My husband and I are planning a trip to France for the first time next year sometime in the fall (I know, planning ahead, but we have to book the award tickets soon). I am just learning about the regions and such so please feel free to give as much advice as you want!

We dont want to spend too much time in Paris (my husband glazes over at too many museums). Love nature/scenary stuff and love food and wine. I also want to do a day trip to Monte Carlo for sure!!

1 – Arrive in Paris
2 - Paris
3 - Paris
4 - Dijon
5 - Dijon
6 – Avignon (or somewhere in burgundy)
7– Avignon (or somewhere in burgundy)
8 – Cannes
9 – Cannes
10 - (overnight train back to paris...does this exist/make sense to do?)

We may need to shorten this by a day or two also. Depends how long we get the grandparents to watch the kids. I am thinking of dropping a night in paris or maybe skipping Dijon?

No, it does not make much sense, IMHO. You are spending too short a time in each place. Most of your time will be spent moving from one place to another.

You don't say where you are coming from, but you must figure the first day in Paris, and perhaps the second, will be messed up with jet lag. You will lose at least a half day in each hotel change, as well. Two days may be enough for Dijon, but not for Paris, even if you never darken the door of a museum.

If you must try to do all of France in so short a time, at least get an open jaw flight. Into Paris, and back from Nice would remove the need to backtrack.

With a ten day trip you really can only do Paris and one other place. Paris is much much much more than museums. You don't need to go anywhere near a museum in order to enjoy Paris. Many people would JUST do Paris with a few day trips in your amount of time. But certainly adding in one other city is 'doable'. Avignon would make sense as there is a fast train. Dijon would also work. OR possibly someplace on the Cote d'Azure, although to go that far you'd want to look into flying (EasyJet goes Paris to Nice). But that really eats up a lot of time and with only ten days I'm not sure it's a good idea. Trains go city center to city center and you don't have all that time eaten up with getting to the airport, security, etc. So someplace that you could do in a train ride of about 4 hours or less (Dijon and Avignon fit that).

Have a look at my Paris photos if you think Paris is only (or even mostly) about museums. http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/paris

You are really cutting Paris short - with only 2.5 days (if you get in early the day you arrive.

How are you planning on traveling? Car? Train?

Agree you are trying to get to too many places.

Not sure why you want Monte Carlo - it's really a shopping and gambling resort for the uber wealthy. If you want to go to the casino and pretend to be in a Bond film - that;s fine - but you need to dress the part and bring a lot of money. the casino is nothing like those in las Vegas - definite dress codes, focus on table games (not slots), high minimums and brush up on your French. Faites vos jeux!

If it were me I would focus on Paris and one region (Loire, Burgundy or Alsace) and really see something of the area, stay in a chateau, vist some wineries etc.

If you haven't been to Paris before, you really must stay longer to appreciate the wonder of Paris. Dijon, Avignon and Cannes are fine places to visit ( maybe on a subsequent trip to France) but none holds a candle to Paris. With 10 days, or less, I would spend at least 5 in Paris and choose one additional location. In the fall, probably Burgundy or Provence. And try to book open jaw flights - into Paris and out of your last destination.

Bad idea.

1. Paris is SO much more than museums. You could spend a lovely month there and never set foot in a museum.

2.Monte Carlo is, well, just a gross glitz-out. Might as well hit Las Vegas.

3. Dijon is a great place, but not a natural first-visit-to-France destination.

4. Avignon is a good choice and you should replace at least two of your other destinations with it.

5. Cannes - meh. If you want to experience the Riviera, fine, go for it, but fly home from Marseilles; don't go back to Paris.

Completely agree with the others - you'd really be shortchanging yourselves by spending only two days in Paris. My recommendation would be to spend days 1-5 in Paris then fly to Nice. Spend the balance of your time based in Nice and make some day trips - Antibes, Eze, Cannes, Monaco, etc. You would then fly back home from Nice.

I wasn't overly impressed with either Cannes or Monaco but these are easy to do as day trips on public transport. In fact there is a lovely day cruise from Cannes to Monaco on which you can see the entire coastline. You catch the boat around 9 in Cannes, get to Monaco in time for lunch and then the boat takes you back around 5. In my view this was plenty of time to see Monaco.

If you like flea markets, the one in Nice on Mondays is fantastic. All other days, the market is mainly flowers and produce. But on Mondays the antique dealers bring their wares and it's a lot of fun.

I have to agree with the other replies. Ten days is not very long if you are changing bases every few days. We spent a week in Paris last year[ first visit] and the only museum we visited was the Rodin museum. I would spend all of the time in Paris with a couple of day trips or a few nights in one other place e.g. Dijon, Tours, Avignon,Bayeux. I think more time in a couple of places is better than trying to see several places briefly.

Completely agree that you are trying to do too much! Spend at least 5 days in Paris and then the rest in another town/area. If you want to do the South of France then look into open jaw tickets.

Remember that you lose 1/2 a day everytime you move (packing, checking out, getting to the train station or airport, waiting for train/plane, tranist, then doing the reverse on the other side) so 2 days somewhere is really 1 night and 2 half days which really doesnt make sense, nor does it let you relax and enjoy the area you are in. Plus if you are flying out of Paris you need to be back in Paris the day before to ensure you make your flight home so there is the backtracking if you dont book openjaw.

Yes way off the mark with itinery plans in my opinion. Remember your on vacation and as you are self planning, you should try and relax, and absorb your surrounding a bit more.
One other option if you are set on seeing Monte Carlo is to spend some time in Nice with options of the train or day tour company to Monaco/Monte Carlo.
Just a thought.

Well I'm obviously in the minority but I don't think your trip sounds so bad. Looks like you've got 3 full days in Paris, even though day 1 will be a little tough having just arrived. May depend on where you are coming from as well and whether you tend to like cities in general. One thing you should look at now though is if you really want to head toward the French Riviera - you could fly into Paris and out of Nice - that at least gives you a nice straight line in which to travel. So, with 3 nights in Paris, I'd do 3 in Dijon/Burgundy, 3 in Avignon/Provence, and spend one night in Nice in order to fly out. Or make it 4 in Avignon/Provence, 2 in Cannes - fly out of Nice.

I will say that I agree that you could spend a lot more time in Paris and still not "see" everything - but we usually only stay in our arrival city 2 or 3 nights and then are anxious to get out into the smaller towns.

I haven't yet read all the responses -- but just a quick comment:

"<i>We dont want to spend too much time in Paris (my husband glazes over at too many museums)</i>"

One could spend weeks in Paris and never step foot in a museum and still not see everything. If you are flying in long haul, day one will be pretty much a wash out so you have practically no time in Paris. Either spend more time in Paris--or skip it entirely