I am planning a 12-15 day trip w/ my Mother starting in Paris, ending somewhere in the French Riviera and need help w/ planning the best cities to see in between. We are arriving in Paris May 10th and the rest is up in the air!! Please help ASAP!

Without knowing your mode of travel and your interests, it is difficult to suggest anything.

"Planning" means get yourself a map, a guidebook and sit down and figure out a route based on towns/cities that sound interesting. Then you can figure out if you can go by train or if you need to drive, or a combination. You need a good 4-5 days in Paris to even begin to appreciate its glories, and then how many days in the French Riviera, and is there a specific end-point? So this sounds like you have 4-7 days in between to fill up, which is worth maybe 2 hotel stops + nearby sights.

So maybe Paris, Lyon, Avignon, Nice..?

p.s. from where are you departing France?

Have you ever been to France before? Seen and liked/disliked anything.

IMHO I think in the time you have I would do just Paris - a week is not too much if you've never been there - esp with a trip to Versailles - and possibly another chateau. Then you could spend the rest of the time on the riviera - where you could easily spend a month in the various towns/areas.

My best advice would be to buy a copy, ASAP, of the Michelin Green Guide to France. It contains large-scale maps, suggested driving itineraries (or will you take the train?), spots to visit, and some hotel and restaurant recommendations.

May 10th isn't far off; you need to get your itinerary set and make hotel reservations RIGHT AWAY. Remember that May is the big holiday month in France; some museums, banks, and so on will be closed on those days.

I hope you already have your Paris hotel booked, as May can be quite busy.

Agree with all of the feedback. You might sort out if you want to make a culinary trip out of it, say, or a sightseeing itinerary. Cathedrals? Flora? Gorges? Obviously one can mix some of these, but I would try to sort out what kinds of things you hope to do/see and then you might begin to connect the dots in some southerly direction toward the Riviera.

also think about if you want to travel by train or car (or combination of both). This will really affect the time you need to allow for travel and what places you can access easiy. Provence and the Riviera are difficult but doable without a car--some serious planning is needed to get to the smaller towns of the regions. On the other hand, Avignon is a very fast train ride from Paris by TGV.

Thanks for the replies - I am new to Fodor's and reposted just a few minutes ago thinking i had not done it correctly the first time! Anway, we have a total of about 15 days for our trip. I have re posted a more accurate itinerary - please read and let me know your thoughts. Thanks!!

The ad reads 'Mother/Daughter trip from Paris to Nice..etc etc'