10 day vacation in France

We are going to France in June for just 9 days. We have scheduled 5
nights in Paris and 4 nights in Nice with plans to take day trips from
Nice. We have also considered staying in Provence for a couple of
nights and Nice for a couple of nights instead, but would rather stay in
one place. Are day trips to Provence for maybe wine tastings and other
things realistic? Any other comments or ideas are welcome. Thanks,

Edward

If you rent a car, yes.

"Edward" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion
: ...
We are going to France in June for just 9 days. We have scheduled 5
nights in Paris and 4 nights in Nice with plans to take day trips from
Nice. We have also considered staying in Provence for a couple of nights
and Nice for a couple of nights instead, but would rather stay in one
place. Are day trips to Provence for maybe wine tastings and other things
realistic? Any other comments or ideas are welcome. Thanks,

Edward

On 09/05/2010 20:12, Runge121 wrote:
If you rent a car, yes.

"Edward" a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion : ...
We are going to France in June for just 9 days. We have scheduled 5
nights in Paris and 4 nights in Nice with plans to take day trips
from Nice. We have also considered staying in Provence for a couple
of nights and Nice for a couple of nights instead, but would rather
stay in one place. Are day trips to Provence for maybe wine tastings
and other things realistic? Any other comments or ideas are
welcome. Thanks,

Edward

Don't forget the fuel and toll road costs.
We drove to Northern Spain in March from the UK and it was very
noticeable that the cost for a 9 day trip had seriously increased since
our previous trip.
We did approx 2000 Miles there and back, and inclusive of ferry costs
(approx£70 return) we spent approx £415 on fuel and tolls.

9 Nights in various hotels( inc meals) France (5), Spain (3), UK (1)
approx £1270.

Total approx £1700

Hope this helps.

Don

Donwill wrote on May 10, 2010:

On 09/05/2010 20:12, Runge121 wrote:
If you rent a car, yes.

"Edward" a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion : ...
We are going to France in June for just 9 days. We have scheduled 5
nights in Paris and 4 nights in Nice with plans to take day trips
from Nice. We have also considered staying in Provence for a couple
of nights and Nice for a couple of nights instead, but would rather
stay in one place. Are day trips to Provence for maybe wine tastings
and other things realistic? Any other comments or ideas are
welcome. Thanks,

Edward

Don't forget the fuel and toll road costs.
We drove to Northern Spain in March from the UK and it was very
noticeable that the cost for a 9 day trip had seriously increased since
our previous trip.
We did approx 2000 Miles there and back, and inclusive of ferry costs
(approx£70 return) we spent approx £415 on fuel and tolls.


I don't pay road tolls when I drive in France since I try to stick to D roads
wherever possible. I find it far more pleasant - the roads are often free of
traffic, going through nice places, and you can stop whenever you like. It's
slower of course, but I'm not in a hurry; if I were, I wouldn't drive in the
first place.

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
email: mike_lane at mac dot com

On 10/05/2010 13:44, Mike Lane wrote:
Donwill wrote on May 10, 2010:


On 09/05/2010 20:12, Runge121 wrote:

If you rent a car, yes.

a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion : ...

We are going to France in June for just 9 days. We have scheduled 5
nights in Paris and 4 nights in Nice with plans to take day trips
from Nice. We have also considered staying in Provence for a couple
of nights and Nice for a couple of nights instead, but would rather
stay in one place. Are day trips to Provence for maybe wine tastings
and other things realistic? Any other comments or ideas are
welcome. Thanks,

Edward


Don't forget the fuel and toll road costs.
We drove to Northern Spain in March from the UK and it was very
noticeable that the cost for a 9 day trip had seriously increased since
our previous trip.
We did approx 2000 Miles there and back, and inclusive of ferry costs
(approx£70 return) we spent approx £415 on fuel and tolls.


