Village experience in France

steve, Sarlat has kind of a "village atmosphere", but not sure what size "village" you're considering? As someone else mentioned, the Provence Guidebook will probably give you some ideas. Happy travels!

I'd pick Provence and villages around St. Remy. Rick's Provence Guidebook has excellent suggestions and descriptions of the towns. We stayed in a farmhouse near Mouries and Maussane les Alpilles and enjoyed those two villages for an untourist-y view of France though it wouldn't be everyone's choice. Also not sure how Provence would fit with the rest of your itinerary.

Some of the Alsatian towns have a nice "village" feel to them. I particularly liked Ribeauville. And it may be an area that makes more sense if your heading to Germany...

I second Linda's suggestion of Alsace. Ribeauville is very nice, as is Riquewehr and Kientzheim. You almost can't go wrong with any of the villages along Alsace's "route du vin."

It may be a little out of your way but Beaune would be a wonderful spot for 4 nights...great wine and food and a very colorful town with engaging people. It's a tad bit bigger than village France (with about 23,000 people)...but is has a small town feel without the small town insecurities.

I think the Beaune area would be great. We liked Beaune a lot, but it's not what I would call a village. There are small, charming villages very close by though. I would look at Beaune in Rick's France guide, read about the scenic route drives he recommends and stay in one of those villages....Chateauneuf-en-Auxois is one of those towns and it has to be the most charming village I have ever seen, it's unbelievable....there's also Semur-en-Auxois...Rick writes about both of those villages and has recommendations of where to stay there...Not to take anything away from the Alsace region of France but it's more like Germany than France, and since you're going to Germany after France, I'd pick Chateauneuf-en-Auxois if it were me.

Thx everyone. Have to decide how far south we are willing to go I guess.. We really hit mostly big cities this year and are ready for something smaller.

If you're willing to travel south, Provence is definietly Village France. Alsace has some nice villages, as well as the Dordogne area. Bon Voyage!