Hello! My sisters, my mom and I are planning a 10 day trip to France. We definitely want to stop in Paris and visit the French Riviera. Any suggestions? Things to do? Top places to visit? Transportation? We would love to spend at least two days beach side. It is for my mother’s 60th birthday so a little splurge is OK.
We would also like to find a way to stop in Rome for a day or two. Maybe too much to take on, but just a thought.
Thank you,
Lina
Base yourselves in Nice. My last several stays there have been in an apartment in the old port area, close to Place Garibaldi, although there are lots of hotel options throughout the city. There’s a pebbly beach, with the walkable (and bikeable) Promenade des Anglais running the length of the coastline. Easy city to reach by train or plane. There’s the Cours Saleya old town, the Liberation market, the old castle site reached by elevator. Chagall, Matisse, and ancient Roman museums. Day trips east to Villefranche sur Mer (bus or boat), and west to Antibes (Picasso museum, market, charming town), or over to Monaco.
Trains to Rome would take quite a while, so if you went there, fly from Nice. Could you fly home from Rome, saving backtracking to France for your return?
planning a 10 day trip
How many nights ?
Three places is one too many
Every time you move, that day is pretty much devoted to the 'move'
What does Mom want to see?
Does your 10 days include travel to and from France, and also travel time to French Riviera? If so, you have 7 full days to spend. Honestly, also going to Rome is going to make your whole trip rushed, even if you have a full 10 days plus transit time.
Based on my experiences with travelling with extended family I highly recommend lots of communication in the planning of the trip to make sure everyone is on the same page because you don't have a lot of time to dither once you're on the ground. For example, something as simple as start times each morning should be discussed in advance. For an early bird like me nothing is more frustrating than being up and ready to go at 8 only to find out that someone in the party doesn't like the day to start before 11.
Discuss what interests everyone in a general sense, what you like to do and see on vacation and then you can start narrowing down what you can fit into a week. There are more informed people than me on this forum to talk about what Paris has to offer, but since it's your first time, I suspect you'll want to see the blockbuster sites such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. Plan ahead for both, I'd recommend buying some guide books or going to the library to check some out. The Rick Steves guidebooks are good, but for high level planning at this stage I usually start with Insight Guides and DK Eyewitness guides and then go to the Rick Steves books for my logistical planning.
As far as transportation goes, I'd look into flights that arrive in Paris and depart back to home from Nice. Their are two main options to get from Paris to the French Riviera; the train, which will take about 6.5 hours, or fly, which won't save you a heck of a lot of time when you consider time to get to the airport, waiting at the airport, 1.5 flight, transportation to your new location, etc. Whichever method you choose, I would recommend potentially staying in Nice. There are more impressive resort towns if your idea is just to kick back and relax but staying in Nice saves you some time to relax instead of sitting on trains to another location.
*Best meal I've had in France was at Lu Fran Calin in Nice. Try the lasagna.
You might also want to decide whether to ask people about this Paris-Riviera trip or the Italy-Barcelona trip you asked about a few hours later on the "General Europe" forum. Whichever you choose, you'll hear from others that ten days isn't enough for three cities/regions.
Hi Lina,
I was in Paris & the French Riviera in 2019. Details of what I enjoyed and where I stayed are in this trip report. I would love to return to the Nice area and spend several more days!
Someone asked in my trip report about transportation, so it’s listed in the responses. If you’re going for sitting at the beach specifically, you might not want to stay in Nice. The beach is small pebbles, not sand. There’s nice beach chairs, umbrellas, etc. though.
Sounds like a fabulous trip, I could spend all 10 days in Paris and never run out of things to do! Sounds like you may want to start with a good guide book. Everyone has their own idea on what makes a great trip based on their interests and how many times they have been there.
I can tell you what interested us, for Paris we like to stay in the 6th St Germain des Pres area, very walkable . The apartment we stayed in was a short walk to the Seine, The Louvre and Notre Dame and the Odeon Metro was close by along with an RER station. Walking tours are always our favorite (pariswalks.com), a seine river cruise (you can even do a dinner cruise), Eiffel Tower, all the many wonderful parks/gardens, museums, wondering around the different arrondissements , We took a fast train from Paris to Nice. Once in Nice you have access to so many wonderful small towns by train, you can even do a day tip to Monaco (25 min train ride). There is a great you-tube series by Jay Swanson were he goes to each arrondissement in Paris and points out some highlights including how to get there, I have notebook filled with his suggestions.
Hi Lina, places to visit in Paris are Notre-Dame Cathedral, Louvre (but only if you’re tall, otherwise you won’t be able to enjoy seeing the art because a taller person will block your view. The Louvre allows 500 people inside every half hour.
