We will be staying in Rapallo, Italy for a week before going to Provence. Our plan is to fly in to Genoa from Paris and then on to Rapallo relying on trains for getting around the Italian Riviera (including Cinque Terre). Question, taking train from Rapallo into France, and want to stay 1-2 nights in French Riviera before heading to L’Isle Sue la Sorgue for 8 nights...recommendation for town not to over run with tourists and budget friendly. We want to rent a car for the France portion of the trip. Where (as in which town/city) to pick up rental for convenience, good rates and selection? Last leg of trip is to get back to Paris from Provence for flight home. Take a plane from Marseille? take a train from Isle Sue la Sorgue? or drive to Paris and return vehicle at CDG? Have no ideas or experience driving from the south to Paris, traffic, tolls, etc. Any suggestions, recommendations and/or advice greatly appreciated!
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1097 posts
There's a lot to unpack here but I can clear up some of these points.
-Train is by far the fastest and easiest way to get from Provence to Paris taking about 3 hours. You can catch the fast TGV train from many towns in Provence - Nimes, Avignon (TGV station is near town), Orange etc. Book these tickets ahead of time which go on sale generally 60-90 before the booking date.
-I would book a rental car in a larger city that is on the TGV line and return it there when you catch the train. (Avignon TGV station has several car rental agencies right outside of it.)
-Untouristy, cheap French Riviera town is beyond my knowledge. Nice is the biggest city and Antibes is very pleasant. I'll leave it at that.
-Be aware that CDG is well outside Paris so plan accordingly if your flight to Genoa isn't immediately after you land. If it is and you have booked separate flights be sure you leave enough time to collect your luggage, go through immigration into France and then get through security check back to your second flight.
Hope that helps some - have a great trip,
=Tod
Posted by
4 posts
We just returned from a driving tour of France. We stayed at the Hotel de la Darse in Villefranche sur Mer, just outside of Nice (RS recommended). It was fantastic - beautiful room with a balcony over the Mediterranean and in a small town - so much nicer to navigate and hang out rather than Nice, which is a gong show. Train was 15 minute walk from the hotel, which we easily took to Monaco (13 min) and it also goes to Nice. Having driven from Arles in Provence to the French Riviera, if your travelling in August I would suggest taking the train to Provence. We drove all over France, Belgium and the Netherlands for 3 1/2 weeks and by far the most stressful driving was along the southern coast - jam-packed highways, over-run rest stops, etc. Everyone and their dog is holidaying in the south of France in July and August. If you're going in September, you'll be fine - the highways are great all over France. Toll highways are everywhere, you can't avoid them, expect 4-5 on your trip to Provence. I would pick up your car rental in Nice at the end of your stay in the French Riviera, they're big enough that they will have good selection. Regarding your return to CDG, we stayed overnight in Beaune (near Dijon), which would be a 4-hour drive for you, and then drove 3 hours to Paris the day we had to return home. The roads were great, minimal traffic really (on a Monday) and the GPS kept us away from traffic issues. We were really worried about the traffic, etc. but it wasn't an issue at all and we drove right to our terminal, returned the car in a few minutes and walked into the departure area. Be aware if you drop off your vehicle in a smaller town/city that they might not accept vehicle returns outside of their regular business hours, which can include early mornings, evenings and weekends (which we ran into). Also, the train from a smaller place may involve a couple of transfers to get to CDG so you have to take that into account as well. That's why we decided to drive to CDG - we couldn't drop the car off when we wanted to in Beaune or Dijon and we had 2 transfers if taking the train to CDG.
Posted by
Paris
7304 posts
The advice to rent your car in Nice is very good advice, however, from l'Isle sur La Sorgue I would really not drive to Paris, it is more relaxing to drive less than one hour to Avignon TGV and drop the car there, then it's 2.50 hours on the train to Paris and barely more to CDG.