TRAVELING FRANCE

It's physically "doable," with these qualifying statements:

1) it's not possible to go beyond Bayeux by train to the Normandy beaches, the trains don't go that far;

2) it's not possible to get to Mont St-Michelle by train, you can get part way and then a bus will be necessary to get to the Mont

3) You can get to Bordeaux by train but if you're interested in exploring the wine country then you need to go with a tour or have a rental car.

Note I said it's physically doable--whether that itinerary is a good idea , and whether it's worth the extra hassle of doing it by car instead of train, are separate questions that only you can decide that--after getting an accurate idea of the travel times required between your destinations plus the limitations of public transportation for Mont St Michel, Loire, and Bordeaux.

To decide whether this itinerary is going to be the kind of trip you have in mind, or will be too fast for you, you'll need to know travel times between your destinations. For that we have a FAQ that guides you in thinking about travel times, go here for that, you'll want the train travel time link.

My wife and I have been to France 4 times and spent alot of time (over 16 days)in Paris alone, so we are planning on mainly seeing Normandy, Loire,Bordeaux regions, then to Lourdes and finally on to Villefranch Sur Mer our favorite little spot on the French Riviera.

Got it, you've been to Europe and France before, so you already know the importance of knowing travel times between destinations before finalizing your itinerary.

I already provided the link for determining travel times, the train travel times shown at that link are only station to station only, add for time to get to the station, wait for trains, etc.

In your 2nd post you said Loire? I saw no Loire location in your original post? It's possible but awkward, to "do the Loire" by train--the problem being the chateaux are in the country where the trains don't go.

Again, from my first post, note that there are at least two places on your itinerary you cannot get to by train: Normandy beaches and Mont St-Michel. And two more places which you can get to by train (Loire and Bordeaux) but once you get there it's awkward to get around by train.

Overall, for your itinerary, if it were my trip I'd choose to do all but the first and last part by rental car rather than train:

I'd train from Paris to Bayeux one afternoon; having made a reservation in advance with Battlebus tours, I'd do the Battlebus D-Day beach tour the next day; then pick up a rental car in Bayeux the next morning, drive to Mont St Michel, sleep there one overnight (on the Mont itself); drive to the Loire, take a day or two to see 2 or 3 chateaux in the general area of Amboise; drive to Bordeaux, using the car to do the wine country there; drive to Lourdes; and then drive to Nice, and (this is important) turn the car in immediately on my first day in Nice.

Thanks for the valuable info! We will research your idea of doing it by car, although I would rather leave the driving to someone else so I could enjoy the scenery.

You're welcome!

Your dilemma is definitely understood: a rental car comes with challenges that trains don't present; sometimes the flexibility the car provides in rural areas not well served by public transport (in your case visiting the chateaux of the Loire and exploring the wine country of the Bordeaux) makes the complexities of car travel in Europe justified and sometimes not.

It partly depends on whether you want to visit the Loire chateaus and whether you want to explore the wine country of the Bordeaux. If by Loire you simply meant Mont St Michel and not the chateaus, and if exploring the Bordeaux wine country is not something you need to do, then the decision becomes easier and everything can be done by train except the D-Day beaches (tour with Battlebus) and you can only get part way to Mont St-Michel by train and then the rest of the way by bus.

From what we know of your trip so far, it's not obvious which would be better. I'm sure you'll make the right decision, for you, after further research and thinking about it.

In general, driving in France (with the exception of urban areas such as Nice) is easier than driving in some parts of Europe such as Italy, where I'd be more conservative in recommending that you consider a rental car.

BTW, probably a better way of doing the first part of the trip (better than what I first suggested) would be to train from Paris to Bayeux one afternoon, take the Battlebus tour the next day, then pick up the rental car the next morning and continue your trip. That means not having to hassle with the rental car on those two days.