6 days in France

If you are willing to fly, you can visit anywhere in France, and fly home from Paris, Toulouse, Nice, or Lyon. From that point of view it is really a question of where you would like to go. Logistics do not absolutely dictate anything. By train from S Sebastian, in 6 hours you can be in Toulouse, a lively place, and launch a circular road trip that includes the Dordogne and Lot valleys and perhaps a bit of Languedoc, ending at the Toulouse International Airport for your trip home. Of course, in 7 hours you can be in Paris. Another variation, if you are interested in SW France, would be to take the train to Bordeaux (about 4 hours) and drive to the Dordogne area, then head south ending in Toulouse.

Which area is better to see in that amount of time Dordogne or Provence? If you had to choose.

Which area is better to see in that amount of time Dordogne or Provence? If you had to choose. That's a very tough call! I think you really should decide based on what seems most compelling. Roman antiquities and Provencal culture, or neolithic art and fortress towns from the 100 Years War? In your case I think the Dordogne (and Lot, don't forget the Lot!) has a slight logistical edge. You can be there in 6 hours and arrange to end in Toulouse for a flight home. Provence is an easy 2-1/2 train ride from Paris for a future trip. But if you can fly, really you should decide based on what what calls to you.

Looks like Dordogne is a lot of site seeing of Caves. Is there anything else to do in that area?

The Dordogne is so much more than Caves. It is an amazing mix of nature,pre-history, Medieval and Renaissance. Everywhere I went was beautiful and incredible. If this is your first time to France I wouldn't want to miss Paris. Logistically, Paris and Provence are an easy combination because of the high speed train connection.

When are you planning to go? Will you rent a car for either location? That might determine which location would be better for you. We have been to the Cote d'Azur and Sarlat without a car. The Cote was pretty easy by public transportation. We stayed in Antibes and took public transportation to Nice for the things we wanted to see there. The Mediterranean is way more beautiful than I ever expected after so much habitation for so many thousands of years. The Dordogne was difficult by public transportation. We took the train from San Sebastian to Sarlat. There we hired a guide to take us around for a day. That was great. My primary interest was the caves, but he told us about and took us to a medieval castle built right into a limestone cliff. It was fascinating and he was charming and funny. I would say that a car is necessary to fully explore the Dordogne. We were in Provence last summer with a car. Although some may disagree, I think you could make a decent trip in Provence without one, but driving makes it much easier and less complicated to see a lot of what the area has to offer, especially for 6-7 days and especially if you pick a central location and rent an apartment. As others have mentioned, the TGV is very fast from Provence to Paris and you can take it direct to CDG airport.

By the replies it looks like it is best to rent a car once I get to France. I'm just not sure how to get to Provence from the North of Spain any other way then taking a short flight. It doesn't really appear like a train is a good option from Logrono Spain to Provence. Has anyone been to Logrono and then traveled to France?

I think you are right about that. When we flew from Lisbon to Florence a couple of years ago to save time, we had to take 2 totally separate flights (Lisbon to Madrid and Madrid to Florence) on two different airlines to save money. Check Skyscanner for flights from northern Spain. I did a preliminary look and it appears to be much cheaper to go to Madrid or Barcelona from Logrono and then to Nice or Marseille in two separate flights than to try to search for it as one trip. Use the DB website to search for train options from Logrono. It looked like to me that the train will get you to Madrid almost as quickly as flying and that it will get you to Barcelona in about the same amount of time as it takes to get to Madrid. In any case, be sure to check out the details for both the train and flying. I saw some very long layovers on the 1 stop flight options aalong with some odd stops. Whatever you do, it will probably take up most of your day to travel from northern Spain to southeastern France.

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