First draft of itinerary Feedback needed!

Since you don’t intend to see Nice at all, have you considered flying into Lyon? Driving any long distance after an overnight flight & jetlagged is not a good idea.

Thank you. Was concerned about driving after the long flight. We do want to see Provence. Do you suggest Lyon even if going to Provence?

I think you've got too much going on here. If Provence is a priority, I'd save Chamonix and the Loire for another trip.

The simplest thing is then to fly into Paris and spend maybe 5 nights there, take the train to Provence and pick up a car and spend 4 or 5 there, and then take the train to Lyon and spend the balance of your time there.

You'll really have a marvelous time.

Arrange for an afternoon flight home from deGaulle. On departure day, get up early and take the direct train from Lyon to the airport.

You really want to take advantage of the fast trains when you can.

Hi, I’m interested as well because the itinerary we’re planning is almost the same, but in the opposite direction! Thank you in advance. :)

It's more than a 2-hour drive from Nice to Aix-en-Provence, less than an hour from Marseille. Fly into Marseille, spend the night and pick up the car and head to Provence. If you stay in the Vieux Port area, it's easy to get there by bus/metro and there are some very nice hotels and restaurants. Spend a relaxed evening, get a night's sleep and then take on the driving.

You are planning a day trip to Chamonix. Michelin estimates driving time at 2.5 hours one way. The road into Chamonix is mountainous. Unless you have lots of experience with mountain driving, figure it will take longer. Even at 2.5 hours each way, that's really really far for a day trip. Why did you choose Lyon and what do you want to see and do in the area other than the impractical trip to Chamonix?

Thanks for all the feedback! Here’s my second draft. I’ve incorporated no driving on day one after flying, eliminated Lyon (we can do a day trip from Chamonix if we want) and swapped the car for the TGV train for the second half of the trip.

Let me know your feedback...

• Fri - overnight travel to Marseille, stay the night
• Sat - drive to Provence
• Sun - Provence
• Mon - Provence
• Tue - Depart Provence, drive to Chamonix
• Wed - Chamonix area
• Thur - Chamonix area
• Fri - Depart Chamonix, train to Loire Valley
• Sat - Loire valley
• Sun - Depart Loire Valley, train to Paris
• Mon - Paris
• Tue - Paris
• Wed - Paris
• Thurs -fly home

Good job.

There's a high altitude fee in Chamonix - check if you get dinged with it by returning the car there. Which part of the Loire Valley do you want to visit? Have you looked at train schedules? You may be better off dropping the car somewhere with better train connections than Chamonix, maybe Geneva or Lyon. I haven't traveled in the Loire Valley at all (it's on my list), but it seems to me that it's better by car.

The best site for European train schedules is bahn.com.

One day in the Loire (which part???) means you won't see much. And without a car you'll be even more limited, unless you book a day tour.

Two thoughts on itinerary no 2:

1) Gee, you will be super disappointed if it rains the one day you are in Chamonix.

2) Gee, you really won't have time to see much in the Loire.

Partial remedy: Drop one and spend the time at the other.

You''ll probably want a car in Loire- or will need a tour to get to chateaus.

For your Chamonix to Loire Valley day, I just looked up Annecy which is an hour drive from Chamonix (& a beautiful town), taking the train to Tours, France (Loire Valley). You’re going to be spending 6-8 hours on the train. www.sncf.com

Annecy to Lyon is 2 hours on the train, and then Lyon to Paris is a quick 2 hour train ride. What would you think of an itinerary concentrating on the eastern half of France and leaving the Loire Valley (& Normandy, etc.) for a future trip? You could enjoy Provence, Chamonix, Annecy, Lyon, Paris on this trip with less long transportation days to maximize your actual sight-seeing time.

If you are planning this for July or August of any year, be aware that Saturdays from Marseille to wherever in Provence could have traffic jams with Parisians and other Europeans driving north after their vacations. So leave early in the day.
Roads are jammed in both directions on Saturdays, only going north on Sundays, and going south late in the day on Fridays.