seeing france by car

For your first trip to France, and since you did not mention going to Paris, I would suggest flying into Toulouse, Bordeaux, or Nice. You could also fly into CDG, train to Bordeaux or Avignon and then pick up your rental car. I enjoyed all of those cities, and found them easy to get to know in the "centre ville" area. Since I do not know where you are flying from in the US, it's difficult to select for you.

I think if I had to pick one, I would go to Avignon, pick up your car, and drive around Uzes, Orange, St Remy, Arles, and the Luberon area. Don't miss the Pont du Gard near Uzes.

You need to realise that France is basically the size of Texas, but each region of France is quite different from all the rest.

So you have quite a broad horizon to aim at.

Can I suggest just focussing on one or two regions, depending on what appeals to you, and I wouldn't pick regions that are too far apart from each other.

France's roads, highways, and Autoroutes are much like the rail network there - linking large centres and extremely focussed on Paris as the hub of a big wheel.

During our summer trip to France, my husband and I enjoyed towns in Provence as previously suggested, but we also enjoyed the Loire Valley. We stayed in Amboise two nights, and I would love to go back there. Lots to enjoy, but easy to get around. We also enjoyed driving between the two areas because it was interesting to see the change in countryside between various areas of France.

May would be a good time in the Provence area - pleasant weather but not as crowded or hot as we had it this past July and August. To add to what's already been suggested, Marseille is another potential city and airport. We actually flew into the Marseille airport (actually located some distance away from the city, but a quick bus ride into town), took the train to Avignon and got a car there after spending several days without one, and eventually turned the car in in Nice and flew home from there.

In the area east of Avignon, I'd add l'Isle sur la Sorgue and Aix en Provence. Further east, between Aix and Nice is the "Grand Canyon" of the Verdon river, spectacular by car & covered in Rick's guidebook. Rick says you can whiz thru it in an hour or two, but it's a whole-day visit.

Be prepared with your International Driver's Permit from your local AAA office, and for narrow country roads (sometimes lined with trees and no shoulder) and some tailgating, and super-fast, passing drivers. The speed limits seem to often be ignored by locals - by a large margin!

If you find yourself on the Autoroute toll highway, have cash. Our chip-and-signature credit cards didn't work at the credit card-only tollbooth lanes, but we had currency and coins and got change back when we paid in the cash lanes.

Hi William. France is my favorite place. My first Rick Steve's tour was Paris to Provence and ended in Villefranche-sur Mer; a similar tour is offered now with different places. During that tour, I loved Paris and have returned many times; the same for Villefranche-sur-Mer. Villefranche is 5 km from Nice, on a frequent bus line and train line. You might want to end your trip in Nice (or start there) and go without a car for a few days to see Nice, Monaco and Villefranche, then pick up a car to see places easier reached by car then head North. Vaison-la-Romaine is beautiful and best done by car to see Orange, and other fabulous places with small wineries and markets (sorry, I am drawing a blank with other town names). I have yet to visit Beaune, but it is on my bucket list. You could fly out of Paris and spend the last few days there dropping a car off in Beaune and train to Paris.

I also enjoyed Avignon and the surrounding countryside, with wineries galore, and Arles. Have a look on the net or in Rick's books for the market days. The most memorable part of that first tour was the market in Vaison-la-Romaine, wow. It was a Tuesday in late September or early October. Nice also has a fabulous market on the Cours Saleya almost daily. Having picnics from your market purchases is another of my best memories of France.

Isle-sur-la-Sorge is another gorgeous place with a wonderful market and many waterwheels; good for a half-day visit. Aix en-Provence is a fountain filled city; worth at least 2 days.

So many places! Enjoy your trip.

Provence has the Roman monuments while the Dordogne mixes its small towns with prehistoric cave art that are among the most memorable (and old) sites in Europe.

Flight costs may guide your decisions. Flying into Toulouse, Bordeaux, or Marsaille from Boston is significantly more costly than Paris or Geneva. Check out how prices impact your itinerary from where you are departing from.

I think you ought to start by narrowing down the regions you are interested in. There are zillions of interesting small towns and villages and a trip by car will be the perfect way to see them.

On this board, people talk about Provence, Dordogne, Burgundy, Normandy and the Loire the most, but there are other regions that are very interesting. My personal favorite is Auvergne.

You may want to search on "the most beautiful villages in France" for inspiration.

Pick your regions of interest first; that will determine the best airports. However, congratulations on realizing that you don't need to fly into Paris if you're not going to be seeing places nearby. You will need to change planes to get elsewhere (no nonstops to the US except for seasonal flights from JFK to Nice), but the bigger airports like Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux, or Toulouse all have connections via Amsterdam, Frankfurt, etc, so you may not even have to connect in Paris.

It is true that sometimes it costs more to fly to certain airports than others, so it is worth calculating the total price (in both money and time) of getting to where you want to be, and considering alternatives. For instance, Marseille and Nice are about 3 hours apart, so if you get a much better deal into one or the other, you could make that work.

I'm with Harold. Find a couple of places/sights that really speak to you. It could be the Lascaux Caves, the Normandy beaches, Picasso's Arles, or Chamonix's alps, there are lots of others. Then look for airports nearby. For instance, Geneva is closest to Chamonix, and while Strasbourg has an airport, Frankfurt's is a couple hours away by fast train and has many more options.

I spent about 11 days in late June starting in Chamonix, going through Beaujolais, Burgundy and Alsace. Lots of small towns and tiny villages, lots of tourist infrastructure everywhere, GPS is a necessity, even with good Michelin maps and driving directions. I think most of France is similar in those respects.

Paris will have the best airfares and you can take the train from the airport to many destinations,I just took it from CDG to Tours and picked up my rental car there to visit the Loire Valley,hope this helps you as driving in Paris is nerve wracking.
Mike