I am planning a trip in France for May 2026 and planned to visit three cities: Paris, Lyon and Nice. Tentatively three days in Paris, five days in Lyon and five days in Nice.
Is Paris the better airport to fly in and out of? Or if we flew into Paris and then out of Nice, would we run into any issues?
Also interested in any input on these selection of cities. Planned to do a few day trips with Lyon and Nice as the home base.
As far as I know, the only US city you can fly to from Nice is NYC, so if that works for you, by all means, no need to backtrack to Paris to fly home. I don't know what issues you would run into flying out of Nice, even if you just fly back to Paris or to some other city for your return flight to the US. You can certainly buy an "open jaw" or multi-city ticket: home airport to CDG, then Nice to JFK, connect to home airport.
In order to comment on your choice of cities and allocation of time in each, it would help to know what your interests are, whether you have visited before (especially Paris because 3 days is pretty short, especially if you are arriving there on an overnight flight from the US).
Thank you for the reply! NYC is an option for us to return to the US. Have never been to France before (my partner has but over 15 years ago). We are open to extending more time in Paris and reduce one of the other cities.
In terms of interests: food and wine, walking tours and museums, would like to enjoy the Med at some point as we get to the South of France. Mostly a good balance of being busy but also spontaneity in the home bases.
American has direct flights from Nice to PHL (seasonal)
We just flew in and out of Nice
A nice small airport , super easy and quick to get to from the center
Our family went to Nice for the first time in April 2024 and absolutely loved it. Nice airport is small and very easy to navigate. Absolutely spectacular views flying into Nice.
There are six airports with direct flights to the US from Nice in May 2026: Atlanta, Washington DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Newark, and just added, Boston. (Technically plus 2 or 3 dates from LA). Open jaws work just fine, and they are priced competitively (in fact, sometimes preferentially). If you've been to Paris before you can keep the allocation if not, you can probably steal a day from Lyon (you always lose a bit of time with the arrival day and recovery).
5 days in Lyon feels long to me, even with day trips. 4 nights is already plenty. I'd consider extra time in Paris (unless you've been many times before), or a stop in Aix.
In October I’m flying into Paris direct from DFW and out of Nice to LHR and then direct to DFW. I prefer to do that as opposed to getting a train to CDG because #1, it costs more and I’m always a tad leery of a train strike popping up and, #2, you have to very carefully budget your time to allow getting up to CDG to make your connection. I did this last year flying into Paris and out of Marseille. The airfare cost in this case was the same.
We will be flying out of Nice September 13. Short flight to Heathrow (British Air) & direct from there to Boston (Delta). WE are doing the same trip as you beginning Sept 1. Our flight to Paris is Direct from Boston (Delta)
Have a great time!
Gooster---which airline is starting direct flight Nice to LAX? Thank you!
@cindyeb --- I just added it for completeness (it literally is just a couple of flights timed around the Cannes Film Festival in May on AF). Yes, it would be great to see a west coast or even a central US flight.
Oh well, thanks anyway!
