Fantastic places to go in france?

[DingleBerry]

Me and the little lady are going for a month long jaunt round our garlic scented neighbour and havn't yet worked out exactly where it is we are going.

The initial plan was to shoot down to the south do a bit of diving pop over to italy and come back again taking in the scenery and sights as we make our way down the country. But we've not finished qualifying to do the diving so that will have to take a back seat for now.

I'm tempted by the south of france but it has a reputation for being a bit pricy...so we are thinking maybe about the west coast then a pop into spain. The massif central looks quite a good place to visit aswell.

We have no interest in going to northern France as I will be spending about a month a year in paris with my Phd so we can look at all that then.

Are there any things which we absolutly must see? Any regions which you would recomend? What about the west/south decision?

We are trying to get as many ideas as possible as we can completly change our plans half way through if we want to.

 

[DingleBerry]

Its not that we arent interested in northern france its just its a lot closer and we might not go on a long trip to france again so we're deliberatly doing the far away bits

The Pyrennees sounds like a fantastic idea! We are quite fond of mountains. Also i seam to remember hearing good things about santander which isn't shockingly far from the border.

I suppose we could go down the centre of france hop over the border to barcelona then go up to bilbao cross the border again and come back to calais. That may or may not prove to be too far though.

i think a mix of great views and interesting cities and nice beaches...with perhaps some activities is what we are after.

 

[DingleBerry]

Go to Corsica and walk some of the GR20 (the main walking route over the mountains). Truly breathtaking scenery, puts Scotland to shame with the scale of it.

We were intending to go to corsica for the diving...but I think its a bit far out of our way now

For great sites I would recomend going across that huge new bridge that was built the other year (its name completely illudes me, but its amazing) and also I was in awe at the views on the France/Spain border. Went camping in spain last year, on the way down we crossed the bored on the southeast end, its lke a rocky desert with very little plantlife, mainly cactus type things If I remrember correctly. On the return journey we went through the mountains on the second longest tunnel (also forgot the name) and apart from the bit i nth etunnel the views are amaznig. The best thing about the tunnel is that on the pain side it is all barren andharsh rocky slops, yet a quick crossing starved from ncie views in the tunnel and you are soon in the lushous rolling plant covered mountains in France. Some of the views are amazing, I would definetly recomend if you are into that sort of rthing or are a photographer.

That sounds exactly like the middle part of the trip I thought of! that bridge is pretty much on the route its in Millau. And my girlfriend loves to take pictures

If you are going to be passing through the centre of France(or near enough) I'd recommend the Dordogne region, I went with my family canoeing down the river for about a week a couple of years ago and had great fun plus there is fantastic scenery and loads of twisty mountain roads with hairpins if you are a keen driver

mmmmm twisties!!! (shame I'll be doing it in the rover rather than my mgb...which would explode!!!) Canoeing sounds like a splendid idea aswell...hmmm we've got a two man canoe....maybe if I buy some roof bars for the car....might be a lot of fuss to lug it around for a month though...