Sampling as many regions/cuisine as possible in 19 days in France?

I would remove the northwest segment of your trip altogether, so Dinan/Honfleur, because it is indeed very far from Dordogne.
And as a comment, Carcassonne is as French as it gets, there is zero Spanish flair there. I would say that the border between France and Spain is really strongly marked and with the exception of small areas around Bayonne (Basque country/ Euskadi) and Perpignan (Catalonia), you do not have the same cross-border cultural continuum you can experience in, say, Colmar or Nice.
Carcassonne is still very much worth a visit in its own right.

Now for your route: with the 4 nights saved from skipping Dinan and Honfleur, I would add 2 to Avignon (tons of sights in the area) and 2 to Dordogne (Dordogne takes a while to explore). Definitely spend 3 nights in Colmar, but just 1 is enough in Carcassonne.

To get from Colmar to Annecy, I would try to rent a car between Colmar and the French side of Geneva airport. You will need to purchase a Swiss toll sticker (vignette) at the border, but the drive through Switzerland will save hours on trains, and having the car will be very helpful to go to Chamonix and explore around Lake Annecy. You can then return the car at Geneva airport to fly to Nice.

You do not need a car in Avignon or to get from there to Carcassonne, but to visit Dordogne you basically have to rent one: you can do so on Carcassonne, or in Toulouse if you find better options there. Roads in Dordogne are winding, but not that narrow overall.
Then after Dordogne, I would drive to Bordeaux and take the train to CDG airport for the final night.

I loved visiting the Dordogne. We did the canoe trip and felt the day would have been better spent if we had stayed on land - we missed poking around a lot of the cute towns - plus it was hot in July, the current was slow and we had to paddle a lot. Loved the cave trip. We also did Normandy/Mt. St. Michel. Don't miss it. If you are going in the summer, you can tour Mt. St. Michel after dark. It is magical - no crowds and beautiful live music. We went back a few years later during the day in May and it was crowded. We had no problem driving to Dordogne and Normandy. Enjoy!

Thank you both SO VERY MUCH! I truly appreciate and rely on the personalized advice! It's extremely helpful to know the driving is not too difficult. That gives us both confidence! Thank you for the insight into the renting the canoe. That is great to know. Depends on if we feel more like seeing the sights or getting some exercise in, I guess.

And the detailed advice for transportation in the Alsace/French Alps area is GREATLY APPRECIATED!! I will look into that immediately. Carcassonne is definitely on my list!

Maybe if I can squeeze in a few more days we could go to Carcassonne and then to the Basque French area and then train Bordeaux to Paris? Maybe take three more days? something to consider. Come back for another trip in a couple years of Honfluer/Mont St. Michel/Normandy D-Day beaches then London and Cottswolds then York and Edinburgh.

One question: Is the Provence region and the Dordogne rather similar? Meaning it is chock full of beautiful, dreamy small villages? Or is the topography quite different? I hope that does not sound too ignorant.

Again, thank you SO MUCH!

One question: Is the Provence region and the Dordogne rather similar? Meaning it is chock full of beautiful, dreamy small villages? Or is
the topography quite different? I hope that does not sound too
ignorant.

Provence is a region, Dordogne is a department (and a river) The Dordogne is part of the Périgord region
In order not to complicate things, I am not talking about administrative "regions" that have different names.

These two regions are not at all similar. The climate is not the same (drier and hot in Provence), so the vegetation is completely different. This means that for example in the Périgord we produce nut oil, in Provence olive oil.
The style of houses and the materials used to build them is also completely different.

If the Périgord has no cicadas, it has many medieval villages and chateaux and is the region with the largest number of villages classified "most beautiful villages in France".

Hi from Wisconsin,
Lyon is missing from your program. I think Lyon is the food capital of France.

I copied the following.

French Auberge
Another type of French restaurant is an Auberge which serves rustic family-style meals and is often attached to rural bed and breakfast, hotels or inns. An auberge terroir uses French government certified local ingredients for the ultimate French country farm to table dining experience.

