Need Francophile advice: a "bonus" week in France

Weather this time of year is often dank and dark -- so Lyon is a good choice -- small city, interesting food (always reserve if only a day ahead), a couple of good museums and the Traboules were invented to keep the rain off so exploring Traboules will be fun. I'd book a guide for that if possible because many of the best ones got closed off during COVID and the apartment dwellers in the courtyards are happy to keep them closed. Some guides apparently have access. We did it with a map and still saw a lot of interesting ones.

I think 3 nights is enough though, so perhaps two side trips? Rheims and visiting a Champagne cellar and the great Cathedral would be a good two night trip. We visited the Taittinger cellar and it was a real treat. Another one night trip is Chartres. The illuminations of the Cathedral make the trip worth doing. We spent one night there as a side trip this spring and it was quite stunning. If you go there, be sure to book dinner at:
https://restaurant-moulin-ponceau.fr/fr/
A truly wonderful and scenic spot. You could do 4 nights in Lyon and one night in Chartres. Or if you are flying out of Paris, you need to be there the night before your flight, so you could do 3 in Lyon, one in Chartres or Rheims and then the last night coming in late to an airport hotel for the flight home the next day. You didn't say where you were traveling from and if it is not the US, Canada or further afield then that affects of course that last night plan.

If it were spring or earlier in the fall I would suggest the Dordogne my favorite region or Brittany -- we did a side trip like this to St. Malo and it was wonderful. But I think those might be disappointing in November whereas Rheims or Lyon or Chartres all have thrilling things to do that are not as dependent on weather.

This is just the kind of thing I am looking for Janet, especially seasonal aspects--thank you!
It is hard to plan too much as it might change, but I have to do advance research in case it all comes to fruition. A fun exercise for someone who usually plans many months in advance!
Food-wise, how would a pescatarian do in Lyon?

Quenelle de brochet, kind of a light creamy dumpling made with freshwater fish, is a famous specialty of Lyon.

Janet is right on I think. Especially coming off a few days in Paris, it’s interesting how Lyon feels like “Paris’ Paris.” Lyon felt like Paris with all the class and half the bustle. It’s underrated imo. I think a few nights here, and a couple nights in Reims or Chartres would be a wonderful contrast.

quenelles are one of my favorite foods - discovered them at Tour d'Argent in Paris and actually made them at home (not as good but not awful). You can see our anniversary lunch and the quenelles here as well as my amateur efforts.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/anniversary-lunch-at-la-tour-dargent/
In Lyon they make one large quenelle with a crayfish sauce. Another specialty is eggs meurette It is very tasty poached eggs in a red wine sauce but I think the sauce may contain pork -- panchetta or bacon. Their cuisine is in general very meat based though. You will look long and hard for a vegetable. I suspect that outside of a bouchon quenelle dinner, you would want to specifically search for a vegetarian place. It is a city, surely they have places that specialize in seafood or are vegetarian.

Pescatarian--hmm, Lyon has a unique cuisine, heavy on the charcuterie, red meat, organ meat, and thick sauces.
I just spent a few days there. We're from the Mediterranean coast, so I noticed the lack of fish and vegetables. Quenelle de brochet is more dough than fish. Oeufs en murette definitely has smoked pork, lardons. It's a burgundy dish.

For lighter fare, look at the Loire Valley or take the train south to Marseille where you'll find more fish and vegetable dishes. Lyon is two hours by train from Paris, but Marseille is only three. In November, the south is a good place to go and there's plenty to do in Marseille.

Edit: I live along the coast (not Marseille) and the difference in sunlight and temperature with anything north is remarkable. Provence can be quite cold in November with the winds and a lot closes for the season from November 2 until Easter weekend. Marseille does get the winds, but it’s sunny and nothing closes.

Thanks again--I will do some food reading to be sure. I can generally manage (became vegetarian at age 12, so lots of experience making do). I was initially thinking Marseilles might be much longer on the train, but that is tempting. We definitely favor the Mediterranean coast in our travels, and food is one reason.

