Hello

I am planning a 9 day trip to France. I am planning to spent 5 days in Paris to start with, go to Nice for 3 days and then return to Paris.

Is this a suitable itinerary? I will do local sight seeing in Paris for 5 days. While being in Nice, I plan to see Monaco and Cannes in day trips.

Open to suggestions

Hwo did you select Cannes as one of the places you want to go? What time of year? Have you researched the Cote d'Azur?

Why are you going back to Paris instead of flying home from Nice?

Lots to do in and around Nice of more interest than the places you mention. Click on my name for my Eastern France TR that starts in Nice.

Do you actually have five days in Paris? That takes staying 6 nights there. Likewise for Nice. If you are planning two day trips from Nice, you will have little or n time to see Nice.

There are far more interesting things to see near Nice than Monaco and Cannes, but if you only have 3 days there (and it's unclear if you are counting your days/nights right), you won't be able to go far afield. And yes, there's no point in going back to Paris if you don't have to. Buy open-jaw tickets, into Paris, out of Nice. You'll lose almost an entire day going back to Paris for no reason.

Yeh fly out of Nice and into Paris - book trains Paris-Nice ASAP at www.voyages-sncf.com - general train info - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Nice itself has enough for a couple of days and yes Monaco and Cannes would be low on most folks' list in light of so many other places - Cannes is a modern beach resort - neat to see fancy yachts in harbor and if into beaches the best around.

Monaco basically has a famous casino and more fancy yachts but no dreamy old town - St-Paul-du-Vence and Vence are two hill towns that everyone loves for old-world atmosphere.

Nice is a long 5.5 train ride from Paris and flying would take nearly as long all in all.

Maybe then Avignon area - half as far as Nice by train and with some great sights in and nearby could be an alternative.

To be clear, multi-city airline itineraries must be purchased through a multi-destination search function, not as two one-way tickets. I prefer to reverse the schedule, flying into Nice to start with and home from Paris. The Nice route will probably require changing planes at an international gateway. That would mean getting up at an early morning hour to make the connection. Out of Paris you probably could leave in late morning or even mid-afternoon, much more civilized.
If you follow the advice to swap Avignon for Nice, you can fly into Marseille airport, which has a handy local train connection to Avignon.

Of all the places I have seen in Europe, Monaco ranks as the biggest disappointment. I went when I was young and only because of the name. Choose something else.

There is also an overnight train Paris-Nice.

Not any longer.

From seat61.com: "Sadly the Paris-Nice overnight sleeper train was discontinued as from 10 December 2017."

For info on day trains see:
https://www.seat61.com/Paris-to-Nice-by-TGV-train.htm

It was a crappy night train anyway with only couchettes no private compartmemts. Another overnight train bites the dust!

Nice is pretty nice with old and modern parts. Monaco is an ugly dump with just a few nice buildings outside the capital, I'd not bother dropping by. Just head west from Nice and you'll see better places.

pawannchrar:

When - month -are you going to Nice. What are your interests in Cannes and Monaco?

Cannes would be great for a beach vacation depending on time of year of course. but if not not much there to see.