Recommend me a French town please?

[TheDogdidGood]

Have a chance to go to France for a week in Spring. I need to fly in and out of one of the major airports. I've already been to Paris. Is there a town that I can get a train from one of the major cities with an airport that's a bit quieter? I love old architecture and cobbled streets. Thank you!

Annecy from Geneva, Strasbourg by train or from Paris.

Montpellier is lovely, cobbled streets etc, but it's a big student town, so I'm not sure about the "quieter" side. What sort of things do you want to do while you are away? A week is quite a while if it's a small town you are looking for.

Carcasonne

I second Carcasonne!

Yes to Strasbourg, Annecy and Carcasonne. All old wirh lovely old architecture l, load sof charm and history cobbled streets... they are beautiful places in different ways (altho I'd say Strasbourg in the winter particularly - I went to visit a friend just before Christmas and ot was snowing, Christmas market a delight! Sure it would.be lovely in Spring too.
It's a city but I love Toulouse (airport for Carcasonne) and many of the places around.
Also what about La Rochelle (Nantes airport) or Biarritz?
So many wonderful places in France.
How long would you be staying and how much do you want to explore?

La Rochelle. Easy jet from Gatwick

Bordeaux? A city rather than a town but has its own tram service, good shops and restaurants. (and OFC if you like wine it's a no-brainer. )
We got the Eurostar to Paris then the TGV which was amazingly fast, comfortable and efficient. But it's almost certainly got an airport with connections to the town centre too.
Towns -- Biarritz is very 'belle epoque" - stylish and cool. I think Easyjet flies there.
Epernay -- the second town in the Champagne region after Reims. Pretty but it's all about the Champers really. That would be great for me but I appreciate it's not for everyone.
France at the moment seems hugely busy with lots of domestic, or almost-domestic (Belgian?) tourists. We were in St Malo this week and it was heaving, but not many Brits about.
It's very impressive with an 'old town' of cobbled streets within the similarly impressive walls. Stylish shops and almost a surfeit of seafood restaurants.

La Rochelle and Carcassonne are both lovely.

May I suggest Saint-Malo? You could fly into Rennes and I think you can train it from there. Spent a week there in September (we went on the ferry from Ireland to Cherbourg) and I loved it. Brought the dog too.

Oh just saw it was recommended above!

I love Amboise - great castle, Leonardo da Vinci's home, Troglodyte cave dwellings, vineyards and wine tastings, hot air balloon rides over the Loire, hire bikes and cycle along the river to stunning Chenonceau chateau, traditional market. It's easy to get to from Paris by train. Perfect place to go for a week.

La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Nice

Morlaix. No airport but you can go on Brittany Ferries to Roscoff. There are buses into Morlaix which has a good railway. 15 mins from beach and 2km to Route Verte all Ng National forest.

We had a lovely stay in Carcassonne. A pp mentioned having to fly to Toulouse, but Carcassonne has its own airport. We flew from Bournemouth, so ‘quiet’ airports either end!

I loved Avignon and travelled there by train.

Tours has an airport and a lovely old town. Agree with Strasbourg and Montpelier. Béziers is worth a trip and you can fly there.

La Rochelle (and do a day on the Île de Ré)
Arles
Bordeaux
Lyon

Avignon and surrounding areas eg Uzes , Aigues Morte , Isle sur La Sorgue

Fly to Nice. Any of the towns along the coast are on the train line. From Menton, Antibes, Villefranche, through to St Raphael. SoF is lovely out of season. Lots of things to see and do. It should be fairly warm during the day too.

I'd recommend Aix en Provence. It's a lovely little cobbeldy French town.

Usually I fly into Marseilles and get the train to Aix (About 45 mins).

If you fancy driving, you can then use Aix as a hub to get to Cassis, Avignon, Orange, Châteauneuf Du Pape etc.

Toulouse, Nice, Lyon, Bordeaux all nice.

From Nice (airport) you have a wonderful train along the Mediterranean Cote D'Azure to places like Monaco, Menton, into Italy at Ventimiglia (sp?), and Cannes, Antibes etc in the other direction. As well as Nice itself.

Dinan is lovely and fits your criteria - cobbled streets and medieval buildings.It has a small airport with flights to the UK.

I loved Avignon too. It was easy by train.

Saumur is a fabulous old town in France. Highly recommended.

Saint Malo is also lovely, if you prefer a coastal town.