French Riviera Soiree w/dog & female

[BMWGLUTTON]

Good Afternoon/Evening/Morning (dependant on timezone) gentleman,

I am in the midst of planning a trip down from East Sussex to Nice for the OH big 30th with our dog and trying to work out where may be worth a stop for sightseeing, food, must visit places - think 'flying visit' rather than Americans on tour in "Europe".

We are planning for the 22nd of September to the 3rd of October with 2 nights stopping on the way down and 2 on the return leg with a week down near to Nice - maybe Roquebrune or similar. Still close distance to all the places you would want to see but with decent parking and walking distance for le dog.

I was thinking 3 nights on the way down but we will be taking our X3M which is plenty comfy enough for long slogs at a time without draining you, so we have settled on two after persuading the OH.

We have done many trips into France (Paris, Le Mans) and Germany in the M2 and that does get tiresome after 4 or 5 hours straight.

So far the plan is:
22nd Sept - Day 0
6:20AM Departure from Folkstone LeShuttle
Calais to Reims (Reims Gueux of course and some breakfast)
Reims to Troyes - Lunch and wandering around for an hour or so
Troyes to Dijon - Airbnb for the evening

23rd Sept - Day 1
Dijon for a couple of hours in the morning (unless suggested otherwise)
Dijon to Lyon
Explore Lyon and get lunch
Lyon to Orange - Airbnb for the evening

24th Sept - Day 2
Leave Orange and head into Avignon for a couple of hours for breakfast and whistlstop tour (ie. drive around and "see" everything)
Leave Avignon and head towards Nice.

Now this is the point in the trip where I am thinking is it worth just punching on to the coast (avoiding Marseille) and get to our Airbnb in Roquebrune and chill or should we take the scenic route through from Orange to Gordes and Luberon and join onto the N85?

Any roads that you would recommend diverting to experience?

Once we are in Roquebrune we will be based there for 7 days, I have found an Airbnb with parking right next to the beach which is gated so that puts my mind at ease knowing if we leave the car it won't be bothered (had a couple of BAD experiences in Paris with the M2), so if anyone has any must visit places around the coast I am all for it, more than happy to drive a few hours in any direction if its worth it for day trip.
So far the places I have got on the list of 'Days out" are:
Nice - obvs
Monaco
Cannes
Eze
Gorges Du Verdon

And then comes the return journey back to Calais.

Now this is again where I am looking for suggestions, do we travel back the way we came and stay in a couple of different towns on the return leg for 2 stops, or do we go a completely different way (bare in mind the dog) so 4-5hrs a day with some stops for food, walks and toilet breaks.

I have read a lot of the write ups that you guys have done for your trips down to the Riviera and it is something we have wanted to do for a good few years now but never had the time/something got in the way.

P.s also if you have any tips for the actual drive down, like toll passes and such - we have a crit Air sticker already as we were meant to being going to Paris this Easter but plans have changed hence this big trip.

Many thanks

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Some ideas here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

And here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...