What fantastic trips will you dream up for 2026?
Happy New Year! Whatever 2025 was like for you, each new year presents fresh opportunities to plan and take a trip to France.
What are your France travel dreams?
Maybe one of these?
- A tour of Provence and the Côte d’Azur?
- A road trip through Brittany? (and lots of crepes along the way…)
- A relaxing spa vacation?
- Monument-hopping in Paris?
Oliver’s France will be there with you, with tons of ideas (some you might not have thought of!) for your amazing trip.
Here are Ten that are More Unusual…
A high-altitude scenic train trip through the Pyrénées mountains
Taking a 4×4 safari through the wetlands of La Camargue (and tacking on a trip to Arles before or after)
Visiting Abbeys and Monasteries
Biking in France on special bike itineraries
Festival-Hopping across France
Finding Foodie Destinations
Enjoying a sports vacation
A ski vacation in the Alps
Hiking on dormant volcanoes
…. And SO much more!
If you’re getting the idea that there are endless things to do in France, you’re close to being right!
The guidebooks, Magical Paris: Over 100 Things to Do Across Paris and A French Garden: The Loire Valley, will be fully updated in early 2026. Your road trip guide, Hit the Road in France, is already fully updated and expanded (with 60% more helpful info)!
In fact, here’s an excerpt from that book to give you a glimpse of 6 reasons to take a road trip.
from Hit the Road in France: 9 Road Trip Itineraries Across France
Six Reasons to Take a Road Trip in France
Road trips in France can be your most wonderful memories. Here are six reasons to consider taking a road trip the next time you visit France or at some point in the future.
- When you take a road trip, you’re the one in control. You’ve rented a car, so you’re free to come and go, be impulsive, or change your mind. You can plan as you wish and discover places that may be new to you (and possibly not even in your travel guide!)
- You can discover delightful places you encounter as you’re on your way somewhere else. Make an unscheduled stop and create a new memory.
- Access places you might have a hard time reaching by train, because of their fixed itineraries and timetables.
- Visit smaller villages or coastal gems that aren’t easily served by train. (Or maybe because that picture-perfect walled medieval village is perched on a mountainside.)
- You can save money if you have several people traveling together. Gas and tolls in France can be expensive. But when you divide these costs by the number of people you’re traveling with, it may actually end up costing less per person. Having a car enables you to drive on national roads instead of autoroutes, thereby skipping tolls. Besides those savings, in most smaller towns, you’ll generally pay less for meals, museums, excursions, and hotels.
- Traveling by car enables you to see many interesting places that are close together. This is especially important when you only have one week or 10 days. You’ll want to get the most from your time! (Besides, who wants to spend even more time in the car?) THAT is the beauty of this book, to give you suggested itineraries to places that are in the same general area. It’s an efficient way to vacation.
(From the book, Hit the Road in France: 9 Road Trip Itineraries Across France. Get your expanded and updated copy for your France road trip!) Available direct from Oliver’s France or from Amazon
Whether you take a road trip through one of many gorgeous regions of France or choose to base in one town, take a train itinerary, or bike your way through the countryside, there’s plenty of travel joy awaiting you all across France.
Related Posts and Travel Resources
Planning and Making Memories: A Travel Journal
Magical Paris: Over 100 Things to do Across Paris
A French Garden: The Loire Valley
Real French for Travelers Online Course or Book
10 Day Trips Under Two Hours from Paris
