Give us an idea of what you're interested in. History? Mountains? Drinking wine? Sitting in cafes? Do you want to do a road trip (one-way hire is expensive, one-way hire to another country and you'll need to sell a kidney) or zip about Europe on low-cost airlines?

If you're into walking, a trip to the Pyrenees is a must. You could also do some wine tasting around Bordeaux. I've never been too impressed with the Côte d'Azur - full of posers in my experience, but YMMV.

Don't write off Spain. Bilbao, Madrid & Barcelona are fantastic cities, if you're into city-breaks. You've also got Europe's ever-expanding Eastern borders to explore - nowhere's more that a couple of hours flight away (though there's not a huge choice of direct flights).

Be aware that most of France is on holiday for most of August. This means that (a) nothing's open, and (b) everyone's at the beach and (c) they're all trying to get there down the same roads as you (along with the British, Dutch and Germans driving down to the south coast).