3 week France itinerary

Strasbourg is worth it; were it not for the bike business, I'd stay there vice Colmar.

On cave day, make sure it's Pech-Merle (Cabrerets)rather than the ones around Les Ezyees.

It looks like you're going to spend the night at MSM. Getting there after supper is fine (the food is uniformly bad), so you need more to do that day and maybe the day prior. Consider adding Dinan and definitely St Malo (for the walls). On the last stretch toward MSN, stop and see the dol-de-bretagne just so you can thumb your nose at people that never heard of it.

It looks like you have time for a couple hours in Rouen between Dieppe and Giverny. You won't regret the time spent.

I think it's a really great plan since you're digging into a bunch of places a lot of folks miss.

I agree with Ed that you're visiting many French cities that others don't include in their itinerary. It sounds like a good plan with pretty reasonable drive times between each destination.

Have you used www.viamichelin.com to check routes and drive times? If not, it's a helpful tool! In addition, a good Michelin map and a GPS can be invaluable. Have a great trip!

I agree with Ed -- allow time for Dinan. We spent more time in Dinan than M-S-M. You've got a great itinerary, like the others have said, with some really interesting places.

We also want to go to Peche Merle next time we're in the area. We went to Font du Gaume, but I've heard that Peche Merle is more impressive. (Still not to be missed either way, though.)

It sounds like a lot of driving to me. I like to have two night stays so you can see some of the towns that you are going to. I really liked Chambord in the wine region and De Vinci's home in Amboise. We did three weeks in France and Belgium last year. We only had two one night stays which were in Mt St. Michael and Honfluer which was enough time for me. Mt. St. Michael was very crowed at 4:00pm but cleared out by 7:00pm. Plan to see the Abbey first thing in the morning before it gets crowded again. Normandy is so neat! We did two Battlebus tours. The American experience and the Band of Brothers tour. I liked the small war museums in the Normandy area better than the big on in
Caen. (small air museum in St.Mereglise and the small museum at Dead man's corner). Sorry about the spelling of the towns? We traveled in the Spring but still found it crowded in many areas of France. Have a great trip.

I just came back from a 3 week trip and we had a total of 8 different cites for overnights. On my next trip I will try to stay more than the 3 nights I planned in most places so we enjoy more and not be so tired.

Sarlat was realy fun on market day, just very crowded. We stayed in Beynac at Petit Versailles B&B (it was our favorite B&B for the whole trip)

While in Amboise, not that you will have time but it seems like your other activities include wine tasting. You may want to go to Vouvaray to the cave tour mentioned in Ricks book. This Cave tour was a highlight of my boy friend as he is a wine lover.

We went to both of the caves mentioned and loved them both. Peche Merle is quite a way off the road so make sure you plan some time to get there.
GPS will be your friend on this trip.