Needless to say, this place is way too crowded). The Orsay Museum, Eiffel Tower from the exterior because the viewing platforms are too high up. Walk down Champs-Elysées to Arc de Triomphe and climb that instead (284 steps). If it’s a sunny day when you go to Notre-Dame, you might want to check out the upstairs in Sainte-Chapelle to appreciate the stain glass, otherwise skip it. Another great view is from the top of Notre-Dame, but there are 387 steps but that won't happen. I suggest a minimum of four nights in Paris.
It’ll take 6h to get to Nice by train, but at least it’s direct meaning no connections required. I would sleep there also. Make sure you walk the Promenade des Anglais and the Chagall Museum is worth a stop.
Good day trip options by train are Villefranche-sur-Mer (15m), Monaco-Monte-Carlo (30m) and Antibes (30m). If you do all this you need five nights in Nice. I would then fly home from Nice but you’ll need to connect in Europe to do so.
Notre Dame has been closed since the severe fire of 2019. The last information I've seen is that it is to reopen in 2024.
Thanks acraven, I forgot about the fire. I was thinking about the stain glass and relics.
Guys this is all great feedback- any thoughts on 3 days in Paris, a drive down the French Riviera and then up through the coast of spain (4 days) and then 3 days in Barcelona? Travel days from and to US not included in days above.
I wouldn't want to spend 4 days driving from Paris to Barcelona (is that what you mean?). There are so many interesting places along the way that you wouldn't really have time to see. Your time allotments for both Paris and Barcelona are painfully short.
An additional issue is that you will almost certainly pay a very, very high international drop charge if you pick up a car in France and drop it in Spain.
Ten days is a good amount of time for either France + Riviera or France + Barcelona. You could fly from Paris to either destination. Personally, I hate mid-trip flights and would probably opt for a train. The TGV trains cover distances much faster than cars.
That's a lot of driving. 11 hour drive from Paris to Nice, 8 hours to Barcelona. I don't blame you for wanting to see a lot, but you may see very little. But you know you and your family better than we do and what kind of budget and travel style works best. I can't speak for Spain, but toll roads in France are pricey, I bet it costs you around 250 Euros, plus drop off fees for the car...if you can cross a border with it.
You guys are right! In an ideal situation and with more time we could drive down and up both coasts exploring. My mom also is pretty particular. she os enthralled and thoroughly enjoys places for a bit and then she is ready for something else. We also want to make sure that she gets two full days of pool/beach side lounging.
With that said, I think if we spent three full days in Paris, took the train down to Nice early in the morning on the 4th day, spent three full days in Nice, on the 4th day took the speed train to Barcelona, and spent the remaining 3 1/2 days in Barcelona, we’d get to see a good amount. Thoughts?
*We bought our tickets months ago, NY to Paris, Barcelona to NY, and the plan was to also stop in Mallorca. We realized that is too much activity for my mom, but switching the tickets now is tough, hence we are trying to keep Barcelona in the picture.
I like the idea of traveling by train a lot better, since it will leave you with more sightseeing time.
However, are you aware that there are beaches in the Barcelona area? If your mom wants two days on the beach and you have just four days to get to the Rivera, see the Riviera and then get to Barcelona, you're going through an awful lot of churn for just one non-beach day along the Riviera. If you took the beach time near Barcelona, you'd save a lot of travel time, and there's lots to see in Barcelona while you're not at the beach. You could even take a day-trip to Girona for a change of pace.
Believe me, I like the Riviera and the hill towns above it. The area is imminently worth visiting. It's just that from a logistical standpoint on this short trip, I think hitting the beaches near Barcelona is more practical. If you want beach suggestions around Barcelona, post an inquiry in the Spain forum. We have posters who currently live in Barcelona or have lived there in the past; they'll give you the straight scoop.
Here are the comparative rail-transit times (based on current schedules):
Paris Gare de Lyon - Nice Ville: 6 hr.
Nice Ville - Barcelona: 8 hr. 30 mi.
(You might opt to fly this segment, but realistically it's probably still going to take about 5 hours door to door because you need to be at the airport so early.)
Paris Gare de Lyon - Barcelona: 6 hr. 40 min.
As you can see, you save a full of day train travel or 5 hours or so dealing with airports by going straight from Paris to Barcelona.
