France trip
 

HELP!!!! My sister and I are heading to France for the first time at end of September and we want to spend time in Paris, Avignon, Cannes, Nice, and possibly Bordeaux. I am worried about driving so I was thinking of training it..
THOUGHTS??? HELP?? IDEAS???

- You posted your thread as a Trip Report - so some people might not bother to even read it

- How many days do you have for this trip - 10 days, 2 weeks, a month, two months, "open" ???

Stu Dudley

Not sure of the order you'll be doing these. On past visits we've flown into Nice as a starting point, rented a car in Nice while we explored eastern Provence, returned the car in Nice and flew Easy Jet to Paris Orly. We would then fly back to the states from CDG.

This year, we are again doing flight into Nice and return from CDG. We will take the train Nice to Marseille where we pick up a car to visit the Luberon/Avignon area for a few nights. We return the car in Marseille and take the TGV train to Paris. It's 3 hours from Marseille to Paris. Also, Cannes is on the train line between Nice and Marseille.

Not sure how long you are staying, but Nice and Cannes are an easy day trip from one another. I would choose one to stay in to avoid packing up and moving more frequently. My personal choice would be stay in Nice and do a day trip to Cannes.

Is it possible that you have so far chosen well-known big name destinations? While they all have attractions, they don't necessarily offer what two of you might want to spend time on over other destinations. Car vs. train decision is better not made in isolation, but done in light of where you are going, how you want to connect them, and what is the value to driving to you: merely one way to get from A to B or an integral part of the trip.

How long? Why did you choose these places? if you have 2 months, maybe?

How long? Why did you choose these places? if you have 2 months, maybe?

Paris is jammed with visitors in September for the many trade and fashion shows. If you decide on Paris you'll need to get hotel reservations yesterday.

You can easily take the train to the south of France. The TGV (fast train) leaves from the Gare de Lyon in Paris, and the trip to Avignon takes a little over 2 hours. From there it's several hours to Nice because there aren't the same high-speed tracks available. If you stay in Nice you will have access to excellent public transportation along the coastal towns of itnerest and won't need (or want) a car unless you decide to visit some of the small, out-of-the-way villages.

Of course you can take the train, why not? YOu can take it to any place there is a train station, and all of those cities do.

The only thing that doesn't fit is Bordeaux, you must know that from the map. So of course you can take a train there and the other places, but the only way that would make much sense would be perhaps starting in Bordeaux, then going to Paris by train and then down south from Paris and ending in Nice. Because there is no direct train from Bordeaux eastward across the country direct to Avignon. So if you started in Paris, then went to Bordeaux by train, you'd have to either go back through Paris or down through Toulouse to the very south, then head back east, it would be a mess. If you had tons of time, of course you could do it as Toulouse is a nice city, and you could stop off in Montpellier on your way eastward.

Just drop Bordeaux and things will be a lot easier.

Until you tell us how long you have it's really difficult to give good advice.

My advise would be to take the train to Avignon and rent a car from there to the south leg. I would manage to spend at least 3 nights in each places if you want to be able to experience propely the area.
Hope this will help