Itinerary Help! CDG Round Trip in 10 days
 

Hello!

So my mother recently bought us round trip tickets to CDG in July. She has never been abroad before and is not big on traveling- so this is huge and I want her to have a good experience. I have been to Paris for a few days while studying abroad but did not care for the city all that much.

I am wondering if there are any suggestions for places to go (either a different country or location in France) that is easy to get to and has enough to see in a 10 day period. Really any suggestions and thoughts welcome. We have no idea where to start.

First, very important question. Are the ten days the whole travel time or time on the ground in Europe? If it is total travel time, then what you can do is more limited, especially with RT tickets. So specific info is necessary. Just about any place in Europe has enough to see for weeks and weeks, so 10 days is easily filled.

It is too bad she bought tickets before major decisions like where to go and what to see had been made. Usually RT is not as good as multi-city or multi-destination where you fly into one city and out of another so you save time and money by not backtracking into your arrival city. There may be a possibility of changing tickets, but for now, thinking it is a done deal, since your Mom picked Paris, it must be a city that interests her so should be included.

Whatever you decide, plan on heading straight on to other places first and put your time in Paris at the end, so you do not have the extra hassle of two hotel stays there. You need to be back in Paris the night before departure. Don't try connecting flights on the same day.

The real question is what are her interests - cities, villages, art, architecture, food, any particular country or culture? Is she OK with lots of walking?

This is not advice, just a few options for thought.

If 10 days is total time and includes the international flight days, stay in Paris and do day trips to Giverny, Versailles, etc., or an overnight or two outside of Paris. Many places are short train trips.

Belgium and The Netherlands. Close and easy by train to all areas. Fly directly on to Amsterdam. Visit Haarlem, Delft, Bruges, Ghent, etc. by train. Lovely old architecture, lots of art, pretty landscape of canals, windmills, etc. Split time between this and Paris. Return to Paris by train. Will be cooler in July, so might be a factor.

Another part of France. Provence is only a 2 hour train ride from Paris to Agivnon. Lots and lots of places to see, old Roman colosseum, hilltop walled cities, gorgeous small towns. Google and look at trip info on Fodors. Might want to rent a car for a few days. Spend five or six days in Provence, the rest in Paris. Will likely be hot and crowded.

Fly directly on to London for half the time. Whole time in London (plenty to see and do for 5 or 6 days), or 3 days in London, 2 days for an overnight in Bath (Roman Baths, Jane Austen connection, Georgian architecture, etc.) train back to Paris for the other half.

Train to Germany and tour Mosel River area (castles) before Paris.

Strasbourg and the Alsace (wine region and small, pretty villages) before Paris.

Fly straight on to Venice for a couple of days in Venice and a couple in one of the Lakes areas, fly back to Paris from Milan or Venice. Venice will be hot and likely crowded.

Fly to Ireland for five days and fly back to Paris for four.

You can see though, how backtracking for return home from Paris will cost for flight or train and eat up at least a half day of time, and that some of these combos are not a good idea if you do not have a full 10 days on the ground.

You will get more replies, although this one is excellent, if you repost this on the Europe board.

>>You will get more replies, although this one is excellent, if you repost this on the Europe board.<<

Actually the OP posted on Europe before posting here -- has several replies there.

Sassafrass: Maybe copy your excellent post to that thread???

Sassafrass: Thank you so incredibly much for your thoughtful reply. I have made note of all of your suggestions and will be looking into them further!

We are indeed on the ground for 10 days, and will now plan on spending the first part in a different location so we can end back in Paris. We plan on doing a lot of walking; the more villages, architecture and food we are able to experience, the better!

Again, thank you so much for all of your suggestions!

Consider Normandy and Brittany.
we spent only a few days as part of our trip this past September and loved it.

Normandy offers scenic coastal towns, quaint villages with good food and cider. we also did an organized tour of the Normandy D Day landing beaches with Viator which was excellent.

Brittany also offers beautiful coast, beautiful medieval villages (look up Dinan)and great food.

You could finish or start with a few days in Paris to see the sights. WE loved it.

mdinbc: The OP has a longer thread going on the Europe board

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...0-day-trip.cfm