Let me speak highly of the auberge terroir, very highly of the noon meals these places put out. Fabulous food for remarkably low prices. Even their evening bonanzas are a very good price. You pretty much have to ask a local where they are located and book ahead.

wayne iNWI

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

I am researching the heck out of all your advice, and our itinerary is shaping up like this: Colmar-Lyon-Annecy-Nice-Avignon-Carcassonne-Sarlat-La-Caneda-CDG Airport hotel (Fly home the next day.)

I now have more questions, if anyone can shed some light:

1) Is it reasonable to hire a taxi or Uber or private driver for CDG to Colmar? We will be so jetlagged after 11 hrs in coach!

2) If we pick up a rental car in Colmar and drive to Annecy, is there a border stop/check? Can we buy the car sticker that allows for travel in Switzerland beforehand? Do we need to fill out different forms or paperwork regarding COVID 19 and our proof of vaccinations for Switzerland as well?

3) If we train (instead of getting rental car in Colmar) from Colmar to Annecy, would it be wise to add one night in Lyon to break up this 6 hr, 2-3 train change trip? (Thank you for the Lyon suggestion!)

4) If we fly Annecy to Nice via Geneva airport, does the border crossing require a need to re-do the proof of immunization documents or Covid testing? If we have a rental car from Colmar can we drop it off in Annecy before the flight?

5) If we opt to drive Annecy to Nice, is it a difficult drive? It looks to be approximately six hours, and this will be our first time driving outside of the United States, so we will have quite the learning curve. We need to understand the toll roads and continue with our Babbel subscription to learn as much French as possible, which we will do anyway, of course.

6) We are definitely renting a car in Carcassonne to drive to Sarlat-La-Caneda. (Or some other village in the region)
Can we drop the rental car off in Sarlat and then train to CDG? Or should we just drive to CDG and drop car off there?

Again, thank you SO VERY MUCH for any guidance, suggestions and comments! It's exciting sitting at work and getting an email notification that there is a response! It's hard to wait for a break to read them! :-)

We did a quick excursion to Chamonix from Annecy by blahblahbus and it did work but it would have been better to have had a car in this area. And the Dordogne is very slow going -- add some days there. Lyon is a major food capital and so if your goal is cuisine, that is a good place to visit.

Number 6, From Sarlat, you can to drive two hours to Bordeaux and take a fast train into Paris.
Or, you can drive two hours to Toulouse and take a flight directly to CDG.

Yes, add a night or two in Lyon. It will be worth it.

In Carcassonne, I'm going to suggest you stay in the old town. During the day, Carcassonne is filled with what seems like millions of tourists going from one tacky souvenir shop to another. But at night, after the day trippers have left, and the shops close, the streets will be quiet and you can truly get a feel for this medieval town. I was there last November and could walk for awhile at nigh with only my shadow for company.

THANK YOU!

DEFINITELY staying in the old town in Carcassonne then. Thank you!
Definitely driving to Bordeaux to catch fast train to CDG/Paris then. Thank you! Hopefully there is a car rental company that I can drop off my rental car from Carcassonne in Sarlat or Bordeaux.

Definitely going to try to have a car in Annecy. I am assuming parking will not be an issue there?

it sounds like you're on some whirlwind reality show. Perhaps you should slow down and lose a third of the sights, so you actually see and enjoy your vacation.

YES WE SHOULD slow down and smell the roses! And maybe after I simmer down a bit I will take a long hard look at this itinerary and edit and fly from point to point! Thank you for that suggestion!

At bit too much travel to me.

I'll be sure to follow this thread. My Wife and I are thinking of planning a 3-4 week trip a few weeks after we are both retired to kick off retirement in a positive mode. But we like slow travel, and I was thinking just 2 areas.

Traveling is fun, but so is the planning :-). Good luck!

Glenn

We prefer slow travel too, so 19 days/nights would be three places at most, probably two.

