emc894

Hello everyone,

I am taking my girlfriend on a trip to southern France for 10 days this summer (we are both vaccinated FYI). I am trying to decide between Saint Raphael / Cote D'Azur and Eastern Provence (Avignon etc.) for the second half of the trip. We had an absolutely fantastic trip to Florence a few years ago on which we saw the Duomo and Uffizi gallery one day, drove from Florence to Siena touring vineyards the next, and went to a friends wedding another day. We stayed in a boutique hotel that we loved (Hotel Il Salviatino if interested). It was about 6 days total and I am trying to replicate that mix of beautiful countryside, historical interest and beautiful hotel with a relaxing pool.

Here is what I have so far:
Day 1: Land in Paris at 6am and, have an 8 hour layover during which we need to move from CDG to ORY so plan to eat an early lunch somewhere in Paris then head to ORY for 2pm flight.
Day 1-Day 4: We are staying at a hotel highly recommended to us in Corsica. Then, fly to from Corsica to Nice, Marseille, or Toulon.
Day 4-Day 8: This is open right now. Leading contenders are either Saint Raphael with a side trip to Cannes or spending a few days going through Provence by car. I think I am a very efficient traveler but it doesn't look like I fit both eastern and western provence / cote d'azur into 4 or 5 days.
Day 8-10: One half and one full day in Paris and return to the US.

bilboburgler

https://www.parisunlocked.com/travel...ure-your-trip/

out of interest what is an "efficient traveller"?

emc894

A bit of an oxymoron perhaps but that is just my clumsy way of saying that I like to have full days of activity, and don't mind moving from place to place, instead of slower paced days lounging resort hotels for instance.

bilboburgler

Provence, it depends a bit on how the country opens up certainly it is a big place and again depends if you are walkers, drivers, cyclists etc. I'd struggle to fit a visit to the whole of Provence into 5 days in a car so I think you might have to have a couple of back up plans in case a particular area just gets filled up with excited people. The French holiday period is very precise and you might benefit by trying to go at least a bit before it starts or after it has finished.

The French have a system called the crazy bison which gives you a forecast of when major roads will be blocked and they indicate the mass-migration of the north to the south. https://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/calen...ute,10739.html if you down load the pdf you can get an idea when to avoid. This does not mean the areas will be crammed, just likely to be a bit like that depending on weather forecasts, Covid etc.

bilboburgler

An early lunch is always possible but in my times in France I've tried to find lunch after 2 and before 12 and that just doesn't work (remember labour laws are set for 35 hours a week) so I would plan to eat at Orly airport. Orly has a wide range of places to eat from Paul to high-end they are generally very good (obviously Macdos also exist but.....), after all, if they were bad they would not be in business. They tend to be land side.

bilboburgler

I'm not sure how you intend to get to Paris, I'd take the train. Ask you hotel to pack a picnic or use the Paul at the station to sell you the makings.

emc894

Thank you. This is very helpful.

Michael

The train from the Gare du Nord to Orly takes 36 minutes, not counting navigating the access to the train (Gare du Nord is very confusing). The confusion could be avoided by eating in the Quartier Latin and catching the train in Luxembourg, but make sure that it is the correct train as the line splits in the suburbs. You need to be at the airport two hours ahead of time. That means leaving Paris at 11:30 to get to the airport at noon. A rushed lunch in Paris does not make sense. Just go directly from CDG to Orly.

Christina

You can eat at some cafes all the time, they just won't have their special dinner menu available before a certain hour, things like that. But to eat an early lunch and get to ORY by 2, you are really talking breakfast, seems to me. I assume the ORY flight is within Europe, but that still means you have to leave Paris around maybe 11:30 am? You can probably find a place to have an omelet or quiche or something at 10:30 am, I suppose. Some grand café. I stay often in Montparnasse, and I bet you could do that at some of those bd cafés, like Le Select. I thikn they are open nonstop from 7 am to 3 pm. You can book a table on their website for 10 am, after all. I bet you can at some of those cafes around the Luxembourg stop also and that's the line that goes to ORY.

