I will be visiting Paris in July 2014, for 6 days. Would like to know if it is worth visiting few other places (other than Paris) for a couple of days. Is Lyon and Annecy worth a trip for 2 days? 3 days in Paris and one day each in Lyon and Annecy (or any other tourist attractions). Any suggestions please.

It depends on your interests. Every time you move hotels you lose the best part of half a day, while the affects of jetlag may need to calculated in.

There are plenty of sites in and around Paris to fill 6 days and certainly far prettier places than Lyon to visit on a day trip.

What are you interests?

Thanks bilboburgler, I am a fist timer to France, so no specific interest. Would like to see the general tourist attractions like e/tower, any scenic places, etc. Also please suggest a budget hotel to stay in a central location.

In my opinion, no, youdon't have time for those day trips, and possibly no day trips at all. All of Paris is a "scenic place"!! LOL
What is YOUR budget?

Oh, and are you just going to Paris and then returning home?

for hotel: http://www.saintpierre-hotel.com/en/index.php
which has single rates, 2 blocks from the RER, near 2 metro
stations, 2 Monprix & Luxembourg Gardens.

Day trips that are close: Versailles & Giverny would be
doable.

I think you should visit Lyon.
Lots of things to see and nice restaurants in Lyon, and i think tgv normally takes 2 hours to travel from lyon to Paris

We go to Paris at least every other year. We have been to Giverny when we were there at the height of the spring flowers.

Otherwise, we haven't yet exhausted Paris enough to go to the trouble of taking a side trip. I would like to go to Chartres and to Rheims, but it just hasn't happened yet. Versailles, well, if the fountains were going. But as I get older, I am less and less interested in how Royals lived. YMMV

We have spent time in Perigord and in Provence, but those are separate trips indeed.

You could go to Vaux-le-vicomte or Chateau de Fontainbleau. Or you could go to the Champagne region in a day too. Chartres too.

WIth six days, since you have never been to Paris, I would not be looking to spend part of your time elsewhere. Paris will keep you busy for weeks. If you have time and want a break from the city, take a day trip to Giverny or to Chartres. Both wonderful options. Read some Paris trip reports on this forum to get an idea of all there is to do and see.

Agree, 6 days in Paris will enthrall you. Should you wish to get to a more quiet, country atmosphere, there are several day trips much closer than Lyons or Annecy. Fontainbleau, Auvers-sur-Oise, Sceaux, Giverny, Chantilly-- check your library for short jaunts out of town that are reachable via the RER.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I will take a call (of visiting Lyon) after reaching Paris. Anyway, I can make it a day trip if necessary. But, as all of you rightly mentioned, the Paris attractions will make be busy all 5 days !

Surf this site for Paris destinations and hotel options. tripadvisor.com is also pretty clean in Europe (not too much ramping)

So happy, Eric12, that you got good advice right away. You could never leave Paris and have a fabulous time.

If you do think you might want to take a "field trip", I shall recommend a book that we used for years for multiple trips to France. In fact, I just mentioned it in a recent post:

"Daytrips France: 48 One-Day Adventures by Rail, Bus or Car--Includes Paris Walking Tours" by Earl Steinbicker

Even out of date, this book, available on Amazon, gives marvelous ideas for an over-breakfast decision to do a Paris Walk or hop a train or a bus to somewhere else for the day.

I cut the binding on this book to separate it into pertinent sections (e.g. "Cote d'Azur", "Provence", and "Paris")for our repeated trips and we actually wore out the pages.

Enjoy your trip and your planning,
AZ

I like that Steinbicker book, also, great book.

I think it is always worthwhile to see other places if you are in an area, so could see you doing Paris for 4 days and some place else for 2 or something. It would NOT be Annecy, not sure why you picked that. It's not that convenient to get to in such a short time. Lyon or Strasbourg or someplace quick and wasy would be fine.