Itinerary help needed - 7 days/6 nights - Lyon & French Riviera

Our trip dates are Fri October 5 - Fri October 12

Start by being honest with yourselves and counting your actual, usable days in Europe.

Are those dates your flight dates? If so, and you're flying to Europe from far away (ie North America or similar distance) then your really only have five days (you can't count your arrival or departure days) - and that, of course, is madness.

If those days do not include your arrival or departure days, then that's just 8 days, which is still pretty crazy short for a trip to Europe (unless this is just the "France part" of a longer trip to Europe).

Ignore the above if you live in/near Europe and have the luxury of popping to France often/cheaply.

Either way, be careful not to plan too many places - and it looks like that's what you're doing. Your suggestion for "3-4 cities" (plus travel to/from Paris!) does not sound like a good way to start. If you want to do Paris (even if all you plan is to blow through there), and several other cities, I think you need more time, or fewer places (or both).

Is there any way you can extend your trip?

Great considerations, David. Unfortunately, we are flying from the US and could possibly extend by a day but no more than that. So yes, we would actually be in Europe from Saturday morning (the 6th) and flying out Saturday (the 13th) morning (the latest). Unfortunately, ticket prices double if we try to fly directly in to Lyon.

I suppose then, it would only make sense to do cities outside of Paris/northern France if we had more time? I mentioned 3-4 cities around Nice because I was under the impression that we could do some day trips with Nice as our base, but I could be wrong.

Nice is an excellent base for day trips by bus and train. We spent two weeks in Nice and easily did day trips to Antibes, Cap Ferrat, Monaco, St-Paul de Vence, Villefranche. Nice offers a lot to do as well.

I have no input on Nice per se, or using Nice as a home base. I'm sure there's good stuff to see there.

Yes, absolutely, by all means, extend by a day. More if you can. If you can't, then work with what you've got, and accept the limitations that come with it.

Why the obsession with how many days? For most people, I think that their air fare is the single most costly item for a trip to Europe. Given that (and assuming you don't have lots of "extra money" and you don't have the luxury of going to Europe very frequently), it just makes sense to get the most from the money you spend on air fare. That means staying long enough to get more out of your trip. Personally, I don't think it's worth spending all that money to get to Europe and back unless I'm there for (not counting travel days) a minimum of 2 full weeks, but everyone's different. And of course, everyone has their own constraints.

we would actually be in Europe from Saturday morning (the 6th) and flying out Saturday (the 13th) morning (the latest)...

So Saturday the 6th is your arrival day. That's a travel day, and I wouldn't count that as really part of your trip (by my reasoning, your trip actually starts the next morning when you wake up).

On your arrival day, you will be jet lagged and wiped out (most people can't really get any meaningful sleep on a flight, and many of us start off stressed and short on sleep from pre-trip tasks, making it even worse - try to begin well-rested and do what you can to catch catnaps on the plane if you can). On your arrival day, on a too-short trip, you should press on to your actual destination (Nice, or wherever) - by train or short-hop low cost flight (no driving upon arrival, it's dangerous). Saturday the 6th is pretty much a write-off. Get to Nice (or wherever), walk around and get some fresh air, your primary task is to stay awake until after local dinner time, then crash and burn. Wake up the next day and your trip starts.

You fly back on the 13th - from Paris. So you have 6 full days in Europe.

But there's one more fly in the ointment: you fly out of Paris. If you miss your flight home from Paris, you are in trouble: you would probably have to buy a very expensive ticket for a new flight. Because of that risk, many of us plan to be in our departure city the night before we fly home. If you're basing in Nice (or anywhere distant from your departure airport), keep in mind that lots of things could prevent you from making it back to Paris on time. A rail strike, for example, or bad weather, other things. So, you have 6 full days in Europe, but the last day of your trip should probably end in/near Paris (to avoid exposing yourselves to the risk of missing your flight). Some people don't worry about that, and plan some short connecting time to their flight (and they usually get away with it). But the potential cost of missing your flight is worth considering.

Having more days to spend there mitigates all these worries, having a very short time there (which I think describes your trip) makes things more risky/expensive/constrained. Not saying you can't/shouldn't pull it off, just saying you should be aware of these things going in.

Hope some of that helps.

"could extend by a day" implies some flexibility, so I will suggest flying home from Nice and saving a ton of time.

As a stopgap, schedule an afternoon flight home from Paris and a morning flight from Nice.

PS Do not short change Lyon, it is amazing.

An open jaw from the US that includes Nice and Paris should be priced competitively. You can arrive in Nice and spend your days seeing the adjacent towns by public transport. Cannes, Antibes, St. Paul de Vence, VilleFrance-sur-Mer, Eze, Monaco, Menton are usually on the list. Nice is central to them all, with good direct links.

The TGV from Nice to Paris takes 5:40 minutes. The stretch from Nice to Marseilles isn't really a high speed train. However, the remaining stretch is done at high speed. The Nice - Lyon stretch takes 4.5 hrs or more. There are plenty of low cost flights, however, from Nice, to major portal cities as it is the 2nd most popular airport after the Parisian ones. Note you can also pick up a low cost ticket to/from Nice to any "portal" city as a separate ticket, as long as you allow for delays/cancellations.

If you are going to get a connecting flight from CDG to Nice or Marseille make sure you give yourself at least a 3 hour lay over between flights. CDG is notorious for long lines and people missing connecting flights. It's not like in the US where you just walk from one flight to the other - you will go through customs to get to your connecting flight. And I might suggest forget the train since the strikes in France although are announced ahead of time - could really mess up your trip.

I have to say with only 6 days I'd pick one Lyon or Nice but honestly 6 days in and around Paris would be great too.

You only have a few days TOTAL so this sentence makes no sense "Should we fly to Nice immediately from Paris when we land, spend a few days exploring, then take a train to Lyon, then train back up to Paris? "

I flew into Nice last year and was able to connect in Amsterdam rather than at Charles de Gaulle or Heathrow.

If you are not interested in Paris....I agree that Lyon and Burgundy are a good bet! These areas are wonderful in the fall. A car rental will be beneficial .....many wonderful villages.