France road trip recommendations

[Eve1356]

Looking to arrange a 7-9 day family trip with 2 x young children which will end with a day at Disneyland Paris. We’ve been to Paris a few times so we’re only ending the trip there so that we can take the kids to Disney! We drive or use trains if easier. Would appreciate any recommendations as I haven’t spent much time in France apart from Paris and south of France

How young are then and what time of year are you going? Also, how close are you to the south coast?

More questions:

• what type of things interest you?
• what type of accommodation will you be looking for?
• do you want to base yourself in a couple of places then venture out?

We have been driving to France since our DCs were tiny (DCs now full grown adults) so have lots of practice!

@GnomeDePlume @SwedishEdith
thanks for your responses! In answer to your Qs…

• We’re based near Windsor
• going in September (any time of the month after schools have gone back). Kids will be 1.5 and 4 yrs.
• We’d stay at either hotels or airbnbs (maybe a mix of both).
• in terms of interests - we’re outdoorsy and active, enjoy going to historical sites/museums/galleries, with a passion for food & wine! Also enjoy relaxing at the beach (although a beach isn’t an essential for this trip as we’re having another beachy holiday this year). Overall looking for a scenic, culture rich trip which will also have enough for the little ones!

I'd spend some time on coast - either Normandy or Honfleur or Wimereux. Great beaches, walks plus some history. I might then head for Reims - amazing, beautiful city. Best cathédral in Europe, small war museum where WW2 surrender was signed. But also great boulevards with restaurants full of families eating. There was a fabulous park as well with families having picnics in the evening. It was very balmly when I was there but such an impressive city. With young kids, I'd aim for about 3 nights per place to cut the driving.

Choose your crossing method - Le Shuttle should be easy enough, but maybe an overnight boat from Portsmouth could cut down on the driving, and be an adventure.

Do you want 2 or 3 stops before EuroDisney?

Maybe head to the Loire for a couple of nights. Picturesque with plenty of things to see. Angers is a nice lively town. Or maybe a smaller base like Saumur right on the banks of the river.

Then maybe head over to Troyes, which is a very pretty Mediaeval town. I went in September last year and it was lovely.

Personally, I hated Reims, but it wasn't helped by massive roadworks and the cathedral being reconstructed at the time. But Dijon is a lovely, lively place.

Or head up to Lille which is worth a few days of anyone's time. If coming from Le Shuttle in Calais, head there first, as it's only an hour's drive.

I was going to suggest loire as well, lots of fairytale castles for the kids, easy walks along the river, good food. Troyes as mentioned is lovely and has Lac d'orient nearby (scenic but doubt much going on in September). There are many lovely towns and villages along the river. We stayed in sully sur Loire a few years ago, easy trip into Orleans from there but sully had its own pretty chateau. Blois and Ambiose are places we've been to a couple of times, Amboise has a fascinating Leonardo da Vinci exhibition. All of this is very well placed to end up at Disney Paris at the end of your trip. The Loire is very family friendly.

I agree with Normandy. Quite easy to get to Paris and accessible from either Calais or Caen/Cherbourg/Dieppe/St Malo. Plenty of sandy beaches and things to do. Lots of WW2 history, also Bayeux tapestry (not that your DC will be old enough to appreciate it!). It also has lots of farms you can visit and children's activity parks (search parcs d'aventures/d'activités/d'attractions). Nice food related things (cheese and cider). The towns of Deauville/Honfleur/Etretat are nice to wander round, then you have Monet's garden on the way to Paris.

Have done the drive many times - Le Crotoy/Saint Valery great place to visit with kids. Deauville/Honfleur great for a visit but a bit expensive. Reims nice too.
The weather should still be nice around September. Enjoy it...and avoid driving in Paris unless you have to!

Another vote for Loire. Also don’t rule out Eurocamp sites, you might find them better for the age of your kids than hotels. Lots of lovely activities and pools for down time between visiting the places people have mentioned upthread.

There are a couple of lovely zoo parcs in Loire valley as well as beautiful chateaus and towns to visit.

I know you said road trip but the sleeper train is such good fun. We did Eurostar to Paris, sleeper to beaches of south of France (hire car down there) and then back up to Paris. So you could do this and Eurodisney! Man in Seat 61 is a great site for this.

I would second the eurocamp suggestion. You can mix a few days in a campsite with hotel stays.

When our DCs were small we tended to split our days so that we had a half day of 'cultural' activities (castle, market, old town) and half day round the campsite at the pool or playground.

We have been using Le Shuttle since it opened. We find it much more efficient than any ferry. We time our crossing so that we have lunch on the train (make sure you can access lunch from inside the car as you are unlikely to be able to open the boot).

Our DCs grew up visiting medieval castles. They now tend to view anything newer than 15th century as a bit 'modern'.

Somewhere well worth visiting is Guedelon (www.guedelon.fr). It's a 13th century castle being built using the building techniques of the time. It is absolutely fascinating. The site is being worked by craftsmen/women dressed in traditional clothes (you will see hard hats hidden under caps). People are more than happy to explain what they are doing and talk about the project.

We drove back from skiing in Chamonix this year (2026) and decided on a stopover at Disneyland and a day in Paris. Both were definitely worth it. We drove into Paris on a Sunday and the on street parking was free and the traffic was busy but not too hectic. We parked almost under the Eiffel Tower for free then drove over to Montmartre. We got an apartment at Bussy St George for £265 for the 6 of us for 3 nights. We made a video about our Disneyland stopover if you're interested: