Doing some preliminary planning and was looking for your opinion on these areas. We would be starting our France trip in Provence, staying for a few days (probably in Avignon), going up to Switzerland for a few days and then travelling back into France, on our way to Paris. We would like to stay for a few days in one of these areas, just not sure where. Does anyone have any opinions either way?
thanks
Just one of those areas? How about 2 out of 3, and several more days?
Well, it would be hard to choose just one. Here's some thoughts:
On your way back from Switzerland to Paris (depending on where you are starting from in Switzerland), Burgundy is on the way. Beaune and Dijon would be towns of interest, and the wine country, of course.
Lorraine and Champagne are adjacent to each other. Reims is a popular destination in the Champagne country. Epernay is close.
And the Alsace - Lorraine provinces you will come to first, if you're coming from northern Switzerland.
Sounds like you'll be drinking a lot of wine and champagne.
Do you have a guidebook?
Got a guidebook, just haven't had a time to finish reading it.
I'd say glance at the guidebook for those 3 provinces/regions, and see what appeals to you, since you apparently have to pick just one.
You'll get a more comprehensive summary in the guidebooks, of the central attractions of each region, than we can give you here.
Otherwise, you're going to get anecdotal comments here, which will be of limited help to you in finding what you want to see, anecdotal comments such as:
I like champagne, so I went to Epernay and Reims.
Or,
I like red wine and gourmet food, so I went to Burgundy.
Or,
I'm into WW1 and WW2 history, so I really enjoyed visting Lorraine (and Alsace).
thanks for the suggestions. I was planning on digging deep into the guide books but I just wanted to reassure myself that these areas are worth visiting. Except for Paris, I'm totally ignorant on France and am looking forward to doing some research.
You can't go wrong, really, so it's a question of reading that guidebook and seeing what appeals to you and yours.
Alsace is probably the most logistically sweet choice, if you really cannot make up your mind. But any are feasible.
