Flight suggestions - Nice or Paris?

Old Sep 28th, 2013, 11:58 AM
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Flight suggestions - Nice or Paris?

Plan, plan, plan....I have been researching some flight from Canada to France. My plan - right now- is to go to Cinque Terre and then to Nice - two bases. I can usually figure this part out but I am so confused. I looked at the map and I can't seem to find a route that would a. not be ridiculous in travelling and b. super expensive. I am looking for anyone who has done this route - where did you fly into? Is flying into Paris the best bet and go south to Nice first? I looked into flying into Rome too. I have about 2 weeks or so on the ground. I will be using public transportation the whole time. I suppose the best bet is to use an open jaw ticket...I thank you in advance.
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Old Sep 28th, 2013, 12:20 PM
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Flying from where in Canada to where in Italy (maybe Milan instead of Rome)? If Vancouver, would the direct Seattle-Paris flight make sense? There are low cost train options from Paris to Nice (look for PREM tickets or equivalent).
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Old Sep 28th, 2013, 12:45 PM
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Where are you flying from in Canada? Any chance you can easily get to JFK? We used to fly Delta in the summer months non-stop to Pisa. That's a good choice for Cinque Terre.

I don't know if there are flights back from Pisa- Nice, or Florence-Nice. If not, you could take the train to Nice from Genoa.
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Old Sep 28th, 2013, 02:12 PM
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We flew to Paris, stayed a while, then flew to Nice, very inexpensive flight on Air France.After spending a few weeks in Nice,rented a car at Nice airport, jumped on the autoroute east and drove to Italy. Spent a month in Italy and returned car to Nice airport. Renting in France vs Italy was about I/3 to 1/4 the price of renting the car in Italy.
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Old Sep 28th, 2013, 03:30 PM
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Where are you in Canada and when do you leave?

Air Transat flies from Montreal to Nice in the summer...
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Old Sep 28th, 2013, 07:44 PM
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Thanks for all your responses. I will be visiting in Toronto at the time so I would be flying out of there. I can't drive in Europe so it will be all on train.
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Old Sep 28th, 2013, 08:40 PM
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Well, you're lucky you're flying out of Toronto... Flights to Europe are generally cheaper coming from YYZ than places like Montreal or Vancouver!

Would you be able to do Nice first, then Cinque Terre? I suggest this only because flights to France (Paris CDG or Nice NCE would be your best bets - probably directly to Nice because if you go to Paris first you will either have to connect or take a train, as I'm sure you know) are much cheaper than flights to Italy. Once in France, you could travel by train to Italy for cheap (or you can drive - an amazing journey through the Alps along the way...? Will take a few days though - and I know you said you can't drive in Europe. Was that because of fear or because you don't have a European license? If the latter, speak to your local CAA office for an International License). I would recommend Air France for your trip to France, then maybe Air Transat for the flight back to Canada (because if you fly AF from Italy, you will need to connect in Paris unnecessarily).

I know I rambled a bit, but I hope I somewhat answered your question! Nice is absolutely beautiful so enjoy your trip!
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Old Sep 28th, 2013, 10:30 PM
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Another option may be to check for flights intra-Europe which may help to get you closer to your final destination. We used a site, europebyair.com, when we element in the late 90's so it may give you some more options. May not necessarily save you money but might save you time compared to trains. Good luck!
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Old Feb 5th, 2014, 07:47 AM
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Hi I am back here for some follow up so I hope someone can help! I decided to eliminate Cinque Terre this trip and concentrate on Nice and surrounding areas as day trips and then Avignon or Arles. I guess it would make most sense to fly to Nice but then I am travelling west and then back to Nice to fly home. I looked at flying into Marseilles - taking a train to Avignon and then fly out of Nice. Does that make more sense?
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Old Feb 5th, 2014, 08:47 AM
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Any questions with flights is market based. The only thing that matters with flights is what you actually see as available on booking engines. You must feed many different scenarios to several sites, such as kayak.com, matrix.itasoftware.com, airline sites, to see what are the actual options.

What "makes sense" depends on your requirements such as departure times, arrival times, layover considerations, cost, how flight schedule impacts the rest of your trips.

Since you mentioned you would not be driving, here is a consideration with trains. While geographically Avignon is closer Nice and would have made sense if you drove, it does not mean it is automatically that Nice is the good fit for train travels. Because of TGV, CDG-Avigon trip is only a little longer and little more expensive than Nice-Avignon. Because CDG is usually a more competitive market, you might find much better flight schedule or prices than if you used Nice for both legs. Compare carefully different scenarios: YYZ-CDG/NCE-YYZ, YYZ-CDG-YYZ, YYZ-NCE/CDG-YYZ, YYZ-NCE-YYZ (substitute Marseille in place of Nice and repeat) and see how you can integrate into the rest of your trip.
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Old Feb 5th, 2014, 10:23 AM
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Thanks - that is helpful!
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