franc itinerary

Dear California, You can have a great time in 3 weeks. May is a terrific time to do it. Where do you want to go? You mention Lyon and "the water." What water? Why do you want to go to Geneva? What's west of Paris to you--do you mean Normandy? Are there things you want to see there? What's south of west of Paris that you want to see? These are all great places (well, I don't know about Geneva), and there are other great places. But what do you hope to see and do?

We think we want 5 nights in Paris, then we want to go southwest to Bordeaux. From there, to Montpellier and up to Lyon. At that point, we are wondering if it makes more sense to head back to Paris for a flight home via Dijon, or to go east and head to Switzerland. We are leaning toward the circle back to Paris. I hear Dijon is a foodies heaven.

I think Lyon is officially the foodies' heaven. Good eats in Burgundy though. What you decide about Switzerland vs. Paris at the end might suggest two very different itineraries. With Switzerland, you night look at flying home from Zurich or Geneva, depending on where you go. With Paris, picture a 2/3 circle passing through Bordeaux, Montpelier, Lyon, and Paris (stopping in Burgundy if you like). Travel it either way, flying an/out of the termini rather than as a full circle beginning and ending in Paris. It will save a travel day. I see you will have a car (and you will be glad of it in many of these places), but you might want to structure things so that you can take advantage of France's fast trains. You can get from Paris to Dijon, Lyon, Montpelier, and Bordeaux faster by train that driving, for instance (other connections are not necessarily so swift). Finally, you bypass two great places on your trip, Provence and the Dordogne and Lot valleys. If you haven't considered these you might want to. Both have great food among many other things.

thank you. I appreciate your help.

Depending how your itinerary works out you could fly back to the U.S. from Toulouse or Bordeaux so you don't have to backtrack to Paris. Lyon or Geneva could work as well. We just did a trip flying into Bordeaux and home from Toulouse - both airports were very easy - much less crowded than CDG or Orly. For Bordeaux we flew from Atlanta with a stop in Amsterdam. From Toulouse, we had a stop in Paris.

If you are using miles you will inevitably fly into and out of Paris. You may return from another city but it will be a short flight to Paris for the main flight home. You may even want to return to Paris to see some more of it at the end of your trip when you are completely over the jet lag and can enjoy the evenings more than when you first arrive. The time difference from California is substantial. I'd consider Paris for a few days to start. If you like wine (since you mentioned Bordeaux) spend a few days touring around St. Emillion and then on to the Dordogne (another foodie spot with so much more). From there head to Provence and on to the Riviera. Lyon and Dijon are good midway points before heading back to Paris. With three weeks to spend I'm sure you could work in another few stops along the way. You will have eaten your way through France. Other than Paris, many of the places will be best with a car.