Two Weeks In France

A week in either Normandy (north) or Provence (south) will give you a very different experience from Paris. Or Brittany (northwest), a very, very different experience. If you’re big Bordeaux wine aficionados, Bordeaux might be the choice, but otherwise I’d suggest one of the other regions.

There are additional parts of France, too, but I’d start with one of those three.

I'd also suggest you check flights first. If you choose someplace south, it might work best to fly directly there from home then work your way back to Paris.

If you have ANY interest in WWII history, then Normandie is the place to go. When are you planning to travel? 2024 is the 80th anniversary of the landings so I would not choose to go in June just because of the extra crowds. This area is really amazing. I recommend at least small van tours of the area.

You could also consider Eastern France...I spent time last year in Colmar and thought it was really charming. A week would give you a chance to see some of the wine villages if those are of interest.

I also spent some time in Bordeaux. I enjoyed the town but I think you'd want a car so you could drive east to the Dordogne region and maybe see some of the prehistory caves in the area.

Thank you both! What a wonderful resource this forum is!

And just remembered that Paris is hosting the Olympics in 2024, so July/August are DEF out...

We preferred Normandy over Loire Valley. Along the way you have Chateaus, Monet’s Gardens, and within Normandy you have wonderful hospitality, great food, WWII history, and the ocean / cliffs. Mont Saint Michele is not far either.

You can’t go wrong with any of the areas mentioned. Are you willing to drive during the week outside of Paris? For those areas your visit will be enhanced with one. If you don’t want to drive I think I would choose the Loire or the Riviera. You could stay in Tours (go directly upon landing at CDG) and use it as your base. There is train and bus transportation, and I believe there are tours to chateaux from there. Train back to Paris and fly home after your week there. Or fly to Nice from home. There are trains and buses that will take you just about anywhere along the coast. You could even take the train into Italy. Train to Paris from there.

It looks like you are in the beginning stages of your research. Avoid July August- obviously in 2024 due the Olympics but also due to extreme crowds and heat.

I offer to you a suggestion:

The Loire Valley is lovely but also very popular. How many chateau can one visit? I have toured six, all on different trips. Plan on a half day for each. If you do visit the Loire Valley, take a look at the lesser traveled Azay-le-Rideau. A small population of about 3,500, less hassle/cars/people vs larger Chinon, Samur. Several great restaurants and a park bordering the Indre River - interesting reading about the village flooding twice and building of viaducts. Charming village. Last month we stayed at Le Grande Monarque - fabulous on every level. Large rooms, American style breakfast. Hospitable owners/managers - walking distance to everything in town,
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We are currently in Provence, touring our way north to Paris by car. While we did not do the southern coast, we did spend a few days in the Aix-en-Provence area, Avignon and Arles, which were great, but I would come back to explore the hill towns of the Luberon in a heartbeat. We only had time on our drive to really explore Cucuron, and it was soo lovely. Then we drove past a number of others that I was itching to stop at, but sadly we didn’t have time. If we come back to France it will be to this area for sure…slower pace, scenic and romantic, friendly people, excellent food (and wine, tho I’m not a wine drinker). Lovely!

charissacr-

We loved the small villages of the Perigord/Dordogne region. Our daily routine was to pick a village a couple hours from our home base, select a restaurant there for lunch and then explore a couple other villages enroute.

Now we are putting together a return trip to the Vaucluse region for next year.

We visited Cucuron in 2013 on their market day. I bought some darling “pottery” hearts on leather strings that I use as napkin rings. We especially loved the Cucuron market for its variety of artisan vendors.

Jill