ladynora

We have a flight to Paris arriving on October 4 and returning on October 15 to the US and are wondering what are the best places to see and do. We are thinking arriving at the airport and taking the Fast Train to Avignon for 2 days,Nice for 2 days, then on to Milan for 3 days and back to Paris for the final 5 days. Any recommendations on car rental in Avignon, places to eat, etc. We have not been to France in 16 years and looking for recommendations.

StuDudley

Why Milan??? - and for 3 days...

IMO, you are moving around too much, and will spent too much time getting from A to B & not enough time visiting A & B.

You have:
- arrive Oct 4 and get to Avignon late in the afternoon/early evening.
- On Oct 6, you drive to Nice - about 3 hours. This gives you 1 1/2 days in Provence. Not nearly enough time
- On Oct 8 you get to Milan somehow. This gives you 1 1/2 to 2 days in Nice - again, not enough time
- If you spend 3 nights in Milan, you'll be there on a Sunday. Milan will be dead on a Sunday.

- You have only 10 nights

Avignon/Provence 5 nights, Paris 5 nights.

Stu Dudley

StuDudley

Cont:
- If you leave Milan for Paris on Oct 11 , that gives you about 2 1/2 days in Milan
- If you fly home on Oct 15, that gives you 3 1/2 days in Paris - not enough.

Stu Dudley

janisj

Is there some reason you must go to Milan? If not, it just doesn't fit w/ the rest of your itinerary. Almost no place along your route is alloted enough time (except for Milan).

so - if Milan was just a wild idea and there is no pressing reason to go there -- drop it and add those days to Paris and Provence.

ladynora

If we cut Milan out of the equation and divided the time between Avignon, Nice and Paris over the 12 days, would that be a more feasable option? We have already visited many of the historic places in Paris but thought it would be better to end the trip there to have a few days to recoup and relax after traveling the first 6 days going from place to place. Any thoughts???

StuDudley

Where do you come up with 12 days???? You have 11 nights from the 4th to the 14th, & flying home on the 15th. Usually arrival date is "wasted" and also the departure date (recommend leaving Paris hotel 3 1/2 hrs before departure on a work day and also "get-away" Friday). That gives you 10 meaningful days/11 nights.

3 days/4 nights Provence
3 days Nice
4 days Paris

You'll loose a little time with hotel changes & travel between locations, so assumihg that you change locations mid-day, you really have:
2 3/4 days Provence
3 days Nice & surrounds
3 1/2 days Paris

Still not enough time - and this ignores jet-lag.

I would still stick to just Paris & Provence. There will be PLENTY of stuff to do in each.

Stu Dudley

suec1

I would suggest staying in Arles and visiting Avingnon - we just thought it was a pleasanter base for the area - smaller and interesting Roman ruins.

tod

Just stay in Paris and do day trips. There are so many wonderful places to visit. Paris in itself deserves ALL your time, but if you must..........

ladynora

We arrive in Paris @ 7:25 am so we are taking the train to Avignon and will arrive there by noon. We were thinking this was a great place to start and are looking at a great B & B there for a couple of nights and then heading to Nice for 4 days and back to Paris for the last 5 nights. It looks as though it would be pretty easy to take some day trips from Nice into north eastern Italy if we started early in the day, maybe even staying a night and keeping our hotel in Nice so we don't have to repack everything. This way we would get a little taste of Italy, my husband's favorite country. Is that a feasable option? We are thinking it is pretty laid back in Avignon and we could settle in and enjoy the countryside. Any recommendations for great food? We are not big into lamb or rabbit but other ideas would be helpful. Thanks for all your input.

ladynora

It looks as though there is a direct train from CDG to Avignon. Has anyone used this route? How much time should we have from arrival into CDG to taking the train? More than an hour?

StuDudley

We've taken the train several times. Allow min 2 1/2 hrs between arrival & departure. You'll need to go through passport control and also retrieve your bags. Then you'll have to work your way over to the TGV/RER portion of CDG (walk or bus). You won't make the 8:21 TGV. 11:43 is the next direct train. That gets you to the Avignon TGV station at 2:40. The station is outside of town, so after you pick up your rental car (we've seen some huge lines at the rental offices when TGVs arrive) you'll have to drive into town. Hope your B&B has parking. TGV arrival to check-in at hotel for a first-time visitor can be anywhere from 1 to 1 3/4 hrs (depending on the lines at the rental office). Allow a little time to get lost too - we often get lost. That will put you at the hotel & ready to tour at 3:45 to 4:30.

Avignon would probably not be my first choise of places to stay if you plan to visit the countryside. There is lots & lots of ugly urban sprawl on 3 sides of Avignon. It's not what I would want to see at the beginning & ending of my day-trips. The direction towards the Pont du Gard & Uzes isn't bad.

For a 7 day trip (plus 4 in Paris), why go all the way to France, Provence, Nice - and then head into Italy??? IMO, there is a lot more neat stuff to see in Provence, Nice, Cote d'Azur, & the Nice Hinterland than there is within a 3 hour (one-way) drive of Nice into Italy. You need to get to Portofino or Cinque Terra before you'll see anything that rivals what's within 1 hr of Nice, IMO. it's also a very difficult drive into Italy along the coast through Genoa (done that many times - last time we took the train).

Has your husband spent enough time in France to declare that Italy is his favorite country?

I would not call Avignon "laid back". It is a large city - although one of my favorites in France.

We've vacationed for 16 weeks on the Cote d'Azur & 16 weeks in Provence. About 12 weeks in Italy, from Tuscany north.

The "beach scene" will be scaling back around the last week of Sept.

I have a 27 page itinerary for the Cote d'Azur & provence that I've sent to over 1,000 people on Fodors. it describes our faforite villages, scenic drives, markets, Provence fabric, etc. E-mail me at [email protected] if you want a copy.

Stu Dudley