First France Trip with Wife

Definitely end your trip with the city you fly out of - much less stress that way and you eliminate some things that could go wrong and delay you (car trouble, etc.).

There is no “too much” when it comes to drinking and driving in France. Their limits are much more strict than in the US. Good that you are thinking of this. When we were in Provence my wife and I decided which of us would be the designated driver each night.

With my astigmatism, I thought your post was titled "France Trip with First Wife". Taking the train is the way to go - and probably spend your last night in a hotel close to the airport.

FYI, there are a lot of people who would be happy to spend all nine nights in Paris. No train, no rental car, just experiencing Paris.

I totally agree with what Laura said. We spent 8 nights in Paris and that still didn’t seem long enough. There is so much to do there.

I agree that it's a lot of moving around for what looks like an 8-night trip. But I can understand your wanting to see more than Paris on your first trip to Europe.

One of the things we liked about Beaune was so many restaurants and tasting rooms within a few blocks of where we were staying. A car in Burgundy would be a good idea, maybe take the train to Dijon and rent it there, a short drive from Beaune. But you can have good food and drink, maybe even with locals, in Beaune without driving anywhere. Just stay sober on the roads and relax at the end of the day. I expect you could do the same at Epernay and Senlis if you go ahead with those plans.

If you'll be driving to Senlis, Via Michelin shows a 22-minute drive from there to CDG. That's an underestimate even under good conditions, and you could be unlucky with morning traffic. If so, you might wish you had made that drive the afternoon before and spent your last night in an airport hotel. There are several, in several price ranges, right at the airport.

Reims and Epernay will easily fill up a day and a half. It's easy to get there from Paris by train - stay overnight (or 2) in Reims. There are frequent trains from there to Epernay. Reims has more sights, restaurants and rooms. The cave tours are interesting. I took 3, Tattinger and Martel in Reims and Mercier in Epernay. They were all interesting and different, with very little redundancy. Be sure to have a warm jacket - the caves are cold and damp.

For me, the pleasures of Burgundy were visiting the small towns and villages, not efficient without a car. I could (and have) spent 1.5-2 weeks at a time in Paris and enjoyed it. If you don't think there's enough to keep you busy, you could day-trip to Chartres (wonderful cathedral, pretty small town) or Giverny (Monet's gardens and house, spend a few hours in Vernon, another little town).

probably spend your last night in a hotel close to the airport.

Only if you absolutely can't avoid it. The last several times we've flown out of CDG we've stayed in Senlis. A beautiful town, and about a 20 minute drive to the airport. Of course, you really need to have a car at the end to do that.

Like some other posters, I don't know that I would've enjoyed Burgundy as much without having a rental car to drive around, as the countryside is amazing. You can rent a bike to get out to some of the wineries, but that will (at least for us) only get you so far. The roads are honestly not that difficult to drive, though there narrow country roads. My husband has a tolerance to taste at a few wineries, esp. with a lunch break, and then we headed back to Beaune to park and walked around the rest of the day.

One thing to note is that we were also in Beaune from Sat - Wed, and many restaurants/wineries are closed on Sunday and/or Monday in the area. There are some to go to, but no where near the options we had for Sat or Tuesday (I would recommend reservations for Sun/Mon dinners for sure).

I would do Senlis and Reims as day trips from Paris. Senlis by train/bus (one ticket covers both) and Reims by TGV. Book your champagne house tour ahead for Reims and/or Epernay. One cellar tour is enough; we did Taittinger and liked it. You can do Champagne tastings at many spots in Reims.

For Burgundy, I would do that first -- take the train to Beune for a couple of nights on the afternoon of arrival -- use up that miserable jet lag day getting to your furthest point then return to Paris for the last week and do the side trips from there. Always be in your town of departure at the end of the trip -- you don't want to waste the perfectly good second to last day rushing back from Burgundy to Paris.

I also don't like to drop a car just before a flight. I want a receipt showing the car is undamaged and gassed up and French clerks are experts at the slow walk -- We once had a seriously damaged car -- that way when we picked it up but the agency had no undamaged car to give us -- we had it well documented on the paperwork. When we got to CDG to drop the car, they required us to surrender the paperwork and I demanded a copy. It took 3 hours and much 'that is impossible' before we got our copies. I have no doubt we would have been charged for the damage if we had not kept the paperwork. (this was before cell phone cameras). French car rental places are very slow -- in the US you can literally pick up a car in 3 minutes -- this is not so in Europe and drop is similarly inefficient. I think they assumed we had a plane to catch and so they could out wait us -- but we didn't, we were coming into Paris from a long road trip.

Thank you everyone for your advice and sharing of experiences. Seems I should end in Paris, which I will do, thank you. I think Im skipping a car rental this time.

Ill have to check with my wife, maybe we will train down to Dijon or Beaune for a couple nights, then head to Epernay for a night and just end in Paris for 5ish nights. While there if we feel like taking any day trips we can.

We live in a city so my initial fear is we will be sorry we spent a lot of time in Paris, another city... but it seems to do the countryside real justice we would almost have to skip Paris, which Im sure would be a big mistake as a first timer.

There are dozens of great day trips to small towns, chateaux etc from Paris within an hour on the train and using the Navigo Decouverte weekly pass. Here are just a few we have done:
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/day-trips-from-paris/
You can also visit a small town and then walk to another small towns as we did from Moret sur Loing. And the big forrests on each side of Paris have small lakes with row boats for rent and are pastoral.

You have too many places to visit in such a short 8 night stay in France. I can’t imagine doing what you plan without renting a car. Is drinking and driving the only concern,? We walked to all our hotels after dinner from restaurants in Paris, Beaune and Epernay. I have never been to Senlis.

Talk about flip flopping, I think now I will rent a car afterall. I assumed train rides would also be less expensive then a rental car with the insurance and all, but after looking up the different train tickets I would need, its pretty even. I think driving will provide more flexibility, just wont drive on drinking days.

With that in mind though I still plan to finish in Paris, so I can hopefully easily take a taxi to the airport on departure day. Now just have to decide if we are going to go to any other wine regions other then Champagne. Burgundy seems great, but is one heck of a trek.

Even with a rental car (and in full disclosure I've never rented a car in France) I'd still stay relatively close to CDG on that last night....perhaps even turn the car in at CDG the night before you fly out and stay at one of the hotels on the airport premises. CDG is such a nightmare that any opportunity to eliminate possible sources of delay is a good idea.

Bonjour,
I've had the pleasure of visiting Paris 8 times and love it every time. It is like no other city. The key for me is finding a neighborhood that feels small and village like. I like the Place Monge/ Contrascarpe area on the left bank. I'm a firm believer in limiting travel days and would day trip to Reims or Epernay, not both, by train. The station in Epernay drops you off a short walk from the main boulevard. It's a lovely village in it's own right. Reims has a city feel , because it is a city.
I also agree with the writer that suggested going all the way to Beaune on your initial arrival to France. It's a small town with lovely walkable streets and great restaurants. Find a hotel in the city center and stay there while you aclimate to the time change . A newer option to see the surrounding area is renting an e-bike. My wife and I did that in Eguisheim ( near Colmar) and "cycled" for 8 hours nearly effortlessly. This allows you to avoid renting a car in Beaune if you're uneasy about driving.

I have never felt the need to stay near the airport on my departure day. You lose a last night in Paris and I'd much rather be in Paris than Roissy! There are lots of good, relatively inexpensive, and easy ways to reach the CDG airport.