Europe road trip

[inneedofholidayideas]

Hi
does anyone have any good suggestions for a France/northern Spain road trip style holiday
we have 10 days
options we are considering currently are

• bordeux for a few days, San sebastian for a few days, then back via a day in Paris
• drive to Provence and spend week there

does anyone have any good suggestions? we don’t know France well, we are two adults and a dog and will be travelling towards the end of may thanks

Many years ago we did a driving tour of the Dordogne - Figeac, Sarlat and a couple of other places. It was wonderful. We went to Rocomadour and the Padirac Cavern as well as caves with pre-historic paintings. It was wonderful but I’m sure people have done such things more recently.

Have you considered staying in paradors?
I haven't yet but we are planning a driving holiday to northern Spain and they come highly recommended.

paradores.es/en

Watch out for the 3 long bank holiday weekends in May this year (France): 1st, 8th and 29th. Many people will be travelling around those dates.

Have you decided where you'll be arriving/ leaving from yet? Do you have an idea of how much driving you're prepared to do in a day?

If going by ferry from the UK, you could arrive in Bilbao and spend 1-2 nights there then head to san sebastien, on to Bourdeaux then head north towards cherbourg for the ferry home (lots of potential stops on the way).

Particularly the 29th as many employees get a bridge day by their companies to make a 4 day weekend of Ascension day across Europe , and as the day falls so much later this year will be taking full advantage of good weather no doubt!

We did this last year, albeit for 2.5 weeks. We took the ferry to France (Roscoff) and back from Spain (Santander) though- have you considered this? The ferry from Spain is pricey, but it's a lovely crossing- it's a bit like a cruise, they lay on lots of entertainment. Our home port is Plymouth, but if you were from the centre/ east of the UK Portsmouth- Bilbao would probably be more convenient. The Spain ferries book up fast though!

Anyhoo, our route was down the west coast of France: Brittany- Saintes (beautiful little town)- les Landes (strange, solitary corner of France on the Atlantic coast- inland it's just miles and miles of pine trees. Kind of interesting though, and we found a wonderful campsite) and then straight to the Spanish Pyrenees through the Aragnouet- Bielsa tunnel (which is tiny!!). We stayed on the edge of the Monte Perdido National Park- it's a stunning area, seemingly undiscovered by foreign tourists. Then a few days in Bilbao, a most excellent city, before heading to Santander and the ferry home.