Oh, and wingfavolte, you've already been tossed off Trip Advisor for advertising/soliciting, so you might want to limit yourself to just answering questions, not trying to get people to use your "guide" services in Deauville, however obliquely you may be attempting that.

Thank you for stepping up for me there. I would have had no idea.

No problem. The guy is littering the board with his ridiculous website (that's also full of misinformation).

okay, I'm a bit confused at this point. I don't think Cannes and Monaco are star attractions on the COte d'Azur, but hey, it's your trip, I agree. Calling the beach at Nice "pebbles" is being optimistic IMO, it is larger rocks as far as I'm concerned.

Not sure why you dropped Marseille, but I wouldn't do it and Nice, two big cities. But you can get to a beach easy from Marseille. In fact, there is a beach at Cassis, but there are others just outside Marseille.
http://www.marseille-provence.info/m...marseille.html

And Marseille is a lot closer to Avignon than Nice, you wouldn't even need to go all that way east. It depends what you want. I enjoyed Marseille, and it's close to Nimes. I suspect you are going to be disappointed in this big beach experience you are expecting.

I wouldn't stay in any big city if I intended to rent a car and do day trips (Nice or Marseille).

I'm no expert, but I've been to France 3 times and still only seen a small fraction. The biggest thing to consider is that you don't want to waste too many of your 14 precious days travelling long distances, whether that's on French motorways (which mostly feature dull scenery, although I do have to give their truck stops a big thumbs up over their American cousins), on high speed trains (again, in most cases the scenery is just a blur), or airplanes (where you see airports).

France is as big as Texas, so trying to include both the Cote d'Azur and Normandy in the same itinerary is tough. My suggestion would be to pick one or the other.

If you go south of Paris, you could fly into Nice, do 4 days in the Cote d'Azur, a travel day, 4 days somewhere else (Provence, perhaps, or the Dordogne, if you don't mind one real long drive), and the rest of your time in Paris.

If you go north, you could spend 4 days in Normandy, a travel day, 4 days somewhere else (Brittany or the Loire, or maybe a little of both), and the rest in Paris.

If you go south, you won't need a rental car in Nice or Paris. If you go north, you'll probably want to pick up a rental car at the airport, go to Normandy, and return the rental car at a train station before returning to Paris.

I think twk makes some great points. I too would recommend picking one of the options they suggested.

Just to give you an example of an apartment in Paris. Only one review but there are many more like this. I did check some other D-Day towns and they are booked up for the 6th. I think a lot of tour operators have booked them.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationR...rance.html#map

We love Paris and are headed back again next July. We definitely suggest using the amazing train system, then once you get a an area just rent a car for a few days. Driving for us is stressful but sitting back on the train watching the countryside go by is so peaceful. If you travel in 2nd class be sure to pack a little lunch to enjoy along the way.

From the other comments I agree you should take time to see Nice, Marseilles, and Monaco, we been to all three. We've stayed in Bordeaux two years ago and found the countryside in the Dorgogne region beautiful.

Maybe for the birthday dinner you could make reservations at the top of the Eiffel Tower...now that would be the icing on the cake!

What kinds of interests do you have other than your wife liking the beach - nature, art, history (pre-history, Roman, medieval, renaissance?), shopping, food and wine? Knowing that would be helpful in suggesting itineraries.

Remember that the first day you will be tired and probably won't be able to fully appreciate that day. I always like to land in Paris, take a train to our furthest destination, rent a car and get settled. By then it's usually early to mid-afternoon. That give us time to walk a good bit, have a slightly early dinner, and go to bed adjusted to the new time zone.

On a first trip to France, you MUST have at least 4 days in Paris. The first 2 days to do some "must-see" sites, another day to do some "want to see" sites, and a day to slow down and simply enjoy being in Paris.

What a nice birthday celebration!

No sandy beach in Nice, however.

I definitely agree you should stay in the middle of Paris. The roads out of the centre are really quite easy, though may be congested depending on the time of day. Avoid peak hour.
I suggest, too, that you spend a couple of days in the Loire Valley on the way there or back. It's only a couple of hours' drive from Paris. If it's June, the days are very long, which gives you plenty of scope. You could check which of the châteaux you want to see and plan to stay in the most central town (Tours, Amboise, Blois, etc.). Happy Birthday to your wife.