where to spend the 10 days before Paris

Kay just retruned from my trip to France ( multiple visits under my belt) and Spain( first time) and I vote that you fly into Barcelona, rent a car and tour the Costa Brava Coast.. its pretty, clean, CHEAP, and the people are lovely. We only had 5 nights in a small town called Tossa De Mar and we loved it so much. We weren't awed by Barcelona,, only two days there, but we were a bit "citied" out by that point in our trip( had already done Paris, Nice and Amsterdam) so that may have influenced our feelings.
I would then leave the car in Spain( cross border drop off with a rental car apparently very expensive) , fly to Nice( cost us 45 euros each on Vueling) and then perhaps rent a car in Nice and drive to Paris,, sightseeing as you go?! I do admit I rather overplanned our trip this summer, 25 days but 7 accomadation/destination changes, and when we do it again we would simplify more, but perhaps if you are younger and more energetic then us it wouldnt bother you.

This does not sound like a bad idea, except that I would not enjoy driving from Barcelona to Paris in only 3 days. So I would do one of the following: 1) Spend those 3 days in Spain, either by exploring Catalonia (perhaps in a car) and flying to paris form Barcelona, or adding Madrid 2) Take the train to Provence for a few days, then take the train to Paris.

We flew from Barcelona to Paris on Easyjet for 45 euros each on included( we paid the extra for a checked bag) ...the flight was absolutely fine, and about 1.5 hours , maybe a tad less.

If you're looking to spend some time outside of Paris for 10 days in October, how about perhaps Burgundy? Not sure how much it would cost extra to fly into Lyon or Dijon and visit the heart of Burgundian wine country in autumn. By that point in your Australian summer, you'll probably be ready for some cooler weather. Are you looking for city, country, do you like wine, would you be willing to fly into and out of Paris? I'm not sure I'd do the full Barcelona to Paris route unless you want to spend much of each day driving and part of the day sight-seeing, or several long day trips with a couple of over-nights. One area of France I've always wanted to visit in the Autumn was Brittany and Normandy. With all the apples and cream and other wonderful things it just seemed more suited for Autumn. It can get rather cool and wet in the Fall that far North, but something to think about. The Loire and Burgundy in two weeks is also quite do-able and they are two similar areas with some definite differences in atmosphere, food and wine. And the Chateau are pretty spectacular. And I believe the Chateau are open all year round.

First time posting so I hope I'm doing it right. Firstly, thanks to everyone who has posted a reply to my original post - from really being totally overwhelmed, I now have a clearer idea of what we can achieve in the limited time frame we have, At the moment, I think we'll fly into Barcelona for 4 nights, train to Toulouse & spend a few days there & take a tour to Carcasonne - train or maybe hire a car to drive up to the Loire Valley, hopefully on the less travelled roads, maybe stopping over in a small village on the way to savour village life, a couple of nights in Giverney and then Paris for our last 7 days. It now seems like such a flying visit and I really don't want it to be a "fly by" so already, I know we will come back to explore more. Thanks to all regards
Kay