Help planning Christmas trip to France

A stop in Lyon is not a bad idea to break up the journey from Strasbourg to Nice. Lyon is always worth visiting.

@LoveToTravelAlways, How many days do you plan to spend in Paris since you will arrive on December 25th? Are you planning to take the TGV train the next day to Strasbourg? And to head to the French Riviera from the Alsace region, it will take you a few hours by train, 5 hrs to be exact. The itinerary should be crafted with less travel time between your cities of interest. You will have 10 days to organize and travel to different cities on your tour. Give us the list of cities you want to see the most and which are not too far to travel to via train so we can assist you craft a comfortable itinerary.

My previous response was deleted apparently :(

@Badger thank you for your response

@RJean to your questions:

I did update my question above to include more information.

1. How many days do you plan to spend in Paris since you will arrive on December 25th? 25th to 2nd
2. Are you planning to take the TGV train the next day to Strasbourg? Same day as I land - late afternoon
3. And to head to the French Riviera from the Alsace region, it will take you a few hours by train, 5 hrs to be exact. This is where I am looking for help, how do I travel from Strasbourg to Nice? Stop over in Lyon? are there other options? Train preferences?
4. Give us the list of cities you want to see the most and which are not too far to travel to via train so we can assist you craft a comfortable itinerary. Strasbourg and Colmar is something I really want to do - family is neutral on this. Nice and surrounding areas we are all excited about, same goes for Turin. We are all unsure about Lyon

@LoveToTravelAlways

Here is an itinerary that might be of interest to you

Arriving in Paris on Dec. 25th and train immediately to Strasbourg the same day.

Dec. 25 to 27 - Use Strasbourg as a base for 2 days and do a day trip to Colmar.

Dec. 27 to 29 - From Strasbourg, France train to Geneva Switzerland, and spend 2 days.

Dec. 29 to 31 - From Geneva train to Turin Italy - 2 Days

Dec. 31 to Jan 4 - Turin to Nice France - 4 Days ( Using Nice as a base - Day trips to Villefranche Sur Mer, Antibes, and Monaco)

Jan 4 to 5 - Nice to Milan - 1 Day and Fly home on Jan 5th

I wouldn't want to move that fast. Arriving after an overnight flight on Dec 25, traveling to Strasboutg, then moving on to Geneva on Dec 27 gives only one full day (possibly still somewhat jetlagged) in Strasbourg, so how does a day trip to Colmar fit in? At a minimum, the stay in Steasbourg needs to last until the morning of Dec 28.

I also think Strasbourg - Geneva - Turin requires way too must transportation time for the pay-off of just one full day and a few hours in the latter two cities:

Strasbourg - Geneva 4:30
Geneva - Turin 6:00

You can travel from Strasbourg all the way to Turin in 7 hours. Not that that's short, but it would save 3-1/2 hours of sitting on trains and yield three days in Turin. One day would be seriously inadequate there.

However, this may not be the year to go to Turin. A key railway tunnel linking France and Italy is out of commission until (apparently) mid-2024. Service between Turin and Nice (or between Turin and Lyon) is only possible by road. Buses between Turin and Nice are scheduled to take just over 4 hours; most bus trips between Turin and Lyon are scheduled at close to 5 hours. There might be some risk of weather delays in late December.

It appears Flixbus fares into and out of Turin are considerably higher than usual (not surprising under the circumstances), and I'm guessing they can go even higher.

There's a lot to see in Lyon. I really liked the city--though I don't know about a winter visit.

Given the situation with travel to Turin right now, I suggest choosing between Lyon + `Nice and spending all the time in Nice. There's enough to do in the area of the Riviera to fill 6 days.

acraven - where are you getting the idea that Nice-Turin is closed? The recent landslide affects the route between Lyon and Turin, the coastal route via Nice is being quoted as a potential alternative.

Thank you @RJean for your response. we skipped Geneva since we have already been, but this is a good alternative too.

@acraven I have been reaching out to hotels/airbnb's in Turin and getting information on how to travel between Nice and Turin have been told that flexibus is a good option for that time of the year or we can get a car rental.

@Philip Agreed, this is what I have been told too. Given that, is the weather concern that acraven mentioned - snow falls etc?