Inspiration

Unmissable stops on your French road trip

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Ellen Sanders

Sawday's Expert

5 min read

A road trip through France can take days or weeks and carry you from mountains to beaches. Along the way, you're going to stop for a crêpe and a coffee or two, and maybe even some overnight breaks. But don't just pick the nearest place to the autoroute, turn the stop into part of the trip at these places, all near popular routes, to slow down and savour the journey.

Le Relais de Scissé, Saône-et-Loire

Fittingly for a former post house, this place always delivers. Four of the five bedrooms look out on the vineyard, you’re welcomed with a drink and chef Thierry serves fabulous breakfasts of local produce to send you happily on your next leg. Although with ancient abbeys, fabulous wineries and the pool to linger by, you might just decide to hang around for a while.

Route: Near to A39 in Eastern France, connecting Dijon with Bourg en Bresse. A popular route to the Alps

See all our places in Saone-Et-Loire >

 

 

 

 

Château les Oliviers de Salettes, Drôme

This three-storey house of impressive proportions, with a turret at each end, was once part of a much larger château, the centre of a vast vineyard. Now it lords over five hectares of finely landscaped parkland, with dining terraces, boules pitch and infinity pool, and panoramas that reach to the Alps. There’s much to stay for, cookery lessons, wine tastings and electric-bike rentals, tree climbing, canoeing, riding, golf and a sweet spa. The food is exceptional too.

Route: A short detour from the A7 linking Lyon to Marseille, on route to the Côte d’Azur

See all our places in Drome >

 

Les Jardins de Baracane, Avignon

Slip through narrow streets to a beautiful house in exquisite gardens. The rich silk merchants of Avignon once lived here and your worldly hosts Olivier and Laurence usher you in with a coffee or glass of wine. There’s a Moroccan feel here, behind the high, cool walls with a long, inviting swimming pool for cooling off. Five south-facing bedrooms are quiet and quirky, with cossetting beds and bathrooms. Avignon and wider Provence are at your feet.

Route: In Avignon near to A9 and A7, on route to the southeast or southwest corners

See all our places in Vancluse >

 

 

 

Clos Marcamps, Prignac et Marcamps

A super-stylish makeover by the de Gamas who moved here from Paris with their young children. All is pale and lovely, clear and uncluttereddesigned to enhance the elegant proportions of this handsome Chartreuse house. You eat, superbly and seasonally, in the main house. You sleep in beautifully compact rooms in the converted barns. Each has its own entrance and is on two levels with beds upstairs. There’s a wow of a pool, swings and table tennis, you can book beauty treatments, or baby-sitting, and head for Bordeaux.  

Route: Near Bordeaux on the A10, on route to the beaches of southwest France

See all our places in Aquitaine >

 

 

Vive la France

This article is part of Vive la France, the home of inspiring itineraries and stories from travel writers and our team, to help you plan your next French adventure.

See more here.

 

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Ellen Sanders

Sawday's Expert

Childhood trips to see far off family gave Ellen the travel bug from an early age. She went on to make fond memories idling in French vineyard country, travelling the world working The British Lions overseas tours and playing with her kids on the beaches of Pembrokeshire.
She's happiest around water - either sliding over it the frozen variety or SUPing on and swimming in the liquid one, but also loves her role developing and coordinating Sawday's marketing strategy.
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