They might still have a beach in the city centre in summer, which has novelty value if nothing else.

Pompidou centre looks fun from the outside. There's also the science museum, the Cite des Sciences Sciences - Découvrez la science à la Cité des*Sciences et de l'Industrie*à Paris, and the Pere Lachaise cemetery is also great to wander round, lots of famous people buried there and some very elaborate & extravagant tombs.

On the same morbid and therefore highly appealing to small children themes, you can also visit the sewers and the catacombs underneath Paris.

Oh and ignore Disneyland Paris, head for Parc Asterix instead, cheaper, more fun, fewer people and not Disney :-)

And finally given you have a car, it's worth venturing to nearby places like Rambouillet, which has a forest with lots of wildlife, and Fontainebleau, which has some of the best bouldering in Europe, we always used to love scrambling round there!

Err... maybe now someone should suggest things to do in other countries on your itinerary?!

Oh and be careful with scenic routes - they're great, but make sure they're not between tourist attractions. We spent a very very long time driving back to our gite from northern spain via a steep, winding scenic route used by all the tour coaches...

Laura

Hi,
Thanks guys.
I now know the good places to visit in France.
Any suggestions for other site seeing places in other countries in my route please?

Thanks

'
'
Sounds like you want to do very much what me and the wife did summer 2006.
Drive down to Dover, quick ferry to Calais.Onto Reimes, Dijon,(France) Geneve, Lausanne, Montreaux, Martigne, Carmonix-Mont-Blanc (Switzerland) then through the Mont Blanc tunell, comming out at Courmayeur in Italy, and onto Cuneo.
Then to Monaco, and onto Cap-de Adge, following the coast road to Perpignan, and Barcelona and Valencia.
From Valencia we headed north to Madrid, more north to Bilboa and back into France.
Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes, and Paris as our last French stop.
Back to Calais, and ferry back to Dover.
We stayed 4 nights in Paris, Cuneo, Geneva, Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid was 3 nights I think,

We did NO pre-booking, and simply knocked on the doors of bed and breakfasts, or hotels, as and when.
If the place was nice, we stay an extra day, otherwise, one night and move on.
We were able to find launderettes for the washing, and when we got to the hotel room, or B&B, we would do some ironing.

We did this in August, September 2006, and had a great time.

Driving in Europe is very easy, Madrid was the worst for driving, as even a small UK mini looks big in Madrid, and concidering we were driving this.
'

'
Up past Carmonix
'

'
Up towards the tunell
'

'
Tunell entrance
'

'
Monaco
'

'
Some Spanish rest area.

'vette

Thanks for the mentioned places.
I believe with kids we better pre-book and that is why I am being very fussy about placecs to stay.
I am also worried that if we don't book in advance, there may not me a place to stay where we need to since we will travel in August 2009.

Hello again,
Since my last post, I have been looking at your suggestions...
I have narrowed down the route to touring France and perhaps a little stop in Zurich switzerland.
Here is a route I have in mind which is based on your suggestions only.
We will have two weeks and thought may be we can cover this route.
Do you think I have a reasonable route in mind baring in mind that there are two kids (5 and 7 years old) with us?
Looking at previous suggestions, there are places for kids to keep busy on these routes.
I am hoping this is a scenic route.
Any thoughts please?
Route:
Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK
Rennes, france
Nantes, france
Poitiers, France
Limoge, france
Avignon, France
Logis de France, Apt, France
Verdon gorge, france
Nice, france
Monaco
Geneva
Chamonix, france
Zurich, switzerland
Strasburg, france
nancy, france
reims, france
paris
Back to UK

Many thanks

.........................