Has anybody stopped in Le Mans or Angers en route to the Dordogne?

[Iamsunshineinabag]

Hello,

It's our first time driving down to the Dordogne, we will have our 3 year old with us so we are planning to do the journey in short manageable chunks. We have booked 2 nights at La Garangeoire campsite on the way down but I'd like a short stop between there and the port of Caen.

Just from a cursory look at the route map, Le Mans or Angers seem like good options! Has anyone done this?

The stop would only be for an hour or two to stretch our legs, go to the loo and get something to eat. Could anyone recommend somewhere to aim to the Sat nav to in either? Will be may half term if that makes any difference!

Thanks!

alencon has a great market and is a pleasant town, Samuel is beautiful, riverside walk or mooch in the town shops.

We have a home in Bordeaux. We just plough through and stop at the aires, going into Anger or Le Mans takes you off route, parking nightmares.

We stopped overnight in Le Mans on the way to Gers, and found it charmless, notable only for there being a CRS convention on at our hotel. Then we slashed a tyre on the autoroute just outside Le Mans and ended up all day at a garage there trying to find a rental car on Saturday afternoon in August, then transferring all our belongings, and driving on.

So my memories are the reverse of rosy, sorry!

I’d agree. Just stop at one of the bigger aires for food snd leg-stretching.

In the summer Le Mans has a gorgeous son et lumiere in the medieval streets and we and our kids loved it. But that's at night and we weren't heading for the Dordoigne

Angers is nice, and there's a good campsite on the outskirts (Slow Village Loire Vallée) that's within cycling distance (or a good walk) of the town.

Le Mans is a great place to stop if you're a car enthusiast and want to see the museum/race track - otherwise there isn't a lot on offer there.

Angers is a really nice city - you happily while away a few hours pottering around. Saintes in similarly lovely if you're going in that direction.

If you fancy a day out near Angers that I can definitely recommend Puy du Fou - utterly, bonkersly brilliant!