14 days in France, itinerary suggestions?

Jackie - what time of year are you going? And I guess I should also ask whether you are traveling by train, plane or automobile. There's a lot of countryside, and each region of France has its own culture and cuisine. Nice/Cote d'Azur is a good place if you want the beach. You could tour Provence, or go further north to the Burgundy area for some quitier countryside. But explring countryside is going to be easier/better if you have a car.

Provence is a good choice and logistically well-connected to Paris by rail. You could easily work in a few other destinations enroute, e.g. Lyon and/or Burgundy. However, were I in your shoes I would at least weigh the additional effort of visiting the Dordogne and Lot valleys in SW France. I say "additional effort" mostly because rail service is so spotty there that a car is practically required, and some people do not like to drive. What you get in return however is a chance to see an exceptional part of France that is proximate to Catalonia and thus logistically expedient. If you think you might ever want to visit this beautiful area, with its lush countryside, great food, medieval fortresses, and ancient cave art, this might be your best chance to do so. You could easily spend a week between Perpignan and Sarlat. From there you could drive to the Loire, where a car is also useful, or to Angoleme to take the fast train to Paris. A car would be very useful in Provence also, so if the car is an obstacle to the Dordogne it should not be. Nice is 6 hours from Paris by train, Angoleme 2-1/2

Thanks for the reply. I will spend about a week and a half in Lisbon, Madrid, and Barcelona. I will travel to France in mid march (3/13/2013) either by point to point train or flight depand on the price. I will soely rely on trains and buses for transportation purposes since I'm not very confident on driving in Europe. I have also thought about going to Nice and Provence, or even Versailles maybe. However, I couldn't think of a good traveling route and I didn't know if this is too much to accomplished in 14 days. Do you think a route such as Barcelona to Nice to Provence to Paris will be a good choice? Thank you,
Jackie

Adam, Thank you for your comment. I am not intending on driving since I really don't trust my driving skill. Currently, I have scheduled my route to be from Barcelona to Avignon to Nice and then to Paris. I will spend about 3 days in Avignon and 3 days in Nice. I will stay in Paris for the remainder days (7 days). Do you think this is a good decision? Thank you,
Jackie

I hope it's okay if I put in my 2 cents just about that middle portion. I have spent 5 nights/6 days in Nice and been to Provence 2x (4 nights in Arles, 4 nights in Avignon). I could go back to Provence and still explore places I have not seen. I did do some repeat visiting in Provence given my second trip was with my sister though. With Nice, I love that area and could go back and happily find other places to visit since I did not cover it all while I was there. With my sister, we took our time though and reserved one destination per day trip. Having said that I would choose between Nice and Provence for that time in between Spain and Paris. Otherwise you will likely spend a fair amount of time on trains and lose the time in both places. I am planning my honeymoon in May and was finding that coming out of Barcelona on train is not efficient unless you take a night train (I am taking that to Paris and getting off early in the Loire region). What probably makes the most sense is Avignon since you will spend less time on the train from Barcelona and you can still take a TGV to Paris after you are done there (ensure you book that one early though).