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Provence-Normandy-Paris

My wife and I are celebrating 33 years of marriage by traveling to Spain and France for the first time. She is doing the Camino de Santiago and I'll meet her Mid June at Santiago De Compostela. After a couple of nights in Santiago we'll head to Madrid for three nights, Toledo for one night, then Barcelona for two nights.
We'd like to then proceed to Provence for three nights, making Arles our base, then head to Normandy for one night, mostly to take in the D-Day beaches and museum, then finish our European tour in Paris for three nights before departing there back to the states.

My questions are these:
1. How does my itinerary sound in general?
2. We thought about flying from Barcelona to Marseille (less expensive than to Avignon), but are not opposed to taking a high-speed train if that makes sense. Any suggestions for getting from Barcelona to Arles more directly and/or economically?
3. Is one night in Normandy enough? (Probably not but we really want to spend three nights in Paris.)
4. Any other advice?

Thank you

Posted by
28096 posts

No, I think you are moving around much too fast.

Two nights in Barcelona will give you just about 1-1/2 days in a city that other travelers have had to rush through when they had four full days available. There are lots of popular sights in Barcelona that require tickets purchased in advance that generally tie you down to a specific entry time. You will have a lot of difficulty putting together a workable itinerary if you have only 1.5 days and are interested in the traditional sights.

Three nights in Arles is just a bit over two days for Provence. It's the sort of area where most people want to visit a number of towns. The usual recommendation is to rent a car in order to include places like Roussillon and Les Baux as well as Arles, Avignon, etc. By choosing destinations carefully, it is possible to have a nice visit to Provence without renting a car. In either case, two days would leave me very frustrated.

One night in Normandy will give you perhaps a few hours there on your arrival day (since you'll be traveling all the way from Provence) and a few hours there the next day before you leave for Paris. That will not get you to the D-Day beaches unless you are willing to take a late train back to Paris and can arrange to take a D-Day tour that drops you off at the Bayeux train station in time to take catch that train. You'll also need to figure out what to do with your luggage during the tour. I do not recommend simply driving yourself around. The beaches will look pretty much like any other beach. The van-tours offered by companies like Overlord will be much more informative. The driver/guides will cover a lot of sites in one day, far more than you could manage yourself. And dealing with a car-rental agency would take precious time you can ill afford.

Even if you had three nights in Paris (and that does make Normandy problematic), that's only two days there, which is...painfully short.

You just are trying to go to too many places. Getting to Normandy is a bit awkward since you cannot fly directly to the logical base for D-Day visits (Bayeux). Getting around Provence takes time. Barcelona and Paris need more time than you are allocating. I think you should drop at least two of those four destinations so you can enjoy the others.

Edited to add: I failed to mention that 3 nights in Madrid and one in Toledo isn't bad. I love Toledo (much more than Madrid) but still would consider not switching hotels for just one night. Or perhaps split the time 2/2 if you are not big art fans.

Posted by
1586 posts

Hey Butch,

Why don't you skip Arles. The distance from Barcelona to Arles is long. Skip Arles and Barcelona altogether and consider an easier itinerary with shorter travel distances.

SPAIN:

2 Nights Santiago De Compostela

3 Nights Madrid (With a day trip to Toledo)

3 Nights San Sebastian

FRANCE:

2 Nights Bordeaux

2 Nights Bayeux

4 Nights Paris

Posted by
7169 posts

Agree with above- drop Provence or Normandy and add the time to Paris.
You've got too much travel time with all those destinations, not enough time actually there.

We spent 4 nights in Normandy area and still didn't have time for all we would have liked to see/do. The D Day beaches take a full day minimum- which you really do not have.
We spent 7 nights in Provence- and did see/do a lot but had to skip a lot as well.

Posted by
386 posts

You mentioned that this is your first visit to Spain and France ... so I really understand your desire to see as much as possible. But as all the other posters have noted, you're just trying to cram in way too much into too little time. You've come to this board to get advice from seasoned travelers, and you've already got wonderful recommendations. I think you and your wife need to sit down and do some tough eliminating. Figure out what are your true must-sees. As much as I love Normandy, it just isn't realistic to travel from Arles to Normandy for ony 1 night, then back to Paris. A good general guideline is to spend at least 3 nights in a location, because otherwise you just spend so much time not only in transit, but checking in and out of hotels, and waiting for trains and planes, etc. I don't know if you have your plane tickets yet, but if at all possible, try to add even 2 or 3 days to your trip.

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you Shelly. As your sound advice was coming through we were involved in the process of trimming destinations; I feel better already.

bg