Spring_Chicken

Hi there,
My soon-to-be-husband and I are going to France on our honeymoon, and we'd love some advice from you!!!
This is our info/itinerary so far:
- Arriving Paris CDG May 20th roughly 10am & taking TGV directly to Lyon
- 2 nights in Lyon (recommend hotel??)
- renting car and driving to Annecy - one night (recommend hotel??) and planning on paragliding there.
- next day, driving down towards Provence and Cote D'Azur - not sure where to stop first or where to base ourselves but we would like to see Avignon/surrounding area, Aix-en-Provence/surrounding area, Nice, and Villefranche-Sur-Mer in particular. This would be all in the span of 9 days - HELP!
- June 1st, need to be close enough to drive back to Lyon, drop off the car by late morning, and hop on TGV back to Paris. Was thinking of staying the night before at nearby Le-Puy-en-Velay??
- June 1st-6th - Paris, Hotel Saint-Paul, then back home.

Basically, we are looking for advice on where to go after Annecy, where to base ourselves from, and what we shouldn't miss seeing in Provence and Cote D'Azur.

Some info: We are a simple couple - we love nature, and not interested in the glitzy side of France. We are hoping to see lots of beautiful towns/villages, breathtaking scenery - we love to drive in the countryside, and we want to see the simple side of France - the true France, without the potentially stuck-up attitude of ritzy places.

Any and all hotel recommendations are very welcome! We would like to stay at reasonably-priced hotels with charm and character if possible. Since it is our honeymoon, we are willing to splurge if we feel it is absolutely worth it!

Thanks in advance for any help!!!!

rex

I'd recommend that you browse through the hundreds of places listed on http://www.logis-de-france.fr - - there are gems, and there are mediocre places, but many are excellent bargains with French cuisine/terroir at its best.

Getting from Annecy to the Cote d'Azur means getting over or around major Alps. If you go through the mountains (more direct), then of course, you will find a lot of places that are in their prime during ski season. They look like ski chalets, and that may or may not be France to you. But there are some stunning-looking choices that are in the valleys or not all that close to the slopes, and browsing there might uncover the nugget that appeals particularly to you. These two might fit the bill? - -

www.novalaiseplage.com

and

www.chateau-herbelon.fr

And those two are just in Savoie and Isere; you still have all of "PACA" - - see http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/region/provence.htm to break it down further - - to think about.

You already have a considerable list of great places you want to see; you're going to get more suggestions from others than you can process! I'll add just one which you can enjoy in less than half a day - - the Corniche de l'Esteral from Frejus/Raphael to Cannes - - you'll end up right at the beach - - find "Le Sweet" (named for their gigantic ice cream desserts - - but some of the best seafood I can remember is the real take home memory) in the first half mile once you see the beach at Cannes.

Whatever your decisions, congratulations on your new life in marriage... and...

Best wishes,

Rex

RonZ

In Villefranche sur Mer I can recommend the Versailles. Suggest you return on the TGV from Nice rather than going back up to Lyon.

Spring_Chicken

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions! I will check them out for sure!
As for the car rental and the pickup/dropoff locations, we aren't sure why, but we're not all that comfortable dropping the car off in Nice for some reason. We wouldn't mind doing a bit of a circle because we'd still like to see Le-Puy-en-Velay, but if it's going to be too much of a hassle, then perhaps how about dropping the car off in Avignon?? It's only 3 and a half hours to Paris, as opposed to 5+ hours from Nice to Paris. I just don't like the long train rides, I think that's the problem!
Anyone - can you give any itinerary suggestions, mostly where to go after Annecy??!
Thanks again!

RonZ

I made that comment about Nice because In planning our driving trips in France we try to conserve time on the road by kind of going in one direction.

We happen to rent from Europcar, and at the Nice train station you just park right outside and walk into the office in the station. Other places are sometimes not as easy.

Whatever you do, I suggest you use www.mappy.com for driving routes and approximate times.

Michael

You can also try this site for B&Bs:

http://www.gites-de-france.fr/eng/index.htm

You may want to stay more than one night in Annecy. The paragliding is up on the pass overlooking the lake. With the time to get there, looking around, arranging for the ride (I assume that you will be riding with an instrutor), getting back to your car, etc. most of the day will be used up. Why rush things?

Spring_Chicken

RonZ,
After thinking it over with my better half, I have to say that your suggestion makes a lot more sense - about dropping the car off in Nice. Thanks for your input.
The only problem now is the more I read about different places, the more places I add to our itnerary, and at this point, it's just a big mess!
Michael, I had no idea paragliding would take up a whole day! I thought we would be able to do it in the morning. Have you done it? Is it worth all that time? Perhaps we should just go hiking in the area or something to that effect. I just figured paragliding would be exhilirating and relatively quick and painless in terms of time management.
Anyway, what I'd really like to know is how to plan my itinerary for Provence and Cote D'Azur.
Does anyone have a suggested itinerary for this disoriented soul?
Kepp in mind - now I'm leaving Annecy May 23rd to head down south, and dropping off the car in Nice on June 1st to take the TGV to Paris. (Is the scenery nice on the TGV to Paris?!!!)

Michael

The paragliding probably does not take all day, in fact it might not be more than one hour in the air. However, you probably book in the valley and leave your car down there, then you drive up (about 20 minutes) and then hike up to the take-off area, look around, talk, put on your gear, etc. it will take a good part of the day. Moreover, I do not know if the winds are constant or are more likely to occur perhaps in the afternoon. I never did it, but I did observe it on the Col de la Forclaz.

kevin_widrow

Chicken -

Here's a suggestion:

From Annency, head south through Grenoble, then Gap and then Forcalquier. Pretty drive and Forcalquier is a great little town that would make a perfect stopping point.

From there, head into Provence via the back door as it were on the N100. You can base yourself in the Luberon or the Alpilles (perhaps three days in each area, if you don't mind a bit of packing/repacking). This should give you enough time to realx and get to know some of the many beautiful villages, markets, wine-tasting etc. Plus some major sights (Pont du Gard, Avignon, Aix, Glanum, etc.).

From there, head to Nice for the last few days. You could probably drop your car off on arrival there as the coast is more accessible with buses and trains if you wanted to.

And if you want to avoid the 5+ hours on the train from Nice back to Paris, look into Easyjet, which does that route extremely cheaply.

-Kevin

Spring_Chicken

Thanks to all who have responded - it's much appreciated.

I spent a few nights tweaking my itinerary and I think it's set, thanks to the advice on this message board:
Arrive Paris - TGV to Lyon
Lyon 2 nights
Rent car in Lyon
Annecy 2 nights
on to Provence:
3 nights in one area
3 nights in another area (closer to Cote D'Azur)
2 nights Nice
drop car off in Nice Railway Station
TGV to Paris
5 nights in Paris.

Again, thanks so much. If anyone happens to have more tips for me, I would love to hear them.

S

RonZ

Another way to organize this trip is to fly into Paris and out of Nice, doing Paris first and then taking the the train to Lyon.

I would do some very serious research on how long it takes to drive from Annecy to the next stop. You may be better off following the autoroutes to the A7.