Is your entire trip over 8-9 days, or will you have 8-9 days designated for the Cotes d'Azur?

I'll start you off with a starter list of places to explore in a good guide book, and generally, you want to group them (as I will) as being on one side of Nice or another. These lists are not meant to be single trips, but each group should be planned over two or three days. Nice should be given at least TA day unto itself.

1) Villefranche sur Mer, Beaulieu sur Mer and Cap Ferrat, Eze (Viilage), and Monte Carlo

2) Antibes, St. Paul de Vence, Vence, Tourettes sur Loup, and Cannes.

These are the most popular tourist destinations, but if you have a full eight days, you can travel further into the Maritime Alps and the towns between the mountains and the coastline.

Will you be flying home from Marseille or (better!) flying open jaw out of Nice's international airport?

Thank you so much! We are renting a car and after our 8 -9 day in the South of France, we are driving up to Paris and will be in Paris and surrounding areas for about 5 days - any suggestions for this part of our trip?

Your comments are much appreciated!

I would suggest that you take the train to Paris and not drive there.

So you mean you are dividing your 8 nights [ which is 7 full days, not 9, especially as one day is the day you arrive ] between the Cote d"Azur and the provencal area around Aix. My first observation is that you probably should be flying into Nice and not Marseille ?? It does not make sense to fly into Marseille, drive to Nice and then backtrack to Aix. If you start in Aix and then go Nice, it is an awfully long drive to Paris. Either way it is a long drive to Paris when you only have 5 days , or do you have additional days for the drive to Paris?? You could take a week to drive from Aix to Paris and have a very nice time. You do not need a car in Paris, so unless you are planning to stop and see a few places in between over a few days, the best option is to take the train to maximise your time in Paris. Have you been to Paris before ? It alone deserves those 5 days.

Both these regions have lots to do and see. Do some research and see what you think is a good division of your time. We love self catering, but stay in smaller places. We find they often want a week long stay, but it may be different for apartments in places such as Nice or Aix. I do not know.

I hope you have a great trip.

You are not going to be able to rent apartments/condos for less than a week, and that usually starts on a Saturday. I would suggest that you decide between western Provence and the Côte d'Azur, and allow yourself to fully enjoy one or the other.

I agree that driving to Paris is not what I would choose to do, but you could plan a driving route that winds in that direction. Besides the Michelin guide, look at "Frommers 24 Great Drives" and Eyewitness' "Backroads France," These routes tend to be circular, but you can piece them together. You can fly from Nice to Paris (1 1/2 hours flying time + pre-boarding arrival) or take the train (5 - 6 hours). In the end, flying may be a little faster, but not enough that I would discount the train if that's what you want to do. When booked in advance, flights are quite reasonable, but read the EasyJet baggage policy carefully. AirFrance can cost the same once you've added in those fees and there are fewer variables. I also agree that I would not want to bothered with a car in Paris.

I was thinking the same as Troggs in choosing either the western part of Provence or the Cote d'Azur. We are big believers in taking the time to enjoy just being there , but I do appreciate that not everyone wants the same. I am not against driving to Paris because we always have a car for our trips, but only if you have time to make it worthwhile and still have time for Paris. What does ' Paris and surrounding areas ' mean? What would you like to see and do before you get to Paris ?

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