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4 days -Nice to St. Tropez to Millau

Posted by (Toronto) on

Hi Everyone, we booked tickets for a 9 day trip to Paris, and would like to use 4 of those days to see the Pont Du Gard, Nice, Monaco, St. Tropez, and then drive to see the Millau bridge.
A) Has anyone seen all of those places in one trip?

I googled the driving distance from Monaco to St. Tropez and it is only 2 hours (138km).
B) How bad is the traffic in that area? How much more should we expect to take to get from place to place?

C) Car Rental - Is it feasible to pick up a car in one city and drop off in another city? Are there additional penalties/charges for this?

If we can do that, then take the train to Avignon, drive to Monaco, Nice, St. Tropez, Millau & then drop off the car at Toulouse, and fly from there to Paris.

We are okay with flying from local airports/taking more trains to make this plan work, but I'm not finding a lot of connections from Toulouse. The Nice Airport seems to be more accessible and have a lot more connections.

D) Is there an interactive map for the train/rail system in France? From the websites I have seen so far, it looks like I need to know the name of the place/station that I want to get to, and the pages sometimes take awhile to load up.

Posted by
9110 posts

A. Yes, but it was before the bridge was finished, the only time I crossed it was going north-south.

B. Traffic will vary on which road you take, for much of the riviera, there's a low, middle, and high road. High is freeway and you'll fly. Low is slow and miserable. Middle is middle. Take your pick on where to drive for each segment.

C. There might be a small fee for droping separted from pickup. Make dummy runs on a car rental site and see what happens. The cost, if any will beat the wasted time of changing modes of transportation.

D. for somebody else to answer

The Milau bridge is spectacular, but way the heck out of your way (2.5 hours from Nimes, about the same from Toulouse). From Milau to Paris is about a six hour drive and there's some pretty good stuff to see along the way.

Posted by
8700 posts

Are you flying Toronto-Paris and Paris-Toronto? If so, instead of taking the train to Avignon and driving to Nice, why not either fly or take the train from Paris to Nice to avoid backtracking? Take the train between Nice and Monaco. Pick up a car in Nice and drop it in Toulouse. Use it to get to Saint-Tropez, Pont du Gard, Millau, and Toulouse.

easyJet is a budget airline that flies from Toulouse to both Orly and CDG. It also flies from both Orly and CDG to Nice.

Another alternative would be to drop your car in Montpellier after you've seen the Millau Bridge and take a direct TGV from there to Paris.

For detailed train timetables use the German Rail site.

Posted by
12 posts

Thanks Ed & Tim!

Yes, we are flying to/from Paris.

Tim - great suggestion on the TGV from Montplier. And it sounds more efficient to visit Pont Du Gard enroute to Millau.

Ed - Thanks for giving us the travel time from Nimes to Millau, and from Millau & Toulouse. From what you said, it seems like we can get from Nice to St. Tropez easily if we use the high freeway.

Posted by
8700 posts

You're welcome, Lisa.

When you drive from Nice to Saint-Tropez, I suggest that you get off the autoroute (freeway) at Mandelieu-la-Napoule and take the D 6007 and the D N7 from there to Frejus along the north and west side of the Massif de l'Esterel. The viamichelin.com site shows this to be a scenic route and gives a travel time only slightly longer than using the autoroute. Then take the coastal route to Saint-Tropez.

I think that Ed has driven every road in France :). Perhaps he'll chime in and give his opinion. (I haven't driven that stretch myself.)

Posted by
12 posts

Hi Everyone,

Below are two itineries I came up with after reading your comments, and going through Michelin. Any suggestions are welcome.

Itinerary 1 (Paris-MSM-Millau-Riviera-Paris)
Day 1: Arrive in Paris, stay 3 nights
Day 2-3: Stay in Paris
Day 4: Check-out, rent a car and drive (allow 5 hrs) to Mont St. Michel, Stay. Aim to be there by 4pm
Day 5: check-out MSM, Drive to Rennes, fly to Montepellier, Drive to Millau (allow 2hrs), See bridge, Stay.
Alternate 4&5: train to Caen, rent a car, drive to MSM, and next day drive back to Caen, and fly to Montepellier
Day 6: check-out, Drive to Nimes (allow 2.5hrs), see Pont Du Gard, then drive to St. Tropez (allow 4hrs), stay 2 nights
Day 7: St. Tropez (or another nice place along the coast)
Day 8: Checkout, drive to Nice (allow 2hrs), stay. Drive to Monaco & back.
Day 9: Checkout, fly to Paris. Last relaxing half-day in Paris. Go on a cruise, hang out by Eiffel Tower at night

Another option would be fly from Rennes to Nice, drive along the coast to Millau, and then follow Tim's suggestion and take the TGV from Montepellier to Paris

Itinerary 2 (Paris-Riviera-Millau-MSM-Paris)
Day 1: Arrive in Paris, stay 3 nights
Day 2-3: Stay in Paris
Day 4: Fly to Montepellier, Drive to Millau (allow 2hrs), See bridge, Stay.
Day 5: check-out, Drive to Nimes (allow 2.5hrs), see Pont Du Gard, then drive to St. Tropez (allow 4hrs), stay 2 nights
Day 6: St. Tropez (or another nice place along the coast)
Day 7: Checkout, drive to Nice (allow 2hrs), stay. Drive to Monaco & back.
Day 8: Check-out, Fly to Rennes, rent a car and drive to Mont St. Michel, Stay. Aim to be there by 4pm
Day 9: Checkout, Drive to Paris (allow 5 hrs) . Last relaxing evening in Paris. Go on a cruise, hang out by Eiffel Tower at night
Alternate Day 8 : Fly to Caen, rent a car, drive to MSM, and next day drive back Caen, and Train to Paris

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