Texan First timers need help
 

Help! I am looking for suggestions of where to stay in or around Paris. We have four days there. We want to take a day trip to London and to Sweeden while in Paris. Any suggestions? We then have to be in Lyon for two days on business. What to do around Lyon when not in meetings? Finally we have four days at the end of our trip. We would be in Lyon at this point. Any suggestions? We have been told Provence region, but I need a more specific idea. Thanks so much for your help.

We are going in June.

Tx

I would strongly suggest the full four days for Paris since this is your first visit. You'll get plenty of lodging suggestions. My own leaning is toward Ile St. Louis. Not knowing your bidget, hard to recommend anything specific. Day trip to London is feasible but not recommended, Sweden not at all. Please check the maps and rethink.

I've never heard of a daytrip to Sweden from Paris, but I guess Texans could do it.

I hope this is a joke, but I fear it isn't. First, without some idea of your budget, it's impossible to suggest where to stay in Paris - a city with thousands of hotels. Second, with only four days, it's sheer madness to contemplate a trip to "Sweeden," and unwise to consider London. Four days is barely enough to get to know the surface of Paris.

As for Lyon, a city incredibly rich in history and culture, a simple google search or reading of the city's official website will give you an idea of the hundreds of things there are to do there when you're not working.

With the extra four days, yes, you can take the TGV to Provence (Avignon) and spend a delightful short visit in the Bouche-du-Rhône or Lubéron areas...or just visit the main cities of Avignon, Arles, Aix-en-Provence. You would need a car to do justice to the area. You could just as easily do a brief tour of Burgundy, again with a car.

You need to look carefully at a map of France. And check out a few guidebooks to get an idea of what the various regions have to offer.

I vote to stay in Paris. I love Ile St Louis, but would not stay there. Access in/out is not as convenient as other areas, and there is less to do there (but do visit Bertillon on Ile St Louis for phenomenal ice cream).

I love the sixth arrondisement...lots of hotel choices, cafes and boutiques. I love the area around the Carrefour Odeon. Several small hotels there and the Odeon Metro station is right there. Check Odeon Hotel, Hotel Louis II , Relais St Germain or Odeon St Germain.

Tex

Let's put this in perspective. You live in Dallas, for example. And one day you want visit Houston fly back to Dallas then to Chicago. You will certainly see Europe but most of it will be in a waiting room or from 35,000 feet.

Tex, all good advice above

Guys, do you remember the \Troll we had a couple of years back who only wanted to eat steak in paris for a 6 day visit and it had to be Texan well..... :-)

CWerk, you need to give us more advice. Do you like architecture, food, wine, countryside etc. Lyon has all this and more but a guide to focus would do

I'd also stick Lyon in the search engine at the top to get a quick overvies

My sincere thanks to tower and denisea. I appreciate your kindness. I meant to say Switzerland earlier instead of Sweeden. I have looked at a map. I am looking for helpful advise NOT ridicule. Please keep your unkind comments to yourself. For our first trip we want to see as much as we can and not spend our entire time in a big city.

I think you got great advice here - your original plan/post was looking a little nuts, don't you agree?

St Cirq has a great plan. But really, what's wrong with staying in Paris four days? It's one of the best big cities ever with many areas feeling small city-ish. And a day trip to Switzerland is no better. Forget London too. Since you have to be in Lyon, I would take St Cirq's very wise advice if you just don't want to stay in Paris.

<< For our first trip we want to see as much as we can >>

If you really mean "to see as much as we can" then you will limit the number of town/cities you visit. You will then be able to see many sights and experience more of each town.

The other way to travel is to see as many PLACES as you can. Perhaps this is what you mean. If you choose this type of travel you need to keep in mind that you will see lots of highways and spend lots of time in a car or on a train or a plane/airport. The time it takes to change from place to place is subtracted from your sightseeing time.

<< not spend our entire time in a big city >>

Paris is a big city but the historic center is not all that large. There are no skyscrapers here. I think the tallest building is 6 floors with the ground floor being the first floor so building heights are 5 stories.

Paris is similar to a series of many villages; there are different looks and feels to different areas. There are many, many parks and gardens and small squares. There are many narrow, winding streets where you find mostly pedestrians. This gives Paris the feel of a smaller town. Yes, there are large boulevards as well but you could easily spend a day bypassing them and walking around the smaller streets. With only 2 days in Paris you will completely miss this experience.

