I went to France in the summer of 2002 along with two friends of mines. We travelled 10 days with my car, never staying more than 48 hours in the same place. Not very relaxing, I agree, but we think it's the best way to have a quick overview over a whole country and its inhabitants. Well, when I'm looking for relax, I usually stay at home
Following, our route over southern and middle France:
- Avignon
- Arles
- St. Marie de la Mer (where we made the bath in the sea)
- Andorra (it's not France, but a country by itself, located between France and Spain. Andorra is the second smallest country in the world after Città Del Vaticano)
- Bayonne
- Biarritz & St. Jean de Luz (where we made a very cold bath in the Atlantic)
- Foix (very, very, very nice!)
- Chambery
As you see we skipped the big towns in order to avoid traffic. Then, since my friends were students at that time, we had to keep an eye to the budget to meet their necessities. We never took the highway, since in France they're terribly expensive, instead we used secondary roads (luckily my car is a diesel). With some other adjustement (read = a couple of nights spent sleeping in the car, the others in not too expensive hotels) we managed to do the whole thing with just 1.000€ each one. We ate, of course!