Six weeks in France, where would you go?

Greg Masters said:
castle_of_castelnaud-la-chapelle_sm.jpg

Castelnaud-la-Chapelle​


The Dordogne is extremely pretty.

More chateaux than you can poke a stick at.

Medieval towns like Sarlat-la-Canéda; hilltop markets at Domme; influences and castles of Richard Coeur de Lion etc etc
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We had a guided tour of Castelnaud. The guide was a Dutch woman. She was lovely. I don't remember the castle...
 
I am surprised nobody has mentioned the Carmargue. Few tourists at that time of year, where the Rhone hits the sea. The town is Saint-Maries-de- Mer. Salt pans, rice paddies, the wild horses and bulls. They have a non-blood bullfight, for centuries, where the 'matador' has to pull ribbons from off the back of the animals neck. No blood, no gore but all the similar razamataz. The star is the bull, not the matador, or Razeteur.
The Langedoc has been mentioned with it's granite hills, superb roads with little traffic on and good rugby towns of Carcassone, Perpignan, Toulouse, Narbonne, which is where a friend of mine played, he also played no 8 for France at u21 - he owns the vineyard called l'Hospitalet, near Carcassone but further to the west. I am not sure if you can stay there now, but they have a fabulous restraubnt - this is the area where Cassoulet comes from, it is this regions specialite.
Savoir and Haute-Savoie is my next favourite area, it used to be fantastic fishing in the Lou and the Doubs rivers, nbut sadly, like British chalk streams they have suffered from sewage being dumped in them. It isn't just British water companies not investing. The lodges that were world famous on these rivers have now, sadly, all closed because there are no fish - poisoned by sewage. However, the high pastures and limestone caves are perfect for cheese making! The Haute-Savoie is famous for its Tomme de Bauges and Tomme de Savoie, Raclette, if you like goats cheese then Chevrotin is the one to go for. After dinner, they have a runny cheese made with honey that you eat with a spoon called Concquoiotte. It s fabulous! There is a cheese route you can do, which might give you a theme for that area.
 
If motorsport is your thing, there are some events happening at the LeMans circuit Apr/May... French Moto Grand Prix and the 24hr Motos.

If it's cars, then a detour to Spa might be in order for the Spa 6hr.

M
 
There was a story about France years ago……..

When God created Earth, he made this country with a lovely climate, some beautiful scenery, lovely food, fantastic grape growing landscape, and he thought; what can I do to stop the rest of the world of being jealous?
“ I know” he said, so he created the French to live there!
 
A visit to Oradour-sur-Glane will never be forgotten, very poignant and eerily peaceful town still as it was in 1944. Not far from Limoges.

Oradour-sur-Glane and the Nazi massacre there on 10th June 1944

The SS Division Das Reich, destroyed the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane and today it is preserved In a Ruined State.
www.oradour.info www.oradour.info
La Rochelle - lovely place to stay for a few days, stayed a week last time I went 😍
 
Jazbee said:
A visit to Oradour-sur-Glane will never be forgotten, very poignant and eerily peaceful town still as it was in 1944. Not far from Limoges.

Oradour-sur-Glane and the Nazi massacre there on 10th June 1944

The SS Division Das Reich, destroyed the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane and today it is preserved In a Ruined State.
www.oradour.info www.oradour.info
La Rochelle - lovely place to stay for a few days, stayed a week last time I went 😍
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We stayed on il de Re last year. Lovely little island. We did have a couple of day trips in to La Rochelle. As you say a lovely town.
 
I think we’ve probably had a pretty good look at most parts of France. Looking at our Park4Night ‘favourites’ there are small blank areas close to the German border near Strasbourg and the north Brittany coast. Areas we are particularly fond of include the south coast around Le Lavandou, St. Tropez etc although best avoided in high summer, Biarritz, St. Jean de Luz and St. Jean Pied de Port, Carcassonne. The Camargue and Montpelier and Palavas les Flots. The Cévennes, as others have mentioned, especially Florac and the Gorges du Tarn. We also very much like around where we live, especially Montignac, Les Eyzies and the Vezere and Dordogne valleys in general. The Lot valley - Entraygues, Cahors, Puy l’Eveque is also worth a visit. Lourdes, in my opinion, is rubbish but Rocamadour is worth a trip.

