angieroyce3856

Hi!
My husband and I are driving from Nice to Annecy in September and there seem to be so many options for routes to take. We want to stay the night on the way, but we begin the road trip on a Sunday, and after researching, now I’m concerned if “everything will be closed,” is hyperbole or factual. With this in mind, do you have any suggestions for a single night stopover destination, as well as a driving route? We will begin the drive from the airport in Nice on Sunday morning around 10am. Thanks for any help

Moderator1

Welcome to Fodors. Your post was tacked on to an older, unrelated thread. We used your post to create a new stand alone thread.

kja

Avignon? Its more or less halfway and IMO is a fascinating city. I can't imagine that everything would be "closed," though some places might be closed on a Sunday evening.

Michael

If you can still go over the high mountain passes (check the weather) and you enjoy this type of driving, Briançon could be a between stop. That would be a 4.5 hour drive from Nice and a 3 hour drive to Annecy.

shelemm

The fastest route will take you near the Vaucluse, my favorite area in France. Especially the village of Roussillon. Nearby are Gordes and Fontaine-d-Vaucluse. If you can, you should try to descend into the ochre quarry at Roussillon. On a driving trip, I don't like the idea of staying in cities, which are never the highlight of provincial France.

If you go the longer route, you will go through Sisteron (dramatic) and near the UNESCO géoparc de haute provence.

kja

I recognize that shelemm is hardly alone in finding villages more to his liking than cities. That said, I strongly disagree with the generalization that the cities of provincial France are never the highlight. Quite in contrast, I enjoy brief visits to charming villages (and agree that Roussillon is a gem), but often find the cities offer equally interesting (if different) options, and maybe even MORE interesting ones.

Vive la différence!

neckervd

You may stop over at Turin, Briancon, Sestrieres, Aix, Avignon, St. Rhemy, Sisteron, Courmayeur.........
All depends on your preferencies that we don't know

shelemm

Ah, but do you have any suggestions for the OP.....

kja

See my suggestion upthread, post # 3.

Christina

Of course everything won't be closed, major tourism sites are always open on SUndays, that's one of the main days locals can go (to museums, etc).
The question is what one is concerned about being closed? Some shops might be in some places.

IN fact, going to small villages, more things are likely to be closed but a lot of them don't have much there anyway. But big cities like Avignon, Aix, etc are the ones with tourist attractions and they aren't closed.

It just depends what the goals are of this trip. AIx is right on the way if you go the autoroute, so that's one option and plenty open there. Avignon is right on the main autoroute also, but not quite as close to it as Aix.

So those would be my suggestions if you want a bigger place with things to do.

I don't see how Roussillon is on the way, or Gordes, etc. Gordes is not a good idea, if you ask me, you can't even drive into it and it's chock full of tourists and expensive hotels. Now I did stay in Roussillon a couple nights once, in a very modest hotel on the edge of the town and liked it as it wasn't far from the major route, and the town was small enough I could easily walk from the hotel to the center (you can drive through it if you have to). Both Roussillon and Gordes have plenty of tourists so things won't be closed. Of course they don't have museums in those places anyway, but they have a few restaurants. I think I stayed in this place although it didn't look this grand back then.
https://www.lamaisondesocres-hotel.com/

I think you'd have to be going by the A7 to go there, anyway, the major autoroute, although it would be a detour off it. Of course you could go west on the autoroute, then go north on A51 to Roussillon or Gordes to stay, then the next day go west on D900 back to the autoroute. There would be enough time to do that.

I don't understand how the fastest route would take you near Roussillon. I think it would be A8 west to A7 then north to Valence, etc. Or you can go up A51 as I said to Grenoble, but you still aren't near Roussillon.

hetismij2

I hope you are not arriving in Nice by plane after a long flight immediately before this trip.

If you don't want to pay tolls, take the A51. Divert off into the Vercors perhaps for some stunning scenery.
Or look at Google Maps, turn off the motorway option and see which routes it gives on D roads. Then search along the route for towns and hotels.
ging motorways you could do it in a day easily without needing an overnight stop, but you won't see much, so going D roads may be more interesting if longer.

I hope Annecy is less of a madhouse in September than it was in early May, but it seems unlikely. Turned into another over touristed place sadly.

If you go near Grenoble your car must have a Crit'Air sticker. Hopefully the rental company has them already! It should do for Nice as well.

kja

I agree!