Trip in 3 Months, Take a Look, Any Enhancement Suggestions?

The huge flaw in your plan is that you didn't invite me. It's not too late!

Hey Matt, we are a family of 4 (two boys 8,7) from Western MA headed to Europe this summer as well, June 20-July 16. You are way ahead of me with your schedule! I keep fine tuning mine. We are headed to Iceland (IcelandAir layover for 2 nights), France, and Spain. Hope you have an amazing vacation!

I think your Yellow Train day is going to be very rushed, assuming you're going to take the full round-trip. (Boarding at Villefranche-de-Conflent?) I made the trip from Bourg Madame, near the other end of the route, and did not have a long commute to get there. It made a full day. You're looking at 2 hours' driving time (at ViaMichelin's estimate) for Collioure-Ceret-VdC, and that doesn't allow any time to see Ceret. Then there's another 1-1/4 hours' drive (at least) straight back to Collioure after the train. At some point you'll need food. I chose to eat in VdC, which did take some time. Even without a sit-down meal you'll want to spend some time there, walking the streets and the wall.

Mont-Louis looked very interesting (and not nearly as touristy as VdC), but it means hopping off the train and walking perhaps 15 minutes (no signage available) to reach the fortified town. I don't think you'd have time for that (I didn't either, because of the bus schedule back to my point of origin).

Thanks - I have some more homework to do on the Little Yellow Train day. I may contact you directly with more questions. That is the most difficult day to get information on.

-Matt

The Prehistory museum in Les Eyzies while visiting Font de Gaume. The town of Les Eyzies has a great place for a picnic down by the river via the parking lot near 20 Avenue de la Préhistoire (look at it in Google Maps that address puts you half a block away ). Adjust your expectations for Font de Gaume, the images are very faint. Even faint you realize that someone made them 20,000 years ago...in a cave, so it's still amazing. As I'm sure you know, everything there is amazing. I assume you did Lascaux already? Ed (who used to frequent the board) always recommended Peche Merle. Sounds like a wonderful trip.

Richard,

This is perfect. So many picnic benches! We will definitely eat there.

We did Lascaux and the Rock of St Christopher last time. We loved them both, but want to do new things this time as we are becoming European cave fans.

We were deciding between Peche Merle and Grotte de Niaux and went with the former because it sounded like a full-on adventure for the kids (long walk underground, head lamps, the whole 9 yards).

Thanks for your input - it is much appreciated.

-Matt

The beach at Collioure is pebbles/rocks, rather than sand. For a beautiful sandy beach go about 10 miles north to Saint Cyprien.

A few things I'd recommend:

In St. Malo, try to be there at low tide and hike out to one, or both, of the little fortified islands. I think the girls would enjoy that. You don't have MSM on your trip but a guided mud flat walk at low tide might be a highlight for your girls.

Along the Rose Coast, see Ft. La Latte. It's a really old castle that has been upgraded and repurposed over time - but still has a lot of the old charm. If the girls are brave, you can climb all the way to the top of the roof using a rope. It's exciting but not too hard. There is also a light house not too far away from that. I didn't think it was great, hardly worth the 2 euro they wanted to climb it, but there are some spectacular cliffs, best for seabird watching all around there.

My favorite thing around Carnac was Cairn de Gavrinis. It's a prehistoric passage mound (tomb ?, they aren't sure) that you have to take a ferry, from Larmor Baden, to see. Everything is in French but it's definitely beyond the standard Carnac experience.

Thanks Brad and Andrea.

-Matt

For day 21, you might consider a trip to Lescun, south of Oloron-St-Marie. It is a beautiful little village up in the Pyrenees, with good hiking trails around it. We were the only American tourists there one day in summer, some years back. As I recall there was only 1 restaurant, with 1 option on the menu, so if you are looking for a food cornucopia, this is not it. Peter

It's been many years since we visited the Grotte de Niaux, so I have to be a little vague. However, I seem to remember an outdoor park of pre-history somewhere nearby. It had some opportunitis for kids to have hands-on experiences. It also had a good museum with some of the finds from excavations in the region.
Ceret turned out to be one of our favorite towns on another trip to the southwest of France. It has a very good museum of modern art as well as a musical instruments museum. The streets of the old town are decorated with tile reproductions of the works of some of the artists featured in the art museum.

Thanks, especially about Ceret. It is difficult to prioritize some of the activities in the final week so this is helpful.

Collioure is enchanting! Wonderful swimming in several different coves that your family will enjoy. They also have a great outdoor market with crafts and picnic supplies. In the summer, Collioure tends to have some nice local festivals.