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Looking for recommendations for France travel

Hello! I posted recently and got a lot of great feedback that made me rethink our original itinerary. We had originally planned to do a road trip in France, but after feedback here and research, we are leaning more towards taking the high speed train between cities (though we are still open to renting cars if/when needed).

I'm having decision fatigue because the options are endless, so I'm really looking for your "must do" recommendations. Here are our definitive plans:

Fly into CDG
1 night in Epernay
3 nights in Paris
4 nights TBD
3 nights in Menton
Flying back home from Nice

I had originally planned on 2 nights in Loire Valley (I have a cancellable airbnb in Montrichard). This is still an option, but now we're thinking to do 2-4 nights in any of the following:
- Burgundy (I've looked at Beaune but open to suggestions)
- Lyon
- Provence (unsure where)
- Any other suggestions

The big questions are:
Would it be a shame to miss out on Loire Valley, or would you pick these other places?
Is there a MUST SEE quaint village or town with amazing dining and wine? I know Lyon has this and that's why we're considering it, but since we're already going to be in Paris we were sort of envisioning something more charming and quaint.

I would love to do a winery tour one day, so if there's a location best for that I'd love to know, but it sounds like that can pretty much be arranged from anywhere.

We're open to stopping in two towns for two nights each, or would consider staying in one place longer and renting a car for day trips.

So, what would you do if you had 4 days in France?

Thank you!

Posted by
7802 posts

Hi, you have some wonderful places picked out! I haven’t been to Epernay.

If you decide you want to go to the Loire Valley, I would go there before you stay in Paris. Then you’re in Paris to take the fast train down to the French Riviera.

Here’s our trip report that covers some of those places, just to give you ideas. Have a great time!
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/our-combined-solo-couple-vacation-in-france-2019

Posted by
11 posts

Wow! You have quite a lot to dig into here. Thank you!
We actually have to start in Paris due to tickets to a show and needing to be there towards the beginning, otherwise I agree that it would have made sense to go down to Loire and then back to Paris. But since there’s a high speed train it’s not terribly out of the way to go back through Paris, though looking on a map it would definitely make sense to head down more on the eastern side. Still, I’m not sure if we should skip Loire.