Completely confused myself! 16 days in May 2024 Paris-South of France-Paris-Mont St. Michel-Paris

How many nights are you allocating to Provence? Based on your dates, and leaving enough time for Paris with your friends, I'm guessing something like 5? Also, I am not clear on whether or not you will stay in Lyon for at least a night. If so, that solves the bags issue.

My second question is what is your commitment level to renting a car? This will determine where you stay. Without a car, I suggest Avignon. With a car, anywhere really. What do you want to see? Here are a handful of options for your five days (Arles, Pont du Gard, Orange, Nimes, Avignon, Aix, Les Baux)

The train from Paris (or Lyon) to Avignon could not be easier. The Avignon TGV station is also a good place to grab a vehicle. The rental companies are all right there.

Next, maybe think about hiring a private guide for a day or two. 5 days isn't a ton of time and there is a myriad of options to fill those days. I would especially recommend this if you will not have a car, but even if you do it will take a lot of the fuss out of planning. We had a great experience with Imagine Tours (listed in the RS guidebook). Split four ways this is a very good value. Your guide will help you refine your interests and build an itinerary, and they handle the transportation too.

Lastly, and this is personal preference, I'd look for a vacation rental over a hotel. There are some truly amazing apartments on sites like vrbo. Our apartment in Avignon was a huge part of the overall experience.

When your friends depart, I would think really hard about that day trip to MSM. If you are going to trek all the way there, you should spend the night. Day trippers will spend many hours on a coach for a few hours of oppressive amusement park-like crowds. It will be like this until late afternoon. It's a very cool place but in my view doing it as a day trip misses most of what will make it memorable.

One of the hardest things about planning a trip to Europe is choosing what NOT to see! You can’t do everything. So, talk to your travel buddies (better yet, have dinner together with a French wine!) and have each person talk about their “top three” experiences. Star a list, the plot these on a map. A plan will emerge.

First tip: ditch the “big suitcases” and just take a carry on! We used to travel “heavy” and I can’t believe we needed all that stuff! There are stores in France, ya know. And no one will be the wiser if you wear a dark shirt two days in a row. Nobody know you! Even is you travel by car, large suitcases really are a bad idea. Cobblestones, narrow staircases, small bedrooms…Bleah! Watch Rick’s videos on this topic, or check out Pinterest.

May I suggest a day trip out to Giverny to see Monet’s house? The train trip is short and pleasant. Leave early in the morning, to arrive at opening; before the bus tours arrive!

As for the south…Toulouse, Albi,and Carcassonne are all great. If you have a car, make a detour to the Grotte de Niaux, one of the few remaining sites where one can see actual cave paintings, rather than reproductions. Avignon is splendid, but busy. For Carcassonne, like Giverny, arrive early! Orange is great, with its Roman theatre.

You could do Paris to Toulouse…Toulouse to Albi…Albi to Carcassonne…Carcassonne to Orange…Orange to Avignon…then back to Paris. A full week is the minimum for this.

Bon voyage!

PS Personally, I would skip Lyon in favour of more time in Provence.

No crying! You can do this.

I googled luggage storage at Lyon train station. It appears there are lockers for rent by the day.
So one problem solved but verify all info for yourself, please.
Car rentals are available at most of the train stations. So once you pick a home base in Provence, you could rent a car at station when you arrive and use it for the rest of your stay, until you go back by train.
I drove in that area, many years ago, (road trip from Paris (loved Loire Valley) to Southern France/Provence, and on to Italy, Germany and Austria) It was not hard. This was pre-navigation systems, so my daughter navigated with a paper map. I familiarized myself with French traffic signs before I went. Really need to do that to avoid tickets. I also drove by myself in Southern Italy and bit of Sardinia last year (at age 75) so it can be done. Invest in the extra insurance they offer. Much easier than trying to get reimbursed by your own insurance. And bumps and scrapes happen in the cities. With 4 of your, renting may be about same cost as trains and no schedule to follow.
Having a car will make your touring from a home base rather easy. Just make sure you rent a place with parking spot. Or if you move from one city to another, you can move your luggage with you, if you get big enough car. Or pack lighter and wash in one of base cities. Using a local laundromat was rather fun. Live like a local!
I am heading to Nice in March for a 10 day stay with college friends. Can't wait.

We leave for France in about 25 days. We'll be headed to the south of france after a few days in Paris. We'll be taking the TGV to Avignon and renting a car from Sixt. We'll be staying in Bonnieux at an AirBnB. Since you'll be in the area for only 5 days, I highly recommend a guided tour. They know the area and will be able to efficiently move you around without the hassle of you trying to navigate, getting lost and parking. I've been to Les Baux and Arles before and I do recommend them. Avignon would be more central.

