in france without a car

The last thing you need in Paris is a car.

France has a great rail network. But for the rural areas, you need a car.

i am thinking of starting in barcelona and working my way up to paris. really do not want to get a car since i am going alone. there must be great stops on the way. please advise

You can do this without a car.

We've already dealt with Paris. All train tracks in France lead to Paris.

Now, the "south of France" refers to a huge area. Are you thinking Provence or the Riviera?

have not gotten that far. looking for suggestions from others, but initial thoughts are Provence.

Provence is a good choice. But here's a key thing about Provence, a point already made by Doug: you can do the Provence cities and towns that are linked by rail. But to explore the Provence countryside, public transportation (trains and buses) gets more tricky and takes more time.

This isn't the only way to do it, but most travelers explore the Provence countryside by rental car. If a rental car is out as a choice (and there are good reasons to do it sans rental car), then you're probably going to want to limit your Provence sight-seeing to the cities and towns of Provence that are well served by rail. Those are the cities/towns of Arles, Nimes, Aix-en-Provence, and Avignon. If you just gotta see the Pont du Gard, you'll take a tour bus or van, probably out of Avignon.

We will be in Avingon in September. We are travelling through Germany and France by rail. We have organised a day trip from Avignon to Arles, Orange and various other places. We are doing the same when in Tours.

Judy, what do you mean that you have organised a day trip? are you renting a car for the day, or did you go through an agency? thanks for the reply?

We have organised a day trip from Avignon through Viator. There are several to chose from through this site. We spend a couple of days in each place doing our thing. We take a one day tour from our base to check out the sites beyond.