Parking in Annecy is expensive but availability is not an issue in September, and a car there is very useful to visit the lake - Annecy itself can be visited on foot in a couple of hours, no more.

As for driving through Switzerland: the toll sticker can be bought at the border crossing just before Basel. Then, while in Switzerland, religiously follow the speed limits! Fines are very high if you do not.

On second thought, I would skip Nice as well and stick with the Avignon area to minimize travel times.

Thank you, Balso! Very excellent information!

So I think we have settled on an itinerary. Would like to buy the plane tickets in the next few days.
Fly into Geneva - immediately bus to Annecy.
1) Annecy. 4 nights. Rent car for at least 1, preferably 2 of the days. Daytrip to Chamonix and hopefully at least two alpine hikes, weather permitting. This will be the first week of September.
2) Annecy - Lyon. 2 nights. To break up train ride Annecy-Nice. I know absolutely nothing about Lyon, but I will learn.

3) Lyon - Villefranche, 3 nights. An easy 5 hour train ride, it seems. Originally we were going to fly Geneva - Nice, but with Covid-19 possible hassles, the border crossings, the chaos at the airports right now, and the dimension and weight requirements of carry-on luggage, we opted to stop in Lyon (or somewhere) to avoid the plane travel this trip. We are staying with family in Villefranche, so this is a must stop. But we have been there before three times, so three nights is sufficient.
4) Villefranche - Avignon. 2 nights. Train is an easy approximate 3 hours, I think.

5) Avignon - Carcassonne. 1 night. Easy 4 hour train ride, I think. I do not love one nighters, ever. But we need to break up the Villefranche-Sarlat travel. And this looks like a spectacular place, especially at night. (OPTION WOULD BE RENT CAR IN AVIGNON AND DRIVE TO SARLAT AND SKIP CARCASSONNE, BUT NOT SURE OF DRIVING TIME/SKILL REQUIRED FOR THIS ROUTE)
6) Carcassonne - Sarlat. 3 nights. Pick up rental car in Carcassonne and drop it off in Sarlat or Bordeaux? Preferably in Sarlat to avoid driving in Bordeaux!? Again, want to avoid driving in a big city.
7) Sarlat - Bordeaux. 2 nights. Flying home from Bordeaux. Again, I have done ZERO research on Bordeaux so far. St. Emilion looks amazing.

So we dropped of Colmar and the Alsace region, which I was very sad about. But something had to go, i guess. We will come back for Alsace, Normandy and French Basque next trip.
This will be our 7th Europe trip. They have all been "whirlwind" trips, except for once when we rented apartments for two week long stays. I actually prefer the whirlwind style, although it is a VERY fine line of how fast is too fast. One-nighters, generally speaking, are not pleasant and not fair to the destination nor the traveler, in my experience. Four nights, for us, is the sweet spot because we get a good flavor and general idea of the destination, but we always want to return and further explore in the future. However, we have never traveled by car before, so maybe car travel will be more flexible and less hectic in some respects? We will find out!
If anyone has any input on this (still whilrwind, I know) itinerary, I would LOVE to hear it!

THANK YOU, EVERYONE!!

Definitely spend a third night in Avignon and just one night in Carcassonne (it's quick to visit!).
Look up car rental options in Carcassonne : if you find something you like, it is better than renting Avignon (where you don't need a car if you just stay for 2 days), but options in Carcassonne could be limited.
And return the car in Bordeaux because options in Sarlat are very limited. The train station in Bordeaux is not very central, so driving there to drop off is not too bad! Also, you could stop in St Émilion on the way to Bordeaux.

Overall it is still a fast-paced trip - a 4th night in Sarlat would be helpful - but I have seen worse.

Thank you, Balso, again, for the great advice. I am going to try to add an additional night in Sarlat and/or Avignon. If I can only choose one, which would you recommend? Or should I change Lyon and/or Bordeaux to one night stops to add a night to Avignon and Sarlat maybe? And THANK YOU for the car return information. We will return the car in Bordeaux, then! That helps!