jeanne

My daughter and I are going to travel through France this summer, starting from The Italian Riviera up to Paris. Any suggestions on best way to travel (car vs. train?), places not to miss, places to stay, etc. etc. Thanks!

Rex

My own choice would be train to Nice, and then drive - - and allow 3-5 days.<BR><BR>For a number of suggestions of place from Nice to Paris (though it was posted in the reverse direction), see this recent thread - - just now brought it back to the top for you:<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1341362<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Rex

to the top... for Jeanne.<BR>

Carol

The shore drive is beautiful by car to Marseille, than up to Avignon on onto Paris.

Heather

My mom and I did the reverse trip from Paris to Monterosso in 2000. We picked up a car in Paris, then our itinerary went: Alsace, Annecy, Luberon region (between Gordes & Rousillon), and Villfranche-Sur-Mer. We dropped the car ("Francoise" ... anything that reliable needs a name!) in Nice and trained to Monterosso. The train ride included a large number of tunnels, so we missed a lot of the spectacular scenery. Of course, my mom thought of it more as missing the driving on "the sides of cliffs" (not a big one for heights).<BR><BR>We had three full weeks, did a minimum of 3 nights at each stop, and got a great taste. Of course, we would like to have had two weeks everywhere we went. We had a wonderful trip and really enjoyed all of our stops. Really, the only change I would have made is to drop the car before staying Villefranche, as we trained or bussed when we went anywhere other than the beach.<BR><BR>If you would like any more details (where we stayed, how much we spent, etc.), just post again or drop me an email. I'll try to check back later.

Rex

For anyone wondering - - it isn't just the train ride that Heather describes that has a lot of tunnels. The highway negotiates the terrain the same way - - tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge - - repeat 150 more times.<BR>