South of France/3 weeks

It would help if you could specify your interests and where you live. 3 weeks is a great amount of time for southern France. I think I'd leave Burgundy for another time.I know that you can fly into or out of Nice from many places in the U.S., with just one change, usually CDG or FRA; and I would look into open jaw tickets from one of the cities to the west - - Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, or ?

The area around Nice boasts many attractions in addition to the city itself. There are many sites for art lovers, especially modern art. Fondation Maeght in St. Paul de Vence is notable, but there are also museums that feature Picasso, Renoir, Matisse, Chagall, etc.

If history is your interest, you can start with pre-history in the Dordogne. Roman ruins and archaeological sites abound in southern France, including in Nice, Arles, Nimes, St. Remy, and Vaison la Romaine. Medieval sites are also plentiful in the region. There are innumerable beautiful churches and abbeys to visit, including, among my favorites, St. Trophime in Arles and St. Michel de Cuxa in the Cerdagne.
For nature lovers, the Gorge du Verdon is quite beautiful. Very different, but beautiful as well, is the Camargue. The calanques provide still another kind of nature experience.
It seems almost unnecessary to mention that the region is known for production of wine, with many possibilities for winery visits.
My suggestion is that you consult some good guide books. If you can't get one that covers the whole south, look for those that focus on Cote d'Azur, Provence, and Languedoc-Rousillon. You can rough out an itinerary, then come back with more specific questions.

Wonderful thoughts here. Thank you so much! We are history lovers. We are wine lovers. We live in Southern California, and have visited the wine regions of the State numerous times. Love the beauty of a countryside. While I love museums, if the weather is pretty I wouId rather be outside. If it is raining, I will hit the museums and be inside. I have been reading Ricks book on both France and Provence itself. He has a portion in the book on how to do Provence in 2 weeks. I would really like to follow this reccomendation. But we will have another week of vacation. I have been conflicted about what to do with that week. Go into the Italian Riviera, Portofino and the Cinque Terra, or simplify and stay in France? If staying in France what would be the best use of the remaining week? Again, thank you so much for your help!

If you're traveling between March and October, you could spend that extra week on a drive-it-yourself barge, on one of southern France's lovely waterways.

You don't need any boating experience. There are several companies to rent from, and several options for itineraries. We went in mid-September, and had perfect weather. We rented from Locaboat, picking up the boat in Agen. They gave my husband a short course in driving the boat, while I got instructions on navigating and operating the locks. Then we were off. We spent maybe a day on the Garonne Canal, then turned onto the River Baise, going to Valence sur Baise, then turning around and heading back to Agen.

That week was one of our memorable travel experiences ever. It was in the middle of a month in France, so we had spent a couple of weeks catching trains, checking in and out of hotels, checking sights off our list. To suddenly be on a little boat, with no timetables, no suitcases to carry around, was so relaxing. Waking up on the river, in absolute quiet, was magical. We stopped whenever we liked, for as long as we liked, in charming little towns. We had our best meal in all of France in the little town of Buzet.

If you decide to do this, and are looking at various waterways, you'll find that many people choose the Canal du Midi. It looks like a lovely trip but it's so popular that there can be traffic jams of boats, with people waiting an hour or more to go through a lock. We watched it for a while from Carcassone (before we picked up our boat) and it almost looked like bumper cars. And, it's a man-made canal, not a lovely winding river. In contrast, we seldom even saw another boat on the River Baise ... it was like we had it to ourselves.

This could be the perfect answer for the extra 7 days. Thank you so much for this thought. I would have never come up with this and it sounds wonderful!

It really was the most amazing week. If you decide to do it, I have a few tips that may be helpful, so post another question or send me a private message.

A lady we met as we were turning in our boats said she felt like she started the week as an avocado, and finished as guacamole! And that seemed to capture it perfectly. We were so relaxed and mellow and contented after a week on the river, with a camera full of gorgeous pictures and some memorable adventures along the way.

Hi Bruce,

I spent 3.5 weeks in France, much of which was spent in the south. My trip reports are below. It was a family trip (wife and two young daughters) so you may be looking for something quite different. That said, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions. I have an excellent Beynac house rec. and have put together a matrix of drive times for Provence that is helpful for deciding on a home base. We flew into Paris and out of Geneva, taking advantage of Icelandair low-price airfares from Boston. We found that flying into Bordeaux or Toulouse was very expensive (nearly double the price that we ended up paying). I should note that I have also been to Burgundy and liked it very much as well and have also been to Nice and did not like it at all.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-and-a-half-weeks-in-france-with-kids-part-1

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-and-a-half-weeks-in-france-with-kids-part-2

Best of Luck!

