Stu,
We are flying into paris for a 17 day holiday. We are following a child on tour but are going to do our own thing mostly. At some point we would like to meet up in Antibes. I am toying with the idea of driving to Antibes from Paris, stoppping along the way. I would love to hear your advice and city choices. p.s. we are travelling with children

I feel like a kid in a candy store when going to Europe with all the opportunity. I plan on a relatively uncomplicated agenda and then my mind starts wandering......
Another scenario would be to use discount airline to travel to Florence. Spend 5 days there then go to Antibes for a week and then finish off in Paris. Too complicated?

A few questions:

1. Is that 17 days completly "open" between Paris & Antibes.

2. What time of year, and what day of the week do you land in Paris?

3. Do you plan to spend time in Paris and if so, does the 17 days include/exclude "n" days in Paris.???

4. Does the 17 days include time in Antibes??

5. How much moving around do you want to do. Are several 1 night stays OK

Paris to the Cote d'Azur is a good itinerary. However, a lot depends on the time of year. In July, Aug, early Sept, a drive through some of the Alps could be quite nice. In late June & July I would want to be in Provence for the lavender blooming.

Here are some choices - depending on your answer to my questions.

1. Land in Paris & spend several days (4 min) there.

2. Take the train to Auxerre & stay 4 nights in Burgundy.
.....a. Visit Auxerre (not Sun or Mon). Rent a car
.....b. Visit Ch Tanlay after lunch in Auxerre.
.....c. Visit Abbaye de Fontenay if time permits
.....d Drive to Vezelay & stay overnight there - 2 nights.
.....e. Visit Vezelay and a few other chateaux (Ancy le Franc, Bazoches)
.....f Drive to Beaune & stay there 2 nights
.....g visit some wine villages, Beaune, and especially Dijon.
.....h Visit Ch Cormatin in the am (north of Macon) & then drive to Provence.

OR

2. Take the train to Lake Annecy. Stay in Tailloires 2 nights
......a. rent a car. Visit Annecy, lake cruises, and explore the Alps in the immediate region.
......b. Drive to Chamonix & Explore Mt Blanc. Stay 1 night.
......c. Drive through the Alps. Stay 1 night in:
............Bonneval
............Briancon
............Embrun
......d Continue to Provence

3. Provence 4-6 nights

4. Cote d'Azur/Antibes

Florence would work, but you will loose almost an entire day getting from Florence to Antibes. Best train schedule would leave Florence at 8:19am & arrive in Antibes at 4:40pm - with 2 train changes.

If the 17 days does NOT include Paris, I would:

- Take a plane to Toulouse, visit Toulouse & stay 1 night.
- Visit the Dordogne for 4 nights
- Drive to Provence, stopping in Carcassonne along the way. stay in Provence for 4 nights.
- Cote d'Azur/Antibes for 4 nights.

Stu Dudley

Lost count

On that last itinerary, I would do:
1 night Toulouse
5 nights Dordogne
5 nights Provence
5 nights Antibes, with trips into the Alps

Of course, a lot depends on whether you want to spend time in Paris, and what time of year.

Stu Dudley

Hi Stu,
this is a last minute trip. We are going at the beginning of april. it is 17 days total.we will land in paris on thursday. Our first trip to Europe we did a whirlwind tour. We landed in Frankfurt-Hahn, and in a matter of days we visited Strasbourg, Dijion, Geneva, Chamonix, a beautiful little town in Austria (which temporarily escapes me -been up a few days with sick kids), did the Ludwig castles and finished in Nurnberg to visit a friend. It was a crazy trip, but I do not regret it. We saw some wonderful things, and I infected my husband with the 'Europe bug'. We knew that we would like to continue to come back, but it would definitely be at a slower pace. 2 years ago, we did Barcelona for 6 days and then drove to Uzes. We stayed un Uzes for 11 days doig day trips to Nimes, orange, arles, avignon,st.marie de la mere, marseille, and stopped for dinner in colliure on the way back to Barcelona. I think that we will do paris, and we will do antibes-is it worth a week stay? We also need some r and r in there. We don't mind driving if we can stop here and there. I think I would like to stay put in a couple of places for a longer time than just 2 days here or there. We are travelling with 4 children, and have done a lot of shcleping(sp) on subways, discount airlines etc with full luggage. Thats why I was wondering if we should either get a car for the whole time(excluding Paris), or just travel directly to a few places and explore without a car.
Husbands choice last time was Barcelona. Florence is his newest interest, but I am just as happy to stay in France.

