first time visitors to France

You're going to be in the car a lot. Your itinerary can be done but many of your days are going to have 4 to 6 hours on the road. I'd suggest leaving Giverny, Bayeaux and Mont St. Michele for another trip and concentrate on the Dordogne and Provence.

Do have hotel reservations in hand before you go if you're going to be doing so much driving. You don't need to spend more time looking for vacancies. Kent will advise you to get a GPS with your rental car - that's a good idead for where you're going. Be aware that Avignon and Pont du Gard are the other direction from Arles than Nice, so a swing-by won't be very efficient.

I haven't read the previous posts about Carcassone on this site, which I assume from your post were not that great -- but perhaps those people have not yet seen the new Rick Steves PBS show on the Languedoc/Carcassone area of France. I have, and have put Carcassone on my short list of new places I want to see.

Thanks Doug for the advice. I am already looking at hotel options in each of our stops, but unfortunately I can't book anything until our dates are certain. And I am definitely planning on bringing my GPS with me pre-loaded with France maps. Giverny and the Mont are my daughter's picks, of course she also is keen on visiting Monaco while we're in Nice. It's tricky trying to fit enough in to be meaningful to both of us without being completely overwhelming.

BG - I haven't seen this episode yet but would like definitely like to, I have each of Rick's episodes that I have seen saved on my tivo. Other posts I've read on here (and a fairly recent article in National Geographic Traveler) say to avoid Carcassonne because it's very crowded no matter what time of day/year, and extremely touristy. Posters have likened it to Disneyland. My daughter doesn't feel one way or the other about it and I'm totally not a crowd person, so I cut it out. But I would be interested in visiting another medieval city in the Languedoc area, I actually was looking into Minerve or Caunes-Minervois, both would make good stopovers between Beynac and Arles. Any suggestions? I would just have to trim something else out or tack a day on. :)

Colleen,

Regarding the D-day sights, you may not think you are interested, but going to the cemetary at Omaha Beach is one of the most moving experiences I have had travelling. My husband is a big WWII buff, so we drove along the coast and made quick stops at various places. But, when we walked through the cemetary and down to the beach, I was very choked up. If you are in Bayeaux, I would strongly recommend going to Omaha Beach even if it is just for 30 minutes, since you are so close.

Carcassone is quite cool if you'll be nearby. Yes, it's touristy (and actually much is a fanciful reconstruction) but most midieval sites in France are. MSM is choked with souvenier stands and tourist restaurants almost all the way up. Carcassone is at least a little more spread out. Because you'll be in Arles, Google Les Baux for a different and more realistic site. Come to think of it, you might consider staying in St. Remy de Provence instead of Arles. Easier car access and its handy as a better base to see Arles, Avignon and Pont du Gard.

Since your daughter will be starting college presumably in September, I would suggest you go in June. These two big exciting events in her life (and your life) should not be competing with each other. Give her time to enjoy each.

Also, this looks like you copied the itinerary from one of those spring break school trips where they keep the kids in the motor coaches for a whirlwind tour. You'll enjoy it much more if you cut it down. Do you really want to keep up a pace that will have you at each other's throats by trip's end?

Your itinerary is certainly very reasonable. I wouldn't recommend this pace for a particularly long trip, but what you have tenatively planned is very reasonable.

I would note that if the cost of the GPS is going to be significant, I would skip it. France is one of the easiest countries in the world to navigate (road signs are easy to follow and everywhere), and for some reason that I can not explain, GPS seems to fail in certain regions of the country.

Other than that, you seem to have planned a very interesting trip. Have fun!

If you like Mont St. Michel, I think you'll probably like Carcasonne, and vice versa. If you are looking to avoid crowds, you will probably be disappointed in either place. I've been to both and think they're both memorable and not to be missed. The trick is, like so many places that have been so thoroughly "discovered", they're mobbed during the day. But if you spend the night there, you get a few hours in the evening and early morning before the tour buses roll in, and while the places may not be completely deserted, you don't have to fight your way through the crowds (you will from mid-morning until late afternoon).

I'd go to both, but your itinerary is quite ambitious already. If it were me, I'd skip Monaco and Nice.

Go in June, and concentrate on Paris, and anything within a day or two travel from Paris. Giverny, the DDay beaches(most important for Americans,we took our daughters there when they were 12 and 16 and it was a very emotional and moving experience for them, and their dad and me, this was in 2000); Versailles, Mont Ste Michel. You might add the Loire Valley. The chateaux there are exceptional and full of romance and intrigue, esp for an 18 yo girl. I have found that traveling "around" in any country in Europe is much more challenging than we, as Americans, have been told, or imagine. I have been to all of the places that you listed, but it was spread out over several trips to France. There is so much to see, and as Rick says, and forgive me for the caps, but "ASSUME YOU WILL RETURN."

