France to Cinque Terre, Italy

Here's my suggestion:

Fly into Tours, pick up your rental car.
Spend a week bopping around the Dordogne or Brittany (or a bit of both).
Drop off your car in the appropriate Paris airport (CDG = Air France, Orly = Vueling, Transavia, EasyJet).
Book a cheap flight from Paris to either Florence, Pisa, or Genoa (your pick!).
Then train the rest of the way to CT.

Thank you. Great Suggestion. Concerned whether I can navigate dropping a car in Paris without getting too nervous about it.
Now thinking: Fly to Paris, take high speed train to Lyon, a smaller and maybe more navigable city? Pick up car. Tour Provence. Drop car in Nice, another smaller city. Train to Genoa.

Dropping the car off at one of the Paris airports, especially Orly, is straightforward. The airport is easy to get to on the highway, without ever entering Paris. I found the the place to drop-off rental cars is easier at ORY than CDG... but that's me.

Yes. That plan would work very well too.
Although the TGV into Avignon would be a better choice, IMO, for basing yourself in Provence (unless you have a reason for wanting to visit around Lyon).

You would not need a car at all in Nice, so the car could be dropped off at the Nice airport on arrival into the city. Again, it's easy to get to.

The train from Nice to CT, will route via Ventimiglia, just across the border from France. Build your Trenitalia ticket with that station as your starting point for the CT. You can then do the regular commuter train that ends in Ventimiglia, to connect to it. The long-distance train to Genoa from Nice is another alternative. Check both ways of building your train journey - there is a difference.

So, your decision is really a coin toss: Brittany OR Provence. Either can be easily done. Which one do you really want to do most?

Where will you be flying back from?? I'm curious...

Just a thought, can you also fly into Marseille? Since you mentioned Tours earlier, I take it that Paris itself is not on the menu this time??

I am 55 and a first time traveler to Europe. Going solo through France, so trying to keep simple. Plus, the countryside interests me more than museums. So, yes, saving Paris for another day.

Plan on flying from from IAD to Paris through Dublin ($700) or Iceland ($498). The Dublin flight gets me in sooner, so more choice of trains. I love the idea of Avignon instead of Lyon. Will look into whether I can rent a car there to get to parts unknown for a few days.

Just discovered there is a bus from Nice to Genoa, 3 hours. www.ouibus.com. That sounds like fun to me.

Then train from Genoa to Cinque Terre. Flying home from Florence through Dublin. Because my friend is going home from Florence, coordinated with her itinerary.

BTW, how long does it take to get through customs at Paris airport? I will have one carry-on bag, travelling light. Wonder how long to allow to disembark plane and find the train.

Thanks so much, Diane!

Barbara

You don't mention your overall time frame.
I would initially spend a few days in Paris, even if you are not an avid museum person.
Take a TGV train to Avignon/Arles.
Follow Provence by spending a day or two in Nice as a break in the train journey to CT.

Train times ...
2hr 39min Paris to Avignon (direct)
2hr 54min Avignon to Nice (direct)
5hr 14min Nice to Monterosso (with changes in Ventimiglia and Genoa)

Thank you for your good suggestions!

Car rentals are available from the Avignon TGV station itself. Drop-off Nice.
Get the car fully insured, with zero deductible! (See below)

BTW, Avignon TGV station is not in Avignon itself, but just a little way out of town.

I would recommend a night or two in Avignon itself on arrival. If so, then skip the car right away, take the bus into town, and just pick up the car in Avignon itself on Day 3. You will be well rested by then... especially if you come straight to Avignon from Paris-CDG. Driving and parking in Avignon is no fun (a dent in my door and a lost side mirror can attest to that!).

Having said that, one night on arrival in Paris might be a good idea. That way you can book the cheapest advance TGV ticket (PREM) for the next morning and just GO, a bit refreshed. Cheap rooms can be found around Gare de Lyon station in Paris, plus the airport bus goes there direct. Then you will be better able to drive your car right from Avignon TGV to whichever small town you decide to base yourself in for a few days (like Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, closeby).

Booking a non-refundable train ticket to coincide with an international flight arrival is ALWAYS tricky: flight times routinely change, sometimes whole routings change, planes are late, line-ups on arrival unpredictable, etc., etc.. Allow yourself at least a very wide margin, if you do decide to hop the train on arrival to CDG.

Have fun figuring it all!

This is so unbelieveably helpful. Thankful to have found you on the Forum.
Merci.

Diane, as suggested, booked a night 15 minute walk to Paris' Gare de Lyon, will shuttle in from CDG and rest and walk around the gardens nearby. I secured the lowest price TGV train ($24!) to Avignon for next morning. Will rent a car eventually. Not much lodging choice in St. Remy. Thinking Gordes or Arles, 2 quite different home-bases. I would like to be able to get up, wander out to a village, people watch, get a coffee, etc. but not be too overwhelmed with a city.

Also, my friend decided we will go to Alba/Barolo, Italy, for festivals before Cinque Terre. I can train from Nice (6 hrs, 2 changes) to Alba. So, what do you think about taking my rental car to Alba? Expensive, but we will have to rent another one in Alba/Barolo anyway. Looks like the route is pretty straight forward on Google Maps. Can get an automatic. I am good with maps and GPS but not with driving fast.

Barbara

Don't drive your France rental into Italy to drop off unless you want to incur large fees....drop the car in Nice, train to either Ventimiglia or San Remo and rent another car.