Looking for help with June 2017 Trip that includes London, Paris and Barcelona

Hi bgrzywa2,

I think your plan sounds good as is. You can fly from Bilbao back to London fairly cheaply to catch a connecting flight back to the U.S. See www.skyscanner.com for options. Be aware that many of the budget carriers will fly into secondary London airports, such as Gatwick or Stansted. There are some direct flights on British to Heathrow, which are inexpensive if you book ahead.

If you want to go to another location in France, rather than Valencia, here are two options:

Lyon: About 2 hours south of Paris on frequent TGV trains. After Paris, it's one of the biggest culinary centers of France, so you will find lot's of good food and wine here. The two most interesting parts of the city are Vieux-Lyon (traffic-free, historic core) and the Presqu'ile (classy, Parisian-feeling shopping streets and restaurants). There are also 2 Roman theaters and a Gallo-Roman Museum, as well as several other fine museums (Museum of Fine Arts, Lumiere Museum and Decorative Arts & Textile museum). There's also an interesting Resistance and Deportation History Center and a nice Riverside bike path. Kanpai Tours runs minivan trips to the Beaujolais and northern Rhone valley wine regions for a nice day trip outside the city - www.kanpai-tourisme.com

From Lyon, you can fly inexpensively to Barcelona. See www.skyscanner.com

Avignon: You could take a high-speed TGV train from Paris to Avignon in less than 3 hours. While 2 nights isn't a lot of time here, you could see the sites in Avignon your first day (Palace of the Popes, Palace Square, wandering the old town and ramparts and the river walk and park across the river from town). You could spend your 2nd day doing a day trip by public transit to Arles (good Roman sites), or Orange (more Roman sites) or rent a car for the day and explore the nearby hill towns and/or some wine tasting. There are also some mini-van tours for day trips outside of town for wine tasting and hill towns. Two tours I have done and enjoyed are Avignon Wine Tours - www.avignon-wine-tour.com and Wine Safari - www.winesafari.net.

You could then take the TGV to Barcelona (4 hours, 1 direct morning train per day, other options with a change in Nimes). French TGV trains can be booked up to 4 months ahead for some discounted tickets. Most of the cheaper, advance-purchase tickets are non-refundable, non-exchangeable, so you should be ready to commit at time of purchase. See www.sncf.com for schedules and tickets.

hmm, Lyon or Valencia... both are good choices!

Yeah I left like Valencia was the one place we missed during original trip to Spain going south and around back up so I kind of wanted to hit it this time if it was logical. I haven't done much research on France though so wanted to hear peoples' input for those who have done both before.