Road tripping France 19 days

I think something has to go - it's just not possible to cover Normandy, Loire Valley and Provence in 6 days.
Leave Provence for another time - it alone needs 6 days.

Arrive in Paris and catch train to Rouen
Rent a car in Rouen
Normandy (stay in Bayeux - 3 nights)
Loire valley (stay in Amboise - 3 nights)
French Alps (stay in Chamonix- 3 nights)
Lyon - 3 nights
Return car in Lyon
Train to Burgundy (stay in Beaune - 2 nights)
Train to Paris - 4 nights (with day trip to Versailles)
Fly home from Paris

Thank you for your reply. I love the idea to leave the car in Lyon and has to beaune via train. The only place we are interested in with provence is Avignon and saint tropez. The French riviera is not of any interest to us otherwise. We live at the beach in the states and hate gambling so a few days are all we'll need there. Cheers! M&M

We are leaving Thursday for the same length of trip! 18 nights. Our plan is as follows:

4 nights Paris
4 nights Disneyland Paris (this was due to a deal for 2 nights free that I got)
3 nights Loire valley
2 nights Beaune
2 nights outside Avignon
3 nights Nice

We aren't as into art museums as visiting chateaus and small villages and the like. We are renting a car for the entire time, and flying into Paris and out of Nice.

Lauren I would recommend using the subways and public transit in Paris. It's hard driving and finding a place to park there. It will also save money. Good luck and have fun!
Cheers! M&M

We are not planning to use the car while in Paris, but thank you ;) our apartment has a parking spot and it'll be parked there during our time in Paris.

Maegan -- I agree with David that your itinerary is too ambitious, even for fast-paced travelers. And that Provence is the obvious outlier. I'd also skip the Alps portion because of time, and because that early in the season you may have too much snow to enjoy the area (unless skiing is part of your plan). With the five days you save, you could add a day each to Normandy, Loire, Burgundy, and Paris. Three days is probably enough for Lyon in this plan.

But I disagree with David about dropping the car in Lyon, because a car really helps you enjoy Burgundy. Maybe drop it in Dijon, just north of Beaune, and take the train from there.

Via Michelin is a good road-trip planning tool, though it tends to underestimate drive times by ignoring traffic, fuel and food stops, and other delays. Your itinerary above counts days rather than nights, which means it doesn't take adequate account of driving times that will eat into those days. For instance, Bayeux to Amboise will likely take half a day. Amboise to Avignon is a very long day's drive (so there goes one of your "2 days" in either Loire or Provence). Most on this board would recommend at least two nights in any place where you'll be sightseeing, to give you at least one full day there.

Nothing wrong with a fast pace if you have the energy (as I would have at 27), but you might consider how much time you want to spend appreciating architecture, nature, food, wine, and people/culture, as you say, vs. just driving (on, admittedly, scenic and well-designed motorways).

Here is our new itin
Arrive in Paris but catch train to Rouen
Normandy (2 nights)-stay in Bayeux but rent a car in Rouen (see beaches, dday ,monument, and mont st michel)
2 nights in Loire valley-(stay in town of Amboise for the châteaux-castles)
2 nights in Provence (stay in Avignon)
4 nights in Lyon with a Day trip to see the French Alps from Lyon (sleep in lyon)
3 nights in Burgundy (stay in Beaune)
Paris (5 nights) with day trip to Versailles and leave from here to go home

We are pretty pleased with the changes we made based on what we want to see. Thank you for all of your suggestions!

Cheers! M&M

Day 1 - land in Paris, get to Gare St Lazare, train to Rouen. Pick up rental car and drive (1.5 hrs) to Bayeux.
Day 2 - Normandy beaches (full day)
Day 3 - drive 1.5 hrs to Mont Saint-Michel (1/2 day), visit. Drive 3 hrs to Amboise
Day 4 - visit chateaux (full day)
Day 5 - drive 6 hrs to Avignon (spend most of the day driving)
Day 6 - Provence (full day)
Day 7 - drive 2 hrs to Lyon

Whew.

Where in the Alps? Chamonix is over 2 hrs driving each way from Lyon, if you don't get stuck behind a truck or a bus. Long day trip.

I thought the same Chani.

The thing to note here is that these are very solid travel days, the entire day, not just one or two hours.
The driver will most probably be too tired to get any enjoyment on the evening of arrival.

Well, actually upon reviewing michelin.com, googlemaps, and a few other resources; most places we are visiting is 1-3 hrs apart which is a comfortable drive for us and what we a re use to. Amboise to avignon is the longest haul of 7hrs, which we planned our next day there accordingly. Yes, Chamonix is the plan. We are going to ride the sky carts over the mtn to Mount Blanc area. So excited for this trip!

