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Southwest France Itinerary with children - July

Posted by on

Hello everyone! I'm hoping for advice.

My husband suddenly found himself with time off from work next month, so we are hastily throwing together a two week trip to the Southwest of France, a region we have visited in the past, but never with our 8-year old twin boys.

We arrive Toulouse July 10th for 3 nights, pick up rental car and drive to Urrugne (near St. Jean de Luz) for 5 nights. This part is ok.

Then we had planned to stay 3 nights in Rocamadour and then 3 near Carcassonne before heading home, but turns out we have only 2 nights between Urrugne and Carcassonne (I booked a place near Carcassonne for 7/20 - 7/23 and now it can't be changed; I didn't realize at the time we'd need to arrive there a day later)

I hesitate to drive from Basque country to Rocamadour for only 2 nights because
a) it would be almost 5 hours without stopping
b) I would take the route north past Bordeaux and then east, and I'm sure we'd want to stop, so it would be closer to 7 hours in reality
c) we'd only have one full day in Rocamadour before back in the car to drive almost 3 hours to Carcassonne
d) we have two 8-year-olds with us and we suspect we may love the Rocamadour area (we have visited before) more than they will

I see two options:
1. Reduce number of nights in Urrugne from 5 to 4 and spend the 3 nights in Rocamadour. (We stayed in Urrugne over 10 years ago and loved the area but never made it to San Sebastian, so this trip we wanted to have both time to relax, plus make sure we get to San Sebastian.)
2. Stay the 5 nights in Urrugne, stay 2 nights somewhere along the way between there and Carcassonne. If so I would very much appreciate ideas.

My husband thinks we should skip Rocamadour in favor of somewhere along the way and I'm torn.

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
632 posts

Do your boys like the Three Musketereers? Between Urrugne and Carcassonne is Gascony. It is the home of D'artagnan, and the Muskereers. For example there is the town of Lupiac, which claims to be his hometown. In the town of Condom there is a statue dedicated to the heroes and a beautiful cathedral.

This NY Times article about [Gascony][2] has been posted before, but it gives a good description of the area.

Posted by
4132 posts

Well, a lot depends on your boys, and on you of course.

But I would have thought that prehistoric caves, combined with stone fortresses from the Hundred Years War, with maybe a boat rode down the river, would be worth the trip. Though it is a good 5+ hours drive to the Dordogne and Lot area. Carcassonne not much quicker.

I'd stay a bit to the west of Rocamador, at one of the small towns with castle on the river.

Worth skipping Carcassonne for, in my view, and/or cutting your stay in Toulouse short by a day. It is a trek, but you can fly home from either Toulouse or Bordeaux.

Posted by
12 posts

Belated thanks for the replies! I decided to reduce Urrugne to 4 nights and do as suggested, we are staying 3 nights in the Dordogne near La Rogue, west of Rocamadour. When we drive from Toulouse to Urrugne I plan to stop the trip in Gascony, maybe Auch, for lunch and a bit of walking around.

Again, many thanks!

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