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Nice to Lyon to Paris or Nice to Paris or 'Just' Nice?

Posted by (Washington, DC) on

Bonjour!

I'm planning a trip in October to France.

"I" am a 53 year old man with similarly aged wife. We'll (hopefully) have our 3 adult sons and 1 adult girlfriend (ages 24-26-28).

All the 'kids' have been to France before on ETF tours and have been to Paris.

My wife and I have never been to France and therefore never been to Paris.

In trying to plan the trip I was thinking to head to Nice first as nobody in our family has been there. I know you can never visit Paris too often, but the middle son and gf just visited back from a trip in January. So...for those of you with grown adult children if you're like us you know how difficult it can be to get the kids to come along even when you're paying so was hoping to lure them with someplace different :-)

I am trying to decide if we should spend our entire time in Nice, or if we should take the train to Paris with a stop along the way in Lyon, or just direct to Paris?

I want to visit Paris for selfish reasons, but understand this will not be our ONLY time in France. I know we'll have plenty of other opportunities, so don't want to pack too much into too short a time...which I did (and don't want to do again!) when we visited Italy here,

What I'm wondering is if this is a lousy idea:

3 nights in Nice
2 nights in Lyon
3 nights in Paris

I am interested in Lyon as we're all (pardon me) "foodies" and I'm believing the train ride straight to Paris from Nice would be nicer if we broke it up with a stop in Lyon...but after looking at times maybe I'm wrong and the getting on and off twice would make it a bigger pain in the neck:

Nice to Paris = 5 hours and 40 minutes

VS

Nice to Lyon = 4 hours and 30 minutes
Lyon to Paris = 2 hours
Total = 6 hours and 30 minutes...one hour (more or less) longer than straight to Paris

Thoughts? Insights? Any help is appreciated!

Posted by
464 posts

If you follow this plan get multi-city flights flying in to Nice and flying home from Paris. We have been to the Nice area as well as Paris and have loved both. If you go to Nice there are regional trains and buses to several towns as well as Monaco and the scenery is spectacular. We loved Villefranche sur Mer and St Jean Cap Ferrat. We have not been to Lyon.

Posted by
8550 posts

3 nights in Paris is 2 days --- a new complex place requires some getting used to and mastering local logistics -- with only 3 nights in a place like Paris you are likely to actually feel overwhelmed and dislike it. If I had this little time, I would do 3 nights in Nice and 5 in Paris. That gives you 4 full days in Paris which is a good introduction; two days in Nice is plenty.

Fly in to Nice and out of Paris; pick up a nice picnic in Nice for the train. Book the TGV not the Ouigo; the Ouigo is quite uncomfortable. If you book early you may find first class is not much more than second class on the train -- Generally TGV seats are comfortable but first class a bit roomier and worth a slight increase in cost.

Posted by
58 posts

The logistics of traveling and accommodations for a group this size is too complicated to justify two bases in a week. Stick with a nice Airbnb on the French Riviera. Look into old town Antibes. It’s authentically French. You can visit, Menton (or even Italy), Monaco, Nice, Villeftanche, Eze, St Paul de Vence, Grasse, Cagnes, Valbonne by train or bus and St Tropez by boat from Cannes.

Posted by
8550 posts

I agree that with so little time staying in one area makes sense -- but if you want to do more then two bases max

And with a group this size plan to break up into smaller groups so that everyone can do what they want to do instead of being herded along to the same place.

Posted by
46 posts

Why not do the “everyone together” trip in Nice and the south and tack on extra days at the end for just you and your wife to go to Paris?

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