It depends on where you're flying into and out of. If possible, get DH and you to fly open jaw into Brussels and out of Paris.

The Thalys down from Belgium is about the same as a TGV, fast.

Personally, I would try to bunch your travel around the two major cities. Long train trips in a short period waste days you don't really have to spend. Lots of folks have lots of ideas, but remember your logistics and the ability to enjoy your unexpected vacation.

What about Bruges? Beautiful city, Venice of the North. You could catch a train out of Brussels, I think it might be just over an hour ride.

In Brussels I would recommend spending time in the Grand Place and surrounding Lower City then walking up to the Sablon squares in the Upper town. I would also go to the Ixelles/St gilles neighborhoods to see the amazing collection of Art Nouveau architecture. The Museum of Musical Instruments might also interest you even though you don't enjoy art museums.

We also enjoyed a trip out to the suburb of Tervuren with its Royal Museum for Central Africa and Versailles-inspired park. The cities of Gent, mechelen and Leuven are all very short train trips from Brussels.

There are more details about all of these options in my trip report from last fall

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/10-days-in-belgium-plus-a-day-in-the-netherlands.cfm

Are you going by car or train?

Thanks for the input so far.

"Personally, I would try to bunch your travel around the two major cities."
I can see that, but we are from a big city, DC, and would like to spend some time out of the city. For instance, in Spain, we really enjoyed Cordoba and Toledo more than Madrid.

Agree that we don't want to do a If this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium kind of tour. But I think three areas, Brussels, Paris and one other is reasonable. Would really like input on what to do for the third area.

Tentek, sounds like Bruges would make a great day trip from Brussels. I think we saw a movie set there not too long ago - can't remember the name - about two gangsters on the lam.

"Are you going by car or train?"
Good question, PalenQ. If we can avoid driving, we would prefer it. Have been to Spain and Italy and had great trips using trains for intercity travel. However, if there's no good way to see the French countryside without a car, we could certainly do that for part of the trip.

It depends what you mean by countryside - trains obviously go thru countryside in between large cities - like in burgundy, the Loire, Provence, etc. And trains do serve small towns but not nearly all so it depends on where - in Burgundy it is easy to go to small wine towns by train. Loire chateaus are mainly easily reached by train and or bus, etc.

If going to cities then trains IMO are far better option - parking can be scarce there and cost a fortune if found - gas prices are now about $9/gal in France and tolls on autoroutes are sky-high - taking back roads sounds romantic and can be but you travel at a snail's pace - fine if you are confining yourself to a compact area such as Normandy.

Anyways - check out these fab IMO sites for lots of French and Belgian trains - http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id8.html; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com. And check on the France-Benelux Railpass if traveling enough on the rails - good on trains throughout France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

To me Provence is a great place to head - say the Avignon-Arles area as there is so so much to see and do there and you do not need a car to do most of them - TGV trains take under 3 hours now Paris to Avignon, a wondrous old walled city that makes a sweet base from which to hop to Arles, Nimes, the Pont du Gard, St Remy-de-Provence or fabled Les Baux.

Hi J,

>a few days in Belgium, several days in Paris and also see one other area of France. Probably would take a couple weeks....<

I'm assuming that you haven't yet been to Paris. I think that it is worth a week.

This leaves you about a week to see the rest of France.

I suggest
2 nights in Brussels
Train to Paris - 4 nights
Train to Strasbourg (The TGV takes about 2:20 hr) , rent car
Visit Alsace - 4 nights.
Train to Paris - 3 nights
Fly home

Enjoy your visit.

Should we rent a car for the middle part of our trip? Is it possible to easily get to wineries, chateaux and other towns without a car? We could either be based in Strasbourg for Alsace, Tours for the Loire Valley or Avignon for Provence.

Also, I'd really like more input on which of these three areas we should visit and why.

Thanks.

I forgot t mention that we don't really speak French. (Well, we both took it in high school, and I was actually pretty good at the time, but it's been a loooong time.) I could still read a menu or ask for directions, but would need a tour guide or museum explanations in English. Does that make any difference on choosing between the Loire Valley, Alsace or Provence?

Belgian restaurants are possibly better than in France.

I'd spend a few days in Brussels, then train to Paris for a few days, then look at the Med coast for a few days. The Med part is easy (Montpellier 3hrs by TGV, less by cheap airline)and gives you the chance to see a completely different France.

We are going to France for the first time this summer, & have planned to spend 7 nights in Paris & then 3 nights in the Loire Valley (2 nights in Blois & one night in Chinon). So I haven't yet been to any of these places, but perhaps the Loire Valley might make sense because it is closer to Paris, so you wouldn't waste a lot of time driving from one destination to another. Just a thought. Of course, I always hear Provence is beautiful!

You may want to read my trip report that starts in Ghent and includes car travels in Normandy and Brittany, although you probably would not want to travel as far in Brittany as we did; click on my name to find it.

Probably going to go to Alsace unless I get convinced otherwise. I'm thinking we'll take a train to Strasbourg and base ourselves there.

One day we can look around the city, another take a train to Colmar and on another do a group trip on the wine route. This one looked good, but I'm open to other possibilities
www.regioscope.com/?Rpage=english/?Rpage=

Then we'll take the train to Paris. Hoping to stop off in Reims and take a tour of a champagne cellar.

Does that sound reasonable? Any other suggestions?