I don't pay road tolls when I drive in France since I try to stick to D roads
wherever possible. I find it far more pleasant - the roads are often free of
traffic, going through nice places, and you can stop whenever you like. It's
slower of course, but I'm not in a hurry; if I were, I wouldn't drive in the
first place.


Fair comment, We like to get south of the Loire ASAP, as the weather
invariably picks up soon after, however we do make forays away from the
toll roads as we like staying in Logis de France hotels situated in
small french towns. Our toll costs (go and return) came to £134.
Cheers
Don

On Mon, 10 May 2010 14:00:47 +0100, Donwill wrote in post :
:

Fair comment, We like to get south of the Loire ASAP,

Train, plane. ...

--
Tim C.
What's the definition of a mistress? Something between a mister and a
mattress.

Edward wrote:
We are going to France in June for just 9 days. We have scheduled 5
nights in Paris and 4 nights in Nice with plans to take day trips from
Nice. We have also considered staying in Provence for a couple of
nights and Nice for a couple of nights instead, but would rather stay in
one place. Are day trips to Provence for maybe wine tastings and other
things realistic? Any other comments or ideas are welcome. Thanks,


Sounds like a reasonable plan, except for the plan to take day trips
from Nice. It is a beautiful place, but IMO more of a destination than a
base for day trips. I wouldn`t want discourage you from visiting Nice,
but it is a long way from Paris, IIRC about 10 hours by TGV. You will
see a lot of beautiful scenery along the way, especially in the south.
You will be looking at a day to get there and a day to get back, so that
is two full days of travel plus the cost.

There are lots of other places in France where you can do wine tastings,
and IMO, you might find it more enjoyable to make a smaller circuit,
staying in various places along the way. It is only about 4 hours
driving or train from Paris to Strasbourg and interesting places along
the way, like Reims and Verdun, and beautiful scenery.

If you are only there for 9 days you may not want to spend 2 full days
of travel from the north to the very south, but short hops in a circuit
might be more enjoyable.

As for Paris, and having been there several times, I would not recommend
cutting back on the number of days there. I consider 4 nights to be an
absolute minimum for that city.

On 10/05/2010 15:42, Tim C. wrote:
On Mon, 10 May 2010 14:00:47 +0100, Donwill wrote in post :
:


Fair comment, We like to get south of the Loire ASAP,

Train, plane. ...


Strikes, dust, strikes, dust. etc

On Sun, 09 May 2010 09:51:57 -0500, Edward wroteÂ*:

We are going to France in June for just 9 days. We have scheduled 5
nights in Paris and 4 nights in Nice with plans to take day trips from
Nice. We have also considered staying in Provence for a couple of
nights and Nice for a couple of nights instead, but would rather stay in
one place. Are day trips to Provence for maybe wine tastings and other
things realistic? Any other comments or ideas are welcome. Thanks,

Edward

Day trips from Nice :
- Small train to Digne (le train des pignes).
http://www.trainprovence.com/
http://cccp.traindespignes.free.fr/phototheque-ete.html
The second web site says beware, few trains those days, call for
information at the station before.
Possibility to stop halfway, in Entrevaux, for example.
http://www.entrevaux.info/

- Another train, the Roya Valley train (Nice - Cuneo Italy)
More scenic with a car
http://www.sospel-tourisme.com

On Mon, 10 May 2010 18:23:44 +0100, Donwill wrote in post :
:

On 10/05/2010 15:42, Tim C. wrote:
On Mon, 10 May 2010 14:00:47 +0100, Donwill wrote in post :
:


Fair comment, We like to get south of the Loire ASAP,

Train, plane. ...


Strikes, dust, strikes, dust. etc

Petrol prices, road tolls, speeding fines, no parking spaces, dented and
scratched bodywork, multiple pile-ups.


If you think the Eyjafjalla volcano is bad, wait until Hekla blows. :-)


--
Tim C.
Two parrots sitting on a perch. One says to the other "Can you smell fish?"