Planning Your Time

Lyon, with its ample range of architecture, food, and culture, deserves several days—two at the very least. The wine country of the Beaujolais up the River Saône is another two-day visit, unless a drive-through directly to Bourg-en-Bresse is all that time constraints will allow. Medieval Pérouges is another good day's browse, with time left over for a late afternoon and evening drive into the Alps to Annecy, where the Vieille Ville (Old Town) is an eyeful by day or night.

The mountain resort of Megève is a place to settle in for a few days. Grenoble offers opportunities for perusing masterpieces in its superb museum or following the novelist Stendhal's footsteps through the old quarter.