Two weeks in November - seeking itinerary help

Even if it were summer, I would not attempt this much traveling in under two weeks. In November, it will be dark at 17h00, windy, often rainy, and overall very cold. This is really the time to be in the cities, not exploring the countryside.

Upon CDG arrival (I assume CDG), I would continue to Tours by train and rent a car for a few days visiting châteaux and troglodytes, maybe a few vineyards. I would next drive to Provence, staying in Avignon as a hub. From there you can explore Provence but daylight will be very limited. In summer, you could easily spend a week or more in Provence. In winter, the cold and darkness can really limit the enthusiasm.

Maybe you could include Lyon on your way north but I would end in Paris, spending 4 full days, 5 nights and being in position for you flight home.

Thanks! Makes sense on the weather warning. Even if we'd like to hope for the best. We've been to Paris several times so wanted to get outside. Know the time isn't quite right. That said our flights were free and we wanted to go here versus some sunnier parts of the world. We could always just fly to some other country from France (our flights in/out were free so that was part of our criteria).

We planned to start in Paris to meet a family friend who's only available on that part of the trip although can see about reversing for better weather if they're not able to join after all. That would be a priority for us versus going in the other order even if that makes more weather sense.

How about Nimes as a 2-night base in the south with the museum as a plan for a rainy day?

I'd guess that you'd recommend to cut out the Vaison la Romaine stop as well?

Welcome to the forum!

I know weather can be hard to predict, but I have been to Paris twice in November for a total of 10 days, and it only rained one time - and that was overnight! I love walking in Paris in the cool crisp autumn air.

I like the idea of landing at CDG and then taking a train straight to the Loire Valley (unless this is the only time you can meet up with your friends in Paris). Either Tours or Amboise would be a good home base. I've been to Amboise (loved it) but have yet to go to Tours.

From the Loire, you could either train/car to Lyon. I think I would skip Vaison la Romaine - it's probably lovely, but I would allocate those days somewhere else. In Lyon, you won't need a car so you could drop it off upon arrival (assuming you still have it).

After touring Lyon, you could then take the train to Arles, Nimes or Avignon. I stayed in Arles and loved the medieval lanes and maginficent amphitheatre. Nimes and Avignon are easy day trips from Arles- only a 20 minute train ride.

From Provence, you can take the train back to Paris.

This sounds like a wonderful trip - enjoy!

That's too much moving around for my taste. I stayed in Avignon for a week in the second half of November (including Beaujolais Day--free wine at the corner store!) and did a day trip to Arles. Most on here seem to prefer it the other way around. We had very mixed weather but were "Sur le Pont d'Avignon" in sunshine with just light jackets. In addition to Beaujolais Day, there was a food festival going on. Delicious aligout was eaten. Great market there. Lots to see and do. We stayed outside the walls but still walked everywhere.

Hi! I would only choose 3 stays to avoid mad dashing in and out of hotels. We just returned from St Remy which was our base for day trips in Provence. Lovely village with plenty of restaurants, shops and fabulous Roman ruins along with Van Gough’s history there. We preferred it over Avignon (we stayed there 2 nights). Chateauneuf du Pape is not to be missed along with Vaison la Romaine. We took a walking tour w Janet Henderson in Vaison that blew our berets off! Easy driving but dlower than you’d imagine due to endless roundabouts and zigzag hill roads. Enjoy!

Thanks for the votes of confidence to roll the dice on the weather and things to do. We can't switch up the order due to travel plans of those we're meeting so at least that's fixed.

Totally get the feedback extra stop and less moving around... that's generally our preference. But if doing a roadtrip going in/out of hotels isn't such a a big deal, at least when outside old city walls. Otherwise agree it's a pain in the neck. Our debate is more if we based ourselves for 4 days in Nimes, Arles or St Remy would we end up doing a bit less in the region overall vs. getting a bit more of a feel by breaking up the drive from Lyon to the South.

We're thinking to stay in the Secret Garden in Nimes so a bonus of an extra stop would be lowering the hotel cost if we are somewhere a bit cheaper in Vaison :)

I recommend staying in St. Remy, which is a very pretty town in the heart of the Alpilles. St. Remy is very well located for visiting the Luberon villages, Les Baux, Avignon and the loverly small village of Eygalieres, which is not on the typical tourist route. Eygalieres is one of my favorite villages. It has a wonderful market on Fridays, and the restaurants serve a white fish baked in parchment with vegetables only on Fridays. We had an excellent meal at Chez Paulette. In Eygalieres you can walk uphill to see the ruins of an ancient church with gorgeous views of the valley.

While in St. Remy, you can visit the asylum where Van Gogh was a patient for a year and where he painted. And visit the ruins of Glanum. And in Les Baux, there is the sound and light show in a quarry, and you can visit the medieval castle ruins.

