We are travelling from New Zealand to France in June/July next year. We will have approximately 12 nights in France starting from Paris and possibly ending up in Nice. We want to do self drive but don%26#39;t want to spend all our time driving and missing out of the wonderful countryside.
We would like to see the Normandy Beaches, Mont St Michel, perhaps travel by train to Bordeaux or Avignon and travel in the South of France ending up in Nice.
Does anyone have any suggestions of what we can do and where we can go in this time. It is certainly mind boggling to say the least.
There are 4 adults and 1 14 year old so would need suitable areas for all of us.
Look fowrard to hearing from everyone
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BoHurley,
12 nights in France won%26#39;t do justice to all the places
you have indicated you want to go.
I have spent 5 Septembers in Paris in the past 6 years
and am just now feeling fairly comfortable getting around
and have seen the MAJOR sights only.
You might think about Paris with day trips to Normandy,
San Michel and maybe one other. You can drive but it
is quite a distance to Normandy and San Michel. If you
choose to drive you might plan on staying at least 1 night
there. The TGV is a good resource for getting to
places without driving.
You need to look at a good map of France and identify the
various places you are thinking about.
Get a good guide book that will tell you how much driving is
involved. With a book on Paris you can learn what you
may want to see and how long those things take.
Plan an itinerary and get back to us for feedback.
If I were in your place with 12 nights, I would stay
7 in Paris (with tours to Normandy and Mont San Michel,
and possibly Chartres, a museum or two (I like the D%26#39;Orsay,
Cluny, Rodin and Marmatton), Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame,
some shopping and sitting in a cafe watching
the world go by .
That would leave you time to travel to Bordeaux to see
some castles and on to Nice for several days
What do you think ?
Best Wishes,
Randy
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That is too much for 12 days, so some editing is required.
You have a few options, but for starters, Randy is right that you will best enjoy Paris if you stay here and just do a day trip, or two. I would recommend shorter ones than Normandy during that time. (ie, Fountainbleau,
For the remaining five days I would choose either the S. of France or Normandy and explore that region, skipping Bordeaux altogether (unless you are really into those wines and speak French somewhat fluently).
Once you have chosen a region, I can give you lots of very fun family adventures that you can all enjoy.
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Thank you all so much. I was thinking that we were trying to do too much in such a short space of time but you know what its like when you only have limited time - you want to see everthing!
I was thinking last night that we really should just pick one area and concentrate on that. I think that Normandy and the Loire area sound interesting and we can go by train to Caen and pick up car and travel around returning to Paris. If the family really want to go to Nice we could possibly fly from Paris to Nice and spend a couple of days there.
We had intended of catching train from Paris to Bordeaux and then driving to nice but looking at maps and driving times all we would be doing is sitting in the car (5 people) and getting no enjoyment out of it.
Any suggestions:
Normandy/Loire area
South of France?
This is a great forum place to get information thats for sure
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phread is right, Bordeaux is a nice town but unless if you have a real specific interest in wine it is not worth to go to bordeaux and then drive to nice. Marseille with TGV train is only 3 hours from Paris and Nice 5h30 the best way is to take a train directly from Paris to one of these 2 town
it is really diffcult to choose between S of France and Normandy and Loire Valley as it is quite different.
to do short: In my opinion the countryside is more magnificient if you go in the South of France and especially in the %26quot;arriere pays%26quot; Gorges du Cians, de Dalhuis, Canyon du Verdon. In the other way if you want to focus your journey on historical or cultural visit, Normandy and Loire valley could be better
Another option you you decide to go on the South is to stop in Nimes and go to visit some historial roman sites (Nimes arena, Pont du Gard, Avignon, Orange) but it will %26quot;cost%26quot; you 3 days and then no many times to go somewhere else as you need at least to spend 4 days in the Riviera
one or 2 day trip could be done from Paris to Normandy as Rouen is only 2 or 3 hours far from Paris but if french people do it easily you will spend time to rent a car and drive in Paris (or take a train ticket and rent a car) to check the road, etc....so it depends to your %26quot;state of mind%26quot;
You need also to know how many days you want to stay in Paris (do you like museum or not ?..) and then it will ber easier to decide and plan your stay in the country
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