Hi! We will be in Paris this June, and then travelling to Colmar. I was originally planning the high speed train, but was wondering if it is a nice drive? Is there anything really worth a stop for the afternoon in the middle (Metz? Nancy?)

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Metz and Nancy are both worth trips in themselves.

How about taking the TGV from Paris to Metz (1h30) and picking up a rental car there?

Hi d,

Have you considered taking the TGVest to Nancy for a night or 2, renting a car and heading to Colmar from there?

Ditto to Strasbourg and then renting a car.

IMHO Colmar - and especially Strasbourg - are much more interesting than Metz or Nancy. I would train to one of the former and then rent a car to see both and drive the small towns of the wine road in between the two.

My family is from the east of France, so I have been to all of those cities dozens and dozens of times. Strasbourg is the most interesting city of the east, but since the question was about cities <b>between</b> Paris and Colmar, I think that both Metz and Nancy are highly worthy of a visit in order to experience something different.

The cathedral of Metz is one of the most magnificent in France, and the majority of the major buildings in the city were built in the Prussian style when Metz was annexed by Germany. The train station, the post office across from it, and all of the arcades leading to the Porte Serpenoise arch are in pure Prussian style and completely different from anything that you can see elsewhere in France. Meanwhile, an annex of the Pompidou Center is currently being put in place and is going to be spectacular (unfortunately it won't open until the second half of 2009).

As for Nancy, it boasts the magnificent Place Stanislas, considered to be one of the most beautiful squares in the world, and also an interesting botanical park right next to it, la P&eacute;pini&egrave;re. It is also considered to be the center of art nouveau in France. It has a new tramway system which conveniently goes from the train station down rue St. Jean, the main commercial street of the city.

So either city is most definitely worth a visit.

desicions, decisions.....

Sometimes I get to a point where it seems so hard to make any more choices!! But I am almost there, and the planning IS part of the fun.

Thank you for all of your input. A couple more questions.

The drive from Paris to Colmar maps at 4 plus hours. Do you think the drive itself is nice? Do you think it would take much longer than yahoo says?

I also liked the idea of train to Strasbourg. Maybe plan to get to Strasbourg as early as we can, look around and have lunch. Then pick up car and head to Colmar. Any specific towns along that route to investigate?