We are traveling to France for the first time (family of 3 celebrating our daughter's college graduation). We have a week in the heart of Paris, then 5 nights to spend elsewhere before returning to Paris the night before flying out. We had considered a small village on the Cote d'Azur but the logistics would involve a fairly long day of travel on either end (with a least 4 transfers). Now we are thinking about staying closer to Paris, so that the travel days to/from Paris aren't too long & complex. We enjoy biking, swimming, kayaking, hiking, history, architecture, walking everywhere (and of course, food & wine). We are thinking somewhere small & quiet, to juxtapose our busy, intense week in Paris. We aren't opposed to a rental car for that 5 days, but wouldn't mind avoiding it if possible. Thank you for your ideas!
Posted by
Chicago
8551 posts
If at all possible reverse your trip. Spending the second to last day of your vacation on logistics erases so much of the relaxed vacation feel and wastes a prime vacation day with such a short trip. Instead go to your furthest point the day of arrival. If you are flying into Paris your hotel probably won't be ready till afternoon anyway, use it to get where you are going.
A beachy place closer to Paris might be St. Malo or one of the coastal cities in Brittany near there.
Or just bite the bullet and take the train to Bordeaux and get a car there for the Dordogne.
But do that on arrival and finish in Paris -- that first arrival day is jet lagged misery anyway, use it on your worst logistics. If you rent a car south, you could make the trip back to Paris with one night stopover and enjoy an overnight in a city in Burgundy or the Loire. But Brittany is full of great stuff. Mont St Michel, the neolithic sites near Carnac, seafood along the coast -- nice villages like Dinan -- great food and cider.
then finish Paris with a leisurely week to enjoy it and fly home from there.
Posted by
16 posts
janettravels offered an excellent idea. My background is logistics in the U.S. Marine Corps, so I usually plan such trips with the idea of making things as easy as possible. Went on the RS Paris and the Heart of France trip in August/September 2022. Had an excellent time. We started - and ended - in Paris. I suggest staying in Amboise, to which I would gladly go again. Hotel was Hotel Le Belle-Vue. Good place, great food, very comfortable beds and very scenic. There is a wonderful castle there with a very historic background. Leonardo da Vinci lived there for 3 years; his house is open for touring. He actually died there, in the arms of the French King Francois I. Very scenic place, on the Loire River. Excellent restaurants. Have lots of good photos of the sun setting on the Loire River. Also close to the chateau at Chenonceau, which I just loved. I want to live there. I see online that it is an easy trip to or from Paris by TGV. I would definitely go again. So, as did janet, I suggest Paris - Amboise. Congratulations to your daughter and I wish all of you a Bon Voyage!
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6713 posts
Congrats to your daughter, and to you! "Somewhere small and quiet" won't have much in the way of public transportation to explore the area. I'd suggest taking a train to a city like Tours (for the Loire) or Bordeaux (for the Dordogne) or Dijon (for Burgundy), or Caen (for Normandy), renting a car there, and exploring the region, with a smaller town as your base.
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA
700 posts
France has such wonderful high speed trains, that you can get across the entire country in 3 hours covering a distance that might take a day to drive.
- One idea is to get find cheaper lodging in Paris (e.g. in Montmartre or 10th), and make day trips to places like Strasbourg, Dijon, Lyon or Avignon. Meanwhile drill down into what Paris has to offer like the Atelier Lumber or hanging out on Canal St Martin
- You could drive to the Loire valley and see the most spectacular chateau's of France.
- You could go to Rennes, and then take a bus to Mont St Michelle.
- As someone suggested, take 2 hour train to Bordeaux (or continues to Biarritz), and then drive an hour to the famous Dordogne region, which is know as Perigeux by the French - its full of castles and fortified villages from the 100 years war.
- The beaches on the Atlantic are not the same as the beaches on the med. Think cold and windy. But you can get down to the med if you want. I think it's 4 hours from Paris to Nice. (When I last went, they had not extended the high speed line from Marseille, but I believe it's operational now).
Driving is generally ok. However, gas and toll roads make it much more expensive than in the US. You can avoid the toll roads and drive country roads, but there are speed limits and people who tailgate you. Indeed there are speed cameras on the highways too. Driving also has the opportunity for fender benders, encounters with the police, getting lost, etc. The only places I think it's worth to drive are the Loire, Dordogne, and Provence where trains are not convenient or don't even go to some towns or locations.