France September 2011

Paris - Rouen - Dieppe - Honfleur is almost five hours of road time. You need a couple of hours in Rouen. Dieppe is off of the fairly direct track. One day in St Malo is enough. You might want to use part of this time to cushion the time in my preceeding comment. Neither Quimper nor Rennes are that special. Don't knock yourself out over them. You're going to need more than half a day at Carnac. You say you might do the Brittany coastal route. I've never done it in one shot, but to hug the coast all the way, I'd guess it's more than thirty hours of driving time. That might be too many chateaux they tend to jumble together in your mind after a while. I like the Dordogne, but you don't have any time to give up in order to spend time there. But, since you're passing through, don't miss the national prehistory museum at Les Eyzies. It looks like a real good basic plan.

Thank you Ed. Appreciate your insight. We'll reach Honfleur from Amiens and wanted to see the Canadian relevant sites at Dieppe. Perhaps we'll drop a day at St Malo and use it somewhere else in Brittany. We thought Quimper as we knew taking the coastal route would be long, perhaps you can suggest another stop? Perhaps we'll add another day in Auray to give Carnac good coverage. Of all the chateux in the Loire those were the ones of interest. We'll probably narrow them down. Thanks for the recommendation of Les Eyzies.

I missed Ameins. Your timing will work okay for that segment. Now I like it. But, I need to stick in a plug for Chateau Gaillard at Les Andelys just south of Rouen. It's in ruins, but interesting for the view of the Seine and the fact that it's the only castle built in France by Lionheart. I also need to make a plug for a quick stop to see the menhir just on the south side of Dol de Bretagne since you'll be passing within ten minutes of it on the way to St Malo. I think the way I'd handle the St Malo to Vannes route is like this (less than four hours driving time): 1. depart St Malo and duck down to Dinan. It's well-documented and a bit touristy, but still interesting 2. leave Dinan and pass through St Brieuc (an honest town with an interesting estuary), stopping for a hour or so then continue to Morlaix for another stop (my favorite town in Brittany) 3. continue to Brest for the night, but bypass it initially to run out to Pointe de Corsen at Cape Finistère (you might want to skip the little extra drive, but I'm a sucker for extreme points and this one's the westernmost in France on the mainland) 4. leave Brest, stop at Carnac and continue to Vanees. Brest to Carnac is less than three hours, Carnac to Vannes just a few minutes. There's nothing special about Vannes, but it has hotels and places to eat - - I've never found anything I'm proud of in that line at Carnac. However, there is a pretty good little museum at Carnac right across from the city hall - - it takes less than an hour. Also, there's more to Carnac than the Menec allignments - - poke around and you'll find dolmens and menhirs all over the place.

I would add at least a day to Bayeux, you don't have enough time allotted imo. The WWII museum in Bayeux is the best one and needs at least 3 hrs.

Steve How awesome to spend a month in France! A few items to consider.
I am concerned about the three 1 night stays at the beginning of your trip. Not much time to see the sights or relax at all. Also from your information, it is clear you have traveled in Europe. Have you rented a car before and driven the first day? How do you feel when you get off the international flight? If you sleep long hours on the flight, great! If not, you are in trouble. Please do not underestimate the effect of no sleep, highways, French road signs, roundabouts and strange car. I understand there are other travelers out there who drive after an overnight flight. Never seemed like a good idea to me. I also agree with PP on the number of castles being too many. You didn't ask but please bring a GPS from US that you are familiar with and purchase the Europe maps. And get more detailed regional France Maps. You can purchase them on line before you go. You may have done this already, but use viamichelin.com to get the driving times as opposed to the miles between your destinations. I am sure you are not going to France to drive on all the highways. Bobbie

