This is my first posting to Fodors as I need some advice in helping me plan our 16 day trip to France next summer. We are a couple in our late 40's and this will be our first summer vacation without our children.

We have travelled to Europe before, including seeing Paris and Nice, but always felt we did not spend enough time in Paris. Our initial plan is to fly into Paris, stay 3 or 4 nights, then rent a car and drive south to Marseilles, but we have no idea what region/towns to visit along the way. We would not have a problem veering east or west as we journey south, and have considered Lyon as a place we wanted to visit as well. When we travel, we like to walk, visit fine art museums, eat well and locally, see the sites and just relax and enjoy each day. There are so many beautiful places and small towns to see in France but with limited time, how would you construct a 12 day road trip from Paris to Marseilles.

Thank you in advance

Heidi

I live in France and can think of few things I'd rather do, unless I had a month or two, than drive from Paris to Marseille. A whole lot of it is a huge bore, especially if you only have 10 days or so and are going to therefore commit yourselves to the expensive and deadly dull autoroutes, which are filled with ginormous trucks and the main scenery being windmills and windsocks. Tolls and fuel are expensive.

France has an excellent, inexpensive train system. I suggest you pore over your maps and the train routes and plan how to do this by train. A few guidebooks, especially the Michelin Green Guides, will enlighten you as to what you can visit between Paris and the Mediterranean that will appeal to you.

Obviously, you will want to purchase open-jaw tickets, into Paris and out of Marseille.

When next summer?
You don't need to go near a toll road if you don't want to.
How long do you want to spend in Marseille at the end?
What are you hoping to see? Mountains? countryside? or would you rather concentrate on towns and cities?

Welcome!

A nice goal you have set for yourselves. A few recommendations on logistics: Fly open jaw, not round trip to and from Paris unless your planned route is a logical circle. Remember that driving tothe next town and checking into your hotel and getting lunch means at least half a day gone, so limit the number of different sleeping places. One idea is to leave Paris by train and pick up the car in Marseilles, Nice, or Avignon or Lyon, saving a long driving day. Or drive from Paris to one of those cities stopping at places of interest along the way ending your trip at the city. Another route would be looping back to Paris and seeing Alsace, Dijon, Annecy in that region of France. Another loop wpould go along the Loire for the chateaux and Chartres etc. and perhaps le Mont St Michel. With 2 weeks you can see a lot but absolutely not every part of France. Happy travels!

But the OP doesn't have 2 weeks if she spends the first 3 or 4 days in Paris.

No, you don't have to stay on the toll roads, but if you're working with only 12 days, and that includes wanting to actually see anything either ON the way to the Med or once you're there, taking N and D roads is going to slow you down considerably.

I know how this feels, Morning Mist. We did EVERYTHING with our kids even after they went to college, and once even after the oldest got married (thank goodness, the son-in-law really, really likes us). We were lucky that our kids were "museum rats" and also loved to hike and cycle. That gave us winter.spring break and summer trips for sure.

But we've been traveling mostly on our own for quite some time. And our style of travel has evolved as a result. So that's going to lead me to ask some serious questions...

• What type of hotel or apartment were you staying in in Paris in the past? How much do you plan to spend per night on lodging? What is the fewest number of days you want to spend per locale?
• Are you eating super upscale, sort of upscale, or can just drop into anyplace after looking at a menu?
• Are you gravitating to a "I want to hang 'in the neighborhood' type of travel? Or do you want to be on a "I want to see this, and this, and this" type of trip? THERE ARE NO WRONG ANSWERS, because you are old enough to know what you want.
• What's your museum tolerance? Do you want to see history? Are you really into art?
• Do you burn with desire for food markets or go, "That's nice. Let's move on."
• Do you want to shop?
• Do you need to or want to rent a car?

For example, now that I understand our style, I frame our trips in this priority or reflection:
1) We want to make use as much as possible of public transportation.
2) We like to "move in" to the locale; three or more-day stays have become our preference. We want to be recognized in the bakery, in the bar, as a "regular." Believe me, it does not take long.
3) We do like to eat a great meal (especially in France, and especially in Paris). But we mix that with drop-ins.
4) When in Paris, we like "themes." On one trip, we tried to explore each and every historic passage. On another, we did Fitzgerald and Hemingway. On another, we tried to find bistros that were serving "old style" Paris food. Strangely, on that same trip, we were in search of French (or other European) IPAs. By the way, we made great friends with that last search.
5) When in the Riviera, we did art non-stop. Chagall and Picasso became our passions, and we went far and wide using rail and bus to find secret treasures about them.

One thing I am adamant about is your even considering staying just 3 days in Paris when you feel you've given it too little time in the past. My husband, the non-planner our trips (but the enthusiastic trip funder), would tell you he could walk for a week in Paris, because he's always interested in everything that is going on. In fact, when I was ill one time, he just picked a point furthest out on the Metro and walked back into the center. He dropped in at little cafes and ate street food and prayed in a chapel he liked. He doesn't speak one work of French (well, French that any French person can understand), but he felt he had a glorious day with "his" people. Go figure.

