France trip on bike-anyone been? Where to go? 2 up

I'm taking the missus on a lovely little cheapo holiday to French France next year on the banger, when I get it sorted. I said we'd go South because it'd be nice and warm but I really haven't the foggiest where to go. Ideally we'd like to spend a good few days getting there, stopping at nice places on the way and then having a week or so to chillax. Give me some ideas peeps. Calais and Paris are the most I've travelled over there. Might even go into Spain depending on the distance.

[timwilky]

If your in the south you need to get to Monoco and win some dosh to pay for your holiday. (I did). the whole area St Tropez, st raphael, antibes, Nice is/was all very nice. Get upto Grass and the whole road home trough the French Alps (I think it is known as Rue Napolean) it was when I did it 20 years ago a fantastic ride

I travelled down to Montpelier in the south about 3yrs ago by car and it was an awesome trip down.

We ferried it too Calais then drove straight down the middle passing through some wicked french countryside. We stayed on the toll road which meant that traffic was light and the road quality was like a race track!

Montpelier itself is a lush place to go too - really hot and loads of historic places to visit along with french riviera style beaches. 10/10 from me !!

i thought you were travelling further afield?

Personally I'd head straight through to the south as fast as possible, then meander homewards for a few days. Chill first, sightsee whan you get bored! If not, you could find that the end of your holiday is a mad rush for the ferry!

[Luckypants]

Second Tim's suggestion of the Route Napoleon N85 as a way to cross the mediterranean(?) Alps from Grenoble to Cannes.

Another gem I found this summer on the recommendation of someone on here was to come off the motorway at Dole and take the N5 for Geneva. Stay at the Hotel de Paris in Poligny on the way. An alternative is to turn off the N5 for Nyon on Lake Geneva then follow the lake shoreline to Geneva.

Ohhhhh so many more....

In the summer there is a train that takes you and the bike to the south from calais. Could be worth it when you factor the time, tyres, petrol chain wear.

I think Jelster has written about it at length.

This is what I plan to do next summer as my sister has just moved to that region.

Originally Posted by Kinvig

i thought you were travelling further afield?

No not me.

Originally Posted by thor

In the summer there is a train that takes you and the bike to the south from calais. Could be worth it when you factor the time, tyres, petrol chain wear.

I think Jelster has written about it at length.

This is what I plan to do next summer as my sister has just moved to that region.

Good plan. Then we could do Bear's suggestion and crawl home. I was looking up a way to get a bike to Scotland on a train to do the End to End but there's no way other than scheduling a trailer on a train yourself as far as I know. Was thinking about putting out feelers to see if a bunch wanted to do it from here but thought most would say to just ride there.

Keep 'em coming!

[Luckypants]

I looked into the train down through France thing and TBH it was bally expensive! I think Jelster and his mates do a deal where they put 4 bikes into a car space and split the cost between them, making it more affordable.

So in the end, I rode down the east side of France, cam accross and rode up though the middle, making a big a circle.

What sort of time frame do I need to keep in mind for getting about? We won't be gunning it as I'll probably have to sedate the missus if the roads aren't very nice. We have done a 1600 mile mini adventure in the states though.