"Driving is the only way to see a country"
"Let's pretend we don't know where we're going or even where we are" says Jacques (Arnaud Viard) to Anne (Diane Lane) in paris can wait , the debut feature at 80 years of a veteran behind the cinema cameras, eleanor coppola , wife of Francis Ford Coppola, mother of Sofia, Roman and Gian-Carlo Coppola.
That is the perfect beginning of an idyllic car trip, of the perfect road trip. They get into a convertible on the French Riviera bound for Paris, but he has other ideas to make the trip more pleasant and sensory. When in France… You should try as many wines as you can, pair them with as many cheeses as you can, walk its roads between trees, on the edge of lavender fields...
Paris can wait and touring France by car is one of the best plans for a perfect summer. Perhaps as unforgettable as for Anne (an alter ego of Eleanor with that great movie star husband who ignores her? Her movie has a crumb of her). So we review her roadtrip and we propose others just as hedonistic.
FROM CANNES TO PARIS
Between 800 and 900 kilometers. Depending on the roads you choose. Our recommendation? The smaller the better. Select “Avoid Freeways” in the navigator and drive and stop as many times as Jacques and Anne do.
Your tour: kicks off in cannes , La Croisette and her luxury hotels soon leave her behind to tour french provence . The fields of lavender and aromatic flowers, the markets with spring fabrics and the Montaigne Sainte Victoire, the same one that Cézanne painted. you go through Aix-en-Provence, Arles and you arrive, like them, until Pont du Gard to have a picnic at their feet with the breads and cheeses that you previously bought in a local market.
Provence and its lavender fields
From there they continue to lyons by the edge of the Rhône. And in Lyon they enter the Musée Miniature et Cinema (Museum of miniatures and cinema) and in the Musée des Tissus (the Museum of fabrics) ; eat in Daniel and Denise , those little red checkered tablecloth bistros you should always look for on your travels and they stop at Vézelay, one of the most beautiful villages in France , to appreciate its cathedral.
Other recommended stops: Avignon, Rousillon, Les Baux-de-Provence. Following in the footsteps of the Impressionists. you can just follow Route Nationale 7, also known as the Holiday Road.
Avignon and its famous bridge
THE CASTLES OF THE LOIRE
About 600 kilometers, depending on the castles you want to include. You have 21 to choose from. Duration: At least think of a week. Route: you can follow itineraries already chosen by the professional guides, you can invent your own, according to the castles that interest you the most. You can start at the westernmost point in Saumur (and its castle) or the easternmost point at Sancerre.
Highly recommended stops: the castles of Chambord, Chenonceau, Amboise, Azay-Le-Rideau, Blois, Cheverny (and looking for Tintin), Clos-Luce (or Leonardo Da Vinci's house), Langeais, Villandry (and its orchards and gardens), Sully-sur-Loire, Loches… The best thing about this trip? That It is perfect to do with the family. with children of any age who will have fun with the stories of princes, princesses, kings and queens, authentic soap operas for adults.
Château de Chenonceau
THE ALSACE WINE ROUTE
From Thann to Marlenheim, about 121 kilometers. Route: the northeast region of France which is divided into the Lower Rhine and the Upper Rhine and borders Germany and Switzerland. It is a clearly marked road, a tourist route well thought out by the French for you to know some of its most picturesque towns and try their best wines.
Stops: towns with almost unpronounceable names due to German influence such as Eguisheim, Riquewihr, Haut-Kœnigsbourg Castle, Kirrwiller… A detour to Colmar. The end of the trip? When you're done with the wines and idyllic villages, visit Strasbourg and its cathedral.
An always necessary detour to Colmar
FROM SURFING TO WINES: FROM BIARRITZ TO BORDEAUX
It is a 200 kilometer journey full of intermediate stops. Route: a road trip that includes sport, sea, gastronomy and good wine it's everything you could possibly need to focus on the perfect week-long vacation.
Stops: Biarritz, as a starting point and its beaches and surf culture, Anglet and Bayonne; follow the waves to Hossegor and Mimizan Plage; and ends in Bordeaux where the second part of the trip begins, the wines. From there, at least one obligatory excursion: Saint-Émilion.
Saint-Émilion, obligatory stop
GALETTES AND BEACHES: NORMANDY AND BRITAIN
They can be a thousand kilometers if you want to cover the two entire regions. At least reserve a week, more than 10 days if you drive there. The best idea and you go all the way in and out of the coast.
Route: **from Nantes, which is not Brittany**, but it is a good starting point (you could start even earlier, in La Rochelle) , to Rouen. Stops: Erdeven, Ile-Tudy, Rochefor-en-Terre, Moncontour, Brest, St. Malo, **Monte St. Michel, ** Saint-Suliac, Rennes in Brittany, where you can also link to the lock routes and their houses. Already in Normandy: Bayeux (the Normandy landings), Lyons-la-Forêt, Caen, Le Havre and Rouen. And like the castles of the Loire, it is a perfect trip to do with children.
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Rouen, the city that conquered Victor Hugo