France and Spain 18 Days

Posted by oceanmonica on 03/13/14 08:14 PM

We are planning a family trip to France in two weeks. We would like to go to Paris, Versailles, and French Riviera. We would also like to go to Barcelona, Madrid and Sevilla. Would like tips on itenirary, best transportation to use (car rental, air, train (which ones)) We will be arriving into Paris on March 28th and Leaving from Paris on April 16th. We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 young children. We are however troopers and have always loved adventure and making the best out of our time at each vacation, we do not travel to relax, but to get to enjoy a different culture and see different marvels of the world. Please help.

Thank you so much!

Posted by Ed

Pensacola

03/13/14 11:10 PM

9110 posts

You're talking about moving close to three thousand miles. No matter how you do it, movement will take five days. That leaves two days in each of your stops, three in a couple if Versailles is just one day.

Not many people can tell you how to pull that off - - it's just too mind-boggling.

Posted by The Happy Traveler 😎

Noblesville, Indiana, USA

03/14/14 04:13 AM

1412 posts

Wow - love your ambition! My suggestions are: Experience Paris and then fly to Sevilla (good contrast). Work your way back through Madrid to Barcelona. Then work your way up to the Riviera before flying back to Paris. Get the RS France and Spain books to help with the logistics and to discover other places you may wish to visit.

Dropping Sevilla may help with the logistics, time and energy challenges you're going to face due to the distances you're going to be traveling.

Posted by Adam

Boston

03/14/14 06:52 PM

4132 posts

You will get to enjoy many transit modes on this itinerary.

If you want to sit back and smell the culture you'll need to cut back. The Riviera is an obvious outlier (and the beaches are better in Spain). So maybe fly into Barcelona and visit, by train, Madrid, and Seville, then fly to Paris and spend at least 5 days there. Or if that is too Spain heavy fly into Barcelona and take the train to Provence and then Paris.

I'd start in the south this time of year.

Posted by gerri

lexington, il

03/15/14 03:11 AM

4105 posts

This may work for you.

Very busy, but doable

Please check out budget airlines baggage regulations.

All these cities have great public transportation, no need for car.

Travel
5 nites Paris ( Versailles is closed Mondays so plan accordingly)

Paris-Nice easyjet.com 1H25m more flights out of Paris Orly

4 nites Nice

Nice-Barcelona vueling.com 1H15m

4 nites Barcelona

Barcelona-Madrid vueling.com 1H20m

4 nites Madrid

Madrid-Paris vueling.com 2H05m airport hotel

Travel

Posted by Ed

Pensacola

03/15/14 03:21 AM

9110 posts

Simple flight times are deceptive. See what happens if you try to compute reasonable door-to-door times.

Posted by oceanmonica OP

03/16/14 04:25 PM

2 posts

Thank you all so much, we really wanted to check out Seville, but may need to hold off on it for next time we come back. I really appreciate the itinerary and tips. Any more on MUST DO and see things appreciated! Blessings!