I am going to take a somewhat different path on this one. Rather than making firm plans, make two or three alternative plans that depend upon the weather and what interests you at that moment.

If the week is going to be dark, gloomy and wet across France, consider staying in Paris as IMO it has the best indoor adventures in France. If the weather is unseasonably warm and sunny, then how about the coast: Normandy, Brittany or even south to Provence? Somewhere in between, maybe Lyon or Burgundy?

If you like wine country, I'd consider three regions. The time of year is not ideal, but I always make the best of it. Plan on very cool to cold weather and possibility of rain. Open hours at sights will be shorter. This order is my preference, check them out and see if these feel right for you. Driving is easy in France, don't worry about renting a car for a few days.

Alsace:

Train to Strasbourg, spend one or two nights. Rent a car. Take one day to visit Haut Koenigsbourg Castle (fantastic castle to visit) and two towns on the Rue de Vin. Every village here is like a living a half-timbered Beauty and the Beast scene (Riquewehr, Eguisheim, and Ribeauville are three of my favorites). Stay at one of the towns for a night so you can enjoy the wine. The wines in this area are whites. Riesling and Gewurtztraminer, the latter is the one locals view as their top wine.

Next day, drive to Colmar and stay a night or two. You will see a great castle two great small cities, a couple beautiful villages and a variety of foods.

Burgundy:

If you like red wine, Burgundy is the best in the world (seriously). Very little Burgundy makes it to the U.S. and most of it is expensive. Louis Jadot sells a bottle in Costco but it's probably the worst Burgundy I've tasted (maybe if you shelve it for three years?). I ate dinner at a hotel restaurant in Semur-en-Auxios, the wine was 3 euro per glass and the best wine I've ever had. I couldn't buy any bottles though. Most producers are small scale and sell all their wine to a few hotels/restaurants.

For Burgundy, I'd train to Dijon and stay all nights there. Get a car and drive to some towns. Beaune has the Hospice to visit for a day trip, plus visit a wine "cave" - but Dijon is a far better town, more scenic and more good food choices.

If history is interesting. There is nothing better than Alesia. This is where Julius Ceasar defeated Vercingetorix in 52 BC. There is a museum there. I found it massively interesting and educational (history is my thing).

Otherwise, spend a day driving up the river Auxios. The villages here are each more charming than the last. They are also medieval. Rather than half-timbered though, construction is primarily stone. Completely different feel than Alsace but both are stunning.

Burgundy limits wine production so driving through Burgundy, you will see as many fields with horses and cows as vines.

Champagne:

Riems is well connected to Paris by fast train (about one hour). Other places are connected but not as well.

Here, I'd start in Riems for at least a night, rent a car and see Troyes plus some stops between the two. Riems isn't really medieval but has one of the great Cathedrals. I took the Mums tour in Riems, because they make the best champagne. There are big and small Champagne houses (called Maison or Domaines) to visit. Troyes is a beautiful medieval city. You would probably want to drop the car there and take a train (probably a regional, two-hour trip).

I hope that helps. Forgive my spelling of the French words (it's no better than my French).

Brad

This is super helpful--thank you very much!
And flexibility will definitely be the name of the game, as this trip may indeed change--ah, the vagaries of business travel.
Regardless, I intend to get to France eventually (it is a huge gap in my travel), so this will come in handy for me, and to others in the meantime.

Another vote for Alsace! A short ride from Paris to Strasbourg. Strasbourg itself is lovely and makes a great base. From there you can take the short ride to Colmar where you can explore the charming cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, and winding canals.
Beautiful flowers, and from there go over to Equisheim, and some of the other adorable villages surrounding the area. From Strasbourg you can also train over to Gengenbach, Germany which is quite charming and only a short ride. Baden Baden is only 28 min by train, Freiburg or Basel just a little over an hour. So many options for day-tripping from this lovely town. The La Petite area is like stepping back in time. We found this region to have great food and great wine, and one of our all-time favorites when traveling in France.

