Salut fellow travelers,
I am in need of suggestions for putting together an itinerary for17 days in France. My friend is traveling with me for 17 days & then I'm going to just hang in Paris filling my soul -sigh.
So far, I have booked a 1 day bus tour to Fontainebleau & Chateau-Vaux-le-Vicomte. Want to visit Reims, Strasbourg, Rouen, Lisieux, Lyon... I don't know how feasible it is to go Paris-Rouen, Lisieux(?), Reims, Strasbourg , day trip to Colmar, Lyon, Annecy. I've always wanted to visit Verdun & Memorial Museum but w.out car, haven't found an affordable way to get there yet. I don't want to be hopping on a train every 2 days, schlepping luggage either. We're just starting to plan so wanted to ask the group on this forum who always have such wise advice.
I have traveled to France several times but always need refreshe on the how to's of travel. Thank you so much in advance.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6487 posts
There's a lot of good refresher material on this website, especially under "Travel Tips" in the upper left corner. This website has a lot more information about train travel in Europe, and this one helps you look up schedules and buy tickets within France.
As you know, Reims, Strasbourg, and Colmar are east of Paris, Lyon and Annency are south, and Rouen and Lisieux are west. France's rail network is very Paris-centric, and you may find that visiting all these places will require you to return to Paris and change stations twice. As it is, you've listed nine destinations (besides Paris, but counting the chateaux) in 17 days, which means a lot of time moving around and less in each destination. (Are your arrival and departure days counted in the 17, or is it 17 full days on the ground?) I suggest spending time with a map and the SNCF website to figure out what routes make the most sense, and thinking about how long you want to stay in each city.
If you're flying into CDG, there are fast trains from there to Lyon, bypassing Paris itself. So Lyon and Annency might be your first destinations. The same may be true for CDG to Strasbourg. For Rouen, you'll need to start from Paris itself.
People on this forum can be very helpful if they get specific questions about logistics, so you may want to return after you've done some more concrete planning and scenarios. It will help to know when this trip is happening, and whether you're able to consider driving some of it. Driving has pros and cons, but one of the pros is flexibility, which can be helpful with as many objectives as you have.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you for your advice. We’ve worked out a saner itinerary.