tylergentry5708

First post - thank you for having me!

I am currently planning a June '24 France itinerary for my wife and I. We're in our early 30's, and will be in France for around 10 days. We plan to kick off our trip in Paris (I've been a few times, my wife has not), and then want to branch out for the last week of our trip with a focus on wine, food, and great scenery. Not too into museums or anything of the sort. I've started to pencil out the following itinerary, but given my unfamiliarity with France I'm uncertain whether I'm hitting the best spots, or packing too much in. What do y'all think?

3 Nights: Paris
Train Paris > Strasbourg
3 Nights: Strasbourg (arrival day explore Strasbourg, second day wine route, final day Colmar)
Drive Strasbourg > Beaune
2 Nights: Beaune (bike vineyards, explore Beaune/Dijon)
Drive Beaune > Lyon
1 Night: Lyon
Fly out of Lyon

Really unsure if I'm hitting the best spots here - also had Annecy/Chamonix on our short list, as well as scrapping this whole thing and planning a Provence trip.

Would love any and all thoughts!

KarenWoo

So it looks like you have 9 nights which gives you 8 full days on the ground, not 10 days. I know everyone travels differently and has different expectations. You are also much younger than I am so you have more energy for a faster-paced trip than I do. But, in all honesty, I think you are trying to fit in too many places. You will be spending a lot of time either on trains or in a car. You don't really have a lot of time for seeing the places you are visiting.

For starters, as I am sure you know, 3 nights, which gives you 2 full days in Paris, is not nearly enough time. I realize you have been to Paris but your wife has not. You will also be getting over jetlag in Paris so you will be exhausted on the day you arrive. You mention that you aren't too interested in museums but Paris is such a beautiful city for wandering and exploring neighborhoods. There are beautiful gardens, churches, a tour of the Paris Opera House, etc. You could go up on the Eiffel Tower or have a picnic on the lawn below. Take a river cruise on the Seine.

I haven't been to the other places on your list so can't really comment. Although I have read and heard that Lyon is an amazing city with awesome restaurants. Known for its culinary scene. One night is not much time at all.

I think you need to decide soon since this is April and your trip is in June.

Provence is an awesome choice, too. I've been there many times when my daughter lived there. You will see beautiful scenery, visit vineyards, markets, and lavender will be in bloom starting in June. The Pont Du Gard is amazing. And the Luberon villages are wonderful!

Maybe with 9 nights you could do:
Paris - at least 4 nights
Provence - 5 nights
Fly home from Marseilles

I am not suggesting you must delete Strasbourg and Beaune from your itinerary. I am sure they are beautiful, too. But you mentioned Provence so I wanted to give my opinion on Provence. But overall I think your trip is too busy.

StuDudley

I've visited all the places on your list - many, many, many times.

I'll second Karen's recommended itinerary. I'm not a big fan of Burgundy - compared to other regions.

See attached

Stu Dudley

bhuty

This itinerary is similar to how I travel - but a lot depends on your arrival and departure times into the various places. plus how you travel from along the way. For example, you might NOT suffer from jetlag depending on a range of factors in your plan that we don't know about. Also, I personally always sightsee on my first arrival day so that I can go to bed at the right time from night 1 - so a lot depends on you which means don't take my way of travelling as a recommendation. So to not be very helpful I give you these thoughts;
1) your plans can work
or
2) Karen is right.

Assuming that these are the places that you really want to go to for your own reasons then I see no reason to change your mind except I might be tempted to tale a day out of strasbourg and add it to Paris

If you want help to organise a 2 day visit of Paris (2 full days and I mean full) then I can give you ideas to get you started. I'm in my 50s for context

bhuty

I wanted to go to Beaune on my last trip (last September) but missed out....its worth the trip. Go one day if life lets you

bilboburgler

3 Nights: Paris
Train Paris > Strasbourg
3 Nights: Strasbourg (arrival day explore Strasbourg, second day wine route, final day Colmar)
Drive Strasbourg > Beaune
2 Nights: Beaune (bike vineyards, explore Beaune/Dijon)
Drive Beaune > Lyon
1 Night: Lyon
Fly out of Lyon

Strasbourg is pretty special and is worth a day's exploration. The centre is the main drawer but you can hire a bike and go look at the local war stuff or just go to the Rhine.
Colmar, look, lots of tourists go to Colmar and they love the central area and maybe go on the punts but it sometimes feels like Disney. I prefer to stay in one of the wine villages, they can get packed too but at least they also have a wine business rather than just a tourist business. While the walking up in to the Vosges can be delightful.

The wine route is suffering from too much success and if you are in a car you will have to share it with tractors and coaches. On a bike you can stay on the Cycle Route which is far better, far easier to get around and frankly more interesting. You could also just walk from one village to the next, through the vinyards etc.

Beaune, I've been and its a bit meh. In terms of towns I prefer Auxerre, in terms of wine villages there are a fair few I could propose but it depends on what sort of wine you are looking for. Chablis should also be on your radar, not very big but they make a real effort to show off what they have. Then there is the canal/river system, the monesteries etc etc

Dijon... like the mustard.

AJPeabody

My wife and I did a route like that enough years ago so we were about your age. It took 3 weeks, not the time you have allotted. Using Lyon as a bedroom before a plane trip is, shall I say it, nuts. You have the time for two locales. Half the time in Paris, a travel day, and the rest somewhere else. Listen to Stu Dudley, who has never led a France tourist astray.

tylergentry5708

I really appreciate this itinerary! Upon further research I think adding a night to Paris and doing the rest of the trip in Provence might be the way to go.

If we do so, we'd definitely want to dedicate the first couple of days in Provence to wine. Would you recommend trying to find somewhere in Chateauneuf du Pape or Gigondas to stay? Or would you suggest staying in Gordes/L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and commuting out? I'm thinking we would split our time between that, and either Saint-Remy or Aix. This is overwhelming!!

Thanks again for your (continued) help

StuDudley

Gigondas is in a nice area. My favorite restaurant is also there. Take a tour of Beaucastel (info in itinerary).

Stu Dudley