Need help with 9 day France vacation

Reims is ok but I enjoyed Strasbourg and Colmar more. You can always spend a day in Chartres or a couple of days in Bayeux and take a D Day tour and see the tapestry.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims is something to behold...I wouldn't miss it.

See where the French nobility was crowned after seeing where they were de-crowned in Paris.

What are your interests? There are many easy train trips from Paris - Chateaux in the Loire valley (train there and then join a day tour to see chateaux), Provence - stay in Avignon or Arles and explore Roman ruins, Nice - lots of great art and beaches (a longer train ride but easy).

All great ideas. We are open to just about anything. We would like to experience the smaller towns/villages and enjoy good food and wine. Of course, take in any historical sites in the area we go to too. If we head south to Provence, stay a night then head to Nice and enjoy the beach might be a good side trip. I will look at train schedules to see what makes the most sense. Thanks.

With only nine days I would not head south, Provence plus Nice deserve at least five days and preferably a week, and the travel time adds up. There are so many good options staying closer to Paris - you've already got a Fé suggestions.

The TGV is 2.5 hours from Paris to Avignon. If you decide to go to Provence and want don't want to go all the way to Nice, there are beach towns closer to Avignon such as Cassis.. Nice is about a 4 hour train ride from Avignon so you'd spend a lot of time traveling there and back. Unless you fly out of Nice... that would save you the return trip. :) Have fun!!

What day do you arrive and what day do you depart? Do you actually have 9 full days or are you including travel days?
Have you been to Paris before?
If not, i’d recommend staying in Paris and a day or two of day trips. Paris is amazing with so much to see and do, it’s not like any other city i’ve been to. A week there is barely enough time.

We are arriving on a Thursday morning and departing the following Friday afternoon. So it will be eight full days. I have been to Paris twice for short stays but my husband has never been. Great advice and a lot to think about. We certainly don’t want to cut our time in the city short but would like to visit another town . Will probably look at something closer to Paris then, only a short train ride like the champagne area. I think we could do that in eight days.

Arriving Thursday departing Friday sounds like 7 days to me, not 8 or 9.

If you had a few more days I would suggest Paris > Burgundy > Lyon (with early TGV to Charles deGaulle on Friday).

With only 7 days day trips might be your best bet, but you could alternatively manage a couple of nights in Burgundy with a car. This would let you visit some of the smaller towns and la France profonde, but is not very efficient logistically because you'd need to get back to Paris for your flight and there are no direct trains to deGaulle on that line any more.

cherz, thank you for the added info, it’s helpful. Adam’s right, it’s 7 full days. If it were me, i’d stay in Paris and really enjoy my 7 short days there. Moving and changing hotels eats up time and energy.
You could find more than 7 days of fun and interesting things to do in Paris but you could also do day trips... there are so many, but one example is going to Giverny to see Monet’s house and garden. Giverny itself is a charming town, so is Vernon where you train to, then a shuttle to Giverny. That would give you a small town experience.
I personally wouldn’t go to Reims, i didn’t like it at all, zero charm, although the cathedral is amazing.
Another great day trip is Malmaison, the house and estate where Josephine and Napoleon lived. Takes less than an hour by bus from La Défense to get there... beautiful home and gardens.
Then there’s Vaux-le-Vicomte, an incredible chateau that isn’t crowded with tourists.
Or Fontainebleau... a chateau and main residence of Napoleon.
Rick Steves Paris guidebook would be so helpful to you. He lists most day trips and explains in detail how to get there.
I agree with Adam that Burgundy is amazing, so is the Loire Valley, and Normandy, and Provence... but you need at least 3 full days (so, 5 days with getting there and back) to do any region any justice.
Back to Paris though, i enjoy Paris most going slowly... walking and exploring, sitting outside at cafés relaxing and people-watching, walking through and sitting in the Luxembourg Gardens. Then there are all the wonderful museums.
If you like beautiful, stately homes, i highly recommend the Nissim de Camondo, next to Parc Monceau. I could go on and on, Paris is wonderful with so many places to see and experience.

Just my food for thought to add to your basket... : )

Thank you all for the great ideas and suggestions. I will be very busy this weekend researching all the wonderful places that you have mentioned. I’m sure we will will be able to piece together an amazing trip to Paris and....

Paris to the Past by Ina Caro describes 25 day trips from Paris by train (a few would be better as overnights). It's seven years old so some of the travel logistics might have changed. I've given you the link to the Amazon listing but it may be available in your library. She writes well and makes you want to visit them all!

I agree with Susan and others, you don't have time for the south. Maybe a couple of nights in Bayeux if you want a tour of the D-Day beaches, the Norman cathedral, and the famous tapestry. But I'd stay close to Paris. By the way, up in nearby St-Denis is the first gothic cathedral, where those French kings (or parts of them) are buried.

Checked Amazon for the book. Says it’s unavailable but she has another book that looks interesting too. I have ruled out going south and am going to concentrate on Paris and maybe one or two day train trips. Wish I had more time!

Checked today in stock and in my cart. Thanks!

Hello. I agree with most of the others in spending your time in and near Paris.

Paris takes several full days to experience, IMO.
Near Paris are lots of sights-Versailles, Chartres, Vaux le Vicomte, Giverny.

I would not attempt to see Provence and Nice in such a short time frame.

Reims has some fantastic sights, including the cathedral which IMO is the best in France. The city itself is somewhat uninspiring. It could be done as a day trip with good planning.

Normandy is very worthwhile, although you would eat into the Paris time a bit. You would have to decide what you wanted to see there and plan transit time accordingly.

Burgundy is realistic with the time frame you have. You could experience the area in one or two nights.
Alsace takes three nights at a minimum, I think. It is wonderful and a good option though it will mean less time around Paris.
Lyon is also possible, but I would not attempt to fit it into the vacation time you have available unless you have a particular interest in the city.

Have a good trip.

Rouen makes a great Norman day trip. If you are very nimble, you can even combine it with Giverney, as it is on the same train line. (Long day, though!) Not however a small town.

Just leaving France after 10 days. Rouen, Honfleur, and Dinan were so awesome and added so much to the trip. I love the south so much but we drove and not enough time. I want to see so much so staying in Paris the whole time is not for me. If you can rent the car in Rouen or Bayeux and see some other places, do it!

We’re all different, but Paris is “so awesome” too and worth every minute of 7 days. And then some.

So true. We are putting together a 'must see' list and taking it from there. Still researching the doable day train trips and hopefully will have an itinerary soon. Thank you all for the great suggestions!