ashley_knierim

Hi everyone,

We are planning a trip to France in October. Unfortunately, we've already booked our flights (we found a deal too good to pass up), and are now trying to plan everything out. We've both been to Paris before, but not elsewhere in France. I really, really want a taste of Provence, but right now it's a little tight. Our current plan is: Arrive Monday at 2pm, take a train around 4-5pm directly to Provence, settle in etc by 10pm. Have Tues, Weds and Thurs am to explore a few small towns, settle in back in Paris by Thursday pm. Spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tues am before we fly out Tuesday pm for NYC. This seems doable but some have warned me it won't be enough time.

Another option we are floating is to buy 2 more one-way tickets from Nice for $300 p/p. This would mean we'd spend Mon-Fri in Paris, Sat-Thurs in Provence and train to Nice to leave on Friday. Does this realistically add much more time? We'd have to drop the rental car back off in Avignon and then take the train to Nice on Thursday.

Basically, we're wondering if anyone who has experienced Provence would say 2 days is still a good amount of time to get a taste? We don't want to complicate the trip any further, but we are pretty set on Southern France.

Thank you in advance to any advice you have!

Jeff801

Ashley,

Advance purchase air Round Trip fares on Air France between CDG and Nice or Marseille start at $127/person. If you are fixed on this itinerary, don't waste the better part of two days on the train, which is often more expensive than flying.

Jeff

StuDudley

We've vacationed for 20 weeks in Peovence & 20 weeks on the Cote d'Azur.

I'm not sure what flying to Paris from Nice would buy you. You would actually loose time & money. It's a 2 1/2 hr drive to Nice, you would need to get to the airport 1 1/2 hrs before your flight, 1 hr flight, then 1/2 - 1 hr to get to Paris from CDG or Orly.

If you have been to Paris before, add days to Provence. There's plenty to do in Provence.

I note that you are new to Fodors - welcome. I developed an itinerary for Provence/Cote d'Azur from our travels there. I've sent it to over 3,000 people on Fodors. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail.

Stu Dudley

ashley_knierim

Thanks! I should clarify -- if we added the $300 Nice flight it would be Nice > NYC so we wouldn't have to backtrack to Paris to get home. It would essentially add 3 more days.

StuDudley

>> If you are fixed on this itinerary, don't waste the better part of two days on the train, which is often more expensive than flying.<<

Disagree. TGV is 2 3/4 hrs Avignon TGV station to Paris central & you can get PREM fares for 40E pp. Flying to Nice/Marseille from CDG on your arrival day in France is fine, if the added fare won't break the bank - but I find a leisurely train trip to Provence to be extremely relaxing after a long flight. IMO, Provence then Paris is the best plan.

Stu Dudley

StuDudley

>> if we added the $300 Nice flight it would be Nice > NYC so we wouldn't have to backtrack to Paris to get home. It would essentially add 3 more days.<<

It would have been nice to know this in advance. How is it going to add 3 days???

Stu Dudley

Judy

Have you tried changing your original tickets to fly out of Nice or Marseille later? I would extend if at all possible.

ashley_knierim

Sorry about that, I guess I wasn't clear! Right now we are scheduled to leave on Tuesday at 7pm from Paris. The only affordable one-way from Southern France is from Nice on Friday. So in that case, we'd go to Paris first (Monday evening - Friday), then train down south and stay in Provence Saturday-Thursday and head to Nice for a Friday AM flight.

Judy

Forgot to mention you could also arrange to drop the car in Nice instead of having to add a train trip from Avignon.

ashley_knierim

Our airline does not allow changing flights (it's a discount airline, XL Airways), but since it was <$550, I'm not so worried about the lost money. I can't decide if it's worth the extra cost to add just a few more days.

DebitNM

Am I the only one having a difficult time following what the original plan was, and what the proposed hates are?? I think if you clearly spelled out what you have as far and then list your alternates might be, you'd get more help. You seem to be jumping about and I am confused and can't help. I have a good deal of travel experience in these 2 areas ( not as much as Stu and others!!) and would like to help but I am totally confused.

StuDudley

OK - now I understand. So, you'll "eat" the return ticket from CDG to NYC on Tues, and instead fly NCE to NYC on Friday. I would certainly add days & fly from Nice. I would also drive from Provence to Nice & return the car at the train station or one of the downtown offices. The itinerary you haven't e-mailed me for yet, has a scenic route described to get from Nice to Provence - which you could do in reverse.

Stu Dudley

ashley_knierim

Thank you! yes, that's correct. I guess it's hard to clear up. Right now, we arrive in Paris on Monday and are scheduled to leave Paris on the following Tuesday pm. We wanted to squeeze a short trip to Provence in there. If we eat the CDG>NYC flight, we would arrive to Paris Monday pm, but instead leave from Nice 11 days later, the following Friday. it would essentially cost about $600 more total to add 2 more flights, but we'd gain 3 days.

Thank you guys again for your help! Stu, I will email you later today! Very interested in your itinerary!

Gretchen

I am one who usually says not enough time, but you will get a taste and it will be fun. You could take a very early train back to Paris on Friday and get there by noon.
Extend if you want to. The price seems pretty reasonable all around.

dugi_otok

Extend your vacation. Was: 5 nights Paris, 3 nights Provence. Change to: 5 nights Paris, 5 nights Provence, 1 night Nice.

>> I really, really want a taste of Provence <<
To achieve this I would spend at least 2 nights in the Luberon waking up in Peter Mayles Provence.Then you could spend the other 3 nights in a location a little closer to the tourist sights. Then your vacation could look like this:

Saturday Take the 9x TGV train from Paris Gare de Lyon to Avignon TGV station arriving before noon.Rent a car and head for the Luberon for 2 nights (Sat and Sun). Stu's itinerary has some suggested day trips to visit the hill towns. I can enthusiastically recommend staying at B&B Le Mas Perreal http://masperreal.com/index.html
You will have Sat afternoon, all day Sun (perhaps the famous I'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue market in the am), and as much of Mon that you want to spend in the Luberon.

For Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday you could stay in St-Remy-de-Provence from which you could easily visit Avignon and Pont du Gard, les Baux and Arles in the two full days you have.

Thursday you could leave St Remy in the morning and arrive in Nice (3 hour drive without stops) before noon.Turn in your car. Enjoy the afternoon and evening in Nice.

Friday Fly home.
You will have found your extra $300 pp well spent.