Paris to Nice

Hello Francis, it would help if you listed your interests, your schedule and your style of travel.
Why "definitely" Nimes? What is your criteria for a great place to visit?

Lyon is an easy suggestion as France's third largest city and its gastronomical center and you probably can't avoid going through it on the train. Nimes is one of many cities in and around Provence which has cities of different sizes and interests from hiking to Roman or medieval ruins and plenty of wine.

Antibes is a charming seaside town on the way to Nice. But how many days do plan on being in Nice and how many days do you have between the Loire valley and Nice?

More information will probably result in better advice,
=Tod

Chartres is a simple train ride from Paris. Extend your time Paris and add Chartres.

In the Loire Valley, stay in Tours which is the transportation hub of the region. Specifically, stay in the area of Tours broadly defined as between the train station, Tours Centre, and Place Plumereau. This gives you easy access to visit regional points of interest either by train or minibus tours from the nearby Office de Tourisme.

Reaching Nîmes from Tours will consume almost 6 hours and effectively require your returning to Paris as there are no easy connections. Considering the time to change hotels and making your way through the stations, plan on this move consuming most of 1 day.

Personally, I find Avignon more centrally located to visit the surrounding points of interest. Nîmes or Uzès/Pont du Gard, could be easily done as a day trip from Avignon. Depending upon when you are traveling, the Avignon summer music festival could affect hotel availability.

Eventually reaching Nice from western Provence/Occitane is relatively easy with many possible stops in between.

From Nice back to Paris I would fly.

I don't know what the train and bus situation would be from place to place if doing it on your own, but here is a Rick Steves tour from Chartres to Nice that may help you plan a route. We're doing this tour in May. https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/france/south-france

We took the RS Loire Valley/South of France tour last May, starting and ending with time in Paris on our own.

If possible, I would try avoid going back through Paris (where you have to change stations by metro or taxi) upon departing the Loire Valley. Schedules do vary on weekends and in summer, so check your actual travel date, but this is one example of a schedule to Nimes with a single-station change point:

St-Pierre-des-Corps dep 08:03, TGV 5260, Direction: Lille Flandres

Marne la Vallée-Chessy arr 09:27

Marne la Vallée-Chessy, dep 10:10, TGV 9812, Direction: Montpellier Saint-Roch

Nîmes arr 13:33

There are also a few direct trains per day from St-Pierre-des-Corps to Lyon, similar to this:

St-Pierre-des-Corps, dep 08:24, InterCity, Lyon-Perrache, arr 13:25

St-Pierre-des-Corps, dep 12:04, TER, arr Lyon Part Dieu 17:48 (can connect in this station to Avignon 18 minutes later or to Nimes 2 hours later)

St-Pierre-des-Corps, dep 17:32, TGV, arr Lyon Part Dieu, 20:30

This will be two people, I and my wife. We are in our late 50's. Two or two and 1/2 weeks in September 2019. I've never rented a car over seas before. I've rented motorcycles before, but since we will be traveling with lots of luggage --- I know... I Know... traveling light just doesn't work for us. Maybe I can get a trailer with a Motorcycle? This as planned, is an entirely open jaw trip. Paris to Nice. Staying about two/three days in any particular location. This will be an entirely different mode of travel for us. We normally have a base and do day trips with one hotel. We are trying to break that method with this trip and be more spontaneous. Maybe even NOT have reservations from Ambrios to Nimes. After Loire Valley we are looking more towards Limoges, Brive and Montauban, then coastal route to Nimes. I likes the Roman Ruins. Then to Nice to fly out. Maybe rent a really small car? Fiat 500? Or smaller. Thanks for all the other suggestions. I'll be looking those up. Happy travels!

What time of year is your trip?

In 2017 (fall) I visited Paris then took the TGV to Avignon rented a car and drive directly to Nice. I used nice as a gas for trips into Monaco, and Italy
My father and I are F1 fans and we wanted to drive as much of the F1 track as we could. Driving the Hairpin was an amazing experience after seeing it on TV for decades.
after that we drive along the coast using surface roads From Nice to St Tropez . Stopping in Cannes and several scenic places. Then over the hills yo Avignon p.
In Avignon we had a little RS type hotel right downtown inside the wall within walking distance (a couple blocks) of the Popes Palace. If you do that you can park in the underground garage used for the palace very easily. You don’t even have to drive inside the walls to get there.
From there we did car trips to Nime and to the Pont De Gar(sp)
After dropping off our car we took the TGV to Tours (back into Paris where the train is split and your half goes ob to Tours without you leaving your seat)
I am afraid you have only two options here Take the train above to drive overland. Driving is supposed to be 7 hours. The train doesn’t end up much if any faster realy.
If I was doing it over I would drive. That way you get to see the country the view from the train is not much to speak of.
And you will need a car in Avignon/Nimes area and in Tours as well so it is simpler to drive. As you either need to leave very early to get to Tours in time to rent a car or you have to go back to rent it in the morning.
Once in Tours we went to our hotel which was in a Rebuilt Chateau about a half hour outside of the city that had VERY reasonable rates nice surprisingly big rooms and a great breakfast. We had apple juice made onsite from the trees just outside.

If you want any specifics let me know. Like I said I did much the same trip (Different order) as you did.
I wish I had better news for you about the train but it is what it is.
So my recommendation is drive, time wise is close to a wash once you add in returning a car taking the train and renting another.
I also recommend Avignon over Nimes as a base point. And old hotels inside the wall. Walking around inside the wall in Avignon and eating in the sq and such is in my opinion the “local” bit that RS often talks about. We had dinner and watched a soccer game and at least half the folks eating with us were locals. It was nice.

I'm doing the reverse - Nice to Paris - this summer, though I'm taking four weeks to do it.

I prefer relying on trains and buses in Europe, but I decided to rent a car for my last two days on the Riviera and my first three in Provence (in both cases, I'll also spend some days relying on public transportation). Then I'm going to Lyon via TGV, and from there to Tours, where I'm renting a car to tour the Loire Valley. Then on to Paris for a few days and back home.