My husband and I are driving through France in October, and I am hoping some of you seasoned travelers may be able to help with a lodging suggestion. We will be staying in Bayeux then driving down to the Dordogne region (Domme) for a few days. I have been looking for a place to spend 1 night in between just to break up the drive. We love nice quaint hotels and lovely B&Bs. I appreciate any suggestions!
Posted by
France Southwest
1838 posts
From Bayeux to Domme, you can stop at Tours which is a fairly large pleasant town about halfway and with quite a few accommodation options.
Posted by
Washington DC
27205 posts
I liked Poitiers, which ViaMichelin says is about 3 hr. 50 min. from Bayeux. Poitiers has a very pretty historic center as well as some extremely old churches. Somewhat farther along is Limoges, again with attractive historic architecture, as well as several good museums of decorative arts. Oradour-sur-Glane, the site of a horrible Nazi atrocity, is not far from Limoges; the events are memorialized in an excellent museum.
Neither Limoges nor Poitiers is a tiny place; I don't know whether driving into the center of either city would slow you down a lot. That's a long drive, even split across two days.
Posted by
425 posts
Take a look at Chauvigny, 20 K east of Poitiers. Very charming small town. Drive right in, easy free parking,
https://visitpoitiers.fr/en/discover-grand-poitiers/chauvigny/
Posted by
Chicago
8092 posts
Definitely stop at Oradour sur Glane to visit the preserved ruins of the village and museum; it is one of the most horrific events of WWII and they do a good job showing what happened.
It is a little detour off the main highway but Angers west of Tours has an amazing castle and the Apocalypse Tapestry, which unlike the Bayeux Tapestry is made up of actual tapestry -- It is displayed in the castle and is quite something. Very much worth an afternoon and night stop.
Posted by
OP
Florida
84 posts
Thank you all! I have decided on a pleasant hotel in Azay-le-Rideau. I really don't like just spending 1 night in any location, but we will eventually head to the Nice airport. We will drop off the car and take a private car ride to Florence. We have driven through France once before back in 2017. We are now just that much older and realize this may be the last time we can drive all over like we love to do! And yes, we will be stopping to see Oradour-sur-Glane . . . a place we wanted to see when we were previously in France.
Posted by
Chicago
8092 posts
WE can no longer drive and we do miss those charming little towns we would stay in on the road here and there. And we regret a couple of things we put off and now will never do.