I hope these questions make some sense.

Happy trip planning,
AZ

Welcome!

I'll add my voice to those saying to consider flying into Paris and out of another city (or vice versa) unless you are certain that a circular route works for you.

And I also agree that if your goal is to get to Marseille, then a train would make much more sense than driving. You can rent a car for traveling in the south once there.

I would strongly recommend that you consult the relevant Michelin Green Guides (they are truly excellent resources for France). And if you haven't seen it, you might find some useful information in my trip report, which includes many fine art museums in SE France:
A stellar month in southeastern France

Take the TGV to Dijon and spend a day/night there before continuing down to Lyon. One day there, then the train again to Avignon for 3 days so you can rent a car and visit some of the surrounding area (Les Baux de Provence, St-Rémy, a few of the Luberon hilltop villages). Then back on the train to Nice for the remainder of your time, flying back from Nice.

I would do exactly what Underhill just described. With 16 days I would do something like:
4 nights Paris - train to Dijon
2 nights Dijon - train to Lyon
1 night Lyon - train to Avignon (or not, Lyon is my least favorite of the rest of this itinerary)
4-5 nights, rent a car when you arrive, I like to base in St Remy to see Avignon and towns in that area, then drive to Aix
1-2 nights Aix, drive to Nice
rest of the nights in or near Nice. I love Vence as a base and would keep the car. But if you are more interested in Nice then drop the car on arrival, you can use buses and train along the coast. If you want to visit the hill towns in and around Nice (Vence, St Paul, etc.) then keep the car. Also depends on how long you spend in the other places. If you are down to just 1-3 nights then I'd probably just stay in Nice.

I agree with above about driving south. In the past on different trips we have taken the TGV to Avignon, Aix, & Antibes as a base and then driven from there. A couple of weeks ago I took a bus trip with friends, driving south to Nice.
The drive was quite boring, could have been in Wisconsin as far as the scenery goes. And it was a long drive.
Take the advice of those above and take the TGV to your town of choice and pick up a car there.

Or you could drive down through the undervisited but lovely Auvergne, then across through the Cevennes to Marseilles, or head south east and down though the Jura if you want more dramatic mountains, though the extinct volcanoes are pretty impressive in their own way.
It really depends on whether you want a road trip, with the journey being as important as the destination or you want just hit a couple of hotspots.

Driving to Marseille need not be a bore. One can take secondary roads in Burgundy, detour slightly either into the foothills of the Alps or into the Massif Central. Use Paris and Marseille as end points, renting the car when leaving one city and returning it when reaching the other one. The Michelin Green Guides would be useful to determine what sights interest you, and a map, again Michelin, would help in determining an actual route.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjoJGfmf
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjpA1tca

Perhaps a good map to get would be the Michelin map of the plus beaux villages, which would facilitate the creation of an itinerary from Paris to Marseille.

If it's during July, you can go to Avignon, there is a very nice street festival (theater, music ...) from the 4th to the 20th.

You guys are amazing!!! I thought I would get a few replies with some interesting ideas but this is just great. Thank you.

Our initial plan was to land in Paris, spend a few nights, then drive slowly south with Marseilles as our destination, where we will fly home from. You have mentioned so many different routes as we head south, so it really is going to take time for us to decide what we want to see. We are in no rush, so taking more scenic routes is something we plan on doing. As well, we always stay in nice centrally located hotels wherever we travel, love finding restaurants that represent local culture, enjoy taking day trips from where we are based to see the smaller towns and villages and do not enjoy packing and unpacking every few days and we always try and base ourselves for a longer time in an area we want to explore.

By the way, I have a friend that just got back from Turin, Italy, and she said she loved it. Question: After Lyon, should we head east to Turin and the Piedmont area or go to Marseilles?

Heidi

None of us can answer that question for you! It depends on what YOU want to see and experience.

Of course, but I guess what I am asking is which is a more interesting city, Marseilles or Turin?

I have done some preliminary research on both and they both offer quite a bit. One is on the sea whilw the other is not but Turin is Italian so it would be different than the rest of our trip.

Check to see if you can take a rental to Italy without increasing your insurance coverage.

One could argue that the fact that Marseille is French does not make it any more or less like the other places you will visit than Turin, except for the language. Marseille is unique. And what is "more interesting" depends on what interests YOU.

Personally, I find the contrasts between areas that are part of what is, today, the same country at least as interesting, if not more so, than contrasts that cross borders.

I should add that Marseille is a bit rougher and grittier than many parts of France. I loved it and found it fascinating; others aren't as fond of it.

Agree. Most credit cards will cover your insurance in France, almost none will in Italy.