RSchmalfeld

Hi Everyone,

We are so excited! Our daughter is getting married in Provence at the end of May. And we will be celebrating our 35th Anniversary two days before the wedding. My husband and I have never been to Europe, but have traveled a lot in the US, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, etc, so we are pretty confident travelers. Buy we are in need of advice!

We will be in Provence for four days, and would like to travel to three or maybe four places where we could spend three days or so soaking in the sites and relaxing a bit too. We don't care much about exploring huge cities, we love delicious food and wine, we love nature, we enjoy museums and history. We think it would be fun to travel by train for all or part of our time. We will be flying into Marseille and can fly out of any place - we are planning to fly using our AA aadvantage miles.

Our dilemma is where to go? The options seem endless and I would love some advice from those of you who have traveled Europe. Italy? France? Spain? Germany? Switzerland? Northern Europe? The U.K.? What would you do if you were us?

Thanks!
Randa

Kathie

Only you can decide where you want to go. But we can offer some advice from our experience. The advice I would give you is to have very limited goals about where to go. If you are spending 4 days in Provence, that leaves you very little time for other places. It takes 5 nights to get 4 full days, so if you have a total of 11 nights (which is what it takes to yield 10 full days on the ground), choose one more place to visit. Remember that it takes time to get from place to place, and it will eat up half a day to a full day each time you change locations. Your idea that you have time to travel to three or four locations is entirely unrealistic.

If it was me - and it isn't - I'd choose one more place I wanted to visit and I'd make it somewhere close to Provence so I didn't waste too much time in transit. I love Paris, so I'd probably go there, but I'd also consider Lyon, for instance.

Pick up some guidebooks from your local library and enjoy learning about all of your options.

BTW, if you are using AA miles, you will need to choose your departure city and book the flight soon, as those frequent flier seats do sell out quickly.

bilboburgler

4 days Provence sounds about right.

If you want to go wild drop into Italy to see the Piedmont or pop over to the West of France and see Carcassone. But really you are in the right place to enjoy yourselves.

end of may is a great time for the south coast of france, further north still no necessarially so good

PalenQ

Yes consider the French Riviera where there is loads of fun stuff to do in 4 days from one base - no car needed. Or use Arles or Avignon as possible bases - lots to do from those places too as well as being old-world romantic cities.

To go to other countries would take a day to get there, even by air. For lots on trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (check their online European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of suggestions on where to go) and www.ricksteves.com.

suze

Since you are already in Provence, I'd look at places closer by to economize travel time and expense... in France, or maybe Italy or Switzerland?

With 10 "extra" days I would pick only one or two additional places.

I have had several great trips that included the Lac Leman region (outside Geneva) and then Venice, just one example of (the infinite possibilities of) what could work.

Kathie

Did I misunderstand? Do you have 10 days in addition to your time in Provence? If so, choose two places to visit in that time. As others have noted there is so much to see/do/experience in Provence and the nearby areas, there is no reason at all to leave southern France.

bvlenci

Is the ten days in addition to the four days you'll be in Provence? Will they all be after the wedding?

Sassafrass

Do the ten days include your travel time? Day 1, depart US. Day 2, arrive Marseille, etc. How many days for the wedding? Where is the wedding?

I would say Paris because it is fantastic and an easy, quick trip from Provence, but you say you are not a city person, so might not be best for you. Perhaps the Italian Lakes or Tuscany.

RSchmalfeld

Hi Everyone,

This is already so helpful! I had been kinda thinking less is more as far as the number of destinations.

The wedding will take place near Paradou, which is north east of Arles. We arrive on a Thursday and leave on Monday morning - It will be four days of festivities and the joining of our two families. We are so excited. Hameau Dex Baux, where we will be for the wedding has several vintage convertible cars to loan guests, so we will have a chance to tour the area a bit, but I think much of our time during those four days will be spent enjoying the beautiful location, and enjoying our friends and family who will be gathered there.

After we leave the wedding spot, we will have 10 additional travel days - so lot's of options. I absolutely love hearing your ideas! TThis is my first post and it seems a great way to gather a wealth of information!

Thank you,
Randa

Sue81

OK I love Switzerland, if you plan to use FF miles, that is what you need to nail down first. You can book 330 days ahead on most airlines and those seats will go fast, esp the better seats. So, book the flight into France for the wedding, then I would separately book the return flight when you know where you want to go. You could pretty easily get a train up to Switzerland/Zermatt/Wengen/Luzern/ and see this lovely country. Then fly back out from Zurich if you r airline flies there. I found that it used a whole lot less FF miles by breaking my trip into two parts like I described above. Sue

michelhuebeli

If you're OK with getting a guidebook from the library or getting busy on Google to look up the following, allow me to list stops on a trip we took after an extended stay near Avignon - a bit like what you're up against with the ten days post-wedding.

You would need a car with a one-way drop-off contract. We purposely instructed our Garmin to avoid toll roads, so we traveled entirely on the (yellow) "départementales" - slower but taking you through pretty villages, past tempting boulangeries, etc. etc. - a real vacation trip.

You may be able to use AA miles for hotels along the way - we burned through BA points like that, it worked out great (but only available in towns near an airport).