For perspective: Paris to Reims is a couple of hours Reims to Amiens is a couple more Amiens to Honfleur via Dieppe is about three It looks to me like there's plenty of time to see things. All the legs are short enough that you can leave one place and be at the destination in time for that second cup of coffee. One-night stops are not evil -- why stay two nights when one will do? You can see all of those first three places in an afternoon and an evening (the amount of time at Dieppe might be personal, so comment reserved). For more perspecitve: I've gotten off the early ferry at Dunkerque and had supper in Bordeaux I've left Montpellier at mid-morning and had supper in Paris I've left Dinan in the morning, given people a quick tour of Carnac and been in Limoges for supper You can move about France rather briskly. Traffic flow on the freeways is close to eighty miles per hour. The only slow-down is for the toll booths. Freeway fuel stops are easy-on / easy-off -- you can get gas, coffee, and use the restroom in fifteen minutes.

Steve, Regarding 8-10 Sept., I'd highly recommend taking one of the excellent D-Day tours, perhaps a Canadian Experience tour. It's a much more efficient way to see the significant sites, and since the Guides live there they know the quickest routes between locations. IMHO, you'll learn far more of the history and it will be a much more interesting and rewarding experience than by doing it on your own with a rental car. I've used both touring methods, so have a good idea on the differences. In terms of the "Canadian experience", I found the visit to the Abbaye d'Ardenne to be especially moving, but some of the towns where battles occurred (ie: Authie and the towns around the airport at Carpiquet) were nearly as intense. If you need information on tour companies in that area, post another note. Happy travels!

Steve, You're in good hands here with Ed. He knows his onions about history and geography in France. I won't say much because once you leave Normandy you are out of my knowledge area but to say when I first looked at your trip (and I usually don't comment on itineraries) I thought it looked pretty well put together. Good luck with your specific visits and I hope they are rewarding.

I couldn't wait to get out of Carcassone, touristy like a Renaissance Faire. The town itself was gritty and the walled city that you are there to see is full of plastic swords and dragons. I would spend time in the Dordogne as it is an incredible mix of pre-history, history, food and nature. I would avoid Sarlat and stay in a smaller village like Les Eyzies for example. I would give it three days.

Another stop in Brittany to replace Quimper would be Locronan, 20 minutes away.

Basic Rule for France: If Bets opens her yap, disregard everybody else.

Steve, For D-Day tours in the Bayeux area, here are some websites you can check: > www.ddayhistorian.com (Paul) > www.daleboothnormandytours.com (Dale) > www.overlordtour.com > www.ddaybattletours.com/elldi.php I'm sure there are others, but those are the main ones. I've toured with both Dale and Paul, and both are outstanding Guides! Dale is retired British Army, so he brings that perspective to his tours. Whichever tour you decide on, I'd suggest pre-booking as soon as you have the dates finalized. In some cases, the tours require participants to stay in Bayeux the night before the tour, as they leave at 08:00 precisely! You can enquire about that when you book. I found the Canadian Experience tour to be very moving and inspiring at the same time. Our troops faced some dreadful conditions, especially against the 12th SS. Despite the conditions, they did an outstanding job and advanced farther than any others on the day of the landings. There were a few humorous stories too, including one about a Medic that took some prisoners, and was petrified that they would discover he wasn't carrying a weapon! BTW, I used to work with an ex-Navy crew - great people! Some had served on the Tribal / Restigouche Class Destroyers. Cheers!

Thank you all for your great comments. Ed: Thanks again. I think we'll follow your suggestion re the coast.I have been to Brest before in the Navy so perhaps we'll overnight in Morlaix or as Bets suggested Locronan. Will research that. We'll have a couple of days in the Carnac area.
For Dieppe we only plan a couple of hours there to view the beach and cemetary. Bobbie: Thanks for the heads up on driving. For the first day we'll only drive to Reims. We have been thinking of bringing a GPS with us, well have to get one and practice before hand. Ken: We'll see about adding a day to Bayeux and a tour. Who would you recommend? Bets: Thanks for the tip on Locronan. We'll probably add a day or two for the Dordogne and subtract a day each from Languedoc and Provence. If anyone has recommendations for lodging in Languedoc and Provence (St Remy) it will be appreciated. Thanks again to all who took the time to respond.