Thank you to everyone who replied! I have read Rick’s guide book thoroughly.

We will land in Paris May 8th in the morning, and spend that night, and the next night in Paris. On the 10th, I think we are going to go from Paris to Lyon, stay one night in Lyon. Visit the next day, then go to Arles and stay there for four nights. While there, we should be able to take a bus to Avignon one day, and a bus to Le Baux, St. Remy, and Ilse sur la Sorgne another day. We can rent a car and go to Nime, and Uzes (or another bus if we want), and then have one day to laze around Arles. The 5th day, we can take the train to Aix en Provence for a day and night, and the following day take the train to Nice.

From Nice we will head back to Paris on the TGV, and spend 4 days in Paris with our friends, then when they leave on the 19th, my husband and I will take the train to Bayeux and Mont St. Michel, staying overnight and then back to Paris to fly out on the 23rd, Am I crazy?

The questions I still have are these:
1. Best way to get from CDG to the Pullman Paris La Defense (an hour from CDG)? Does anyone have a recommendation for a car company, shuttle service, etc? We will be too tired and confused to try to navigate trains.
2. I tried to buy TGV tickets tonight on the SCNF site but none of the first class tickets are available. I think it is because they just aren’t for sale until 90 days in advance. Is that true? I only want first class so we can have assigned seats, and possibly have the second level (which I have read is available).
3. The more I think about renting a car, the more worried I get. I drove all over Tuscany, and from Rome to Tuscany, so I feel like I could do it, but Rick’s books say driving in Avignon and Arles is fraught with challenges. Maybe a bus would be better, or just getting to the train station outside of Avignon where the rentals are, and driving from there but not in the city?
4. Rick’s book on Provence implies that you can easily see the towns I have listed above in 5 days. Do any of you feel that is correct?
5. I sleep with a CPAP, and wonder if any of you have had issues in France with this. What travel converter/adapter do you recommend?
6. I read that melatonin is only available by prescription in Europe. Yikes! Will I be arrested for having my melatonin gummies with me? Haha!
Thank you so so much for all of your help! I will be sure to update everyone on what we decide and how it goes!
We are going to try to pack as light as humanly possible, but will still have one medium sized bag and small personal item each,
Thank you again!

I personally would not go all the way to Nice for one partial day. It's too big to cover in that time and too distant. If you want a taste of the coast, check out Cassis. Very charming and the perfect size for a single day. Cassis to Marseille to Paris is a fast route when you are ready to depart. You'll save several hours of train time and in my view have a better stay.

If this is your first time traveling from city to city via public transit, I'll add that how you pack really matters. I can't overstate this. Moving between multiple cities is fun and freeing, but the physical rigors of it are real. You will be lifting, twisting, walking, jogging, stuffing, squeezing etc. Personally, I would, and do, focus on one pack that is easy to manipulate. I prefer a backpack. I've seen it go bad and you don't want to spend a chunk of your trip dealing with an injury. Heck, practice walking around your neighborhood with your bags to see how it feels. Then imagine doing it with a ton of people around, uneven footing, and on a tight schedule.

If that sounds too dauting, a car is a solid choice. Yes, parking can be a headache in some of these places, but it is possible. Most importantly, this means you are not carrying your gear, your car is. If you have driven in Italy, IMO you will be fine in Provence.

Also, and again, really consider a guide. All of these day-trip logistics questions disappear. No buses, no trains, and no firm schedules. Just you, your friends, a knowledgeable guide, and their car going exactly where you want to go with all of the advantages that come with the insight of a local.

I would keep the Paris visit days right after the T. Swift concert. The holiday weekend will have more impact on crowds outside of Paris than in Paris, and trains tickets to/from the south + well-priced hotel rooms will be scarce. May 12th, 2024 is likely to be the busiest travel day of the year in the country.
Provence will be quieter in the week of the 13th.

Just make sure to be back in Paris the night before a flight to the US.

"I have been told that there is a holiday Victory Day 5/8 and
Ascension Day 5/9 that means the weekend of the 10, 11, 12 will be
busy everywhere?"

Indeed, May 2024 will be special for French people who want to go on vacation since the 1st, 8th, 9th and 20th are public holidays.

For example, we can go from the 1st to the 12th on vacation (i.e. 12 days of vacation) while only taking 5 days off from work.
Or from the 4th to the 20th (i.e. 17 days of vacation) while only “spending” 8 days off work.

The consequence will probably be a lot of traffic on the roads, crowded trains and lots of people at all the tourist spots (and big fights in companies to organize work time)

Train tickets are available for sale 2 to 9 months before the travel date, depending on the type of train.

