Where to visit in France? can't decide!?

Question

I'll be traveling in France on a budget for 8 days in early July. I'm visiting Nice (and the towns in Côte d'Azure) -3 days and Paris -4 days until now. I have other 3 days to fit in between them but I can't decide where to go.

I'm thinking small characteristic towns, the country side, something other than loud cities. There's the Loire Vally with it's Chateaux, but if I decide to go there where should I base myself? Also there's Annecy, it seems magical! There's carcassonne but 3 days there seem too much. Mont st. Michel sounds interesting and so does the close by towns Dinan, St. Malo?

I'm sure I've missed a whole lot of other places because those are the ones I know of so far..

Let me know if there are other places that fit my pattern, and tell me your opinion of what's more worthy of a visit in France. I know all are.

Another problem I'm having is that I plan to stay in hostels, and almost all of them everywhere are booked, I'm sleeping Sat/Sun, what should I do then?

Answer 1

Well, so you will go Paris, Nice and Côte d'Azur.

Concerning other big cities (even if you don't really want to do), there are beautiful things that will change from you'll see in Paris and Nice.

I'm thinking about

- Lyon (the 2nd city) : Fourvière, the old town

- Strasbourg (closed to Germany) : typical buildings

- Toulouse (southwest) : the "ville rose" (pink city) due to pink stone.

- Dijon (Burgundy)

But if you want more go to country :

- Gorges de l'Ardèche (Ardèche river deep ravines) if you want to practice sport (canoe, hiking)

- Alpes mountain for hiking

- Carcassonne is an excellent choice for one day, but you can go more to the west of Carcassonne until the ocean, you will accross beautiful regions.

- Loire Vally Chateaux should be a good choice (but i've never been there)

Also it really depends on how you will travel (train, (rental) car).

Concerning the hostels, the best thing for the country is to buy a tent and to camping, it's cheaper. at least you can try

there's also "gites ruraux" or "gites de campagne" it's like bed and breakfast, and it's more comfartable than camping.

Bon voyage  !!!

Answer 2

I got to stay in an area near the Lot River....its simply lovely with lots of little medieval villages and great scenery...

Places I loved were Rocamadour...an amazing cliff village/church with a saint (amadour)....St Cirq lapopie a lovely little village on a hillside overlooking a river and valley...lovely and several other villages around..sepecially Autoire...it was really lovely too.

WE were near a town called Figiac (which itself has some nice buildings) but other places nearby could be Cahors too.

Its worth a look at research wise at least and the French themselves told us it was beatiful even for France!!!

Answer 3

Why don't you make a short trip to the Basque Coutnry and Biarritz?

It's obviously one of the best place to spend time in France!People are very friendly and the country side is magical!

Between ocean and moutains!!!

Answer 4

Go to Bretagne. It's fresher than south, maybe more rain but we have a unic area. You can visit St-Malo, Mt-St-Michel, Dinan, Rennes, Vannes, Carnac, Quimper and a lot of old characteristic monuments we have in the middle of. We have our music that sounds a bit like irish music and an important history. Also a lot of beautiful and wild islands like Belle-Ile-en-Mer, Bréhat, Ouessant... you have too the channel islands, Jersey, Guernesey (with the Victor Hugo's House) where they speak (a particular) english.

Well even if you don't choose my area, I wish you nice holidays in France.

Answer 5

You can try nime area, la camargue ( west of MArseille).

you can try also the alpes.

La loire valley, mont st Michel, St malo are great places to visit, like many other places, but I would advise to get a place between Nice and Paris, so you don't spend to much time travelling.

As for hotels, you can book in chains like hotel premiere classe www.premiereclasse.fr  or B&B  www.hotel-bb.com . Formula1 hotel are cheap but not as good...

Answer 6

You can go to Toulouse and Carcassonne (you just need one day for Carcassone).

Or

ou can see the Loire castles. You can stay anywhere. There are a lot of little cities.

Answer 7

What about Normandy? It's really nice, hopefully sunny in July (but you can never tell over there!) Deauville and Trouville are 2 really nice sea resorts. There are also the D day beaches, lots of museums, and you can eat really good seafood. It's also really close to Mont saint Michel. I'm pretty sure if you book a room not (don't wait too much) you can find something decent!

Enjoy France!

Answer 8

Try Dijon .it has the best intrestin' places.you will get the best of your money & time. isay go go Dijon .it is the real France.