Which of these you would elect as overnight stops will be up to you - these are all worthwhile targets, and the guidebooks etc. will tell you how much there is of interest to your particular tastes and how long it would take to check them out and see which ones and how many you'd consider:

Nîmes
Montpellier (with a quick drive down to Le Grau-du-Roi for a seaside lunch)
Carcassonne (read up on its gruesome history and be impressed by the city within the fortified city!)
Albi
Dordogne area (good for a week! Beynac, Vézac, all the way over to Rocamadour - research it and take your picks!)
Poitiers
Tours (city) with the nearby Loire castles, especially the fantastic Chambord
Chartres (!!!)
Giverny (Monet)

Now you're in the vicinity of Paris - a good place to turn in the car would be the airport of Beauvais, and take the airport bus into Paris, it saves you the hassle of driving into Paris.

Have fun!

Bedar

From Provence I would go to Venice for three days and then take the train during the day to Paris. Every first trip to Europe must include Paris ! Spend three days there and then train to London for another three days. Fly home from there.

Sassafrass

Yes, the options are endless, but someone else's trip or experience or favorite country won't help you much. In May, I would stay in Provence or head to Sicily, Paris, The Netherlands or Italy. Someone else would go to Switzerland or Ireland. Good food, wine and Art museums can be found many places. History and nature are everywhere.

Is there not some place in Europe that has been calling to your heart in the past, some historic place that when you studied it made you want to see it, or some artist that painted pictures that made you want to be there? Do you have an interest in ruins like Pompeii that represent culture and life in the past? What kind of nature? Forests with walking and hiking, mountains like the Alps, dramatic cliffs like the AC? You must have some passion or special interest - gardens, architecture, some figure in history or particular artist that intrigues you. Start with something like one of these.

RSchmalfeld

Thank you for the great advice!

We are narrowing things down and thinking about staying Provence and the French Riviera, going to Italy, or making our way north towards Eperney and Paris. We have our flights booked into Marseille. Sassafras, your questions really helped us to think about what it is we want to see and do.

We are close to retirement and hope that this will be the first of several trips to Europe. I would love to go to Florence and visit smaller towns in Tuscany (It would be so fun to rent a place for a week or more!) - my husband wants to spend time in Germany (his great grandfather emigrated from near Hamburg to San Francisco in the late 1800s, there is even a small town that bears our last name there). Our son is in a band and has toured Euopoe a couple of times, but his trips are whirlwind of festivals and venues and not much sightseeing, so his advice doesn't apply us much, haha!

I am so glad to have found this forum and so appreciative of your suggestions and advice!

Randa

bilboburgler

For first timers you need to be aware of distances, the issue that many italian cities do not allow visiting cars and that trains are wonderful.

I advise that you think of areas of interest.

So South eastern France and North western Italy make complete sense. Adding Paris and Venice into the mix is kinda daft for 10 days.

Or Southern France is good

Or go north via Burgundy to Champagne (Epernay is my favorite town there with a lovely B&B on the Avenue de Champagne) ending up in Paris (almost works but time is getting stretched)

Or go up to Brittany and Normandy for all 10 days

Or go to Paris and London for all 10 days

Every time people want to do more, for many, the first time they just get frazzled. Yes I know that there are people who love loads of spots, but unless you do your USA holidays like that why would you it in Europe. Also, as you are coming back why do you want to?

Tuscany is a wonderful visit but once you realise how many towns you would want to visit (I can name 12 without effort) your ten days makes it a single visit so don't try stuffing more in than you can eat!

bvlenci

I like the advice to go to Switzerland, but it's a long trek by train. In fact, getting to any other country will be a bit of a trek by train from Arles.

There are direct flights to Venice, Rome, and Milan from Marseilles. There are also direct flights to a few places in Germany from Marseilles, but they're a bit pricey. I don't see any direct flights to Switzerland.

If you fly to Venice, you could spend a few days there, then take the train to Munich (a beautiful trip through the Alps, although rather a long trip.) There are many direct flights to the US from Munich.

The trains to Munich actually depart from Verona, which is a very nice small Italian city. It has a Roman amphitheatre that's not as large as the Colosseum, but better preserved. You might even want to stay there rather than in Venice. It's close enough to Venice for a day trip, about an hour by train.

I would save your trip to Tuscany for a time when you can do that alone.

bvlenci

By the way, I use www.skyscanner.net for finding budget flights.

annhig

We have our flights booked into Marseille.>>

Do i gather that you have round trip flights into and out of Marseilles? or is that just the flight in?

For your first european trip, I would keep it simple. I would spend some more time in Provence, and then go to Paris.

That's it. You have loads of options in Provence, and you will be kicking yourselves if you are leaving just after the wedding.

Paris is such an obvious choice, you will find enough to do there however many days or weeks you have.

I would leave Italy and Germany and the UK for other times - sounds like you'll be back.

PalenQ

May is a perfect time for Italy - not terribly hot and the masses of tourists have yet to materialize in places like Florence - a great base for several days.

tomboy

Me, I'd savor as much of Provence as I could those 10 days. There's a lot of different cultures to savor. If you think 10 days is too much after 4 days in Paradou, make it 5 days more in Provence, then 4 or 5 in Paris.

Then you'll have a vision of France with which to compare to Germany.

P.S. unless you do appreciably more genealogy, just because your name is the same as some village in Germany it doesn't mean your ancestors came from that village. or even that region. "small field" is not exactly a geographically distinctive description. "around a bend" is perhaps even more precise.