We have tickets to fly into Paris--April 20th. Depending how many days we stay in
Paris we are then visiting friends in the Lyon area. Our next commitment is staying with friends
outside of Florence the first week of May.
We wanted originally to stay in Paris 4 nights then spend 3 or 4 nights with our friends south of
Tours. Then go to Florence on the 28th. I have spent hours exploring all options---train or fly
to Florence from Tours which actually goes back through Paris. I did see a very nice
train ride from Nice to Florence--all day--spending 4 hours in Milan which doesn't seem like
a bad idea. But then it appears very complicated to get to Nice from Tours. Do people rent cars
easily? Also when I look at different train/bus sites it becomes even more complicated.
I'm almost ready to give up! (Plus Delta changed our flight home to Oregon leaving
Paris two hours earlier so I have to deal with this!)
Thank you for any advice or ideas.
Dawn
Posted by
Paris
7303 posts
Complicated is the right word, Nice is not really on the way from Tours to Florence, and you do not have much time. Tours to Nice by train takes 8-9 hours or so, backtracking via Paris (or 10 hours if you use the slow train via Lyon, avoiding the metro or cab across Paris). Nice to Florence is about the same...
I would just make my way from Tours to Paris, and fly to Florence (or Pisa if cheaper).
Or perhaps explore Lyon instead, which is more on the way.
Posted by
lexington, il
4105 posts
Dawn, is there any way you could visit your Tours friends after Lyon & Florence? If so, you could fly,
Doing this.
Lyon (LYS) - Bologna (BLQ) 1H10m Air France.
10:35-11:35 train to Florence 37 minutes
Bologna BLQ- Paris Orly. 1H40m. Vueling air.
16:20-18:00 transfer by taxi to train.
Train Paris-Tours 1H33m
20:08-21:41.
This puts you closer to Paris for departure.
Posted by
OP
Lincoln City, Oregon, United States
17 posts
Thank you for your replies! Yes it is complicated. I made the plans last October or November
when our friends who will be outside of Florence told us that they were going to be
there in May. And I thought let's visit our friends in France at the same time!
So yesterday I changed the flight home-- to Rome-Portland. Delta made this very easy.
This eliminates us having to get back to Paris.
I will look into the Lyon idea above and we could possibly go to Nice on the 27th rather than the
28th.
Your suggestions were all much appreciated.
Dawn