Hello! I will appreciate any suggestions of best places/cities to go for 3-4 days going south after visiting Paris. We already have our Paris itinerary. We are traveling with 2 tweens and 2 grandparents. We are all avid travelers but have never gone south of Paris. Wine is not really our thing for this trip so I landed on going to Lyon by train. Is this the best choice? With the 3-4 days allotted for this part of the trip, do we have time to keep going down to Nice or Marseilles? Or are there other must-do's closer to Lyon? Thanks in advance!
Posted by
Paris
7304 posts
Lyon is a great choice, very easy by train.
With 3 nights, you do not have time to go further than Lyon, and there are enough great things in and around Lyon to fill that time.
With 4 nights, you could stick with Lyon as well, which has several good day trip opportunities.
Or you could skip Lyon and head further south. Marseille is an option, but not everybody likes it, and there are few "must-sees". I'd rather suggest Avignon, which is interesting in itself and is a great base for Provence (Arles, Aix, Orange, Pont du Gard...), if that region interests you.
Posted by
OP
13 posts
Thank you for confirming about Lyon. And thank you for suggesting Avignon. I know the timing is tight. I wish we had longer. Thanks again!
Posted by
City of Seattle
1951 posts
The Loire Valley is quite close, so quick transfers, and it's a great place to visit completely outside of being a wine region. Lyon is great but another big city. In the Loire you could tour beautiful castles and live village life.
Posted by
OP
13 posts
Great idea too Hank! Thank you!
Posted by
Paris, France
15 posts
This isn't south, but east. Strasbourg is 2 hours by TGV from Paris, and looks oh so very different! Much smaller than Lyon, clean and pretty. And even if you're not into wine, there's a regional train (a TER) that goes the the very cute Colmar in 30 minutes.
Posted by
Hoboken, NJ
57 posts
Lyon is very cosmopolitan and if you are foodies, you must eat at Paul Bocuse's restaurant, L'Auberge, north of the city. We only spent one day and one night in Lyon and then headed south to Avignon for 3 nights, where we stayed in an Airbnb and traveled around Provence. A highlight was kayaking under the Pont du Gard (we rented from Canoe Collias), but that may not work out with grandparents in tow! However, if you will be there in summer, you must see the lavender fields in bloom at Senanque Abbey.
Posted by
42 posts
If you are taking the train, Avignon is only 45 minutes further than Lyon. Lots of sightseeing options from Avignon - Arles, Nimes (Pont du Gard), l’Isle due La Sorgue, etc-
Posted by
26 posts
We’re currently in Lyon for five nights (four full days), took TGV down from CDG. Four would have been enough, but we wanted at least another day of meals here. Glad we came, it’s been great.
Posted by
San Francisco
14980 posts
"...closer to Lyon?" Then I heartily recommend Saumur, and the Loire valley.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10633 posts
Vienne is an excellent day trip from Lyon. It has a circuit of major Roman ruins. Across the Rhone is a very good museum of Roman antiquities.
Posted by
OP
13 posts
Thank you thank you for all the suggestions. It really helped me piece it all together and have some clarity for future plans. Loved the kayaking and restaurant suggestions too, will be saving those for sure. We love the wine and the food too! It's just that I have more people in tow this trip than usual :) I didn't want to bore everybody with the details but I was already planning to rent a car to go to Normandy and MSM after Paris (even found a minivan!), so we will just keep going with the car and tour the Loire Valley. It makes more sense than going back to Paris and taking the train to Lyon like I was thinking. We will come back and do that and keep going from Lyon to Avignon to the coast. So I was able to plan two trips with all your advice. Let me know if anybody has restaurants or laid back winery (prob no time for a tour) recommendations in the Loire Valley. Thank you! Cheers!