My husband and I are planning a driving trip for September 2025 to Chamonix, Annecy, and the wine regions of France. We plan to be gone around three weeks and begin the trip by flying to/from Geneva, renting and returning a car there. First, we plan to drive to Annecy and spend perhaps 4 nights, secondly drive to Chamonix and stay for perhaps another 4 nights. From there our wish is to visit the Alsace area and stay in or near Colmar for a few nights and then onto Burgundy, staying in or near Beaune for 4 or 5 nights. Perhaps next do the same in or near Lyon as a base and visit wine areas in that area. We are looking for suggestions on our driving route from Chamonix that makes sense for these planned destinations with a return to Geneva airport. Trains, cable cars, buses, etc. are not an option for us due to my husband’s motion sickness issues.
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10714 posts
I’m bumping this back to the top so people will see it. I hope you have an amazing trip.
Posted by
Somerville, MA
679 posts
All sounds great. Keep in mind that if you are booking a Vrbo, Airbnb, Gite, etc that some of the best places in France rent Saturday to Saturday. I’m going to drop the link to the place that we stayed below. Another tip is that when we spent a week in Burgundy we day tripped to Arbois in the Jura. Another big wine town.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14957 posts
I spent 3 nights in Colmar a few years ago and thought it was so charming! I stayed at the Hotel Saint-Martin in the old town but not sure that would be convenient since you will have a car that needs to be parked. I enjoyed Colmar so much I wound up staying in town seeing the sights instead of taking a day trip to Strasbourg!
Since it sounds like you might be interested in wine, there is a wine route in the area. When I was there, there was a small shuttle bus that took you around to the surrounding towns and wineries but not sure that would work with your husband's motion sickness. I have no direct experience with it as it was not of interest to me but you can also drive this on your own. September is harvest time which is a great time to be in wine country.
I did enjoy the city "discovery tour". I got the map from the TI office and then followed on my own. I did find that each site had a QR code for an indepth history/description of what I was seeing so you definitely need data on your phone to access that fully.
Posted by
OP
St. Paul, Mn
16 posts
Thank you for your replies. Any ideas on an itinerary for our driving route from Chamonix?
Posted by
Gig Harbor, Washington, USA
1879 posts
We visited Chamonix and Annecy as part of our Switzerland / eastern France trip a few years ago. I would cut down on the time for those two towns and add it to other destinations. Chamonix is a pretty ski town - two nights there would be plenty in September. Annecy is charming, but two nights is also enough for that destination - enjoy the town, take the cruise on the lake. You probably already know this but you can get a French rental car at the Geneva airport.
Posted by
USA
411 posts
Take a look at the Michelin Green Guides for the areas you're visiting. They describe just about every town in the region of interest to tourists and have suggested driving routes for daytrips.