You are getting some great suggestions for places to visit but from April to October. For November, the regional capital cities are fine: Strasbourg, Dijon, Lyon. Once you leave the city, the countryside is reduced hours or closed down, the sky is gray and bleak. It’s damp, often drizzling. When JR wrote about flowers, I knew this wasn’t a November memory. There are no charming flowers to brighten things up. This is based on decades visiting family in Burgundy and Brittany, and living in Paris. I don’t disagree with anyone’s suggestion, but I do want people to realize that November, with its short days and weather , isn’t the same as May.

Everybody immediately starts thinking Strasbourg, but that's not the place to go in NOV. The Christmas stuff isn't up, and it's not at its best. I'd do Metz, Nancy, and Luxembourg. Metz has a fantastic covered market, great Roman museum, postcard views of the river, and nice little back streets to explore. Nancy has fantastic art and architecture, great museums, and really good food. Luxembourg is more of the same. And they are all easy to get to from Paris, close enough you won't waste a lot of time traveling, and best of all you'll be in the off season.

My other option would be fly to Prague. It's a 2 hour flight and tickets in DEC are $110 round trip. Trust me when I say Prague in the winter is beautiful. It's one of the best cities in Europe to walk around after the sun goes down.

Like Bets said about time of year. I've spent a couple weeks in the area, late May and early June. I felt that was too early to tour. The vines were barely coming to life and the weather was still quite cold. Burgundy in late May was cold. Alsace in early June was better but still wanting for warm weather. People were nice, however, and I never felt rushed or crowded. A week or two later would have made a big difference in the weather. If I had to pick an ideal time, it would be later-September to mid-October. Later will get cold and summer will be crowded. If I had to, I'd choose cold over crowds. I'll be there mid-September this year. The airfare to Paris drove my timing this year.

charming touristy towns build their economy around tourism and they are often literally shut down in winter -- hotels and restaurants close. We once discovered this phenomenon in early May -- I remember having a list of hotels (we were road tripping and so being spontaneous) and we went to 6 of them to find each closed for the season. We feared we would be eating McDonalds (we saw a billboard for McDonalds) and sleeping in the car when we happened upon a truly awful looking place with a huge statue of a mosquito on a plinth out front.

they had a room. It was like a prison room a poured concrete platform with a foam mattress on it. BUT it was a room. They had an attached restaurant with pink formica wainscoting and those chrome breakfast room tables from the 50s. My husband ordered a pork confit; I ordered a lamb dish but they were out -- but then the waiter said he could do some medallions of lamb and I said sure. When the food came it was all delicious, flavored in addition by gratitude and relief. I just assumed we would be taking out a loan for the lamb. When I went to pay our bill in the morning, the lamb was about 7 Euros -- cheap even then.

So yeah in the dank late autumn, you really want to head for cities. Strasbourg. Lyon. Reims. all work fine. Lille probably, but we were not as entranced with Lille except for a day with a local in the countryside that was fabulous.

Lots of choices.

I don't recall if anyone has mentioned Nice -- but this would make a great side trip and you can easily do it with public transport. Once you are in Nice you have trains along the sea to take you to other places you might want to visit.-- it is a fair piece from Paris -- I'd probably fly but you could do 4 nights and be back the night before for the plane home.

Thanks again for this useful discussion--weather and seasonality are important considerations. Of course, as soon as I finally post this question, the work event gets uncertain--it may be in Germany instead, so if you asking me a similar question over there eventually, that is why, lol!

Well then Berlin -- great winter city -- world class museums (although its greatest museum the Pergamon is closed for the next 10 or so years) and Opera there is both excellent and cheap -- we paid about a third what we pay in Paris for top seats. my husband is visually impaired and so we need very good seats for him to be able to see anything -- but if you don't then the tickets for lesser seats are very cheap.