My husband and I will be flying to Paris April 13 and departing April 29. Ideally, we would like to see Paris, go to Provence, and see the hill towns of Southern Spain and the Alhambra and divide our time at these locations somewhat equally. Can you suggest the best way to reach these destinations for the budget traveller?
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
It is possible to do Avignon to Sevilla by train but it would be a long trip with several changes and take all day, if it was possible to do it at all in one day. You might want to stop off for a night or two in Barcelona along the way. By air, Ryanair fly direct from Marseille (train from Avignon to either the central Marseille station or the Airport station, then bus to the airport) to Sevilla. If you book with Ryanair, read the website in detail and be VERY clear on your luggage limits and the requirement to check in online ajd print your own boarding pass, they make as much cash as they can from "fining" people who get confused about their rules.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23296 posts
If trying to same money, I would save Paris for another trip and focus on Spain. Consider flying into Madrid and home from Malaga. You could catch everything in between via bus and train. Because the train system in Spain is not as extensive as most of Europe, they have developed a great bus system that is cheap, convenient to use, and will get you to nearly everywhere.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10208 posts
If you are flying on the 13th, you arrive on the 14th a little jet lagged. If you are leaving on the 29th, that means you have from the 14th to the 28th. Now you need a day for getting from Paris to Provence by the time you go from hotel to hotel, a day for flying from the south of France to the south of Spain, and a day to fly back to Paris. This gives you 11 days to see three major areas, or less if you take the train. You should probably let Spain be your next trip.
Posted by
Easley, SC, USA
306 posts
Deborah, I'm a literalist when it comes to language, so if this is obvious to you feel free to ignore it! Your message title says Sevilla, but your message body says Alhambra. Sevilla is a great city and everyone should visit it on a trip to southern Spain, but the Alhambra is in Granada! So if you do mean to go to both Sevilla and the Alhambra, be aware you'll need to do more than just get to or from Sevilla from France! And you're gonna LOVE the Alhambra! Tom
Posted by
OP
Atlanta, GA
8 posts
Thanks to all of you for your ideas. We have never been to Europe and this will probably be our only trip, so we decided to drop Granada and Seville from our plans and focus on France, namely Provence and Paris. This message board and your responses have been very helpful.
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4051 posts
To combine Paris and southern France, you can fly home from Marseille or Nice for very little extra money, and saving both the time and the cost of returning to Paris.