Almost time! Loire to South of France

I did this tour a few years ago (great tour). You’ll have a few free hours in Amboise. You can tour the castle or Clos Luce (probably not time for both). I recommend a visit to Clos Luce, Leonardo DaVinci’s home, one of my favorite places!

I did this tour last year. Loved it!
In Amboise I went to the castle because I wanted to make the tour about castles. It did not disappoint.
Sarlat market was fun. In Arles, I explored Cryptoportiques which are beneath city hall, also went to the church across the plaza and did a little tourist shopping. In Nice I avoided the art museums to enjoy the antique musical instruments at Musee de Palais Lascaris.

If you like to shop, give yourself plenty of time in Les Baux (Provence), which we went to after the Carrières de Lumières. The ruins didn't really appeal to me, so I opted for shopping and dining instead. Lots of great one-of-a-kind things that I wish I had had an empty suitcase for!

@Horsewoofie, I also did the Cryptoportiques in Arles, and it was just a big (mostly) empty, creepy basement. Personally, I recommend skipping that. I did enjoy walking around Arles overall.

Just about the entire town of Chartres is shut down on Monday, as do many small towns in France. You'll have the afternoon free after a tour of the Cathedral. You can walk around the pedestrian only area and look at the windows but just about every shop was closed, many restaurants too. I wish we had planned a daytrip via train such as to Le Mans.

Also I think it's a good idea to plan something on the Sarlat market day, which is an entire free day. It is a great market but even walking slowly and looking at everything (in France look but don't touch!) we still had most of the day left. In retrospect I wish we had either planned for a train trip out of town or to rent a car to visit another prehistoric cave in the area. I've since read in the forum other people approached the guide who was able to arrange for a few people that were interested to rent a car to see another cave.

I'm excited for you, we did this tour in 2019 and loved it.

• I don't know if you're a morning person, if so, get up before sunrise in Carcassonne to watch the sun shine against the town walls.
• On your free day in Sarlat, our guide arranged for a group of us to visit Lascaux Caves.
• In Arles, we took a train to Avignon to see the Palais de Papes.

JillM, this is what’s nice about sightseeing. We all have different likes, dislikes, opinions. I’d skip Les Baux; cold, windy, full of tourist shops, underwhelmed by the fortress ruins.
Yes, Cryptoportiques is a little creepy but it’s a Roman market center. If it was better excavated it would help see the porticos and shop alcoves.

“I don't know if you're a morning person, if so, get up before sunrise in Carcassonne to watch the sun shine against the town walls.“

Or, if you’re a “stay up late” person, walk over to Carcassonne after dark. It’s beautifully illuminated and we took some great photos, just magical!

There was also a wonderful illumination show at Chartres Cathedral. Very cool, don’t miss it.

Here is a link to my trip report:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/tour-review-loire-valley-south-of-france-may-6-may-18th-2018

Thanks to everybody for responding! I’m sure it will be an amazing trip.

I took this tour last June and absolutely loved it. In Chartres, we enjoyed (twice!) Chartres en Lumieres, the light show on the cathedral and around town.

For the rest of our free day in Sarlat, I wanted to see more of the area, so I decided to rent a bike. I rented from Liberty Cycle, which is right at the trailhead of the Voie Verte (a greenway bike path) that runs from Sarlat to Cazoules. Since I wanted to cover ground more quickly, I opted for an e-bike and rode about 11.5 miles out for a total of 23 miles. I didn’t quite make it to Cazoules since I started my ride in the afternoon and wanted to ensure I had my bike returned on time. It was such a lovely way to see the area and I liked being on a bike path as opposed to roads. Also in Sarlat, we went to Le Bouchon, a wine bar, and had a delicious dinner of small plates, charcuterie, dessert, and wine.

Enjoy your tour!!

We did this tour last May and really loved it, notwithstanding the 15 people who had to leave the tour because of Covid. We were lucky to have gotten to the end of the trip unscathed.

In Chartres, I would echo what others said; it's worth going back to Chartres for the light show that night, and also for the tour of the town, which I believe started around 9pm (well worth it).

Amboise, Villandry and Chenonceau were really great to see; the gardens are spectacular. Pont des Arts is spectacular; it was one of my favorite sites.

In Sarlat, we had a great time browsing the booths, sampling some great food, finding some treasures to bring home; the restaurants there are really excellent.

Carcassonne looked great from outside, but sadly, the shops inside the walled city are full of cheap tourist trinkets, and we found nothing worth buying. That, added to the crowds, made it a disappointment for us. I wish we'd gone into town (not the walled town).

Les Baux was really nice; we found a cafe there where we ate outside on a patio, and had a great meal. Nice shops too. Because our tour was disrupted so many times, our guide took us to a limestone cave near Les Beaux, where there is a show called des Carrières de Lumières. If you guys get to see it, you'll love it.

I wouldn't pay for the Da Vinci Museum again; although I expected to really enjoy it, I found it to be a bit disappointing. Better to walk through the gardens for free.

Lots of great shops in Nice, and there are some excellent restaurants along the open-air area that I'm sure your guide will take you through.