My family will be in Paris this summer. We%26#39;d like to rent a car and spend about 3-4 nights somwhere else in France. I%26#39;d like to spend all the nights in one place, leisurely travelling during the day and then coming back to the same place.
Which would be a better bet Provence or Burgundy? These are my 2 top choices at the moment. We would also consider Brittany.
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Provence is too far for only 3-4 days unless you fly to Nice from paris. Why not the Loire valley with the castles?
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I don%26#39;t agree that Provence is too far to travel for a visit of a few days. Avignon or Aix-en-Provence can be reached in under 3 hours by TGV. Either would make a good base to explore Provence . Avignon would actually enable you to do without a car, if you were interested more in visiting the interesting towns round Avignon than getting into the country. Arles, Nimes and Orange are all about a half hour by trin. Aix can be reached in about an hour by bus from Avignon.
Burgundy would also be easy. Dijon is only an hour by TGV from Paris. Beaune would perhaps make a better center for touring.
The Loire valley is also very much worth seeing, and again an hour by train will get you there.
In any of these cases I would take the train and pick up my rental car when I got to where I was going - Dijon, Avignon, Tours, wherever...
It%26#39;s really up to you which you would prefer. It depends a lot on your own interests. A good guidebook, such as the Eyewitness Guide to France, will help inform your decision.
I have spent time in all these regions, and like them all very much. The only reason I have said nothing about Brittany is that I do not know it as well - and it does have the wettest weather in France, even in summer.
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Both are neat areas. I know Provence better and think there is alot to see there. A TGV to Aix or Avignon, then renting a car would be ideal. Aix is a wonderful little city with great markets on T, Th and Sat mornings. Villages in the area that I think are especially interesting: Les Baux, Gordes, Cucuron, St Remy, Roussillon, and Lourmarin-great market on Friday mornings. A little further away is Forqualquier with the largest and most interesting market I have ever seen on Monday mornings-interesting town as well. You would need a good map and really enjoy driving around the countryside. There are also either sunflowers or lavender blooming in the summer, and the area is covered with vineyards.
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If you go to Burgundy you can rent a boat and spend the three-four days navigating the canals and exploring lovely villages at the same time. The cost is reasonable when you consider that you won%26#39;t be needing a hotel and the settiing idyllic.
The Hospice de Beaune is a medival hospital that is definiately worth the visit if you head this way.
As for Provence, I agree that it is too far to travel by car for a 3-4 night trip. The TGV is great, but you will still need to rent a car upon your arrival, and with the train tix this coud be prohib. expensive for some.
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