Favorite regions, towns, villages, etc... in France. Planning my first.

Breathtaking landscape: consider Rocomador- the town is perched on ledges on a steep cliff face, and overlooks a valley; nearby is also Albi.Dordogne rivers;all Not very Americanized; Provence along the roads between the mountains and the sea. Loire chateaus- very popular but still very much worth it. And of course Mont St Michel for scenic (and tourists). Brittany for wild open country and ancient stones, Normandy for apple orchards and farms (away from the beaches), Vosges Mountains

Eze on a hilltop overlooking the med!!

Try driving the famed "Route Napoleon" from Grenoble down to Cannes, going through great alpine towns like Gap, Sisteron, and Castellane. It'll give you exactly what you're looking for.

I endorse all of brian's suggestions, and Eze, as Tom suggested, is wonderful. You'll find tourists anywhere you go. But I also love cities, Paris and Nice in particular. Missing them would be a shame, but really there isn't much of France that I don't love except some of the industrial areas.

What time of year? Do you want snow in the mountains in winter, summer sun & beaches, fall foilage, flowers blooming in spring...that could help you narrow it down. And what are you shopping for? For really, truly off-the-beaten-path, you'll need lots of cash and a good GPS! And the ability to speak some French will be essential to making reservations at the B&Bs that go with the breathtaking landscapes and quite towns/villages.

Planning a trip for the end of September next year. Will end the trip in Paris, of course! My trip will start in Southern Italy (Amalfi peninsula), then driving through Umbria and Tuscany, then will make my way to France with a stop maybe in Northern Italy (combination train/car).

My favorite towns: Cassis, the Luberon villages, Vaison la Romaine, Uzes, St Remy, Chinon, Bayeux, Giverny.

Hi Scott, We were in France this past September and had an amazing time. We landed in Paris, and drove to Chamonix. The drive there was quite scenic, as we drove right into the French Alps. Once we were there, we went on a few cable car rides to go from one mountain to another and then a semi-private, 45 minute long trip to Italy. It was surreal and even if we were not in a cable car, the 360 degrees views were breathtaking. From there, we drove through the Mont Blanc tunnel into Italy and took a trip to the Italian Rivier, drove through Monaco and finally stopped in Nice. The whole Riviera area is a different kind of beautiful, definitely more crowded, and what you would expect when one thinks of the Riviera. From Nice, we drove to Millau to see the world's tallest bridge and stayed in hotel right on the banks of the Tarn River. This area was definitely off the beaten path, and we felt the mood overall was very tranquil and laidback. The Tarn River surprised as we didnt expect to enjoy the area as much as we did - we even did boat cruise on the Tarn River, and never before had we seen water so still and clear (check out bateliers des gorges du Tarn).
We then drove Toulouse to fly to Paris, and stayed there for 4 nights. We loved Paris too. Since we had seen very beautiful, yet very different vistas until then, we were quite content to take it easy in Paris, and that was probably was the reason we enjoyed it so much. We even rented a scooter and rode around from one end to another and it made us feel more like locals. Hope this helps, feel free to ask questions on any of the places we visited. All the best with the planning. We planned majority of this two months before the trip.

Roussillon (in Languedoc) just before sunset, when the bulk of the tourists have cleared out, was AMAZING! Also recommend Uzes (wonderful Saturday market) and St. Remy.

If you're coming up through Italy, definitely take in the Riviera. Eze is beautiful, Juan Les Pins has great beaches, and Cannes La Bocca is a good low-rent place to stay. Plus, you can easily get to Monaco which is stunning as well. Then you'll have to decide which direction you want to travel to get to Paris. We just spent several nights at a B&B in the Bourgogne region and drove through some remote areas with spectacular views along our travels. But you can also get spectacular scenery in the Dordogne region on an almost opposite side of France. The Loire chateaux are beautiful, but I think there are other more stunning areas visually and you've been given lots of choices already. You'll definitely have some tough choices to make!

Get up into the Pyrenees, south-west of Foix. It will knock your socks off!