I find it really difficult to recommend places to visit as there is just so much to see. Travelling by camper is very different from touring on the bike. When we’re on the bike we enjoy lively city centres like Montpelier, in the van we stop for lunch in a restaurant and then camp up a mountain or similar and enjoy being self sufficient.
 
ChasF said:
I think we’ve probably had a pretty good look at most parts of France. Looking at our Park4Night ‘favourites’ there are small blank areas close to the German border near Strasbourg and the north Brittany coast. Areas we are particularly fond of include the south coast around Le Lavandou, St. Tropez etc although best avoided in high summer, Biarritz, St. Jean de Luz and St. Jean Pied de Port, Carcassonne. The Camargue and Montpelier and Palavas les Flots. The Cévennes, as others have mentioned, especially Florac and the Gorges du Tarn. We also very much like around where we live, especially Montignac, Les Eyzies and the Vezere and Dordogne valleys in general. The Lot valley - Entraygues, Cahors, Puy l’Eveque is also worth a visit. Lourdes, in my opinion, is rubbish but Rocamadour is worth a trip.

I find it really difficult to recommend places to visit as there is just so much to see. Travelling by camper is very different from touring on the bike. When we’re on the bike we enjoy lively city centres like Montpelier, in the van we stop for lunch in a restaurant and then camp up a mountain or similar and enjoy being self sufficient.
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If park4night doesn’t have anywhere try using searchforsites I have both among other apps. Searchforsites does tend to have far more places. Searchforsites also seems to have more up to date reviews.
 
Over the last decade or so we been fortunate enough to have traveled to quite a few countries in Europe in our camper. We tend to move on every two or three days, however twice now we have settled down for longer periods, both times in scrumptious France. The scenery, the hill top village's, plat du jour at lunchtime, the wine, the climate etc etc. We just adore rural France, should it be of interest our last extended stay was here.
campingmaisonneuve.com

Camping Maisonneuve – Calme et Nature en Périgord Noir

Séjournez au cœur de la Dordogne. Camping familial avec piscine chauffée au bord de la rivière Céou.
campingmaisonneuve.com campingmaisonneuve.com
A gorgeous well run site with all the facilities you might need, with great restaurants not far away, in the Dordogne, I fancy we may return later this year.
 
paintman said:
Over the last decade or so we been fortunate enough to have traveled to quite a few countries in Europe in our camper. We tend to move on every two or three days, however twice now we have settled down for longer periods, both times in scrumptious France. The scenery, the hill top village's, plat du jour at lunchtime, the wine, the climate etc etc. We just adore rural France, should it be of interest our last extended stay was here.
campingmaisonneuve.com

Camping Maisonneuve – Calme et Nature en Périgord Noir

Séjournez au cœur de la Dordogne. Camping familial avec piscine chauffée au bord de la rivière Céou.
campingmaisonneuve.com campingmaisonneuve.com
A gorgeous well run site with all the facilities you might need, with great restaurants not far away, in the Dordogne, I fancy we may return later this year.
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After giving it some thought here’s my two penneth worth
A day at st malo would be good, I love a walk around the old town.
Ile de rey is good, just over the bridge from La Rochelle. I’m making an assumption that you’ll have pushbikes with you. You could pitch up and explore on bike for a few days.
Further away is the region around Toulouse down to Perpignan, lots of nice places down there. Including the canal du midi .
Further East is the cote d azure. Roughly from St Raphael to the Italian border. My favourite is Menton. Again lots to explore around there.
Realistically it’s all good
 
I don’t think the Millau Viaduct has been mentioned yet, it is magnificent.

It goes over the river Tarn, and as has been mentioned above, the Gorges du Tarn is a ‘must see’ too. As are the Dordogne and Lot basins. And the Route des Grandes Alpes from Lake Annecy (-ish) to Menton.

Then there’s the… Never mind- just go, you really can’t go wrong, trust us.

Enjoy, and we’ll be expecting a trip report, remember, and pictures, lots of pictures. :beerjug:
 
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