My husband and I will be visiting France in late June 2023 and have decided we would like the explore the area starting with Lyon and making our way south through the Côte du Rhône, through Provence and end up in Nice. We will be arriving in Paris, and after spending a few nights there, likely take a train to Lyon where we will then have 14 nights at our disposal to make our way to, and enjoy, Nice. We have not yet explored France outside of Paris, and we’re looking for suggestions on how best to apportion our time. We are big wine drinkers, so we initially thought perhaps 5-6 nights in cities like Vienne or Valence, but would love some other suggestions in the Côte du Rhône area. We also expect to spend some time in the Avignon/Arles/Aix area, but read conflicting reviews about which would be better to use as a base. We were thinking to spend roughly 4-5 nights in Nice to allow time to explore the city and do some day trips to Monaco and maybe even pop into Ventimiglia, Italy for lunch one day. As for transportation, we have been talking about using a wine excursion tour operator to arrange travel through the Côte du Rhône, then picking up a car for the remainder of our trip. We would appreciate any and all suggestions on sights to see, cities and places to stay, and any other amazing experiences this group has had. Thank you!
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Paris
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The wines are available throughout the region and I would not want to tour more than 2-3 wineries myself, so I would limit a stay in Vienne, Tain l'Hermitage (adding it to your choices ;) ) or Valence (not my favorite) to 3 nights, maximum!
Choose your base according to wine excursions/TOs, I cannot help here.
To pick up a car (a good idea!), you can do so in Valence, or take the train to Avignon first. If you do have a car, then I would not stay in any of the Aix/Arles/Avignon cities, but in a smaller town like St Rémy de Provence, l'Isle sur le Sorgue, or even Uzès which is not technically Provence but still very charming. 6 nights would be perfect.
I would then drive to Nice, but I would not keep the car for the whole duration of the remaining 5 nights, because a car in Nice can be a hassle. It will be useful to keep it if you want to do day trips to Italy (NOT Ventimiglia; Dolceacqua or Sanremo are better choices IMO) or to inland villages, but it is a hassle if you want to go anywhere along the coast.