Cheers! M&M

Chani,
Day 1: train to Rouen, spend 2 hrs in rouen, drive to bayeux and spend the evening at the DDay beaches. Day 2: mont st michel (1/2 day) and then back to bayeux for last exploring of the things we wanted to finish seeing. Day 3: head to amboise and explore it that afternoon/evening Day 4: explore châteauxs. Day 5: long haul to avignon. Day 6: really explore avignon Day 7&8: lyon Day 9: day trip to alps (chamonix) Day 10: last day in Lyon. Day 11-13: beaune, burgundy. Day 14-18: paris/versailles. Day 19 fly home.

Removing most cathedrals and museums (which are not of interest to us) really reduces the "things to see" in each place. This leaves lots of time to eat, drink, engage with the people, and see the great outdoors of France.

cheers! M&M

I recommend a bike tour at Versailles, since you are active. We saw parts of the grounds that we would not have seen on foot (and we walk fast). We biked through gardens, completely around the canals, saw the "out buildings" including Marie Antoinette's village, and then went into the palace itself later in the day when the crowds were less. We booked with Bike About Tours (I think) but there were many other companies going around.

Hi Maegan,

I was concerned that you might not be aware of the driving times, glad to know you had that nailed down.

I assume you are arriving in Paris a day or more before taking the train to Rouen.

Would it possibly make sense to stay one night in Chamonix (or Annecy) between Lyon and Beaune, instead of going back to Lyon?

Chani. That is an idea I had been tossing around. I am glad you suggested it too. We very well may do that.

I love the biking idea to Versaille! Thank you for the tip!

I am concerned about your first day. Where are you traveling from? If from overseas, you aren't likely to have the energy to do all that you have planned. There also may not be enough hours in the day even if you aren't tired. You need to allow time for getting to the train station, waiting for the train, getting the rental car, finding your hotel, checking in, etc. Plus, two hours is not nearly enough time to tour the battlefields. (They are spread over 50 miles.). You need at least a full day. You might want to skip Mont St. Michel. If you can't bear to, maybe stay there one evening.

I think the rest of your plan is pretty good, although I would not want to travel so far to Avignon for such a short time. Especially when there is so much there that you won't be able to see. But it may very well be worth it for you.

One caution - when you are calculating driving times, make sure to allow time for packing, checking out, finding your new place, getting settled, etc., not to mention traffic jams.

I hope you have a great trip. France is fantastic!

Be careful about estimated driving times on websites. You should usually add about another 1/3 on to the projected time to get an accurate estimate. Chani did a nice job pointing out the sheer time you'll be spending in traffic. Also if I were going from Avignon to Lyon and then spending a few days in Lyon, I would absolutely ditch the car and take the train. You could pick up another one after for Burgundy.

I like the idea of spending a night in Annecy or Chamonix. I realize you are also trying to minimize check-ins and check-outs as well so it might not work but both are beautiful.

At Versailles in 2008, we rented bikes right on the grounds, at a bike corral at the bottom of the grand stairs in the gardens behind the palace, on the right. As described above, it allowed convenient access to sights (no helmets available, though).

Five years earlier, we rented bikes in Amboise and pedaled out to tour the Chenonceau chateau, really a pleasant ride, after seeing the chateau in Amboise and the town. We were heading to Bordeaux the next day, so didn't see more of the Loire after that.

In Paris, not quite a museum but a worthwhile sight is The Crypt, at the edge of the plaza in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Excavated Roman foundations under the modern plaza in this small space include ancient Roman-designed heating and plumbing structures, plus bits of buildings and streets, with modern Paris just overhead. Quite an interesting, but short visit.

We're not 27 anymore, but have done our share of short stays and long-distance stretches between destinations. France is big enough that trips have generally been just to the north, south, east, or west, with the exception of a 9-week trip in 2003. Two months ago, our visit included 3 weeks just in Avignon, then a week a bit down the road based in Saint Remy. As noted earlier, for some folks at least, Provence alone could justify 19 days. And if the Riviera is not of interest (Nice is nice, and the surrounding area was another too-short week of our trip this summer, and we never set foot in a casino or on a beach) I'm curious why you desire going to Saint-Tropez?

Cyn,
We have removed it from the list to have more time relaxing in Avignon. We had it on our list because of the history with the man in the iron mask. There is an isle a ferry ride away from st tropez to visit his cell. I suppose that will be for another time though.

Cheers!
M&M

M&M, at the start of our trip, before heading to Avignon, we had a couple of days in Marseille, having arriving by plane. Just off the mainland is the island whose chateau was the setting for the imprisonment of the Count of Monte Cristo, which is possible to visit by boat. What's left now is basically just the island, and we'd have had to kill more than 2 hours until the boat returned to take us back. That was one island we were happy just to view from a distance. Have a great trip.