If you type in Tour de France 2006 to Google you should get the official route and dates. I know that the first day is in Strasbourg (near me).

I have seen the TDF but you have to spend a lot of time making a reccie to find a good viewing spot and then prepare to spend a lot of time there as the roads get closed off about 3 hours beforehand and the passage of the advertising 'caravan' (loads of vehicles) takes about 30 mins ahead of the cyclists and then the cyclists themselves WHOOSH and it's all over - a blur in 30 seconds or so!!! I think the kids in your party might find it all a bit of a let down!! (And from personal experience it's far more exciting on the TV!)

Good luck - and if you do decide to follow the 'Tour' hill/mountain stages can be the most satisfying to watch (going UPHILL that is).

Bonne chance!

Alsa

Thanks for your reply. I will check out route etc. Think we will aim to be near somewhere and then if husband wants to take himself off for the day to watch he can - but the rest of us will do our own thing. I do like watching TdF on TV but can imagine that it is a "blink and you miss it" thing in real life as they rush past.

Hi

You can see the route HERE.

Pippy

Last August we followed the route through the mountains which was fantastic, but we saw hundreds of cyclists following in their heros cylcle tracks which caused problems in places on the narrow mountain roads it must be a nightmare when the race is on Good luck ! we stayed in a gite in the Gascony region, really lovely Chateaux owned by Brits and very reasonable

Hi, I live in Carcassonne, and watch the Tour every year as it always goes through this region. This year one of the stages finishes in Carcassonne on July 14th which is Bastille Day. Carcassonne is well known for its Bastille day celebrations and fireworks, and last year 1,000,000 people came to watch, so this year with the Tour as well it will be an even bigger event. So my recommendation to you is to come and watch it in Carcassonne, also if you have read Kate Mosses new best seller Labyrinth you can visit all the places as it was based here in Carcassonne.

http://www.carcassonne.org - tourist board site
http://www.southfranceholidays.com - Gite site

Hope this helps

Denyse