How about Burgundy, fabled Burgundy of classic wines, cute small villages capping vineyard-carpeted hills, etc - bucolic is the word for this area smack near the Swiss border - head to Beaune, the main town in the northern Burgundy wine district and just a nice medium-sized town - take the officially noted Burgundy Wine Road that meanders through small wine villages for a bit. Even if wines are not your bag Burgundy is great.

En route to Paris stop by Vezelay, a UNESCO World Heritage site that in the Middle Ages was one of Europe's top pilgrimage sites - that is until the venerated holy relic was proven to be a fake (surprise!) and the town quickly lost all its pilgrims and slumbered along as a backwater until its old buildings and incredibly ornate basilica were rehabbed - all lovingly draped over a hilll surrounded by lush verdant countryside - then hop on the autoroute to blast into Paris.

another great route between Switzerland and France starts at Martigny, in the Rhone Valley, and twists up and over a high Alpine pass into France to Chamonix, a primo primo Alpine resort where glaciers practically descend into town - lots of aerial gondolas and mountain trains, etc.

Anyway an awesomely pretty drive the whole way and from Chamonix you keep going west and into the Burgundy area.

Or another nice route would go by Annecy and the French Alps = Annecy being set on a gorgeous lake of the same name.

Will this be in a rental car? If so, and if you are planning to drop the car off in France, be prepared for a whopping extra charge.

Time is limited if you have only one overnight stop between Switzerland and Paris. I would go from Switzerland via Basel, stop to visit the Ronchamp chapel (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/4861312058/in/set-72157624529919999 ), a few hours in Troyes (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/sets/72157624529919999/show/ ) or a stop in Provins (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/4935672294/in/set-72157623316531799 ) might also be in order. Use secondary roads, and while that area of France is not the most scenic, taking such roads is more interesting than using the super highway and might lead to unexpected finds when driving through the small towns.

If you are landing in Geneva or Basel when coming from Australia, you might want to pick up your car on the French side of either airport so that you will not have the cross-border drop-off fee. But you will have to buy the vignette for Switzerland because it is almost impossible to avoid toll roads when driving in that country.

A driving tour that takes you over the Grimsel, Susten and Furka Pass, or any combination thereof will give you a good taste of the Swiss Alps. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/4207016222/in/set-72157622927438333