Have you checked out how long it will take you to get to Switzerland? Using Lucerne as an example, the train takes between 5 and 7 hours each way. You would have to fly which means time getting to/from the airports on each end. Aduchamp1 was not being sarcastic but realistic. It's like going from Dallas to Chicago and back for the day. If you had read any of his posts you would see that he is a very serious poster as is StCirq and many other people here. Your original post came off as half baked and not at all serious. Perhaps this is from your lack of geographic knowledge but I find that this is a great site and if posters put some thought into their questions they get fabulous answers and advice.

Have you checked out how long it will take you to get to London? I believe it's 3 hours on the train but first you have to get to the train station (let's say 1/2 hour) and be there 1/2 hour ahead of the train departure to check in. That's already 4 hours of your day in London. You have to do the reverse coming back to Paris.

Think about this. Read some guidebooks or search on this site. Decide what type of trip you want and then post more focused questions. You will get completely different answers.

Even after 40 years of traveling, my first step when planning a trip is to get a guidebook or two. When I first began traveling back in the 60's, I missed a lot because I didn't have good ideas about what to see.

Those who post on this board are experienced travelers who can give you good advice, even if we do tease you a bit.

I agree with others that 4 days in Paris would be good, without any lengthy day trips to other countries.

And as StCirc suggested, your last four days in Provence would give you time in more rural areas. Even if you include Avignon, Arles or Aix-en-Provence, or only one or two of those cities, you could stay there and they drive around the rural areas and smaller towns each day. Or, for a smaller town to stay in, consider St. Remy.

In europe less is usually more and the most common mistake made by first-time visitor is to try to cover way too much territory and end up seeing very little of anything.

Four days will just scratch the surface in Paris. A day trip to London is doable - if you get the first train over and the last train back you will have a good part of a day there (and can catch up on sleep on the train). But you will be cheating each of the cities.

Other than that you should visit either Switzerland OR southern France after Lyon. Either one will give you some great outdoors/countryside. Trying to do Switz in a day trip from Paris will be frustrating, since what you want to visit is the mountain villages - not the cities in the flat lands easily accessible from Paris.

Also, if you want advice here you're going to have to be less super sensitive - esp when people are responding to your mistakes. People are taking their free time to think about YOUR trip and give you the benefit of their experience. Complaining when you don;t like it is simply rude. (We're not travel agents you're paying to do this.)

OK, everyone, let's try to stay friendly. Sometimes comments that are typed and not spoken are interpreted differently than they were meant. The point is to be helpful.

CWerk, I would still urge you to spend the time in Paris...I agree with a previous post that 4 days in Paris just scratched the surface. I also agree that London IS doable with the first Eurostar out in the AM and the last one back, if you are determined to do two cities.

If not, maybe consider a day trip out of Paris that won't have you running all over the place. I just think when travelers try to pack too much in, it's exhausting and leaves you frustrated. Enjoy what's there and consider less time traveling from place to place.

Do you have an idea of what you are looking for in a hotel? (simple, luxury, locally owned or chain). Left or Right bank, or does it matter to you? There is a right bank hotel thread and a left bank hotel thread you may want to take a look at.

Ultimately, it's your trip, so I hope that you enjoy it. Paris is a wonderful city. I never tire of it.

Europe looks quite compact on a map. It really isn't. I've done Paris to Switzerland, and I promise you it is not a day trip. You could get a sleeper from Paris, arrive the ne-t morning, spend the day and then return to Paris the same way ( so, a day trip becomes one day and two nights) or better yet continue on to your stop in Lyon.

As others have suggested, I'd stay in Paris and save Switzerland for another trip. Four days just begins to touch the surface in Paris. You could still do day trips to Versailles, Giverny etc. if the idea of four days in Paris seems too much ( it's not ;)) And, please remember that the advice on this forum is good even if you don't particularly like it. We are only trying to help you make the best decisions.

We are only trying to help you make the best decisions.≥≥

really? sometimes OPs react as if we're trying to ruin their trips, instead of answering their questions honestly.

but I agree that on Fodors, as in life, a GSOH is an asset!

I'll chime in here. 4-5 days is a perfect amount of time for a first visit to Paris. Just long enough to absorb a lot of the feel of arguably the most beautiful city in the world and see most of the major sights (and enough time to get out to Versailles for a morning). So I would suggest that you fly into Paris, sightsee and decompress there for a few days, then train to Lyon for your meetings, then train or a quick flight down to the Riviera for the last 4 days (the weather should be perfect in June). You could base in a central spot like Nice and day trip (the train is easy) all along the Riviera - exploring Monaco, Cannes, Antibes on different days. Then fly home straight from Nice. This gives you the change to explore two completely different and incredibly beautiful areas of France (with completely different foods, btw!) and ties in very well to your need to be in Lyon.