San Sebastian - Biarritz - Paris

I was quite unimpressed by Biarritz. I liked Bayonne a lot more; it has a nice medieval center. However, with as little time as you have and an apparent desire to have 3 days (that's 4 nights) in Paris, I'd spend a bit of time in San Sebastian and/or Bilbao (unless you want to totally avoid risk of duplicating what your younger daughter might already have seen) and then go to Paris. I think adding another stop might not repay the travel time involved.

Keep in mind that changing base cities takes considerably longer than the train schedule indicates by the time you pack up, check out of your old hotel, get to the train station 15 minutes before departure time, make the trip, find your way to your new hotel, check in and figure out your new environment. For covering long distances, a TGV (express train) will be much faster than driving if a TGV route happens to connect your starting and ending points.

I'm confused about your reference to taking "a few days trips from there [Paris] to Normandy (Gerberoy) or Brittany (Dinan)". I don't see how it makes sense to take multiple daytrips to the same area or even to two different places in the same direction, unless someone is providing you free lodging in Paris. Are these two trips something you're thinking of taking while you are spending three days in Paris? That would leave only one day for Paris itself.

I liked Bordeaux--though most people seem to go there in order to spend time in the Dordogne/Lot rather than primarily for the city itself. I really liked Brittany, but it is a long slog on the ground from the Basque Country, whereas the trip from Bordeaux up to Paris is on a fast TGV. I don't know what sort of flight options you'd have for Brittany; skyscanner.com is a good place to check schedules. For Normandy it might be best to route through Paris. I don't know anything about Gerberoy, but I see that it's north of Paris.

I'm curious about what others will recommend.

What you want to do is very ambitious and, IMHO, you will spend a lot of time driving or in trains and not enjoying much.. San Sebastián is gorgeous and is a food capital of the world so two days there would be a good stop. Biarritz is also a lovely town and also worth a visit. You can combine it with Bayonne or St Jean de Luz which is a very attractive sea side town. If you decide to be in that part of the world I would suggest you fly to Bilbao may be overnight there, a day in San Sebastián, a day in Biarritz then train to Bordeaux if you would like to visit some gorgeous wineries and enjoy local seafood ( oysters are the best there!) and then take TGV to Paris and spend few days there. Alternatively, you can fly to Paris - your daughter can fly there also from Bilbao - spend 3 days there and then take a car and spend 3 days in Normandy / Brittany. So here are few alternative for you..Cheers

Sorry for the delay in responding to your tips. Thanks for taking the time to give me your thoughts. I got a bit overwhelmed so put things on hold but am now back at it. I booked our flight to Bilbao, it arrives mid morning. My older daughter and I need to get to San Sebastián. We are thinking of renting a car and I was wondering if this is something that is easier to pick up at the airport OR if we can get to San Sebastián another way and then rent a car there for the next leg of the trip. We are looking at this point to drive from San Sebastián to Brittany (Dinan) staying there for one night/maybe 2 and then heading to Paris. Depending on how the travel goes we stay outside Paris for one night and then spend the next 2-3 nights in Paris before flying out. We would like to return the car upon arriving in Paris. I know it seems like a lot of driving but we really enjoying the ability to stop where we want to along the way. Please let me know if you have any good ideas for places to stay in Dinan or Versailles/Normandy outside of Paris. Thank you!

flonsinger,
Just fyi.....
Have you checked about car rental? Renting in one country and dropping off in another adds 500-1000 euros to the cost. (It is not a simple thing for the rental company to return a car to its country of origin. And insurance, liability issues add to the complications.) In planning out your route, you might want to use Viamichelin.com to get drive times between locations. They usually offer options of fastest, cheapest, most scenic, etc. Their times don't account for gas/food/comfort stops, so add an hour or two to their time, depending on the drive length. Viamichelin says drive times between San Sebastien Spain to Dinan, Brittany, France will take between 7 1/2 and 10 1/2 hours, not including any stops mentioned above. Biarritz to Dinan takes about 7 to 10 hours but avoids the huge extra drop-off fees.

Oh, yes. Car rental facilities in smaller towns may have limited hours/days, and limited car choices or rental companies. Worth checking out, especially if renting or returning on a weekend or during lunchtime. This doesn't apply in large city airports of course, or large city train stations.

Another point is to take a look at a map of Normandy. Dinan is in the part of Brittany close to Normandy, but Normandy is a large area. Do you know what you would like to see or do in Normandy, or would you prefer to go straight to Paris from Dinan? By the way, Versailles is close to Paris, as is Chartres. You could stay at either place and enjoy their highlights. Drop the car there and go to Paris by public transportation. That lets you avoid driving in Paris (a nightmare!) Paris to CDG airport is easy by RER or taxi.

There is a lot to consider in getting from San Sebastien to Paris. I wish you luck and a happy trip!

You might be better off using public transport until you’re in France, then renting a car for the French part of your trip. Or rent 2 cars - one for Spain and one for France.

A Spanish registered car can’t be re-rented in Paris so it will be have to be driven all the way back to Spain by the rental company. You can imagine the costs involved.

Don't rent a car in Spain and return it to France, you'll pay exorbitant drop-off charges.

From San Sebastian, take the train or bus to France, for example to Biarritz, where you'll find car rental companies (Hertz, Sixt, National, etc.).

Furthermore, with a car rented in Spain, you won't have the Crit'Air sticker on the windshield (for low-emission zones), which is mandatory for driving in Paris and its suburbs.

Anyway, I wouldn't do the trip from Biarritz to Dinan in one go, it will be very long and tiring, at least 7 hours without stops for breaks or lunch using the fastest route (toll highways).

Stop for a night halfway, for example in La Rochelle

https://www.nouvelle-aquitaine-tourisme.com/en/la-rochelle-ile-de-re/three-days-in-la-rochelle

So after mapping things out I am realizing it is WAY to many stops. We are staying the night in San Sebastián and then taking the bus to Biarritz the morning of June 7th. We booked ticked on the fast train to Paris arriving in the afternoon. We are staying the night in Paris and looking for a two day adventure, so far have checked into Honfleur, maybe Etretat with a stop Gerberoy on the way back to Paris. We need a place to rest our head on June 9th. We finish out on June 10 & 11th in Paris and have MORE than enough to do for those two days. Any help or insight for the two days would be appreciated . Sorry for the back and forth:)

flonsinger,
Regarding Paris. if you have two full days there, you should pick 3 or 4 must sees for you and your daughters. Come back to the forum with your uishes and someone here may be able to help you "map" out your plans.