France in March! Help!
 

Hi all! I'm taking 10 days to travel through a few cities in France in March. I'll spend a couple days in Paris, definitely want to hit Aix and Nice. Other than that, I'm stuck. I'm debating between Lyon, Orelans, Tours, Bordeaux or just taking more time in the South. I would LOVE any recommendations. I know March isn't optimal weather, but I'm just looking at getting some of the best experiences. Any of your suggestions would be SO much appreciated

10 days isn't very long. If you know you want to spend at least a "couple" of days in Paris (you need 3-4 at least) and you know you also want to visit Nice on the Riviera, then you should stick to other cities along that route between Paris - Nice because you won't really have much time for much anything else in between. Bordeaux especially would be quite out of the way.

You could do Paris, and then spend a few days touring Tours, Orleans and the Loire Valley. Or you could do Paris and then head to Provence for a few days, visiting Arles and Avignon, and ending up in Nice.

Paris, Aix, and Nice is more than enough to tackle in only 10 days.

Yup, don't add anything.

You might want to fly into Paris and out odf Nice. That will same you some travel time.

I was recently in the south of France, and Aix was my favorite city. Great choice.

wow! amazing responses so far. Also, was thinking of doing an overnight train from Paris to Nice to save on hotel costs. Does anyone have any experiences they can share on the sleeping cars?

I'm no expert on sleeping cars - did that once many years ago and once was enough for me - but I'm not sure you'll save much money on hotel costs by taking a sleeper train.

In fact, you might find the cheapest option to fly to nice from Paris on one of the low-cost airlines. Check them out at www.whichbudget.com

I'm now thinking that I could possibly take Nice out of the equation and thinking about 5 days in Paris and 5 days in Aix/Marseille.
Thoughts?
Also, I'm interested in taking some day trips from Paris, perhaps to Versaille, Fontainbleu etc.
Do you think 5 days in that the Aix/marseille portion of Provence is a good idea? I'd love some input on itineraries and day trips around there too.

Don't omit Nice! Three days for Aix and Marseille would be adequate.