I hope your mom won't be disappointed in the European beaches at her disposal. Many are rocky rather than sandy. Some of those rocky beaches are quite picturesque to look at; I'm not sure they're so great for swimming. Nearly all beaches convenient to urban areas are mobbed during nice weather. Northern Europeans suffer from long months of minimal sunlight, and they swarm to the southern beaches in the summer. The population of Europe is a lot denser than the population of the US, so the result is more people per square foot of beach--a lot more people. If you Google for photos of beaches in the areas you'll be visiting, I think you'll see flocks of beach chairs laid out in rows just a few feet apart.
Yes, that makes sense. I started looking at Costa Brava earlier. I will post in the Spain forum. Thank you!
If it were me and I had 10 days/11 nights. or do you have 10 nights, 9 days? -- I would go directly to Nice for 4 nights and use trains along the coast to visit one or two destinations as day trips from Nice and spend one full day for Nice including the Matisse and Chagall museums if you are interested in art.
And then train to Paris for 6 nights/5 days and finish there and fly home. Always be in the city of departure last so you don't waste your second to last day on logistics which is a bum way to finish a relaxing trip. If you have 11 nights -- then 5 for Nice with day trips and 6 for Paris.
If you can fly to Nice and home from Paris great -- if you need to fly round trip to Paris, then take a train about 4 hours after ETA in Paris from Paris or 3 hours from CDG.
It is 10 full days, I excluded travel days from the number. If we were to stay in France the full 10 days, would you recommend 2-3 days devoted to a city closer to paris, or two different locations in the French Riviera, say Nice and another town?
Or keep it down to two locations, Paris and Nice?
Thank you!
If you really need to hit the three destinations, then go to Paris first, take the TGV to Nice and then take a jet to BCN. The NCE airport is connected to the center by a quick tram (or Uber) and the train from BCN goes directly downtown. The Spanish leg will have sandy beaches, although you can go from Nice to Juan Les Pins (or Cannes) by train for sand (instead of pebbles/rocks -- although Villefrance sur Mer is another option for large grain sand and one of the prettiest seaside locations). In Nice, you can take a private tour if budget is not an limit and tour the villages (Eze, St. Paul, Tourettes sur Loup, Gourdon, Mougins, etc) pretty time-efficiently compared to trains/buses.
There are so many nice places readily accessible from Nice (and others that make great side-trips from Barcelona) that I don't think there's a good reason to split your Riviera time if you only have 4 (or even 5) nights. Now, if you wanted to see some places all the way over in Provence, that would be different, but that would mean 4+ hours on the train, and then you'd still have to get to Barcelona afterward. I believe you said you already have a ticket home from Barcelona, right?
Our tickets are NY- Paris, Barcelona-NY, but for a small difference we can change to NY- Paris, roundtrip, and we will likely make the change.
Although 5 days in Paris and 5 days in Barcelona was a great option, 10 days, and a 10 hour trip to Barcelona just wouldn’t allow us to comfortably squeeze in the coastal, slower pace, scene, mom really want.
Think we are definitely going with 5 days in Paris and 5 days in Nice.
Thank you!
That will be a fine vacation. You'll have the opportunity for a good mix of smaller towns as well as the two cities. You can hop on the regional train and get to just about any of the coastal towns except St-Tropez. Do be careful on that train. I was targeted by a trio of pickpockets and was lucky not to lose anything. If anyone gets into your personal space, clutch your purse very firmly and guard the zipper!
Our tickets are NY- Paris, Barcelona-NY, but for a small difference we can change to NY- Paris, roundtrip, and we will likely make the change. Although 5 days in Paris and 5 days in Barcelona was a great option, 10 days, and a 10 hour trip to Barcelona just wouldn’t allow us to comfortably squeeze in the coastal, slower pace, scene, mom really want. Think we are definitely going with 5 days in Paris and 5 days in Nice.
Paris-Nice-Paris still means a longish trip back to Paris for the flight home. Since you should be in Paris the night before you fly to NY, that breaks up your time in Paris to 2 separate stays. If you want the Riviera mostly for the beach, as others have said, Barcelona is a much better place for the beach. There are several large sandy beaches. The Riviera beaches are small and most are pebbly.
It's 6 hours by train from Paris to Nice and the only train I see now that gives you much sightseeing time is a 5pm train that arrives at 11pm. I didn't check the return, but it's likely to be about the same.
I flew from Nice to Barcelona 2 years ago. The Nice airport is small, you don't need a lot of lead time there. In Barcelona I waited about 5 minutes for my checked bag, walked out of the terminal to the bus and was in my hotel about an hour after landing. Logistically it makes more sense to fly to Barcelona than train back to Paris.
Or, take a late evening flight to CDG. Stay at a hotel there next to Terminal 3. You are positioned to check into the flight to the US the next day.
