Where to next?
 

At the moment we're in Sondrio and have had a lovely warm welcome from some old friends who I haven't seen for 30 years. We had to park away from the house because the street is too narrow to drive up, designed for a horse and cart! We're back tomorrow for a homecooked polenta meal and a drive up to the 'mountain' house. Hoping and praying for a clear day...
After that, everything is up in the air. We really enjoyed the time in Switzerland, southern Germany and in Austria but haven't very long left of our holiday and were originally planning to go south
1. to Cote d'azur,staying at Tourtour or St Eze (area) for 3 nights,
2. then towards Grenoble for 3 nights, then
3. Loire Valley for 3 nights and
4. back to Paris for 5 nights.
Now we're thinking of
1. Switzerland or even western Austria for 3 nights
2. one night between Austria/Switzerland and Cote d'azur somewhere
2. Cote d'azur 3 nights
3. Grenoble 2 nights
4. one night somewhere between Grenoble and Paris
5, 3 nights Paris
OR a 9 night mediterranean cruise (around Spain), 1 night on the way back to Paris and 3 nights in Paris?
seriously, these are the options at the moment. the prices for these work out about the same either way.
The reason for the doubt I think is mainly because we don't know as much about southern France except to say that we've heard it's not a great time of year to visit that area.
Probably not a really bright question at all but I need all the input I can get!
all help humbly appreciated! cheers :)

The mountains near Grenoble might not be a good choice this time of year..We ran into rain, sleet, and snow in Oct a couple of years ago and the the mt. roads leave alot to be desired.
Who is sailing arond the Iberian Pen. this time of year??? If it is windstar that might be a wonderful trip. Have done BCN to LIS in Nov..great,(Windsurf) IST to MRS in Oct.(Oceania,Insignia) another great!!I'd take the cruise and the Paris nights if it were me. Loved both.

Loire Valley in dead of winter is grim - grim - GRIM! As grey as the ubiquitous grey facades of the grey-stuccoed houses! Rain, dark, drizzle, dark, mist, dark... at least in a city like Paris there is light - lots of it!

amer_can, there are a few but mainly Costa and NCL. We've only been on one cruise before, with Costa and really enjoyed ourselves, no experience of NCL at all. I have 24 hours to ponder! Thanks for the insights...JT

PalenQ, that's a relief! At least I can cross it off without regret, for this trip anyway. Cheers :)

From Sondrio regional train ischeap down to

Varenna mid lake ferry to www.bellagio.info

Residence D'Ulivo last for me BEAUTIFUL warm

head on down to Venice Florence Rome Sorrento Amalfi Sicilia

seat61.com/italy the south is particularly nice and

easy to get to from where you are.

www.hotelsantacaterina.it amazing if budget is good.

Happy deciding,

I would keep the Cote d'Azur (was in Antibes in January once and weather was mild....of course, that may not be the case this year!) for 5 nights, stop in Lyon for 3 nights, then Paris for 6 nights.

qwovadis, sorry I didn't really explain that we've covered parts of Italy too, quite a few of the places you've mentioned and the weather has been beautiful for most of the time. I'll make note of you're links though for future reference! Thanks anyway,
Judy, thanks too, the weather seems very mild this year from what the locals are telling us and from what we've heard on the forum here about past years. What did you enjoy most about cote d'azur? JT

thomo7, as I remember that trip we did a walk from Cap-Marin to Monte Carlo along the water, spent a day in St Paul de Vence, saw the Maight Gallery outside of St. Paul de Vence, visited the Villa Ephrussi and had lunch in St Jean Cap Ferrat, visited Tourettes-sur-Loup, spent a day in Nice and had a wonderful lunch in Biot. We loved being able to see all of these sites without driving long distances and enjoyed the variety of sites (the contrast of the lovely village of Tourettes-sur-Loup with the opulence of Monaco)

thanks Judy, all helps me work this out, cheers!

thomo7, that was Cap-Martin, not Marin. We did enjoy that trip. My sister was retiring in January and wanted to go to Europe.....I was not that excited about the Cote d'Azur, or anywhere in Europe in January, but was excited about her retirement so went along. The trip surprised me as I did not think we could have much "outdoor" time in January so was encouraging her to pick a city with more indoor activities.

We all enjoyed the trip. She researched weather and it seems that the Cote d'Azur, at least the eastern part, has milder weather than many parts of Europe that time of year.