My wife and I have started planning for a whirlwind road trip for our honeymoon this upcoming September! We’ve always wanted to travel France and have decided to fly into Paris and out of Nice and rent a car between the two. I know it’s going to be a lot of driving, but we couldn’t be more excited to see so many amazing places.
As of now, our rough itinerary is the following:
Sept 9-11: Paris
Sept 12-13: Early travel to Epernay/Reims
Sept 14: Early travel to/stay overnight in Beaune
Sept 15: Early travel to/stay overnight in Lyon
Sept 16-17: Early travel to Aix-en-Provence
Sept 18-19: Early travel to Nice
Sept 19/20: Fly out of Nice
Suggestions? Must see/dos? We are obviously into the wine, but don’t want it to dominate every minute of the honeymoon.
I’ve got a pretty high tolerance for travel, and no issue with 3-day vacations to Europe, but I wouldn’t plan this much for a business trip much less a honeymoon where you may actually want to spend some time… somewhere other than on the road.
It’s not really what you asked but if you want to start in Paris and end up in Nice what I might do is 4-5 nights in Paris, which gives you time for a (game-day decision) day trip to Reims. If you need to drive from Paris to Nice (versus a 1hr flight) break it up with a night along the way (Troisgros?), then spend the rest of the time along the coast. I haven’t spent as much time down there but this would give you time for day trips to some of the Riviera towns or Monaco.
Fortunately, France and all the places you mention should still be there a few years from now for an anniversary trip.
I could see breaking it down something closer to this as well:
Sept 9-12: Paris
Sept 13: Early travel to /stay overnight in Epernay/Reims
Sept 14: Early travel to/stay overnight in Beaune
Sept 15-16: Early travel to Aix-en-Provence
Sept 17-19: Early travel to Nice
Sept 20: Fly out of Nice
We could also easily avoid the car, and do a day trip to Champagne from Paris, and then take a 3hr train to Nice from Paris. Many options, but the thought of driving through burgundy south to Aix is just so tempting…
What would bother me is the constant packing/unpacking of a night here and there, versus finding a good base for a few nights at a time. I’ve done the Paris–>Reims–>Beaune circuit in 10-days (this was actually my first trip to France ~12 years or so ago) and that was a decent pace, but Nice is a pretty far way by car from Paris. I think you’ll get the experience you’re looking for with a base in Nice or a place like Villefranche and driving around the Riviera, without the long hours in the car to get there. Others will be more helpful with a good base down south as I just haven’t spent as much time down there during the different times of year.
U need at least, absolute minimum 2 nights in beaune and 2 nights in Reims is preferred.
More like 9-12 Paris
12-15 Reims. 15 travel to beaune
15-18 beaune. 18 travel to nice
18-20 nice 20th fly out
Skip a location or it’s mega rushed. U can peddle to the metal in Paris tho not ideal but the rest of those places are simply not gogogadget type of locations.
That’s the other problem with such a packed itinerary - you’ve got no margin for error or relaxing. If you like a place and want to stay a bit longer, or are just sick of being on the road for a day, you’re SOL.
First question is: have you been to Paris before (or any of the other areas)? If not, then 2 days in Paris, with jet lag, on your honeymoon, is not enough. If I were you (I’d love to be young, just getting married, and traveling to France for my honeymoon!), I’d simplify things greatly. Paris for 5 days, with a side trip to Champagne, either just the day, or overnight. Then train or drive to Beaune (train to Dijon, rent a car is another option), and spend the rest of my time there, day trips around the area. Drive/train back to Paris to fly out. I would skip Nice, not an attraction for me (if you have to get to the south, find another place). Lyon is not an attraction for me either (not to say it’s not a find city, but I wouldn’t spend my time there).
Michael, I’m not an expert on the South, but have been to Nice and don’t need to go back There are several fairly recent threads here on trips to Provence (for example) C Fu did one, look for that. It’s a LOT of driving to get down there, though. Maybe 5 nights in Beaune isn’t your thing, but do at least 2-3. There are things to do (like cycling through vineyards, if you’re in to that) that aren’t just wine.
Mostly I think we’re all just suggesting you slow down, relax a little more, and don’t try to do so much. Pick the 2 or 3 places you really want to visit, and do those, but spend a little more time in each.
The other consideration is that you may start getting into harvest time depending on how things unfold, particularly if it’s at the end of your window. This could limit visits in a place like Burgundy.
In your itinerary I’d say Nice is the odd one out, at least by car. Right now I’d say you’re going to be spending a lot of time in your car, which is fine for some and not so much for others, so I don’t know if you like to travel that way.
Re: the focus on wine, from what I see you’re going to be able to fit in at most one cellar visit in Champagne and another in Burgundy, maybe another in Provence. So here I guess the question is: what does “focus on wine” mean? Is it visit to producers? Is it discovering wines you don’t know or don’t have the opportunity to drink in the US? Is it going to nice restaurants and drinking marquee bottles?
Right now (without more info) I’d say Paris, Paris and Paris. It’s one of the greatest cities in the world with no shortage of monuments, museums, attractions, restaurants, cafés and so on. A day trip to Champagne (cellar visit, restaurant, cathedral, no need to even sleep there) and then fly to Nice for a couple of days if you want to add a Riviera feel to the trip.
If you really want to see Burgundy plan at least 2 (better 3) days there and rent a car.
I agree with others that I think you are being too ambitious. Hopefully, you will be back in France many, many times. The first time we went to France (in 1984), we went for a bit over a week, but in the middle of the trip took a TGV to Burgundy for two nights (three days) - rented a car then in Dijon. Two hour train ride from Paris to Dijon. My guess is that on your time-schedule, that is about all you will be able to handle. In Paris, you will want at least a day (maybe two) just walking around. You will want to go to Verseilles. You will want to see the Louve and Musee d’Orsee. And, these are just the bare minimum. You cannot do all this in two days.
There are several fairly recent threads here on trips to Provence (for example) C Fu did one, look for that. It’s a LOT of driving to get down there, though. Maybe 5 nights in Beaune isn’t your thing, but do at least 2-3. There are things to do (like cycling through vineyards, if you’re in to that) that aren’t just wine.