September Trip: Paris and 1 other location!

Additional point - we would be traveling with our 1 year old, so waiting to see what policy will be on their ability to visit.

Provence is one of my favorite places to visit - very different from Paris. The train from Paris to Avignon or Aix-en-Provence is a little over 3 hours on the TGV. Avignon is quite historical - Palace of the Popes when Rome was ruled from this area. Car rental (far in advance reservations) is easy from the airport. If you want to see the hilltop towns of Provence you will need a car or a tour - very little bus service to the area but I don’t think you would want to do that with a little one.
Gordes, Roussillon, Apt, Sault, just to name a few of the hill towns.
From Avignon you can go to the Pont du GARD and then visit the small, but beautiful village of Uzes.
Marseille is easy to get to by commuter rail from Aix (my favorite place to stay). It’s small, walkable and has nice markets. Go on the day when they have the brocante. There’s a Cezanne walk too. Excellent tourist office in the heart of town.
Have fun researching and of course your trip.

For Provence (which I second as a good location in September, weather should be on the whole be beautiful), two minor suggestions --

It's very easy to pick up a rental car at Avignon TGV station since the station is a "bit out of town" and was built with parking lots, wider roads, etc., than your typical city-center railway station.

The other thing is I would look now to reserve a rental car if that will be a key part of your trip -- France is also affected by the pandemic-induced rental car shortages and from what I've seen, rates have gone up substantially.

September is a great time to visit Provence -- I would suggest taking the TGV to Avignon and then renting a car down there. A perfect trip.

We did this exact trip 3 years ago……flew into Paris, spent a night or so to acclimate in the Marais, caught a train to Avignon. The ride was easy and sights were lovely. Rented our car at Avignon, stayed in Gordes for the first 4 nights and then moved to St. Remy for 4 nights…..used those 2 places as our base to drive around Provence each day and see the quaint and charming towns like Loumarin, Menerbes, Rousillon, Isle de la Sourge…….so much to enjoy at your own pace. I agree that it would be difficult to do this without a rental car. We trained back to Paris from Avignon after turning in our car and spent a week there before flying home. Still one of our favorite trips to France!

I’m going add to the mix….. London…. Easy to do via the EuroStar…. No clue if you’ve been to London but it’s a vibrant city to explore.

Free museums, history, parks and green spaces, restaurants, cafes, food markets to meander about, architecture, the Thames path, et al. Can saunter for miles.

However, no clue what Covid restrictions will be in place in September for Paris or London.

If you only desire to travel in France I’d suggest a city like Rouen. Easy hour and a half train ride from Saint Lazare station. Lots there for you to discover.

Travel safe.

Don't overlook a Eurostar trip to London, Eurostar.com. About 2.5 hours city center to city center in total comfort. Prices on sale 6 months prior to travel dates for cheapest rates. We always fly into and out of London Heathrow and use the Eurostar to travel between cities. Check out www.seat61.com for all European train tips, including Eurostar.

We were in Paris in Sept 2019 and decided to take the TGV to Avignon and stay in St Rémy-de-Provence, it’s about 25 min from Avignon and it is one of my favorite towns in France. We stayed at Hotel du Soleil which I highly recommend. St Rémy is super charming, friendly, small, very walkable, with lots of fun stores, cafés, restaurants and their famous weekly outdoor market. And most likely a playground. It’s very easy to drive into and out of, and easy driving from there to visit lots of other towns/cities. It’s super easy to get a rental car at the TGV station.

Thank you all! Was in fact considering London (we have some family there) but waiting at this point to see how things progress with border crossings.
For now - am looking forward to diving into Provence/ Avignon research as well as the TGV option from CDG to Avignon to rent a car -- thank you again for the wonderful suggestions - keep em coming ;)

I'm also on a plane arriving in CDG at 9:40am in September. Since you can't check in any hotels in the morning and since I'm at the airport already I've decided to take a 12:30pm flight to Nice where I'll spend 3 nights and then I'm off to Aix where I have 2 free nights from last years cancelled trip. From Aix I will train to Avignon for 3 days and then train to Paris for a week.

I'm not sure if that's the smartest way to do it but after much though it seemed like the best move (especially since I didn't want to waste the 2 free nights in Aix as my voucher expires at the end of the year). You may find it hard to time out everything- for example you land at 11am, you have to guess how long customs take and then you have to figure out what time the high speed trains leave. I figured having 3 hours between flights is plenty of time to clear customs, grab some lunch and then I'll arrive in Nice around 2pm.

I think that's wise, Williams.

As noted on another thread I opened on the General Europe section, I just don't think this is the year to be trying to pull together multiple-country itineraries. And least of all anything between anything in the UK and anywhere in Europe.

I'm thinking myself about getting a Eurostar ticket for October for a long weekend — but I have a lot more flexibility and less to “lose” if measures then turn out to be too stringent for me to go. I would just turn back in my two to three days' leave I had put in for, and stay home. I wouldn't risk ending up somewhere I couldn’t get out of, or not being able to get to the next spot on a carefully constructed trip.

Follow up question on train from CDG to Avignon -- from a quick search on Trainline - looks like there are just a few options a day on this route and with Ouigo service -- is Avignon the best (only?) high speed train option to Provence (Gare d'Avignon TGV)?
Am I missing something to only be finding Ouigo service on this route (Sept 2 - Sept 7)?
Also does anyone have expierence renting a car from Sixt?
Thank you :)

I've rented from Sixt several times in both Spain and France; good experience each time, no issues. Hardest part was figuring out how to use the car's GPS system, switching it to English, etc. I wish rental companies would leave the manual in the car...

Thanks!
Ended up booking through Auto Europe with Sixt for pick.up at Avignon TGV. I did notice rates have dropped since I initially reserved - need to call and see if I can get refunded the difference.

Staying in Avignon and Roussillon for our time in Provence! Please share any must does!

It looks like you can take a non-stop train from Paris Gare de Lyon train station to Avignon TGV (2h 45m).
My recommendation is sleep in one location. Since you’re taking a train to Avignon, sleep there, it will be easier. There’s a lot to see in Provence so don’t waste time changing your home base, especially with a one-year-old. Besides, it's nice when you can unpack and pack once, not twice and that applies to all, even those who aren't traveling with a one-year-old.
Drive to Roussillon (1h).
Drive to Pont du Gard (45-minutes).
Drive to Nimes (1h).
Drive to Uzès (1h).
Drive to Orange (45-minutes).