Two nights between Paris and Nice.... recommend town

You seem to be (?) inclined to the small town, which may be a good break from Paris & Nice, although Lyon and environs has plenty to keep your attention for two days-we loved Lyon. Driving is pretty easy in France, and could be important to you were you to explore Burgundy-though tours are available. Having said that, if wineries are on your radar, be very careful with alcohol and driving in France.

If you took the train to Lyon (then on to Nice) you wouldn't need a car there, and even in the city there is a lot to see via public transport and pedicabs. Get a car in Nice and tour the South a bit.

If you are thinking of driving from Paris to Nice, don't, it's long even over three days. I don't care too much for Lyon personally, so I'd be inclined to stay in Dijon and visit the area for a day (with a vineyard visit ideally!). Beaune is nice too, but there's not much there to justify staying longer than one night, and it's a bit more awkward to reach/leave by train (extra transfers).

Lyon is a great city. I'd recommend taking the train there and staying there one night or both, then either renting a car or taking the train to Nice. If you don't plan on staying somewhere between Lyon and Nice, then the train makes more sense.

Lyon is considered the culinary capital of France, if that interests you, although yes, it's not picturesque. I've used Dijon to break up drives between Germany and the South of France before and it fits the bill quite nicely, but Beaune would work, too.

But I also hate driving in Europe in general so my honest advice would be to take the train.

You could take the train to Dijon, not a long journey, spend a day or two there and then pick up a car. There are car rental businesses at the train station.

Troyes is sort of half way ish.

Helo Lorie,

My advice is train, train, for heaven's sake take the train. France is Europe's largest country do not drive across it if you don't need to or some burning desire to see something you cannot get to on public transportation. Even then I would say take the train as close as you can and then rent a car just to go to that place.

In my opinion if you drive you will spend too much of your vacation time driving rather than seeing sights. Paris to Lyon is at least 5 hours by car and 2 peaceful hours by train.

Paris and Nice are both real cities so it sounds like you want to see some smaller towns but you don't give much indication of your interests beyond that.
-Lyon is fashionable, interesting city that is the gastronomic center of France with good public transportation and small core from a tourist standpoint. If food is your thing this is your city. It's not quite halfway to Nice timewise but is pretty close.
-Dijon would also work here - no personal advice but similar in size to Nimes but more northern influence.

If you want smaller towns the Provence region makes perfect sense - small charming towns on your way to the coast. You could do a northern city - Lyon, Dijon - train to Avignon and then continue down to Nice. You could also train all the way to the southern cities - Avignon or Nimes - see Provence and then continue on to Nice.

In the south you are more likely to get Roman ruins - both Nimes and Arles have stadiums and other sites - and bolder wines with cotes du Rhone style wines coming from this region. (The actual town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is on the train line through this region.)
Avignon is also a good central hub so you could even train to Avignon and either stay two nights seeing Avignon and then the surrounding area - Arles, Nimes, or something like that. It really depends on your travel style and interests.

I personally prefer Arles to Avignon as a smaller provencial city but it complicates train transfers a little bit since it's off the TGV line and if you're looking for maximum time seeing places outside the travelling Avignon is easier.

Sample times:
Paris to Lyon - 2 hours; Lyon to Avignon - 1 hour; Avignon to Nice ~3:30hours;
Paris to Dijon - 1.5 hours; Dijon to Avignon ~3 hours; Avignon to Nice ~3:30hours;
Paris to Avignon - 2:30 - 3:00 hours; Avignon to Nice ~3:30hours;

Check the official train site or I prefer Loco2.com for tickets but there a many different train ticket sites,

And yes, I have driven in France on multiple occasions - including in Nice - but with limited time I can't recommend it.

Have a great trip!
=Tod

Here’s another variation that might ring your bells, since you said smaller village.

Let’s start with trains—to Marseille the train is a TGV and takes only 3 hours. Marseille to Nice is another 3+ because the tracks can’t handle high speed. Although Dijon or Lyon may look halfway on paper, they aren’t time wise.

So how about TGV to Marseille and switch to the local train for the 20-minute ride to Cassis. Then after 2 nights, take a local train either back to Marseille or east to Toulon to pick up the faster intercity train, or stay on the regional slow train all the way to Nice. It runs along the coast, so try to sit on the right side of the car. That’s right as in starboard, not right as in correct. Cassis is lovely in September and offers a lot to do, even a little Roman museum.

I’ve driven this, I flown it, I’ve taken the train, all many times. Based on your time, I wouldn’t bother driving.

I'd add the days to Paris and take the train. Once in Paris you can visit many small towns within an hour of Paris by train as day trips. Here are a few
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/day-trips-from-paris/
others include Provins, Auvers sur Oise, Chartres, Maintenon with its chateau, lots of great options.

It is a long drive -- we have done it several times both ways. It is worth is, if you have more time, but unless you already have a car and thus find it a good value, I'd train it. A lot of driving for little payoff.

We have stopped in Auxerre and in Semur en Auxois, which is a stunning little town. I prefer those to Dijon and Lyon but YMMV. We also once stayed in Vienne a small town with a lot of Roman ruins -- happy accident and worth an afternoon.

Lyon is great, and logistically sweet (for goodness sakes, take the train!), but it sounds as though you'd like a break from big city, however charming.

In that case I would suggest Beaune if you youthful ladies are happy in bicycles or with renting a car for a day. There are several very fine cycling loops out of Beaune (of varying difficulty) and a very friendly bike-rental shop to advise you. Otherwise 2 nights in Beaune is rather a lot of time there.

In that case I suggest taking the train to Arles and seeing what you can of Rhone Valley Provence. You will not run out of things to do.

Have a great trip!

Thank you fellow travelers for the great advice. I have decided to take a train to Dijon for the two nights. Am I correct in believing there are routes directly without changes? What is the best company for advanced purchases? Or do I even need advanced purchase?
Additionally recommendations for a moderately priced hotel are greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Lorieann

Buy your tickets direct from SNCF, rather than a 3rd party. If you're willing to be locked into a specific train departure, you can save more than half the cost of a full-price ticket, so I'd book them now, if money is an object. I can't help you with hotel recs in Dijon (we stayed at an Ibis, so) but it's a lovely area to visit and explore.

Hi Sarah,

Thank you for the info. What is SNCF?

Lorieann

Not seeing a reply, Lorie, so I’ll chime in to help. SNCF is the French national railway company: www.sncf.com

SNCF is the French train line. Some people find the website difficult to use, often the website tries to send you to Rail Europe which only sells a subset of all the tickets SNCF sells (and at a markup to boot).

My suggestion is to use an authorized reseller like Trainline https://www.thetrainline.com/ which sells tickets at the same price as SNCF, has an easier to navigate website, and US credit cards work

You can also learn more about train travel in France on the helpful site https://www.seat61.com/France.htm and especially https://www.seat61.com/France-trains.htm#How%20to%20buy%20train%20tickets%20for%20France

It’s not so easy to get on and off at will as these are high-speed or intercity trains. You may be thinking of little local trains. You’ll need to buy tickets between specific cities. You have Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Lyon, Dijon, and more to choose from.