Hello,
My husband and I are planning a trip to Europe at the end of May. We are planning to arrive in Paris and spend 4 days there and then drive to Barcelona stopping in Loire valley and Bordeaux. We are thinking 2 nights in Loire Valley, 2 nights in Bordeaux and 4 days in Barcelona. Does this itinerary makes sense? Thanks!
This Itinerary is pretty good. Is this written based on a 2 weeks vacation? The days are spread out correctly. The 2 major cities of course deserve the most days. I was wondering if you had extra time that would allow you to do a stopover in Marseille because it is along the route to Barcelona and it is a nice city. From Bordeaux to Barcelona straight is a 7 hour and 17 minutes drive. You might consider to limit the long distance drive by stopping at Marseille.
Marseille is way, way off the direct route from Bordeaux to Barcelona.
Shoshana, it sounds like you plan to pick up a car in Paris and drop it in Barcelona. Doing something like that usually results in a very high drop charge--many hundreds of euros. Although good train routings between Bordeaux and Barcelona are infrequent, there are departures at 10:34 AM (6 hours) and 12:34 PM (7 hours) that require just one change, in Narbonne.
The central part of this itinerary seems like it has a lot of driving. You'll be driving around the Loire Valley, then you have a significant drive to Bordeaux (time required depends on where you start from, obviously), so it will probably be mid-afternoon by the time you get to Bordeaux (you'll need breakfast and lunch). After less than 1-1/2 days in Bordeaux, you're facing a 6-hour drive to Barcelona, which will put you in that city fairly late, giving you not much more than three sightseeing days in a city which could certainly use more time than that. I look forward to seeing Bordeaux on my next trip to France, but I don't think I'd be willing to do all the driving you plan in order to include it in this itinerary, and I'd certainly rather have that time in Barcelona.
I'm quoting ViaMichelin time-estimates above, which are thought to be a bit optimistic and which definitely do not include any stops, looking for parking, getting lost, etc. Traffic impact around both Bordeaux and Barcelona could be an issue as well.
RJean,
Yes it is based on a 2 week itinerary. We are taking a cruise out of Barcelona on the last week and we are doing a one day stopover at Marseille. Thank you for your input.
acraven,
Thank you for your input. I should have said that we are planning on taking a train to Barcelona after Bordeaux. Maybe we should nix Bordeaux and spend more time in Loire Valley?
I haven't been to either the Loire Valley or Bordeaux, so I'm not the one to ask. Also, I dislike palaces and castles.
Have just come back from Bordeaux, its a stunning city, very walkable. The drive from Nantes down was about 3/3.5 hours on the payage, and very easy, no delays or traffic jams and lots of service stations. Probably easiest to drop the car off at Bordeaux airport and get the bus into the city. Marseille is definately not on the route it would be a major detour!
