Recommendations for combining France with another country (or two)

How long do you have? Have you been to Paris before? If not then two nights is not enough.

If you have at least 10 days, I would spend 4 or 5 nights in Paris then fly to Florence and fly home from there. We are doing Florence and Paris this coming fall and will fly into Milan, train to Florence and spend two weeks then fly to Paris and fly home from there after a few weeks. You save money and hassle flying open jaw. If the south of France is required then you need a few days there.

BUT first -- any major city requires a minimum of 4 nights. It takes two nights to get a full day. Coming from the US (if so) will mean jet lag and you need time to acclimate.

If you don't want to do Paris and two days says that to me, then fly to Nice and spend a few days on the Riviera (there is good train transport all along the coast) and then take the train to an Italian destination. I prefer Florence, but Rome and Venice are other possibilities depending on your interests. Fly home from Italy.

In my experience when you spend a couple of days in a complex place -- Berlin, Paris, Rome etc -- the experience becomes all about the difficult logistics of a new big place and there is likely to be little joy. You aren't going to love Paris if you are spending one full jet lagged day there.

Thank you so much for these excellent recommendations. I have been to Paris three times, and want mainly to go to Place du Tertre for more art.

I like your idea of flying into Nice. Is the train system good enough to do this and traveling into Florence, all without renting a car. I don't want to have to worry about dropping the car off, if we end up in a different country.

use trainline.eu to map out train options. you can book with them -- they are very user friendly or book with SNCF or whatever but trainline will give you an idea of what is possible and what it will cost. You should be able to train easily. you don't want a car along the Riviera as the trains are good and the driving awful. If you were going to the Dordogne (my favorite region) then you would want to have a car. Depends on what you mean by 'south of france' --- And then drop the car and take the train to avoid the big cost of turning a car in in a different country.

We did a trip combining four days in Switzerland and the rest of the trip in France a few years ago. Details: we flew into Geneva where we rented a car from the French side of the airport. We drove to Lauterbrunnen and explored the Berner-Oberland area for four nights. We then drove into France for the rest of the trip. We returned the car in Brive and then took a train to Paris, but you could return the car in almost any smaller city and then take a train to Paris.

We did five days in Lauterbrunnen last April, and then got on a group tour to Lucerne, Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. I adore Lauterbrunnen, but we are thinking to stay further north on this trip. We stayed in airbnb in Lauterbrunnen that was probably the best accommodations we've ever had before! If anyone is interested in link, I can send.

I think the airport in Basel Switzerland also offers the option to rent a car on the French side of the airport. Then you could return the car somewhere in France after exploring Germany or Switzerland and avoid the steep fees for renting in one country and returning in another country.

I can totally see me and my girlfriends exploring by train along the French and Italian rivieras--easy travel, fly home from Milan or Pisa, perhaps Genoa.
What month?
Have you been to Italy before?
Has the group's research led to any consensus other than those three countries? Aside from art, are there other interest to pin this on--perhaps wine?

Another thought, after southern France, take train to Lyon, then into Switzerland and explore Lake Geneva area.

We are planning roughly two weeks, in November. And are starting to think we will limit to south of France and northern Italy. The travel by train is sounding great.

My and my sister's main interest, is small villages, local flair, coastline. Definitely would want to visit the larger cities also, but will want to venture out. Not sure about the other two, but I imagine that we all pretty similar.

With two weeks, it starts to get tricky for what to leave out, but I always feel like you can not go wrong with Liguria. Much will depend on how much time you devote to France and where you need to fly out. I'd check Turin also, sounds like a nice place to end a trip to me!

Since you like the idea of small villages let me suggest you rent a place in a small town in Tuscany and then use it as a base to explore villages, small towns, abbeys and such. We have done this 3 times, the most recent when I retired 12 years ago when we rented a place in Montepulciano for two weeks. You need a car for this, you could pick one up at say the Florence airport (you do not want to drive a rental car out of Florence -- it is theoretically possible but you make a mistake and you have huge fines for driving in the ZTL i.e. no traffic zones). You could fly home from Rome dropping the car at the Rome airport.

Renting a place in the Dordogne would let you do the same thing there -- but again you need a car.

We’re in Southern France right now, but in 2 weeks are heading to the Alsace part (all right, that’s more eastern than southern) but …

Flying to the “EuroAirport” in Mulhouse , France puts you right where France, Switzerland, and Germany meet. It’s just inside the French border from Basel, Switzerland, just southwest of Freiburg and Germany’s Black Forest, and just south of Colmar (one of Rick Steves’ European “back doors” and also Strasbourg, France. Trains are definitely viable, although we are picking up a rental car on the French side of the airport, and using it in France and Germany, then returning it to the French side of the airport. Charming little towns are all around, and vibrant cities, too.

If you’ve ruled out Switzerland and Germany, and are looking at strictly France plus Italy, then Nice is my favorite city in France (will be there in a week), but getting from Florence to Nice by train a handful of years ago took all day (an extremely long, tiring day), with several train changes and lots of stops. There are fast bullet trains in Europe, but Florence to Nice (or vice-versa) doesn’t have those.

Thank you!

You do realize that small coastal towns will be closed up for winter in November? Staff will be cut back, places closed, and services minimized. The focus at that time of the year is Christmas and winter festivals. And the weather normally sucks.

That time of year, assuming before 23 NOV which is when Christmas markets start, and if interested in art and culture that can be admired despite the weather, I'd look at Paris, Reims, Nancy, Strasbourg, Basel, and fly home from Zurich or Bern.

We plan to leave October 29 and return November 14. Do you think that will be case in the very first part of the month? Thanks for the info.

We plan to leave October 29 and return November 14. Do you think that will be case in the very first part of the month? Thanks for the info.

It depends where on the coast. Around Nice is quite lively year-round. Further west (between Mandelieu and Hyères) can indeed be a bit dead, except Saint-Tropez.

Thank you Balso. You've been a great help. The travel agency I usually use, has now become a travel planner for groups only. I'm at a loss, just a bit.