I was about to book a round trip flight to Paris (from SFO) for me and my husband, then began wondering if we have adequate time to also see someplace else. What do you think? 10 days total in Paris alone (with side trips) or should we try to go elsewhere, possibly flying out of that TBD location?
I prefer trains to cars or air travel.
What's an easy place to get to that's worth going to? What would you do if you were flying into Paris and had 10 days to spend?
And yes, I know this is only 1 month away. I planned a trip to Spain in less time than that and it was fantastic.
Paris + Where? (10 days total, late July/early August 2012)
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Hi T,
>What would you do if you were flying into Paris and had 10 days...<
Stay in Paris with daytrips to any 3 of the following:
Versailles, Giverny, Chartres, Auxerre, Nancy, Strasbourg, Dijon, Beaune
Enjoy your visit.
Or, stay in Paris for 6 days and travel to Normandy for 4 days of you want to visit a more rural area.
I would stay in Paris for the entire time and take day trips as suggested by Ira. My favorite day trips from Paris are Chartres, Giverny and Reims.
I would stay half the time in Paris and then take the train to Nice and go home from there. My two favorite cities.
My shortest trip to Paris was 9 days,, I had been many times before , but the friend I went with had never been. We both agreed 9 days was too short!!
I would stay in Paris and take a few daytrips, trains can take you to many great places in under an hour or hour and a half, I loved my daytrip to Rouen, and of course you may like Versailles( 45 minutes) or Chantilly or Fontainbleau( 40 minutes aprox) or Chartes( an hour aprox)... etc etc..
I think this is just a personal decision and only you can decide what you want to do, what else you might want to see, how much you like just staying in a big city for 10 days versus seeing other places, how often you get to Europe, etc. Just become someone else wants to stay in Paris for 10 days doesn't mean you will. There is not even any background here as to whether you've been there before, like it, how much you like big cities, language abilities, etc.
So personally without some real diehard fascination with Paris, I'd spend maybe 4-5 days in Paris and then go to Provence for 5 days. Provence is very nice at this time of year, I love it, you can see the lavender, nice lazy summer days, it is beatiful. And so easy to get down there in a few hours by TGV. I would not spend 10 days in July in Paris and go nowhere else unless you know what you are doing and know that you want to do that.
You can easily fly out of Nice or Marseille, I've done both. Marseille is closer to what I think of as a typical Provence stay.
oh, I see you are talking maybe the end of July? Well, lvendar may or may not be over in Provence, but Paris isn't that fascinating IMO at the end of July through August. No performing arts, for one thing, which is one reason I like to go to Paris.
And, as you say, it depends on what you want to do. We may do "some" concert, but have been often and not done any performing art. Plenty to do. I like the day trips idea.
Realize you've invested NOTHING in telling us what your interests are. Why would we invest time in telling you about interesting museums if you hate them? etc.
How about seeing some of the countryside and villages near Paris? For ideas, take a look at some of the drives and bike rides FMT, a frequent poster on Fodors, has done near Paris. Here's one trip report and there are a lot more, all of them great:
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=france&action=display&thread=4138&page=1
All of these are great ideas. I am open to almost anything. This is my first time posting and I was looking for quick hit ideas of what others find interesting.
I love world class metropolitan cities and all they have to offer. I am in San Francisco weekly, by choice. My last trip was to NYC and Washington DC. The trip before was to Barcelona/Mardid/Seville.
That said, I also love to hike and walk and wander. I love anything on the water. I love art. I love delicious food and wine. Other than my 2010 trip to Spain, I've not been in Europe since 1978 so this'll be a whole different experience.
I thought seeing Dordogne could be very itneresting but (and I am just being lazy here) I've not done any research on how far and whether that would even be feasible.
Hope that helps. I am loving all of the suggestions.
How about taking the TGV (200mph train) to Bordeauz, visiting some wine chateau in the Medoc area? I think it's about a 3-1/2 hour ride, about 75-100 euro/per one way. If you rented a car to visit the vineyards, you could also daytrip a day into the Dordogne.
For one or two nights away, Aix-en-Provence is 3 hrs from Gare de Lyon (I agree with Christina). The TGV one way fare is about $135 on sncf or $150 on RailEurope. BTW coming from SFO I would definitely consider NoJetLag, herbal not a sleeping pill, and actually does what it says.
If it were me, since you hardly ever go to Europe, I'd want to see more than just Paris. I love Paris, actually, and know it very well and visit it annually (and studied there several times), but even I wouldn't do what you are suggesting. I'm going this September, for example, and am not spending all my time only in Paris, life is too short (yes, there are some people on Fodors who travel several times a year to Europe and thus can perhaps spend all their time in Paris on one trip, or they aren't interested in other areas, but that's not the norm). On my trip this Fall, I'm going to Paris for 7 days, then Bordeaux for 2, then finishing with 4-5 days in Madrid. I'll do a day trip from Paris and Madrid, most likely. Last year, I combined Paris with Barcelona and Lyon, about the same time frame. I like Easyjet to get between cities in other countries (like Spain and France), within France, I use the TGV, of course.
I don't really understand why it would be preferable to only stay in Paris and spend lots of time visiting places outside Paris (and it is still the Ile de France, the suburbs and metropolitan area right around Paris are not like other parts of the country) instead of seeing completely different areas of France when it is so easy to do with the TGV. Paris is kind of dull at the time of year you are suggesting IMO, also.
There is no ballet in Paris after 7/14, and there are not even regular concerts in the normal venues (eg, Theatre des Champs-Elysees or Chatelet, Salle Pleyel, etc), the season is over, and I don't think any opera, either (although I am not an opera buff). This is the norm in most major cities, it is in the US, also. There are even fewer concerts than normal in smaller venues (eg, churches), although there are a few. This is very important to me, but of course, it isn't to lots of people.