthwhile stopover.

I don't know what your tolerance is for driving after a long, overnight flight. I've done it several times, and more than once I've realized it was a real mistake. Versailles is as about as far as I'd want to go. Google shows three different routes for getting there -- all of them a little less than an hour during light traffic. Two of those routes skirt Paris and keep you on autoroutes, which is what I'd recommend. The third one routes you closer to Paris with a substantial part of it on the Peripherique. I would highly recommend against that one, even though it's the shortest. That very busy (usually stop and go) route is no place to be when you're sleepy.

Two considerations:

If either your lease contract or flight schedule isn't already set, consider staying one night in Paris and picking up your car and starting the next day. Your trip will be a lot safer.

If you're not planning to sight see in Versailles, I wouldn't go there. It's a busy place and if your hotel isn't on the highway, it could be a little tough to navigate. One of the routes swings you around the east side of Paris and passes near Orly. I'd find a hotel there for the night and head out the next morning.

By the way, I envy you. Staying a month at two locations is the ticket to a relaxed, stress free time in Europe. We tend to move around too much. Enjoy the trip.

Bruce

Thanks y'all. So our travel itinerary is already set and the car pickup as well. We will be arriving on Friday and picking up the car at the airport. So, my friend and I can swap off driving for a bit. We really don't want to drive more than 3 hours. Our travel agent friend has recommended Blois as a place to stay the night. Can any of you think of a smaller town within about 3 hours drive of CDG south...toward the Dordogne? Thank you for all your help!

Of course there are a great many smaller towns than Blois on the way between Paris and the Dordogne. But the problem is that you have to drive around or through Paris to get to any of them, and that happens as soon as you get the car. Via Michelin is normally a very useful driving route planner, though its drive time estimates don't account for stops or traffic. But it's not very helpful for this drive because it sends you onto the Peripherique, a very crowded highway that isn't the place for your first driving lesson in France.

What you need is an "outer beltway," but there is none. My 2010 atlas shows various routes around the city combining multiple highways, sometimes backtracking or jogging to get south. With a newer atlas and my wife next to me reading it, we could probably find our way to the southern outskirts of Paris, but I'm not going to try to lay it out here. A GPS in the car would be useful, for this and other driving, but again it would likely route you closer to the city center than you really want to be.

You've arranged to pick up the car at CDG on a date six months from now. I'm sure you could change that to another location and take advantage of France's excellent rail system to get there. If you don't want to spend that first night in Paris, how about spending it somewhere you can reach easily from the CDG rail station? For example, a TGV train leaves CDG at 12:15 and arrives at St-Pierre-des-Corps, just east of Tours, at 1:58. There are car rental offices there, and you can return the car anywhere in France without a dropoff fee. The next day, drive about five hours to Beynac. Or, the same TGV could take you further southwest, with stops at Poitiers and Angouleme, reaching Bordeaux at 3:52. The next morning you can pick up the car wherever you got off the train and drive to Beynac. That's about a three-hour drive from Bordeaux, or four hours from Poitiers.

The downside is that TGV tickets are non-refundable, so missing your train leaves you in the lurch. I don't know when your flight gets in, but I'd leave several hours' leeway between scheduled landing and the train time in case of delays and to allow for baggage claim, immigration, and getting to the station (which is right at the airport). This website can help you research rail options, but it won't sell you tickets. Check the "Travel Tips" link on this Rick Steves website for more info on trains and tickets.

Hope this helps. We spent a few nights in Beynac a few years ago and loved it. By the way, its proper name is Beynac-et-Cazenac, if you find yourself looking for it on route planners and search engines.

Dick, thank you so much for your detailed reply! We are 'leasing' a car...not renting and you can only do that in Paris if you plan
to drop off in Italy...which we do. So...we fly into Paris on Friday and head south! We do have a GPS. We will figure it out at some point. Thank you again...so much.

On our last trip from the Ardeche to Paris we stopped our last night in Auxerre and it was about 3 hours to Paris the next day. This is a beautiful old town, an afternoon well spent. We stayed at a hotel tucked right below the Cathedral on the river that had secure covered parking; we were in Europe for nearly 3 mos, I had my elbow in a cast, and we were headed for an apartment in Paris and so we had a bit more luggage than usual and also less ability to handle it. Having the covered secure parking meant we could leave stuff in the car except for an overnight bag and our valuables. We found a nice little Moroccan restaurant and had a lovely meal in a little courtyard. It is a pretty little city. We stayed at the Hotel Le Maxine. Nice old fashioned room, the covered parking we mentioned before (reserve that ahead) and nice breakfast. Beautiful location for exploring the old town.

First, if it's a leased car, you can pick up at CDG or Orly (or Port Maillol in Paris, but forget that). We've done it after landing at CDG, but we picked up at Orly and drove to the family home south of Paris in Burgundy near Auxerre. We've been driving around Paris with rented and leased cars for decades, so it's not like we shun Paris driving, but we avoid going around Paris if possible, having been in many, many jams. So here's what we have done and would do in your situation.

Contact the lease agent and have them transfer the pick up to Orly. Take the Air France bus from CDG to Orly, a comfy coach, and you can sleep in the bus. The bus can take up to two hours. So you could have been stuck in tough driving for a couple of hours, but instead, you can sleep.

So after napping in the bus, pick up the car at Orly, but head to Chartres, 2 hours south. Auxerre is a city I really like, but it puts you on the wrong road. Sorry, Janet :--((. Starting from Chartres, you'll have a six-hour drive the next day. Blois is four hours from Orly in the real world, way too much!

I'd chose Chartres over Versailles for a tranquil stopover. It's only a little further.

Get the car at deGaulle and maybe reach Chartres in time to catch Malcolm Miller.

Sorry Cathy, I missed the fact that you're leasing the car. (Maybe someday the RS folks will make all the posts visible, instead of just the original one, when we reply.)

If you can switch the pickup to Orly, then Bets has (as usual) the best practical answer: Le Bus Direct from CDG to Orly. Their website promises that you'll travel "in complete serenity," which may be a bit of a stretch! But much easier than driving around or through Paris yourself.

Chartres would be a great overnight stopping place.

Loire Valley isn't out of the way, it's not much more than an hour by train from Paris. I'd suggest taking a train there while you are jetlagged. Pick up a car the next morning and drive. I found Tours too big of city to relax for an afternoon. I'd suggest Amboise. There is Amboise Chateau right in town plus a small shopping district and cafes. On the edge of town is Clos Luce and about 20 km away is Chenonceau. If you could, two nights would allow you a jet lag day plus a full day of touring the area (best with a rental car) before heading on.

Edited: If you are leasing, you don't have to take delivery in Paris. If you do, I'd still suggest keeping the driving on jet lag day to a minimum.

Y'all are just the BEST!! Thank you so much. I have already emailed my neighbor (and travel agent) to move the car pick up to ORLY. Billiant! Thank you thank you thank you!!

Great you could move the car pick up. Last fall I broke my elbow and was in a cast and it delayed the trip the 5 days I was in the hospital getting surgery and follow up. We ended up moving our car drop twice as we re-configured our trip. We were surprised at how easy it was to do.