Provence in October
 

I have posted before regarding a trip to Europe, and after the advice given, we have narrowed down our trip to France.

We have 14 days (not including the 2 days flying). Here is what we have figured out so far. We would love to have more advice on how to plan this trip effeciently.

Day 1-4 London, Stonehenge, and Bath
Day 5-7 Paris (with a day trip to Loire Valley)
Day 8-11 Provence: Aix En Provence, Marseilles (for bouillbase) Gordes, and more that we are still trying to figure out. After readihg the boards, we are planning to base ourselves in St. Remy.
Day 11-13 Nice?
Day 14 Take Train back to Paris to fly home to US.

We were wondering if this will give is too much, since we have never traveled in Europe, and not sure how the trains work.

Also, if we can have some recommendations for a apartment or something in St. Remy or surrounnding area, that would be great.

Thanks so much!

Too much in my opinion assuming you arrive on Day 1 that leaves with two days for London (with one taken for Bath and Stonwehenge). Similarly side trip to the Loire leaves you with a day and half in Paris)

I'd streamline a bit - delete Bath, Loire and Nice and then London, fly to Provence, TGV up to Paris, few days in paris and then fly home

Not sure when you are going but can recommend a wonderful apatrment in provence for two people

Sorry you did say October in the title! If it is this year it is booked until late October. Vacation Rentals by Owner Listing #26479

It is even better than it looks in the photos

presuming your flights are booked, I agree that you are being too ambitious. Wombat 7's plan is great.
London - you need to allow a day for recovering from jet-lag. Leave Bath and Stonehenge for anther trip.
Fly to Nice or Marseilles.
Provence - rent an apartment, say in St. Remy and hire a car.
TGV to Paris. Far too much to do to want to go anywhere else.
3 bases in a 14 day trip is just about right. Anymore, and you'll get "if it's tuesday it must be..." syndrome. This way, you will really experience the places you visit, rather than spending most of your valuable time travelling from place to place, but you will still have a number of differing expreinces.
Have a wonderful time.

For the flight to Provence you might be abel to get he best deal on a cheap airline such as Easyjet

Thanks for the replies. So we should try to cut out the side trips?? It's gonna be hard to do, since we are trying to do as much as possible!

Maybe we can keep Nice, because we really want to see the sandy beaches...

so from London, we should fly to Nice, train to Paris and go home from there? We havn't book the tickets yet. But will be booking SOON!


wombat7, about the vacation rental, can you give me more info? Is there a website or something that I can go to??

www.vrbo.com and enter the number. Stayed there in April for a week and adored the place. You get what you see, but it is even better. A great place to stay if you like to cook - which we do - but it is not in the centre of things - ie no nightlife to walk to - but that suited us perfectly

Glad to hear you are thinking of cutting back a bit.

Are you very wedded to London? If you are not you could fly in and out of Paris and do a bit more in France - and please do not get the wrong idea i love London but you can always keep it for another trip

Thanks for the website for the apartment rental!

Acutally now that you mention it, we don't have to do London on this trip. Maybe we should concentrate more on France.

We could change it to:

Nice - 3 days
Provence 7 days
Paris 4 days

Is Nice & Cannes a good time to go in October? The beaches might be too cold?? Maybe we can head to another city.... Florence maybe??

Just when I thought you'd got the slowtravel idea, you went and spoiled it! France by itself will be quite enough, and the weather in Nice should be fine.
Depending on flights, you could do Paris -Nice - Paris [perhaps staying in two different areas to get a different experience] or Paris - Avignon -Nice. your exact plans are rather dependant upon the flights you can get, but stick to France, and it's difficult to go wrong. Good luck!

Ten days in Provence, including the Nice area, would be lovely, but I think you want to allot more than just three days to see everything in and around Nice. Four or five would be much better.

Nice and Cannes in October will be less crowded and cooler than in the summer but still quite pleasant.

Nice, Provence and Paris is perfect - Florence will still be there. You will have time to really see and experience and you won't waste too much time just getting from A to B to C to..well you get the idea.