ahlotfi

Is it a good idea to do a 7 day family road trip from Lyon to Paris with a 7 year old ?
Here is what I have in mind: Get a train from Paris to Lyon. Stay 2 nights in Lyon, rent a car and drive to Annecy and spend two nights there. Then drive to Dijon and spend two nights there. Drive back to Paris on the last day. Anything I need to know in terms of roads, tolls, US driving license? is this too much for a 7 year old kid?

Thank you,
A

FTOttawa

What you are describing is essentially one day in each of those places. Are you open to cutting back on the number of destinations, or prolonging your vacation?

You can use viamichelin.com to estimate tolls as well as driving times and compare those times to what you know about your 7-year-old’s tolerance. Certainly kids are easier to keep happy on a train ride than in the car.

if you are talking about driving back to Paris from Dijon on the same day as an international flight home…don’t take that chance.

You will need an international driver’s permit, available from AAA, or else a notarized French translation of your license (which is all the IDP amounts to). Often no one asks for it, but that one time you get stopped by the police, they have the right to fine you.

annhig

Welcome to Fodors, ahlotfi!

I have to agree with FTOttawa that your plan seems somewhat over ambitious, even without a 7 year in tow. Are there any particular things you want to see in any of those places? In which case you might decide to stay longer there and remove one of the others. And you don't mention what time of year you are travelling. Annecy would be lovely in summer particularly whereas Lyon is a big city which might be pretty hot at that time of year but would be great in Spring or Autumn.

I don't know how much traveling you have done with your 7 year old and I know that all children are different but at that age, ours were much happier having a firm base for a few days rather than moving around a lot. Renting an apartment or a gite [try https://www.gites-de-france.com/en ] for a week or so in one place might suit you all better than trying to stay in 2-3 places in the same time.

And i agree that if you are flying out of Paris immediately after this trip you should allow yourselves at least one night in Paris before you fly. In fact it's usually more time efficient to put all your time in the place that you are flying out of at the end of the trip rather than the beginning so you don't have to rush back or break up your time there.

ahlotfi

Thank you FTOttawa and annhig! Our plan is to be in Paris in two weeks and stay for 5 days, then take a train to Lyon and get back to Paris by car a day before our flight. I agree, three destinations in 6 days seems too aggressive not just for my 7 year old but for me and my wife as well. We are willing to drop Dijon but I don't know if it would be a good idea to drive back to Paris directly from Annecy. Looks like it's about 5 hours but I assume it might take a whole day. Getting back by train from Lyon is more expensive though. I don't know if it would be a scenic drive or just driving on highways.

ahlotfi

Thank you FTOttawa and annhig! Our plan is to be in Paris in two weeks and stay for 5 days, then take a train to Lyon and get back to Paris by car a day before our flight. I agree, three destinations in 6 days seems too aggressive not just for my 7 year old but for me and my wife as well. We are willing to drop Dijon but I don't know if it would be a good idea to drive back to Paris directly from Annecy. Looks like it's about 5 hours but I assume it might take a whole day. Getting back by train from Lyon is more expensive though. I don't know if it would be a scenic drive or just driving on highways.

Michael

The seven year old and the adults might enjoy Guédelon


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu%C3%A9delon_Castle

annhig

I don't know either ahlotfi if the drive from Annecy to Paris is worth doing but I suspect that you could easily find out by using google or the search engine of your choice [or by asking another question here] to research scenic routes between Annecy and Paris. An alternative would be to drive to Dijon, return your car there, and then catch the train to CDG and spend the night before you fly home there. [you have to change at Gare du Lyon to a train from Gare du Nord but as they are next door to each other that shouldn't be a problem]

I had a quick look at this on google maps and there are approximately 8 car hire companies which have depots at Dijon station and three at Lyon. The trick of course is to make sure that the one you pick coincides!

jpie

We have made long drives across France many times and if it were me, especially with a younger child, I would probably just rent the car in Lyon and spend the time in Annecy and explore that area. Aix-les-Bain and Chambery are also nice. You could then return the car to Lyon and take a TGV directly to CDG for the night before your flight. The ibis Paris CDG Airport at Roissypole is a pretty nice hotel and would be super easy coming from the TGV and going to your flight the next day.

If you want to go further afield than just a Lyon-Annecy-Lyon trip then I would consider picking up the car in Lyon and dropping it in Grenoble. Voiron and that area is very scenic and Annecy to Grenoble is just over an hour. Another possibility if you want to see something different, would be to pick up the car in Lyon, go to Annecy and then drop the car in Strasbourg. It is a lovely walking city with canals and a place that is very kid-friendly. That would be a longer drive of around 5 hours, but it is very scenic on both the French side or Swiss side. And you can take the TGV to CDG directly from either Strasbourg or Grenoble, which IMO would be a big advantage. We have done the drive from Annecy to Paris a fair amount of times and unless you have time to explore a bit off the main freeways I think the drive to Strasbourg is nicer even though it isn't that much shorter.

bilboburgler

I just have this image of comparing being in a car for 6 hours on a motorway or taking the train. Is it really much more expensive once fuel is included and the stress of the journey, the loo breaks at semi-disgusting motorway aires. I do it every so often but only if I must drive to the middle of no where or need to ship wine home, but for pleasure?

lavandula

It might help to use the ViaMichelin website to find scenic routes. I have not used it for a while but it will search out scenic routes between destinations if you ask

Lavandula

uktravelover

Depending on the time of year the roads in the Lyon area can be very congested. Lyon itself is a large city and whilst worth visiting I would have thought somewhere smaller like Beaune would have more appeal to a 7 year old. Is there a particular reason for going to Annecy and Lyon, if not you might want to consider one of the regions closer to Paris.

bilboburgler

one little known town is Auxerre.