Paris to Barcelona

You can have the option to tour Burgundy, Loire Valley, or Alsace France for a couple of days before your cruise. But only choose 1 location since you have only a few days.

Thank you for your input. I hadn't researched that area and it does sound nice.

The following sights in Barcelona require pre-purchased tickets (usually timed) if you want to see them and are not willing to spend hours in ticket lines (and maybe not get in at all): La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Mila/La Pedrera, Casa Batllo, Palau de la Musica Catalana, Museu Picasso.

I am not suggesting that you must go to all those places (or to any of those places), just that many other people do go there, to the extent that you cannot visit them spontaneously. Barcelona has many other worthwhile sights that do not require prepurchased tickets, but if you are a traditional tourist who wants to see the places listed in my first paragraph, be careful about planning a short trip to the city.

We spent time in Cahors with dear friends this summer, and visited Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, Domme, and La Roque Gageac. They all have the designation of being some of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (http://www.france-beautiful-villages.org/en) We took a long beautiful walk along the Lot River, seeing locks, cliffs, fields and farms to get to Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. All three villages were beautiful and I am so glad we were able to visit them. Apparently they are packed with people in July and August, but we were there in late June, and our hosts were so happy that it wasn't crowded! Your timing would be good on that note! (We flew in to Toulouse and drove north to Cahors. We definitely needed a car to see these sights with our friends. When we were ready to continue on, we dropped the car in Toulouse and took the Ouibus for the next two legs.)

It would have made sense for us to go to Barcelona from Toulouse, but we wanted to go to Basque country first, so traveled west to Saint-Jean-de-Luz on the Atlantic coast, and then San Sebastian, and then we went to Barcelona and flew home from there.

We had been to Paris before, as well as the Loire Valley, so exploring the Dordogne and Lot regions was new and wonderful for us.

You have lots of great choices! The Loire Valley is beautiful, too. Our favorite chateaux were Chenonceau and Amboise, and we really thought Le Clos Lucé was fascinating, and learned all about Leonardo daVinci there.

Have a great trip!
Laurie

Assuming two weeks is 14 days, I agree that one stop is the maximum you could manage. You'll lose at least a day every time you move to a new location. So you're thinking something like this?

Day 1 - arrive in Paris, do a little exploring while recovering from jet lag (if arriving from US)
Days 2-6 - explore Paris.
Day 7 - train or drive to somewhere (Loire valley?)
Days 8 and 9 - explore that location
Day 10 travel to Barcelona
Days 11=13 explore Barcelona
Day 14 check out of the hotel in onto the ship

I'd probably give more days to Paris and Barcelona, perhaps spending one or two on a day trip into the countryside instead of stopping at some third location. On the other hand if your 14 day plan doesn't include arrival and departure days, the plan seems more relaxing.

Thank you Mary,

I agree and have decided to just make one stop in the Loire valley.