Eastern France tour return

I was on this tour about 4 years ago and I caught a train just outside Aix that took me into Paris where I then spent a couple of extra days. Not sure if this is still an option, but you may want to look at that.

Trying to get home (Philadelphia) from Aix in one day sounded exhausting. After the tour, I took the TGV from Aix to CDG and stayed in an airport hotel. I flew home the next day.

If you have a few extra days, I would definitely recommend taking the 3-hr train from Aix-en-Provence to Nice. There’s so much to do in that area! Then you could take a flight from Nice. It looks like there’s options to get home within a day (just checked to Seattle, not knowing where you live.)

I've not taken this RS tour but I've been to Aix on the train and concur with using the TGV (and a taxi ride from your hotel to the station) to return to Paris, then if you've got the time, spend a few days there before you head home. If you don't have extra time then just spend one night at the end back in Paris. No way would I try to take the TGV to Paris on the same day as a high-stakes international flight.

IF you decide to fly out of Marseilles, do it as an open jaw on your ticket purchase - fly in to Paris and out of Marseille to home. That way if something goes awry with the Marseille to Paris flight and you miss your international leg your airline will have to get you on the next flight available with open seats.

We also took the TGV from Aix; there's a city bus that will take you to the train station. Since we had spent several days in Aix after the tour, we just spent one night in Paris, staying at an airport hotel. It worked well for us; much less stress making the flight.

Our original plan via British Air was an early taxi from Aix to Marseille for a morning flight to Heathrow, then an afternoon flight to the US. However, our late AM flight was cancelled and we were rebooked on a Marseille to Heathrow flight the previous evening. This turned out to be a better way to return home, although we had to miss the last day of the RS tour. We instead taxi'd to Marseille in the AM, flew to Heathrow, spent the night in a hotel at the airport, took an 1 pm flight to the US the next day, and felt relatively rested when we arrived home. Bottom line - you are right, too much for one day, especially if the airline switches your flights last minute.

We shared either a taxi or car (don’t remember which🤔) to Marseilles booked through our last tour hotel. There were 4 of us who shared the ride so the cost was relatively inexpensive. It was dark when we left Aix for Marseilles as we had an early morning flight out of Marseilles. We flew from there to Munich where we easily caught the one and only nonstop flight home to Denver. We spent an additional 2 days in Aix-en-Provence and could have spent several more. Of course, you could still fly out of Marseilles the day following the final (“last”) supper but if you want to add on other cities after the tour rather than stay on in Aix, you have some great ideas above. We took this tour last May and it was absolutely awesome!!!

We're going on this tour in May 2023 and I'm currently researching transportation. I think we're going to fly BOS (Boston) -> CDG to get to the beginning of the tour in Reims the day before the tour starts and then MRS (Marseille) -> BOS the day after the tour ends. I'm currently looking at a 11:30AM flight from MRS with a transfer in AMS on Delta or a slightly earlier flight with a transfer at CDG on Air France. RT to Paris is the same price as the open jaw price leaving from MRS so it doesn't make sense to me to take the train which would be an additional cost and might require an overnight at CDG.

I would not take the train from Aix to CDG on the same day as an int'l flight out of CDG, because delays do happen and your connection would not be protected.
However, there is no such issue with an early morning flight out of Marseille on the same ticket as a flight out of a European hub to the USA. An early cab from Aix to Marseille airport takes 30-40 minutes, and a night in Aix beats a night in CDG.

Thank you all for the great ideas. It's good to know that the return is too much for one day. I'll explore other airports too. We live in Michigan and will be going through either Detroit or Chicago so there should be options other than going all the way back to Paris.

Carol F gave the route used by most people who want to head directly home: early cab to the Marseille airport, change planes in either CDG or Amsterdam and land in the US. I've done it in one day many times with a third plane from DTW to IND and a driver to take us the rest of the way home.

Your other choices are Nice (3 hour drive or train from Aix change in Paris or on certain days JFK, and then home. Or a train to Barcelona (4.5 hours) and a flight to the US. There may even be Marseille to Frankfurt to the US, or Marseille to England to the US. But your shortest in one day is what Carol F is planning. Your next best is a train to Paris and fly a day or so later.

Or, you could find a transatlantic to take you back to the States from Barcelona or Southampton, England. It takes anywhere from 6 days to 2 weeks. :--) We can dream. Bon voyage.

Bets I love the idea of Barcelona as a departing city. I’ve always wanted to see La Familia Sagrada.

You could reverse direction. Fly into Marseille after your trans-Atlantic landing in Paris. A long day. After the tour, work your way to Paris by ground transport and stay there overnight. The advantage is that you don't have to get up before dawn to catch the shuttle flight from Marseille to Paris.

I think think the open jaws approach would work well for you. I live in Wisconsin and usually fly out of Chicago because it is cheaper and faster (fewer transfers). For a similar tour, we flew directly to Paris and out of Marseilles on an 11 am flight with one transfer. We had plenty of time for breakfast at the hotel in Aix and the half hour ride to the airport via taxi or bus. Since the flight landed in early evening, we used parksleepfly.com to book 21 days of parking and a night at the end of the trip for a total of $259. We have found that booking the parking and hotel package months in advance gets us the best hotel at the best rate.

We have booked the 2023 Eastern France tour also and plan to take the train to Lyon after the tour. From Lyon there is a direct train to CDG airport in Paris that takes 2 hours and 8 minutes and disembarks inside the CGD airport. For us this is easier than spending the night in Paris or flying from Marseille. We also view the trains as more reliable than flying. As a plus, Lyon is delightful!