We will be taking a train from Perugia, Italy to Nice an then renting a car in Nice and plan on driving through Provence and on up through the Loire Valley to then to spend 3 days in Paris. We will have 7 - 10 days (can be flexible on days). Could you give me a good itinerary for this? I don't know much about Provence or the Loire Valley and the best places to go.
Thanks so much for your help.
I love doing road trips in this area. My favorite home base in Provence is St. Remy... from there you can visit a number of wonderful villages. Are you interested in markets, antiques, ruins, nature? If you like beach towns I like St. Maxime's. It is a medium size town, nice beach, shopping, restaurants and not as pretentious as Cannes or St. Tropez. The Carmague is also an interesting place to visit for some nature and another little beach town... flamingos and the wild white horses.
You could also drive the gorges of Verdon (it's like the Grand Canyon of France...not as big, but beautiful)
Nice (Cote d'Azur) - 3 nights
St Remy (Provence) - 3 nights
Lyon - 1 night
Tours (Loire Valley) - 3 nights
Return your car in Tours if you can and take a train in to Paris.
When you say St. Remy/Provence, do you mean St. Remy as a base for travel throughout Provence? Also when you say Tours/Loire Valley, do you mean use Tours as a base for traveling through the Loire Valley?
As for the Loire Valley,I would use Amboise for my base town,center of town accessable on foot and it is more personable.I like to stay in Nimes but St Remy is a good location.
Mike
St Remy de Provence seems a constant recommendation on this forum for those with a car.
As does Amboise in the Loire Valley, though the main centre would be Tours.
This is a good overview of Loire with chateaux.
http://frenchmoments.eu/top-10-most-beautiful-chateaux-of-the-loire-valley/
Thanks so much for your help.
Just got home after spending 3 nights in the Loire Valley and seeing 6 castles. We loved Amboise as our base....charming town easy to get around in. It took us all of that time to see the Usse, Amboise, Cheonceau, Cheverny, Azay Le Rideau and Villandry castles..... Chambord was closed due to flooding. Amboise was nice to come home to each night and we loved Manoir Les Minimes as our hotel in Amboise.