I think you could have pleasant weather in November. When our daughter lived in Provence for 10 years, we visited many times. Once in November, and it was sunny with pleasant temperatures. We visited once in December, and while it was chilly most days, we had very little rain. In fact, there were a few days when it was comfortable enough to dine outdoors for lunch.

Because of the way you've listed your dates--with your travel days shown in both the area you're departing from and the area you're traveling to, when much of that time will be in neither place--you appear at a glance to have more time at each location than you really do. I know it's different to some degree when you are using a car rather than public transportation, but you won't have a lot of days when you aren't packing up and moving. And the days will be very short in late November.

Paris: 3 full days
Loire / Tours / Amboise: 1 full day. Pick up car here.
Lyon: 2 full days. This is at least a 4 hr. 39 min. drive (per ViaMichelin)
Rhone Valley/Vaison la Romaine: 1 full day
Provence: 1 full day?

I wouldn't want to sleep in Provence the night before a flight from CDG. I'm not sure whether that's your plan.

Steves-a-holic,
Viamichelin and other route planning apps do not account for gas/food/comfort stops, or any traffic hold-ups. We always use a car in France and add at least one hour to their time (for shorter drives) and maybe two on longer drives. Factor in checking out and checking in at your lodgings, and your transit time is longer than you are allowing.
And acraven is correct in how you are calculating your time in each place. Count nights, not days. And two nights equal one full day and (maybe) one partial day if your drives aren't too long between stops.

Please don't try to get to CDG from Provence on departure day. Stay at an airport hotel the night before (if an early departure) or Paris (if a late departure). So many things can go wrong.

Thanks kmkwoo for the weather votes of confidence and the St Remy tips. I'm not sure if we'll base there but definitely will be stopping there with your tips already in our travel plan :)

Yes, we have an airport hotel at CDG the night prior to our return flight. Planning to take one of the later trains (but not the last!) so we have some cushion to make it to CDG. I need to get that booked!

acraven and Judy - agree on the travel times but it's not quite so bad as needing a full day every time we move. Paris to Tours is a short TGV ride and we'd have 1 full day and 2 half days there (depending on our departure time). Then from Lyon the stop in Vaison la Romaine makes it a short drive.

Only one of the days has really significant travel to relocate hotels, which is from Loire to Lyon. That's a long trek... 5 hours train (Intercites) or at least that much driving (probably more). If we did the train versus drive then we could also go in the evening without any adventures in night driving, although would need some extra time to return a car in Tours and add some time to rent another one in Lyon. Cost-wise it's probably a bit more expensive to drive and park a car in Lyon but it would give us some freedom of movement to pick times and explore. I'm not sure where to come out on balancing the train travel vs multiple car rentals, but maybe the train is a good idea to skip the longer drive unless there's enough to see along the way that it's worth making a full day of the journey (we like that kind of thing).

The other days the travel is 1-2 hours as mapped so not too bad (or 2-3 hours real time with acraven's rules of thumb, which are the ones we'll be using). In Provence we're also thinking if we based ourselves in one place we'd be driving the same kinds of distances anyway for day trips so might as well break up the stay.

Unlike the other posters, I do not think that the plan is that excessive.
The train from St Pierre des Corps to Lyon is the way to go IMO; there is an afternoon TGV taking 3 hours as well as slower trains taking 5 hours, both are direct.
I would just consolidate the two Provence stays in a single 4-night stay. L'Isle sur la Sorgue is a good port-of-call if you also want to hop to the vineyards around Orange. Although the leaves might already have fallen by then, in which case the vineyards will look barren.

Steves-a-holic,
I can see you have done some good research on this trip. Bravo! In 2017 we drove from the Loire region to Beaune, our longest drive on that trip. We left from Chambord (the town area) and stopped at Fontenay Abbey for a couple of hours. It was well worth the time...one of our best memories of that trip. Your trip would take a bit longer if leaving from Amboise and going to Lyon, but should you have time, Fontenay is a great stop.
Bon voyage!

P.S. If you take the train to Lyon, don't rent a car until you are leaving there. Parking is a bit difficult and pricy there. You won't want a car in Lyon.

Thanks for the continuing feedback. Booked both an evening train and a nice lunch near Tours, it's a 5hr train ride (weekend). Did the smallest of splurges to first class for $15 each. Will see if that has any actual benefit. Very excited now that we have most of our hotels and transit booked. Off season planning is nice to be able to do this a bit closer to the date, even if it may pour :)

Still TBD if we consolidate to one place in Provence -- may decide that when we're on the ground and if we're able to get a booking at the buffet in Narbonne that will shift things around.

For Lyon agree it seems like no car is needed, although if we visit the Convent La Tourette (https://www.couventdelatourette.fr/) we may need one for a day. We'll be there on Armistice Day so curious if much will be open or activities to join in the city.