Please excuse the typing. I had a sick child on my lap!

OK - here is what I would recommend:

- Thurs thru Tues - Paris - 6 nights

- Wed - take either the 9:10 or 10:30 train from Paris to Brive la Gaillard. Rent a car & visit Collonges la Rouge - which is close to Brive. Then head to the Dordogne, staying close to Sarlat for 5 nights. Lots if different stuff to do & see in the Dordogne. Kids (of any age), will love the castles, caves, cute villages, etc.

- Monday - head out towards Antibes. Stop in Carcassonne - the largest fortified town in Europe. Kids will love it. You've already visited Provence, so head directly to Antibes. Personally, I prefer Nice as a base, but if you need to be in Antibes, it's also a good base. Stay there 6 nights - keeping the car as long as you can. There are lots & lots of cute villages to explore in the Nice Hinterland, and some great gorges that you can get to easily. You can take trains to all of the major cities along the Riveria - except St Tropez.

- Fly home, or back to Paris from Nice.

Both the Dordogne & the Cote d'Azur will keep you very busy the entire time - if you choose to keep busy. They are great places to relax too. This will allow you to stay in only 3 places. You might see if you can rent a Gite in the Dordogne so you can have multiple bedrooms, multiple baths, kitchen, washing machine, yard, & lots of common area, etc.

I think Florence would be a great place to visit also. In '04, we spent the first week of April in Tuscany - and it was stunning. The countryside around the Val d'Orcia (close to Pienza) was unbelievably beautiful (we've been there in Sept, Oct, & June too). The rolling hills were covered with green winter wheat - like a blanket of velvet. Cypress trees and cute medieval villages stuck up everywhere. Florence was not crowded - we saw David with only 5 other people in the room.

You might consider this:

- Fly to Rome & spend 5/6 nights there.

- Take the train to Orvieto. Dump the suitcases at the car rental office & visit Orvieto. Return to pick up the car & drive 1 hr to San Quirico d'Orcia. Stay at Plazzo del Capitano.
http://www.palazzodelcapitano.com/index_eng.htm
This is the R&R part. San Quirico is a very cute but non-touristy Italian village in a beautiful section of Tuscany. Kids will love it because there are lots of other (Italian) kids there. The villages of Pienza, Montalcino, & Montepulciano are close by. Siena is 45 mins away. Stay there 4 nights & explore by car or walk in the countrtyside.

- Drive to Florence (or take the train from Siena), and stay 3/4 nights in Florence. You won't need a car in Florence.

- Take the train to Antibes (get some games for the kids to play). This is too far to drive with a load of people in the car. I hate the drive anyway.

- Stay in Antibes/Nice for the remainder of the trip.

I have 20+ page itineraries for the Dordoge, another for the Cote d'Azur, and a third for Italy. E-mail me at [email protected] if you want copies.

Stu Dudley

What an asset Stu Dudley is. Great suggestions.

We finally received some sort of itinerary for our son. We fly in on the 2nd of April to Paris. He will be in a soccer tourny in Arras or Maroeuil from the 11th to the 14th of April.
We don't leave from Paris until the 19th.
We would like to see both Paris and Florence for sure. He will be training in Antibes, but we don't really need to be there unless you think it is worthwhile. Why don't you like the drive from Nice to Florence?

"Why don't you like the drive from Nice to Florence?"

There are hundreds of tunnels along the way (or at least it seems like that many) - which makes driving very tiresome. Also, there are lots of opportunities in Genoa to make a wrong turn off the freeway & end up on the streets of Genoa - without a street map. I've driven that ough perhaps 6 times. Last time when confronted with the drive - we took the train instead.

Stu Dudley