If you really arrive at 6 am, I don't think you have to go right to ORY, I'd get really antsy sitting that many hours in ORY. You will be in central Paris by 8 am, I'd forget about calling things lunch and just find a good cafe to eat something substantial around 9:30-10 or so. I really don't like eating in CDG, either. There are a lot of takeout boulangerie/sandwich shops along bd St Michel, also, you get buy something and go sit in the park right there, that might be nice. There's a Pret a Manger right on bd St Michel near corner of Vaugirard. There's even a McDonalds right at the corner of rue Soufflot if you are desperate, I bet you can find something substantial in there, anyway.

Here's the Pret a Manger website to give you an idea, that would be fine IMO.
https://www.pretamanger.fr/fr-FR

ethrush

We spent a week just outside Villefranche a few years ago, in a house we rented on VRBO. It has a fabulous view of the Med, and a pool. From there, we had easy access to Nice, Cap Ferrat with it's fabulous Rothschild mansion and grounds, the interesting Villa Kerylos, and Monaco. It's an area that can't be beat for scenery.

menachem

I quite liked St Raphael, easy to get to Cannes, Antibes, Nice on the train, the countryside is great. Yes to Cap Ferrat and Villa Ephrussi (read "Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal) St Paul and Vence are also very attainable. Lots of Matisse interest there too.

BritishCaicos

I'll second that suggestion by ethrush.

The view from high up in Villefranche is unforgettable.

Spend some in Cap Ferrat because much of it is quite reasonable. Most of the businesses don't cater for house owners as they are billionaires. The bakeries and cafes cater for pool repair people, maids and housekeepers and are good quality and reasonable. You are in the midst of some of the most expensive houses in Europe and few tourists compared to say Monaco. It's one of my favourite places in terms of my preconceptions and what you actually experience,

As an aside also look at san Remo down the coast in Italy.

Be careful with some of the rest of the coast, Nice is lovely but many places are just full of sad tourists taking selfies of with Italian sports cars.

Southam

The most efficient connection CDG-Orly is the dedicated shuttle bus, airport to airport at reasonable cost. It's as fast as the train because it is portal to portal, where the train requires a shuttle from the RER line to Orly itself. But the bus service is suspended during plague. Maybe it will be back by the time you travel.

Even easier would be to make a flight connection to Corsica. Air France Hop has one direct flight a day from CDG to the island. But that might not fit your first flight. Air France and its subsidiary Air Corsica operate several direct flights to the island from Orly, as you probably know. It would be ideal if your international flight into Paris is on an airline partner of Air France so the tickets could be booked as a single, multi-destination itinerary, to save money.

bilboburgler

Just to be clear Saint Remo does not exist, the town is called Sanremo. Not a bad stop but the old town is interesting.

Sassafrass

Be careful when laying out your plan that you do not count any days twice or include travel days as days in a place. It makes it seem as if you have more time in a place than you actually do. Best to count travel days separately, especially when some of yours are rather long when you include all the transit time involved, and instead, show time in a place by nights. You always have one fewer days than you do nights.

For example, day one is basically all travel. After overnight flight and looong layover, you will arrive late and likely exhausted at your destination. If you depart on day four, you have only two days there.

If you depart on day four for Provence and depart Provence on day eight for Paris, you have only three days in Provence. Provence is a large area with many different things to see, so three days is practically no time at all. Choose and plan very carefully. You could arrive in Marseilles, see a few interesting places by car and end up in Avignon for the train to Paris.

shelemm

Where in Corsica?

jtrest1

We are traveling to Paris/Cdg in September and catching. a Train to Strasbourg. If we get a train ticket can we get on an earlier train at the last minute? Is there a way to exchange for an earlier ticket departure?

bilboburgler

It depends on the train and the ticket read seat61.com to understand the variety.

jtrest1

Thank you. Lots of good advice on the train website.

my question involves an earlier departure. Can I normally board and make adjustments with the conductor?

I may not have time to get an adjustment at the ticket office from a later train departure.