cchia130

Hi all,

My fiance and I are planning our honeymoon and we really want to do Paris, Provence and Nice for about 2 weeks in the second half of September. Are we wasting a fantastic trip by going in the fall?? I have been reading about the climate and while Nice always seems to have a pleasant climate (except for rain), everything I have been reading about Paris and Provence has said it starts to get chilly in the fall. I would love to wear beautiful dresses, not heavy jackets, on my honeymoon, so are we barking up the wrong tree here? Should we hold off on our France trip until spring/summer and try somewhere warmer instead like Greece??

Thanks ahead of time for any feedback!

nytraveler

I don;t think either Paris or Provence is cold in Sept - although it won;t be as hot as midsummer. Not sure about the beautiful dresses theough - unless going out to dinner. Seems like overkill for touring around during the day.

Underhill

One caution: September in Paris is VERY high season for hotels; so book very soon.

September in Nice is a great time--warm but usually not hot, fewer tourists. The weather might be cooler in western Provence.

cchia130

I meant sun dresses, nothing too fancy for sightseeing of course! And thank you so much for the responses, you have calmed my fears a bit about the weather...not so much about the hotels in Paris though! Any suggestions for a good hotel in Paris?? We want to be in a very central location and are willing to spend more for a nice hotel - it is our honeymoon after all! Any suggestions will be great but I will continue my tripadvisor search as well.

ParisAmsterdam

September is a great time of year... fewer tourists in the south and the weather is usually good and not as uncomfortably hot as it can be in summer.

One thing to remember though is September is one of the toughest months to book a hotel room in Paris... business gets back to normal after the summer ends and there are so many meetings etc that hotel rooms become scarce. Book early.

If you give an idea of your nightly hotel budget (in euros... many members don't live where dollars are used and you need to get used to euros anyway)... I'm sure there will be many recommendations...

cchia130

Ok, I will try to book asap! The budget is around 100-150 euros, but I am willing to go up to 200 euros max if the place is perfect.

We are in our late 20's and love a mix of museums, sights, walking around, restaurants, cafes, and bars at night. I understand that Paris is a walking city and we are more than happy to do so, but I would like to be close to some nightlife while still feeling safe to walk home after.

qwovadis

weather2travel.com will have your climate guides September is great.booking.com great deals reviews on all hotels.I just booked ihg.com Paris Intercontinental Le Grand with 35000 CC points plus $40 lots of great deals there.Crowne Plaza is nice there from 180 euro or so in a nice Hausmann Building.In Provence www.lecalendal.com very cute cheap in Nice Meridien or Sheraton spg.com both well located at the Promenade and
quite good. seat61.com/france TGV best just hop on like a local works great for us headed over there in April for our
37th very romantic.Lastly you can get great deals in big cities bidding priceline.com betterbidding.com

Congrats!

qwovadis

ricksteves.com
eurocheapo.com
parisvoice.com

good sites for great deals tips food.
insuremytrip.com wise
watch out for apartment scammers that troll here.

fbc34

Oh, does your post bring back wonderful memories of a Paris/Nice honeymoon 33 Septembers ago! Weather was perfect, both cities were filled with flowers, gardens were beautiful, and it seems that we walked forever!

fbc34

Do look at the rates at Hotel Mansart. I've always found their rates to be good, and the hotel is quite nice and convenient.

travelanywhere

http://www.hotel-nice-suisse.com/uk/
I stayed at this Hotel in Nice. 3 star Boutique Hotel, renovated in 2005. Request room with balcony on one of the upper floors. Beautiful view of the Riviera and Promenade. Close to Vieux Nice and the market. Used to be a bit inconvenient for train travel however with the new Tram it is easy. It is very easy to travel about the towns along the riviera by bus or train.

Underhill

For Paris, try the hotel Brighton. The Mansart is also very nice, but probably above your budget. Also, the hotel has many clients who come to Paris for the shows in September and October; so it's hard to get a reservation at that time.

For Nice, look into a sea-view room at the Mercure Promenade des Anglais. The location is terrific: just a short block to the rue Masséna pedestrian street, then another block to Place Masséna. The walk to Vieux Nice is about 10 minutes.

cchia130

Thanks for all the replies and hotel recommendations.

Another question for you all - I keep reading about both Avignon and Aix-en-Provence and both sound so lovely. Which do you all prefer? I can't seem to make up my mind for this portion of our trip. We will have a rental car so I am sure we could see both, but which one serves as a better home base for 4 days?

Michel_Paris

Just to confirm, no rental car in Paris, no rental car to get to Provence. You would use TGV to get from Paris to...

For Paris, recommend you do a search on 'Right bank Hotels' and 'Left Bank hotels'. Because this is a very common question, an effort was made to conglomerate info.

Surfergirl

This sounds like a great trip and a wonderful honeymoon! Congratulations!

I was in Paris, Nice & Provence mid-September two years ago, and although you can never really predict what it might be on a given day, for us, the weather was PERFECT! Warm and sunny everywhere we went. I've been to Paris mid-summer a lot, and you can get anywhere from hot to downright overcoat weather.

But in September, the weather is generally pretty stable -- meaning pretty good, warm, but not uncomfortably so. In my view, I have always liked France best in September.

I would suggest, though, that you might consider starting off in Nice and moving up to Paris if you're going mid-September. That way, you should not only have great, warm weather along the Cote d'Azur, the sea is still nice and warm, so if you were to book a lounger at the beach even at 9 a.m. (they do half and whole days), you can catch rays, swim in the sea, and enjoy the bright morning feeling so pampered and good.

Also, agree that Paris in September is high season, lots of conventions at the time, and space is limited, so book well in advance.

Gretchen

Rather than either Avignon or Aix, maybe St. Remy. Aix is very congested to me--not my favorite place.

greg

I don't know where you are coming from, but when it comes to booking your flight, consider multi-city flight either into Nice and out of Paris or vice versa unless you can find a bargain flight into and out of Paris to justify backtracking back to Paris from Nice. I love flying into Nice. You fly over turquoise ocean into an airport with palm trees as if you are at a tropical resort.