-Matt

Matt, Thank you so much for your thoughts here. I have been quite interested in going to Provence. I live in Southern California and flights are reasonable both financially and convenience wise into Nice. Having never been to either Nice or Burgundy I would love for you to elaborate what you liked and didn't like about both cities. I thank you so much for your council here!!l

Bruce,

My wife and I went to Beaune in 1999 and 2005 and to us, it has everything we want in a town. Easy access by car or train, minutes to beautiful countryside (best on bike), super friendly people, relatively low cost, and some of the best food and wine I've ever had in my life. It is just a wonderful place to be. I've been all around Europe and find that I'm most happy when I'm in the villages and small towns of France and Italy. I love the connection between the food and wine and the regions. For me, Nice (visited in 2005) was kind of the opposite - traffic clogged, relatively expensive, feels very impersonal (all typical city things). This is likely just my personal style of preferences, but I intend to spend most of my travel time exploring more rural regions than in European cities. It is worth noting (for perspective) that while Paris (or Rome) is likely my favorite city I've visited in Europe, I would by totally fine with never returning.

For Provence, choosing a home base is challenging. Some of my favorite towns are not centrally located and you have heat and bugs to deal with that are not necessarily an issue in other parts of France (something to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to spring for AC). Rick's book on Provence is a good start to get a feel for site-seeing priorities before choosing a home base (or deciding how many home bases you will need).

-Matt

So I really get the feeling that you prefer Burgundy over Provence? If you had 3 weeks to spend in France, how would you divide it up Matt? Again, we have been to Paris. Loved it, but have done it. We do want more of a rural countryside vacation. In addition, I always like to do what Rick reccomends and fly into one city and out of another. Where would you reccomend to start and finish this trip along with roughly how much time to spend in these regions?

Thanks again.

May I introduce Barcelona as an arrival option ?

Barcelona (3 nts)
Provence (6 nts)
Cot d'Azur (6 nts)

Then either ...
Genova (1 nt)
Cinque Terre (3nts)
Milan (2 nts)

Or ...
Lyon (2 nts)
Burgundy (3 nts)
Paris (1 nt)

For me (addressing your question from early), Provence and Burgundy are equally loved, though I've only spent 9 and 4 days, respectively in each place, so I'm not an expert on either. To answer your other question: If I were to travel with my wife (no kids) for 21 days along the general specifications of your post, I would probably do something like this:

1. Fly into Nice, 3 nights in a small town in the vicinity of Nice
2. 3 nights in Roussillon
3. 3 nights in Arles
4. 3 nights in Vaison la Romaine
5. 4 nights in Beaune
6. 4 nights in Colmar
7. Drop off car, train to Zurich, fly home from Zurich (leaving one night open for this.

-Matt

And here's my alternative option where you split time between France and Italy (note in the other version you have a car the entire time):

Fly into Milan, train to Cinque Terre, spend 4 nights there
Train to Nice, 3 nights in the Nice area, pick up car during your time here
3 nights in Roussillon
3 nights in Arles
3 nights in Vaison la Romaine
4 nights in Beaune
Fly home from Lyon or Geneva (allowing one night for this)

I would probably choose this over my previous itinerary.

-Matt

Matt, Thank you for these thoughts. Couple of questions. I'm always concerned about spending a 4 to 5 hour day driving. Want to avoid this. You reccomend us going from Vaison la Romaine to Beaune.It looks to be a great distance.. Am I correct about this?

Also, love the Cinque Terra idea. It appears that it is a bit of a trek from your reccomendation of Nice being the next destination from there. Do you know about this?

Thanks

Bruce,

According to google maps the drive from Vaison to Beaune is 3.5 hours 'without traffic'. I have not done this drive but I did go from Avignon to Annecy, which is a similar distance and drive time and found it be okay. The highways are great and the rest stops are plentiful and top notch.

I have done that train trip from CT to Nice (2005). I remember it being long, with a long transfer wait at the border, which could be exacerbated now (just speculating). I can't say more than that as being in the CT overshadowed the trip there. We spent 4 nights in Vernazza and loved every minute.

I am not familiar with the train ride from Milan to CT - others can advice there.

One other thing to note is that you haven't said whether you are looking for self catering places or hotels/B&Bs. The gites in France are great but during high season rent from Sat-Sat (7 nights). If this is what you are looking for you should think about where you would be interesting in spending 7 nights.

-Matt

France is large. I'd start by planning to base in 3 to 5 locations for 5-7 days each. To choose each region, I'd look for something special that draws me - could be ancient cave paintings, the Alps, Van Gogh, Joan of Arc. From my own experiences and researching, wherever you go in France, you'll find vineyards, wineries, quaint villages, chateaux and churches. Once you have your bases, it will be easier to string them together and come up with a route.

How about the Basque Country,we stayed in St Jean De Luz which is on the Atlantic Coast,great culinary area and you can visit the hill towns which have their own personality.That area has the start point for the pilgrimage to Compestela,look at Ricks France book.We also liked Langduoc and stayed in Coliure and Carcassone where the castle is.
Mike