Fall 2026 France itinerary feedback: Paris, Burgundy, Provence, Riviera

Hi. My wife and I have visited all those sites except Aix-en-Provence.

• For Burgundy we found a car to be essential, but we stayed 6 nights. We stayed in Meursault. Details are in our trip report (part 6): https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-france-28-days-aug-sep-loire-dordogne-languedoc-roussillon-lyon-burgundy-honfleur
• For Riveria we found public transport to be sufficient, staying in Antibes and visiting Monaco. We stopped very briefly in Nice.
• For Provence we had Avignon as our home base. Public transport worked well for visiting most sites (Pont-du-Gard, Nimes, Arles, Orange), but we rented a car one day to visit Les Baux, Les Carrières de Lumières, Cloître Saint-Paul (Van Gogh), Glanum archaeological site, and St. Remy.

I’ve been to every place you mention multiple times, although on different trips. So I have thoughts!

The first one is whether you could fly home from Nice instead of wasting a day training back to CDG. Was there a reason you decided to return from Paris?

I believe you’ll find that having a car is going to make your trip a lot more pleasant and give you lots more freedom. (It seems you already know that.) You don’t need a private guide for anything at all with the possible exception of visiting wineries in Provence, where we found Olivier Hickman a helpful guide.

We’ve always used Beaune as a base in Burgundy with one exception, when we wanted to focus more on the area west of the big wine villages and so stayed in a sleepy village, Massangis, in a lovely b&b. But I think all your bases make a lot of sense, for dining options, beauty, and access to places you’ll want to visit. Aix is one of my favorite places in the world for its stunning, harmonious architecture, its markets, its excellent restaurants, and its beautiful squares. We’ve always rented apartments there, so I can’t help with hotels, but I’m sure people will chime in with ideas. We did stay one time in a charming b&b, Le Four des Banes, which is a a two-minute drive from the heart of the city; it was easy to park in a municipal garage and then walk everywhere. I highly recommend it.

I imagine you know that Provence is huge and that four days would barely give you time to see the Côte d’Azur. If you want to see what’s traditionally thought of as Provence, you’ll have to be very disciplined in deciding what you most care about seeing.

I hope you have a glorious trip. As for length of the trip, I say go for every day you can manage. Eighteen days is a bit crowded for everything you want to do, but not insane if you select your itinerary carefully. I can’t help with your questions about trains since we’ve always driven except for going from Paris directly down to Provence, but again I expect others will have ideas.

GeoffB, thank you so much the tips and your amazing trip report!

Frenchaucoeur, thanks for the wonderful pointers and specific recommendations.

Regarding Nice back to Paris: there are no direct flights from Nice to SFO, so we have to connect somewhere. And because it is already a long flight between Europe and California, the thought is to break it up with a sleepover in Paris. We did this once before (in Italy) when we couldn't get a direct flight back home from our final destination. It isn't ideal, and we are certainly open to other ideas :-)

Oh, I’m so envious of your trip! I’ve only stop at Aix-en-Provence once 40 yrs ago. At that time, i thought it was the most beautiful town in the world and I would return. In a few weeks, I’m returning but staying only one night (organized tour). I will need to return next year and stay 6 nights.

In regards to your return flight, I’m doing the same thing as you. I’m ending my trip in Aix but flying to Denver and could only get a direct flight from CDG. It is a good idea to fly into Paris a day before.
Unless you have something specific to do in Paris, I would skip stopping there on the way in.
I’ve been to Paris and France many times and my list of to-do in Paris has not not been filled yet.

We are in France as I write this, and so I can give you feedback on the section we have recently done.

Last time, I was in the Provence area on my own in 2019, I used Arles as a base. That was tremendous. I had a car and it was accessible to many places. I spent a few hours in Aix, and that was lovely too, but would not recommend it as a base as there is less infrastructure to support an interesting longer stay (restaurants, sites) when you return from your side trips.

I am traveling with my husband this time around. We stayed in Avignon two nights (lovely), then rented a car to explore the hill towns. There are some, like Gordes and Menèrbes that are beautiful but they have a Disney-esque quality. They don’t feel like real villages anymore. They feel like they were polished up for us tourists. This made us realize we prefer places that are inhabited by locals who are not in service exclusively to tourism. They do exist.

This leads me to our discovery of Lyon. We stayed 8 days, and enjoyed a concert in a Roman amphitheater, and saw a live demonstration of a silk loom and biked & scootered & walked everywhere. It is such a family friendly city that prioritizes pedestrians and micro mobility, and all cars are at 30kms/hr. I felt safe here. And of course we ate very well. This is a lived city, not a tourist trap. English is not prevalent however, so if you want to practice your French, they truly encourage you! (An aside: There were great audioguides on an app called Rewind).

Yesterday, we rented a car and drove to Dijon. En route we stopped in Beaune. It was riddled with cars and overrun by tourists. The cars drove down streets in the old town full of people trying to squeeze to each side. It is paid parking everywhere. The city does not prioritize pedestrians. We finally found a little café and grabbed a table. The menu was double the price of anything we’d seen in Lyon. Opportunism prevailed. Later, I had to use a bathroom and the public toilet charged 0.50€ exact change, for which an attendant provided change with opportunity for a tip. Of course I tipped. I used the stall, which was clean, but all toilet seats were removed.

This town had so much potential, but I believe the city chose to maximize car traffic and profit over the experience of the tourist and strollers. It really ruined what could have been a lovely walk. Aix does a great job on this front. This is a town that is milking its reputation hard, perhaps because it has made it into the RS guide? So I was disappointed and would not return here.

Dijon (first day here) appears to be a mix of locals and tourists. So I have high hopes for this place.

Good luck with your planning.

Thank you torontojulie for your feedback on Provence. Currently starting our planning for that region - very helpful info!

Maximize the overall time, of course!

Beaune worked for us as a Burgundy base, with a car, but that was 12 years ago. Sad to read above about what it's become. Dijon would probably work better if you aren't driving.

Aix is wonderful but not that close to other Provence destinations. You might consider a one-night stop there between Riviera and the rest of Provence. Avignon is a better base for public transport, Arles or St-Remy if you have a car (which I'd recommend for Provence). Nice works for Riviera unless you want a lot of beach time, Nice's beach is scenic but gravel. You can see a lot in the Riviera without a car, trains and buses should be enough.

Your plan should work well by train between the bases, like Dijon, Avignon, and Nice (via Marseilles). There's also fast train service to and from Paris from Dijon and various Provence cities.

I'd recommend a car for Provence, giving you more base choices and lots more flexibility. Private guides/drivers would add a lot of extra value to your trip, at much greater cost.

I'd echo the previous comments about Lyon, a wonderful big city (forget the car) and rail hub. But I wouldn't add it to your plan unless you're ready to extend the overall time.