Want to see more than Paris - Ideas please!
 

Hello,

I have to be in Paris for a work trip and am thinking of spending a few days exploring other parts of France. (I am planning on flying from NY to arrive on a Saturday and have to in Paris by Tuesday night/Wednesday morning). I was thinking of going to the South of France (but am open to anything). Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can go that:

1- is easy to get to Paris from
2- is a good base for exploring as well as making 1-2 day trips from.

I should mention that I will be traveling by myself so I would like the location to be relatively safe and suitable for wandering around solo.

Much thanks in advance!

Hi S,

How many times have you been to Paris? How long will you be there?

((I))

Nice is a lovely city.

More details. Are you leaving Paris to go home directly after the Wed? Or in France Sat-Sun? Been to France before? Rent a car or train it?

Normandy- Bayeux ... the Invasion Beaches, The Tapistry, nice town. Quick trainride from Paris.

To make the most of your time, you might want to consider getting on a TGV as soon as you land and heading to the south.

Pick one - Lyon and Avignon are great bases to drive from. You can wander over to Bordeaux and return to Paris by train from there.

Or push on to Nice, and add a glimpse of Italy to your itinerary.

The name of a GREAT private tour guide in Normandy is Ellwood von Siebold. www.ddaybattletours.com or [email protected].

Sarlat is a nice town and has a huge Saturday market.

The South of France is breathtaking!

Sarlat does not fall into the easy-to-get-to category.

If this is your first trip to Paris, or even your second or third, I'd just stay there. If you're working beginning Tuesday night, you only have a bit more than two days there.

I don't get your schedule, though. How do you plan to fit 1- to 2-day trips into your plan? Would this be AFTER you finish working in Paris?

It sounds like you only have about two days for this, upon arrival. I wouldn't bother for such a short time to make a major trip to another part of the country, espec. when it's on arrival and you'll be jetlagged and want to be fresh for your work (I am presuming). You'd only have Sunday and Monday in this other place.

I have been to Paris twice, for one week each both times. It's certainly not enough to say I've experienced everything in the beautiful city, though I've seen a lot of the major attractions.

I really like the Normandy options, oberost, thank you for that. I think and can see from a lot of your posts, two days might be not be enough for Nice and think it's better to save it for another time. I think was being to ambitious!

Thank you again for all your suggestions, I appreciate the advice.

Another reason to stay in Paris is that your two days are Sunday and Monday - the two days in France that things are likely to be closed (depending, to some extent, on what time of year you're traveling). Wouldn't want to make a journey someplace far from Paris only not to be able to do what you wanted to do there.

And FWIW, travel time to Normandy and Nice is actually about the same.

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