Two weeks in France (with children)--itinerary for Paris, Provence, Dordogne?

I haven't been to Provence or the Cote d'Azur. If you choose the Dordogne, you'll need a car -- or more likely two. I'd suggest renting a gite somewhere near (but not in) Sarlat. Visit some of the caves with prehistoric art -- Peche Merle, Font-de-Gaume, Rouffignac, Lascaux II (a reproduction but very faithful to the original and perhaps more like what the original inhabitants saw than what you can see now in the other caves). And castles like Castelnaud and Beynac, the walled hilltop city of Domme, the vertical town of Rocamadour. Sarlat has a wonderful outdoor market twice a week. Sample truffles and pate. Paddle a canoe or ride a gabare down the river. Should be enough to entertain all ages for a week, with appropriate downtime as needed or desired. (A pool or access to one would be a plus.)

I'd spend the other week in Paris, rent a big apartment (google "Paris vacation rentals" or use the reliable homeaway.com or vrbo.com sites). A place near the Luxembourg Gardens would give the kids access to fine playgrounds, rides, the boat basin, and puppet shows. Get museum passes for the adults, see what interests each of you most. Since you've done this kind of trip before, you must know that splitting up sometimes can add enjoyment, though your kids might not be old enough to do much on their own.

Paris and Bordeaux have fast train connections, and Bordeaux is a few hours' drive from the Sarlat area. You could fly home from Bordeaux (probably via Paris) to save time backtracking on land. Use the dbahn website and a map to look for other train connections (Perigeux? Souillac?) But I'd expect car rentals from, say, Orly, to cost a lot less than nine train fares.

I would consider a week along the Cote d'Azur, perhaps in a house/apartment in Antibes.
Followed by a week in Provence, perhaps in a house/apartment in Arles.
Both of these locations have easy train links, reducing your need for car journeys everyday.

Hi Laura,

Here's my trip report from June/July 2015 (family trip including Provence and the Dordogne).

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-and-a-half-weeks-in-france-with-kids-part-1

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-and-a-half-weeks-in-france-with-kids-part-2

The Dordogne was 100% fun, every moment of every day for every member of the family. The kids loved it. I wish we could go back every year. A car is essential.

Provence was hit or miss with the kids with their favorite thing being the bull games in Arles and their least favorites of the entire trip being the Pont du Gard and Vaison la Romaine. It was super hot everywhere we went, but the heat in Provence is more typical than in the other places. A word of advice - there's a good amount of mosquitoes in the areas around the Rhone (at least) and since the French don't have screens on the windows you may want to spring for AC in the house that you rent. However, before you sign up be sure to verify with the owners that the bedrooms have AC. The house that we got was advertised as having AC but only the living room had it, making sleep on the 100 degree days difficult.

Also, I was contemplating doing a similar trip to your Austria/Bavaria trip. Could you send me the details?

Thanks,

Matt

The description of Dordogne by Dick was spot on. We were in a gite near Cenac for a month 14 years ago and loved it. Back there this summer in the same gite with our 17 year old grandson and a friend of his. We all enjoyed it a lot. Go to the Saint Cyprien market Sunday morning and get chicken, veggies and desert for a great dinner. There's a pastry shop on the way to Saint Cyprien that is fantastic, a must stop.

Thanks so much for all these suggestions so far! This is really helpful. Keep it coming! I will digest it all and see if I have questions.

Matt, here is the itinerary for our Bavaria/Austria trip, which was really great. At the time the cousins were 3, 7, 8, and 9. Garmisch-Partenkirchen was a good home base for the middle week; we stayed near Ludwigstrasse on the quaint Partenkirchen side. Other days were at hotels. We kept a busy pace but worked in lots of kid-oriented fun (alpine slide, swimming, ice cream almost every day) and a mix of history, scenery, and action, plus pretzels and biergartens. Having a home base also allowed us to time our schedule precisely according to the weather, since Bavaria can be a bit rainy. We rented two cars for the 9 people. Let me know if you have questions! It was a wonderful trip.

Day 1: Arrive Munich, dinner at Hofbraukeller biergarten. Group who arrived the previous day spent the day at Legoland.

Day 2: Walking around Munich (Marienplatz, Peterskirche, Frauenkirche, Hofbrauhaus, English garden, Residenz Palace. We traveled by subway (U-Bahn/S-Bahn) and foot with a stroller for the 3 year old. Dinner at Chinese biergarten in English garden.

Day 3: Deutsches Museum Transportation Center--great for kids. Leave Munich, drive to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Stop on way at Kloster Andechs (monastery with baroque church/beermaker with scenic biergarten). Climb the dome for nice views. Dinner in Partenkirchen on Ludwigstrasse.

Day 4: Cable car to summit of Zugspitze (highly recommend).

Day 5: Linderhof Castle (elaborately decorated, beautiful grounds), Ettal Monastery, Oberammergau (small town known for painted buildings, woodworking, passion play)

Day 6: Old Olympic Stadium, Partnachklamm (very cool gorge in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, hold your kids' hands tight if it's a wet day!). Swimming at local indoor pool with water slides on rainy afternoon.

Day 7: Mittenwald (pretty small town known for violin making, woodworking), afternoon at the sommerrodelbahn (Alpine slide--kids and adults all loved it).

Day 8: Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles (classic), picnic lunch at Hohenschwangau.

Day 9: depart house in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for Salzburg. Long day of gorgeous scenic driving via Waldensee, Bad Weissee (stopped for picnic), Bayrischzell, Schliersee, Alpenstrasse to Oberaudorf, through Rosenheim to Salzburg. Dinner in Salzburg.

Day 10: Tour Salzburg. Festung Hohensalzburg, Cathedral, shopping, Mirabell gardens (nice playground here), ice cream, etc.

Day 11: Gaisburg mountain panorama (little known, quick drive to top, excellent views over Salzburg). Day trip to Hallstatt, Austria (highly recommend). Picnic lunch in Hallstatt at beautiful park overlooking the lake near the farthest parking lot (happy accident due to not finding parking close to town right away).

Day 12: Stiegl brewery tour. Drive to Berchtesgaden. Afternoon of eating cakes and swimming in hotel's pools.

Day 13: Boat trip on Konigssee, walk from end of Konigssee to Obersee (highly recommend)

Day 14: Rossfeld Panorama road (lovely but somewhat superfluous after all the other scenic driving we'd done), lunch and shopping in Berchtesgaden, tour of Berchtesgaden salt mines (highly recommend for kids).

Day 15: fly home.

Fantastic, thanks!
Matt