ryanleewq

Hello everyone!

We will be visiting France for the first time this October and have put together the following high level itinerary:

4 days in Paris (arriving 7am on day 1)
3 days in Provence (Avignon as base)
4 days in French Alps (Chamonix as base)
1 day in Paris (before flying home the next day at noon)

Some questions I have:

1. Have we allowed reasonable time per area to get a "good taste" of each?
2. Our preference would be to use public transport (mainly trains?) for the entire trip (if possible) and not have to hire a vehicle. Being from Australia, we are not used to right-handed driving as well as the added stress of having to drive around in a new country. Given our suggested itinerary, would this work well?
3. If we do have to hire a vehicle for the more rural areas eg. Provence and the Alps, how easy is it for first-timers to drive around those areas?
4. Would a total of 5 days in Paris (as suggested above) be enough time to include a day trip to Versailles? And is it even worth doing?
5. We plan to relax, hike and just enjoy the beauty of the Alps during our time there. Weather wise, is October a good time for that?

Thank you!
Ryan

geetika

My first suggestion is to consolidate your Paris stay to 5 days (4 nights?) at the end instead of splitting it up. Easy enough to do a day trip to Versailles from Paris.

Take the TGV to Avignon on arrival in CDG, there’s a station at the airport itself and you don’t need to go into town. Give yourself sufficient time for lines at immigration, delayed flight, etc, a train around 11ish should be good. Booking three months ahead gives you the best price, but remember the ticket isn’t refundable. The Avignon TGV station is outside the main town, but there is a bus to the old town center.

Avignon has the best transport options to see the area. The Pope’s Palace, bridge, etc will take half a day. I believe there are buses/trains to neighboring towns, or you could take a tour. I would contact the local tourist office for various options.

I was last in Chamonix over thirty years back, so can’t help you there.

bilboburgler

public transport by train in Europe, read seat61.com for the best overview

loads of Apps on french trains and buses and in Provence you should do well but it will be a bit limiting. There are some sites you might want to use tours for like the Camargue but otherwise I'd go for it.

The Alps are a little harder just from the landscape problem. https://www.chamonix.net/english/transport gives some ideas


how easy to drive? I'd put both on side of the road duty, especially after a stop. Very low booze is acceptable. Roundabouts are pretty big, speed signs on entering a town are present just by "entering a town" so if you see a town name on the side of the road you changed speed regime. Priorite a droite is a while can of worms, a bit like the old New Zealand turn it can scare the bejusus out of you. I'd spend a little time on research. I drive there every 2 or 3 yeas and I spend a little time reading up.

Michael

There is a free local train in the Chamonix valley. I would cut one day out of Chamonix and use it either for the Provence or Paris. The Alps are the Alps, and while I enjoyed our drive along the Italian border, taking two days from Chamonix to Menton, I would limit my time on transportation and just visit the area within the Chamonix valley. Take a ride up in one of the gondolas, and if you are fit, walk back down to the valley. You could take the cable car trip from Chamonix to Courmayeur, returning by bus, but that is an expensive proposition: https://www.courmayeurmontblanc.it/e...-to-the-public We took a more local option which gave us non-hikers a taste of the high Alps.

https://flic.kr/p/29M5vY2