scdreamer

Thank you to everyone who responded to my initial itinerary and ideas for our four-week visit to Provence and other destinations!

We are a retired couple from California - in our late 60s early 70s - love road tripping in Europe. We like hiking, walking, exploring villages and countryside, driving on back roads and getting lost sometimes, great food and wine, leisurely days of exploring and also just being in a neighborhood, practicing my schoolgirl French; we aren't much for shopping, driving on toll roads, quickly jumping from one "attraction" to the next.. This will be our second time to do this kind of road trip in France, but all the destinations will be new to us. We have a great 2022 road atlas but will do our best to have a GPS. We can use google maps on the phone in a pinch, but a GPS would definitely be better.

We were "stuck" as to whether to visit Annecy after picking up our car in Lyon, or taking a train to Antibes and then renting a car. In the end Annecy won out - as we will be staying In Aix long enough to drive to Nice and Antibes as a day trip (or even indulging in an "extra" overnight). And we dropped our stayover in Arles in favor of Le Puy, which I would never have known of without this helpful forum!

Here's the NEW itinerary - everything we have booked remains refundable, but I am hoping this will be the final plan. Any suggestions for places to see (villages, vineyards, markets, beaches, scenic routes etc) or activities you might recommend are welcome! So far, your input has been invaluable. Thank you.

Day
1 Flight from California to Paris
2 Arrive CDG in mid-morning. Train from CDG to Lyon. Check into airbnb in central city.
3 Lyon - explore city on foot, old town, cathedral. etc.
4 Lyon - more city exploration, walking tour, etc.
5 Annecy -pick up rental car in Lyon, drive to Annecy, check into airbnb (with parking)
6 Annecy - explore Annecy drive around the lake, possible hike.
7 Annecy - explore the lake, maybe a day trip to Chamonix?
8 Aix en Provence - Drive here and stay in airbnb with parking
9 Aix en Provence - Over the coming week, explore the town and surrounding countryside and villages. One of the days drive to the coast to see Nice and Antibes.
10 Aix en Provence
11 Aix en Provence - Drive to Arles for a half day one of these days
12 Aix en Provence
13 Aix en Provence
14 Avignon - Drive there - check into airbnb just outside the old city walls
15 Avignon - explore the old city
16 Avignon explore the surrounding countryside and villages
17 Avignon explore the surrounding countryside and villages
18 Le Puy en Velay - drive here and check into renovated older farmhouse airbnb in Chaspuzac, village outside of Le Puy
19 Le Puy en Velay
20 Amboise - drive here - check into airbnb in the city
21 Amboise - Chateaux
22 Amboise
23 Paris - drop rental car in Tours, train to Paris, check into airbnb in St Germain
24 Paris - We have been to Paris many times - love the city and will find plenty to do
25 Paris - Walking tour arranged with Paris Greeters for one of these days
26 Paris
27 Paris
28 Paris
29 Fly home from CDG

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AJPeabody

You clearly have been thinking. I suspect Nice plus Antibes is not a day trip. Nice and environs can take several days. Antibes itself has a very nice Picasso Museum. which can be easily reached from Nice. So maybe consider a night or two in Nice.

scdreamer

Definitely a possibility! Thank you.

HappyTrvlr

I agree Nice plus Antibes is too too much for one day. We spent two weeks in Nice last visit but love Antibes and may stay there next time. Can’t you spend a couple of nights in Nice which is still cutting it short?

KarenWoo

Have you looked into purchasing open-jaw or multi-city tickets? If the price isn't outrageous, which it has not been whenever we have done this, you could fly into Paris and stay there for the first 6 or 7 nights of your trip. Then fly home from Marseilles. This means you will have to rearrange the order of your itinerary. You would then go to Amboise from Paris. Then perhaps pick up your rental car there and continue on with the rest of the trip. Ending in Aix en Provence would make the most sense if you do this. This will save backtracking to Paris. But perhaps you looked into this and it was too expensive?

dugi_otok

Building on Karen's suggestion.
Or you can fly to Lyon on your ticket from California. This avoids the problem of missing your train (no refund) if your plane arrives late.
Might even be cheaper.

StuDudley

If the flight from California is late, you could just as easily miss the connecting flight to Lyon as the train to Lyon. . I fly from SFO, and the time between flights at CDG is 1 hr 20, 1 hr 50, and 2 hr 40 through AMS. Very missable through CDG. While the connecting time for the train is 3 hr 45, and 6 hr 45.

We took the TGV from CDG to Lyon in 2017, and it was dirt cheep - first class.

Stu Dudley.

scdreamer

Yes, we have considered that idea - with various combinations of cities - but we really appreciate the idea of a non-stop flight from SFO to CDG. We are flying business class, so hopefully will get some sleep in the lie flat beds on the way. The other thing is that we always like to "save" Paris for a sweet end to our travel adventure.

StuDudley

""SFO to CDG. We are flying business class, so hopefully will get some sleep in the lie flat beds on the way.""

We are doing the exact same thing in September. But we're starting with 2 nights in Paris and ending with 2 nights in Paris just in case the US or France imposes new Covid regulations on us, just like they did for our December trip last year.

Stu Dudley

Michael

When driving around the Annecy lake, take a little detour and go up to the col de la Forclaz:

https://flic.kr/p/8pzAaA