Driving route suggestions

Hi,

My first topic on TripAdvisor :-) Looks like a very nice site, have found a lot of tips here.

In July my parents have hired me as a driver on a trip to France and Italy. I said OK and suggested we drive to Italy and take a week there afterwards and so it will be :-)

I went to Italy and did almost the same route as we plan to now last year, but when it comes to driving in France I could really need some suggestions on routes etc. as I have never been there before.

We will arrive at Charles de Gaulle, Paris around 13:00 on Tuesday July 8th. Then we drive to La Baule-Escoublac where we will be visiting some friends for 3 days. Quite some distance to drive on a afternoon/evening so I guess it will be mostly motorways this day. Although my mom would like to see (or at least just drive past) Versailles to see the famous chateau.

After 2 days in La Baule-Escoublac we will be heading towards Italy. The goal is to be in La Spezia in Italy in 3 days and 2 nights. The question is where to drive, where (which city/place) to stay for the 2 nights, and what we should do and see along the way. Of course we will not have time for a lot because of the quite long driving distances but hopefully we will be able to drive off the motorways (maybe some N roads?) for at least parts of the route as see some nice places etc. I.e. visiting a couple of vineyards and chateaus does sound like something we should do.

Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

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Try this website. Also you could try Google.com and enter Paris

http://www.mapquest.fr/mq/home.do

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Thanks, I have tried Google Maps too which is excellent for calculating routes. But the problem is, they only tell me the fastest route, and not the best one if I want to see some nice places etc. along the way. That%26#39;s kind of what I%26#39;m looking for here :-)

I have tried to look at some assumably nice roads on Google Maps, as described beneath. Any comments on this ?

Day 1 : La Baule-Escoublac - Limoges

N171/N165 to Nantes, N249 to Cholet, N149 to Bressuire, Parthenay and Poitiers, N147 to Limoges.

Around 390 kms and 5 1/2 hour driving. No motorways, hopefully some nice roads and quite a lot nice places to see this day.

Day 2 : Limoges - Chambery

N141 to Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat, D13/D5 to Payrat-le-Chateau, D222/D233/D3/D35a right past Lac de Vassiviere, D8 to Le Mas d%26#39;Artige, D982 to La Courtine, D21/N89/D2089 to Bourg-Lastic, Rochefort-Montagne, D216/D292 to Nebouzat, Lachamp, Clermont-Ferrand, E70/A72 to Saint-Etienne, Lyon and Chambery.

Around 470 kms and 6 hour driving. About half the distance and 2 1/2 hour motorway driving from Clermont-Ferrand.

Day 3 : Chambery - La Spezia

E70/A43 to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, N94 to Briancon, Sestriere, Pragelato, Pinerole, Torino, E70/E74/A21 to Alessandria, Genova and La Spezia.

About 520 kms and 6 1/2 hour driving. About half the distance and 3 hours motorway driving from Torino. The roads around Briancon looks quite scenic on the map...

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La Baule, Pays de la Loire, on the Atlantic coast? Not exactly on the way to Italy!

If you land at 13.00 - and get through customs and collect your luggage from the carousel and get to the car hire and pick do the paperwork - start driving at around 14.30?, you then have a good 4.5 hrs (480km) driving = 19.00 at La Baule , with no hold ups and no stops. Detour to Versailles and add 0.5 hrs just for a look! I don%26#39;t know if you can see the building from the road? Not a relaxed days travel.

Directions - From CDG airport Head for the Paris periphique ring road south, exit onto A11 to Chartres then Le Mans and Nantes, N165 and then N171 to La Baule.

La baule direct to La Spezia is around 13 hours non stop drive. Even splitting this with two overnight stops doesn%26#39;t give a great deal of time to see anything if you turn off the autoroutes.

I would kill some miles and head for Vichy for a stop. Spa town with ornate pavillion to take the waters, plus gardens, riverside park, and good architecture. To in the centre with parking see:

…federal-hotel.com/page_en_1.html

Then you need a slight detour from the most direct route for your wine and chateau, with a shorter driving distance so you have time to see the chateau and taste the wine. The Cotes du Rhone has what you want. A lot of the named villages and Cru wine Apellations are close together. Try Suze la Rousse for a fortified chateau, part of which is a wine university. 10 wine villages (Rochegude, Rasteau, Sablet, Gigondas, Vacqueras, etc) are within 0.5 hrs and most have easy to find Vignerons caves, taste till you drop!

A good 2 star place to stay at Souze, (see my review on Trip advisor) :

http://www.saint-bach.com/index-anglais.htm

You then have 6.5 hrs drive on the coastal autoroute to La Spezia, calling at Grasse / Monaco / Menton etc for lunch.

Need more info / detail ? Send me a message for what you need.

Have a good time, The Tyke

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