French Road Trip Advice (with map)

[caul pope]

On Tue 23rd August at 7:50am my fiancé and I are setting of on a road to and around France.

We have 10 days and we'd like to see a variety of things, stay in hostels, hotels, B&Bs and the tent!
It's not a 'driving' holiday and we'll probably just go in her Mini (BMW).

We need to catch up with friends near Monaco and other friends in Morzine (near Geneva).

Our return tunnel crossing is at 7:20 am on the Sat 3rd Sept.

-Any advice or thoughts on our route and stop-offs?
-Do you think we'll be spending too much time sat in the car?



Cheers
Paul

[chryslerben]

If your going biaritz then pop over the border to san Sebastian its a great place to visit, then maybe shot over to pampolona where the bull run is held lovely historic city, then back into France through the pyrennes past fort de la portolet to pau then continue roughly on the route you had did this a few years back

[hornetrider]

If you are travelling that far South West it's criminal not to take in the Pyrenees or Spain. Why not get the ferry back from Santander?

[dangerousB]

Do the miles and get a lot of France out of the way would be my advice and I'd probably go Portsmouth - St Malo or even Plymouth - Roscoff . . . there's some fabulous tarmac down the West coast you're missing out on.
Millau is a great shout and as you're heading that way, why not take in the Mont Blanc tunnel?
It'd also be criminal not to stray East on the way home and take in some utterly amazing passes in the Swiss alps. Definitely worth 2 or 3 days of your time

[chryslerben]

Ow and Bordeaux is a crap hole go to st emillion instead awesome wine there

[caul pope]

Nice one guys!

I like the idea of going over to Sebastian and getting into the Pyrenees!
As it's not a driving holiday I don't think we'll be adjusting the routes for the driving experience, instead we'd rather get to worthwhile places by the quickest route possible.

Anyone know of a good stop off near Millau?

[icepop]

Spent a good few years travelling in France, car and bike, so a few suggestions for your trip;

You'll not see much until you hit Tours on the way down, obvious ones are the chataeus. As you get below the Dordogne area there is a famous, HUUUGE cave called Gouf de Paddirac, also a place called Rochamadour, town built into the side of a hill. Looking at your map you might be too west but if you edge towards Limoges you'll find them. I found the Atlantic coast below Bordeaux a little sterile and bland, but La Rochelle and Royan are quite nice.

If you are sticking to the French side of the Pyrennes, then Lourdes is "interesting", and a trip to Argele Gazottes, will lead you to the very impressive rock wall of the Cirque de Girvanne.

Looks like you are cutting back north but if you get chance go to Carcasonne, and if in Provence the Pont du Gard roman aquaduct. At Aux en Provence you are awfully near the incredible Verdon gorge, which you could probably divert thro and still remain on route.

The coastal route from France to Italy is sublime in itself, and the route up to Geneve looks like the route thro the Aosta valley/Mont Blanc to Chamonix, take the St Bernard pass, rather than the tunnel, if so. North from Geneve looks like you might be going thro the Jura Alps, lovely place.

Might become a bit featureless after that again, but the champagne region has a certain charm, hic !

Great trip. Take time to enjoy it.

Edited by icepop on Tuesday 24th May 23:35

Edited by icepop on Tuesday 24th May 23:37

[Snails]

My girlfriend and I did a trip around France last year, all in over the 14 days we covered 2401 miles, but that was including a lot of driving during the day, seeing places near where we were staying and when we stopped for 7 days at point D. I absolutely loved the limited bit of the Alps we saw and lots of the roads that went with it. I thought Annecy was worth a visit.

Edited by Snails on Tuesday 24th May 23:48

[chriscoates]

I can help you with the Monaco area. I agree with the previous poster that the road from Monaco into Italy is fantastic - tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge right along the coast. I would also recommend the Verdon Gorge, it is probably the most spectacular gorge this side of the Grand Canyon.

Closer to Monaco, I would recommend the small town of Eze, it is on the road between Monaco and Nice and is a very picturesque little place, with stunning views of Nice. Also, further up into the mountains, the village of Gourdon offers amazing views of Cannes and the Mediterranean, despite being 20 miles inland.

Here's some pics:

Eze village:


Verdon gorge:


View from Gourdon:

[caul pope]

This advice is awesome gents! Thank you

The Mrs is worried that we'll spend too much time driving and she has a point, after all we've only got 10 days.

Also I don't want to be trapped in the car if she's going to be moaning about all the driving!

I've looked into some of the places you guys have mentioned and this is the 2nd version of the route;

[Emubiker]

Mulhouse was definately worth stopping for when we did our tour. The car museum there was just amazing, talking in ecess of 300 cars (without over exagerating), around 40 or so old Bugattis along with a pit lane full of ex F1 cars, Le Mans cars and some Rally cars.
The town itself was a bit of a dive though, but we only went for the museum really.
Plus its not too far off your route (depending how you go)