Suggestions for 5 days in France

Unless you are visiting a large French city and have access to good public transportation, a car rental would be preferred. If you're staying in smaller cities and have no transportation, look for one outside one of the larger cities where you can take a train into the city for the day.

Nice is a great base, with great sights and museums (Chagall, Matisse, archeological), food, etc. in the city itself, but much to see and do nearby, as well. July’s a hot time of year, but it will be hot in Lyon, farther north, too. And the pebbly beach and Oceanside will be quite a contrast from Switzerland! Trains and buses can take you to nearby places, including Antibes (Picasso museum and great market), Monaco, and Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Other areas in France could be Normandy, Brittany, or the Loire Valley, all farther from Switzerland than Nice.

Coming from Switzerland Lyon is about 2 hours from Geneva by train. Lyon is great little city - third largest in France actually but the part visitors care about is relatively small - and you could easily spend a day or two seeing the city and enjoying the gastronomic center of France.

If Lyon doesn't catch your fancy it will still probably be your entry point to the French TGV system to train to other areas. I would suggest choosing either Provence or the French Riviera and the coast. Provence would be best served by the train and the coast could either be train or flying into Nice or Marseilles depending on your airport and plans.

Personally I would recommend training into Lyon and staying 2 days and 1 night and then training down to Arles in the evening of day 2. You could then tour Arles and day trip on the train to Avignon and Nimes then either explore some smaller towns like Vaison-la-Romaine, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and/or Saint Remy making sure to catch at least one market day in one of these towns.

Provence is mostly Roman ruins, quaint towns, beautiful landscapes, painters and wine if that interests you. If not maybe post what your interests are and people can adjust their recommendations.

It sounds like you want 1 base for 5 nights which I think is probably not the best plan unless you chose a large city - Nice or Marseille - and are up for many day trips or are really interested in some specific region. I'd probably think about 2 places to balance rural and city but that's up to you.

You don't mention where you're flying out of so the end point of your trip is harder to plan where you end up but if it was my time that's what I would do.

Have a great trip!
=Tod

Alsace. Base: Colmar. Rental car is best for the Route de Vin

Getting from Switzerland to Nice is awkward, you basically need to fly unless you want to spend a full day on trains. Alsace, as suggested above, is much, much easier and will provide a nice change of pace and scenery.

As for Lyon, there's not enough to keep you there for 5 days, yet at the same time 5 days isn't quite enough to combine Lyon with somewhere else like Provence.

You could, however, skip Lyon and take the train from Geneva to Avignon in less than three hours, and Avignon makes for a very good 4 or 5-night base to explore Provence without a car.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful feedback. After doing a bit more research, I came up with the following....any additional suggestions would be welcomed!

-Fly into Nice from Zurich
-Stay 5 or 6 nights in hotel that provides a shuttle service to and from airport
-Explore Nice
-Take advantage of day excursions through viator?

Does this sound logical?

You’ll enjoy Nice, and if you visit nearby, those places as well. We’ve not done any Viator excursions, and Rick Steves’ guidebook has a lot of info for Nice and it’s neighboring area.

We’ve also stayed at an apartment our last several visits, not a hotel, but hotels in a wide price range are available. We’ve usually gotten to the airport by bus, offen really early in the morning, but fast and easy. Not certain what shuttle services are offered by what Nice hotels.

the entire coast is connected by train, you can head from Nice into markets just over the border into Italy -- visit Menton, Roquebrune, Monaco, Ville Franche sur Mer, Cannes etc etc easily. Within Nice there is the Matisse and Chagal museums both easily visited by bus or on foot. And there is bus service to some of the small villages in the area. Makes a decent base without a car. And it is a big enough city that you can probably find a bus tour to an area you can't easily reach by public transport.

Hi, I've been heavily researching the Nice area for an upcoming trip in a few weeks. I don't rent cars in Europe, and there's lots of options in the Nice area.

From the train station, you can catch the tram down into the center of the hotel tourist area. There's also supposed to be a tram to the airport (I haven't verified because I'm taking trains RT.) Between all of the towns along the coast, you can either catch a train or many have buses that are very cheap to be an incentive to not rent a car.

Here's some activities I'm planning with transportation listed:
Day 1: Exploring markets & walking Promenade des Anglais; afternoon - reserved "Nice Food & Wine Tours" with Food Tours of Nice with Nadia
Day 2: Take the bus to see Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild; mid-afternoon taking a Perfume Workshop w/ Molinard Perfumery (create your own small bottle of perfume, too)
Day 3: Take a boat ride over to Monaco (Monaco is not a priority but want a nice boat ride), maybe stop at the oceanographic museum, too. Take the train on to Menton. Early evening take the train back to Nice.
Day 4: Take the bus to St. Paul de Vence Sunday morning and attend a small church. Have lunch & return to Nice. Spend the rest of the day at Nice museums & enjoying the town.

Just an FYI - Viator is just a middleman distributor. They're not a tour company. It's always best to book directly with the actual tour provider, if possible.

Enjoy your trip!

In Saint Paul de Vence is one of the most wonderful modern art museums, the Fondation Maeght, a real highlight in the general Nice area!