vishalg99

Hello,
I am planning a 15 day trip to France in early June with my 9 year old boy. We will be completely reliant on public transportation. I have been to Paris, Marseilles, Arles, and Avignon. It will be my son's first visit to France. We visit Europe about once every year, and have recently spent time in Cinque Terre, Austrian/Italian Alps, Salzburg (and the lake district) etc. My son enjoyed all of those places.
I am considering: Paris, Alsace region (with maybe Colmar as base), Alps region (with Lyon, Annecy, or Chamonix as base).
I want to end with 5 days in Paris.
Hoping for two bases of 5 days each for the other 10 days, but willing to split into more as per your recommendation. Willing to skip Alsace, and commit 10 days to the Alps region if that makes sense.
Some people in this forum have expressed profound liking for Annecy. But others say, without a car, doesn't make sense to spend too much time there. We absolutely loved our time in Italian Alps, but would 5 days in Chamonix be too much if public transport isn't as convenient there? Lyon sounds like a very well-connected hub, but given that I will be spending 5 days in Paris, does it make sense to stay in Lyon. And certainly, if we stay in Lyon, it would put Chamonix out of reach. Any insights/help regarding this would be highly appreciated.

If anyone has suggestions outside of what I am considering, would love to hear those too.
Thanks much,
Vishal

PalenQ

I stayed once in Chamonix with my that young son and we stayed for several days and never ran out of things to do- like the fantastic Pte de Aiguille cableway to Pte Heilbrenner in Italy - aswesome and mountain trains to glaciers. Public transporation can take you anywhere you want to go - including the thrilling train ride to Martigny, Switzerland and back for the day - one of Europe's most scenic Alpine railways.

For lots on French trains check SNCF's official site - www.voyages-sncf.com (book your own discounted tickets) and www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

vishalg99

Thanks for your quick/convincing response, PalenQ. We have decided to allocate 5 nights to Chamonix. Now I need to figure out how to get from Chamonix to Paris, have some questions which I will pose in a separate post.

PalenQ

www.voyages-sncf.com - French railways has all the schedules and fares - book ASAP for good discounted fares.

The quickest route actually goes via Switzerland - Geneva to Martigny then that dramatically scenic train to Chamonix but it may be much more expensive that the about an hour longer route via Annecy, Bellgarde and all in France.