By registering on the SNCF Connect website or downloading the application you can create a reservation alert indicating your route and your travel dates. you will receive notification as soon as the corresponding tickets go on sale

There is a page (in French) on the SNCF website which allows you to know the exact date when tickets go on sale depending on the type of train:

https://www.sncf-connect.com/aide/l-ouverture-des-ventes

I'm not an Avignon expert but I think you won't need a car as long as you stay in town.

However, find out about bus timetables, during public holidays in May, these will at best be like Sundays.

In France, melatonin is sold in pharmacies without a prescription if the dose does not exceed 1 milligram.
Even if your dosage exceeds 1 mg, I think you have no chance of being arrested and experiencing the comfort of French prisons :))

I am just now researching France for my trip this summer, but I do have something to add about the luggage (just as others have). I have done a few 2 week trips to Europe and really, within like 4 days I have wanted to chuck my CARRY ON SIZED piece of luggage off of a moving train it was so cumbersome. (If I had a larger one I would have wanted to just quit everything haha) I get why they call it "luggage" for sure! I would advise to stick to carry on size, and get an apartment or house with a washer (and bonus if it has a dryer!) to do laundry halfway through. If you have "fancy concert clothes" possibly bring a backpack to carry on for extra space, and feel free to check that carry on sized luggage! Even though I have a carry on size, I never want to "lug" it anywhere I don't have to so I check that sucker every chance I get. As others have said, luggage storage at train stations is very handy! In Verona one time "on the way" to Lake Garda I stored my main suitcase and took my "purse" out of my "carry on" messenger bag and stored that as well for a wonderful afternoon, picked it up later and continued on to Lake Garda.

I completely agree with PNW Patrick about Nice. It makes no sense whatsoever to traipse all that way to Nice (on a not-fast train) for one night. The train trip back to Paris from Nice takes a lot longer than heading back from Marseille, Aix or Avignon. Nice is an attractive city, but to go there when you don't have time to visit any of the neat coastal and hill towns is an extremely poor idea. You have much better uses for that single day/night.

If a coastal stop is important, I agree that Cassis is attractive. It's often recommended here. Cassis isn't large, and one of the sightseeing options is a boat trip to see the calanques. There's also the Musée d'Art et Traditions Populaires, which I think is a history/ethnographic museum, but it often also has temporary art exhibitions. The train station in Cassis is quite a walk from the waterfront. It's also significantly downhill, which makes it quite a slog when you are ready to walk back up to the station. There are buses, but I don't know how frequent they are, nor whether you can simply pay the driver or need to buy a ticket somewhere before boarding; I walked.

You mentioned spending a day visiting Les Baux, St-Remy and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue by bus. I doubt very much that you'll be able to do that unless said bus is a tour bus--which I wouldn't like because you probably wouldn't have enough time at any of the stops. You need to dig into bus schedules to figure out what is possible, paying attention (as already pointed out) to the day of the week and the holiday situation, because schedules are not the same every day of the week. As someone who relies on public transportation, I can tell you that inter-city buses usually run infrequently, so when you try to string together two or more smaller places in one day, it becomes really challenging. It's common to have to return from Stop 1 to the bus hub before heading back out to Stop 2; it's not an efficient way to sightsee in rural areas.

Getting around the small towns and villages of Provence is considerably easier by car. I'm not going to tell you to do that, because I managed a lot of sightseeing by train and bus, but you will see more on any given day if you have a car, once you leave the cities like Avignon, Arles, etc.

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a picturesque town, but its main claim to fame is its twice-a-week market, held on Thursday and Sunday. The Sunday market is much larger, with a flea market component. I must warn you that on market days, it's harder to appreciate the beauty of the town, because there are so many market stalls. I ended up going there twice, once to explore the market and once on a non-market day. There's a lot of information about the very popular market available online. Here's the first blog my search turned up: https://www.solosophie.com/lisle-sur-la-sorgue/

There are buses linking L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to the Carpentas train station, but you can probably approach L'Isle from other directions as well.

Yes on TGV to Lyon and then TGV to Marseille, Avignon or Aix, where you should rent a car. It'll cost way less than train tix and buses for 4, and you will see so much more. You can find little wineries and olive oil-eries for tastings and all that great stuff that you'd never have on a bus tour. We've had great luck with Europcar (Rick also recommends). Haven't read the others responses, but I'll bet some people are suggesting you stay in Avignon. I disagree! It's my least favorite town in that area by far, and friends of ours went and were not enamored, either. Arles or St Remy could be good bases, but make sure you get lodging with a parking spot or figure out the public parking situation. Aix would be even trickier for longterm parking, but it's lovely. We stayed outside of town at a "mas." You could also rent a gite outside of town--just make sure it's very close to a bakery so you can get your almond croissants for breakfast. Bon voyage!

It will be much easier to see Provence with a rental car.