You and your daughter should have fun while you are there. Don't be so ambitious about seeing everything. It's been there for hundreds of years and it will be for hundreds more. Relax and enjoy your time with your girl. It's a beautiful country, with fabulous people, and you'll get along better if you're not in a hurry.

My best wishes to you for a good, happy trip!

Colleen,

If you are totally not a crowd person, then do not go to Mont St Michel. It will be shoulder to shoulder either of two times you have short listed to.

PS, Monaco is a very easy and quick train ride from Nice, you can pop over look around and be back in half a day if you wish.

PPS You will never have an opportunity like this to travel alone with your dd. Take as long as you can squeeze in,, every extra day is worth it,, I think people tend to rush in and out too quickly from Europe, I always think most bosses would not be amiss with someone asking for a few extra days for such a significant trip.

"If you are totally not a crowd person, then do not go to Mont St Michel. It will be shoulder to shoulder either of two times you have short listed to."

Let me add a little to this statement. At night and in the morning, even in June, you'll have the island nearly to yourself. The crowds don't arrive until mid-morning, and they die down by late afternoon. So, your plan to stay the night should allow you to avoid the worst crowd excesses. If you walk up to the abbey just after breakfast, you'll finish seeing this magnificent structure before the first day-trippers arrive.

One of my most memorable travel experiences was standing on one of the ramparts watching the sun set, with only a few other quiet tourists.

I did the same route a few years ago. We stopped to see may castles on Loire valley, small towns, wineries, Marseille for half a day, whole Golden Cost. You don't need 2 days in Ambroise and Beynac.
Stop in a city called Grimaud.This is one the most beautiful cities I've ever seen , second after paris.
Google it to find out more about it.

Thank you so much to everyone for your responses and advice. I definitely have a lot to think about! As far as timing, I agree that I don't want to muddy the times between these two important events in her life, but the price difference in airfare alone is $500pp to go in September vs. June and some hotels have lower rates after 9/1 as well. I'm a single mom and this trip is a very, very big splurge for me so the more that I can contain costs the better.

Lastly, I just have to say that I especially loved the private response I received to have my daughter plan our time in one of the locations she wants to go to (vs just input on what she wants to see). I pitched this to her yesterday and she was so excited, she immediately started poring over websites, magazines and my guidebooks. She already has our time in Arles planned down to the restaurants she wants to eat at and has now firmly staked her ownership over our time in Nice and Monaco. And here I thought I was the only planner/control freak in our family! :)

Colleen, this is a lovely, thoughtful itinerary that stops at many of my favorite places.

But, I think you are trying to cover too much ground. I understand why, but I think you will both have a more memorable trip if you arrange to spend less of it in your car.

The pace for the first part of your trip is brisk but feasible, assuming you are nimble. But once you leave the Loire you have a series of day-long drives broken only by stops at wonderful destinations that deserve more time than you have to give them.

So, I hope the two of your will think hard, screw up your courage, and agree to save one of these wonderful regions for another trip. You'll have a really great time.

In my opinion your itinerary is too much...too American. The more the better is one way to travel but you may end with memories that blur one into another.
I lived in Nice for a year and this city can be missed. It is the few wonderful small villages nearby that were fabulous, Like La Turbie and Eze Village. Oh, I really enjoyed Monte Carlo.
You can take a short train trip to see Giverny from Paris...no car really needed. Amboise is certainly wonderful and the various small villages nearby may be a better way to spend your time rather than driving so far to see Mt. San Michel and Beynac. Arles is a great city but spending extra time in Paris rather than Arles would be my choice.
Sometimers spending more time in a cafe, just wandering and finding your own gems is part of the adventure of travel, not just listing city after city that you have visited.
But, whatever you do, have a wonderful time.
I took my 15 year old daughter to Paris for a week and it was a grea time.

Hi Colleeen... You do have a lot of driving. My husband and I drive in France every year to photograph, but the distances are often farther than people tell you. Once we drove from Burgundy to Beynac and everyone said it took 4 hours. Oh, no. It took 10 hours. Just a thought... driving is easier in September... less people. The roads are lovely, but if I were you I would pick 3 places and use them to see the sights around there. As an example, we always start in Paris.. drive to Burgundy for a while... drive to Isle-sur la-Sorgue or somewhere in Provence.. and then meander back to Paris, fly home. We stay in one place for 4-6 days and visit the sights around there.