Between Paris & Nice
 

Need help planning a trip in September.

I have 2-3 days with wife to get from Paris to Nice for a meeting. Prefer not to fly and possibly drive 1-way. We both love food & wine. Any suggestions?

It's a long drive if you do not take the autoroute, which is not only expensive, but it's very boring!
How about a compromise with the fast train( TGV).
Go to Lyon, stay the night there. Great places to eat, then head to the South, though i would suggest you avoid Marseille( no offense to others).
When you are in Nice, La Petite Maison is a must!

We did that exact drive a few years ago. Yes, the drive can be boring, but we didn't want to spend the entire trip poking around little French towns, no matter how charming they might have been. One way rental was no problem.

I think we did about 300 miles the first day, and we spent the night at the Chateau Longecourt just south of Dijon. Absolutely fabulous - the Count welcomes you there and his wife, the Countess, busies herself around the place - it's still a working farm.

Breakfast was continental, but the china, silverware, etc. were first class, and almost all the food was made on the premises.

As you check out, the Count will be certain to show you the guest register, wherein Bill Gates's name will show up. Apparently he stayed there a few years ago, before he got married.

From there on it was potluck. Stayed at a very charming little mountain inn, visited the caves at Couranche (sp?), spent another night at an Accor in Sisteron, and from there it was a short jaunt to Nice.

Yes, it takes a little time, but IMO certainly worth the couple of days it takes.

PS - we did it in the middle of September and the weather was perfect.

Bon voyage!

I like to plan a short and easy drive the day arrive, IIRC once in Fontainebleau. There are some wonderful wine villages along the way with good food and wine and romantic little hotels. The R & C chain is a good starting point, but they are not cheap. I would probably avoid the Napoleonic route down to the sea as it can be frustratingly slow.

Thanks for quick responses.

@oreo2222, how expensive is it for the autoroute?

I should be well rested after a couple of days in Paris first so could make it further.

Have plenty of AMEX MR points to burn, so maybe I'll look into possibilities with R & C type hotels along the way.

AA PLT/3.9MM, DL SM/1MM, HH ♦, Hyatt ♦, SPG Gold, AMEX Corp Plat. does not like you are paying the way for these, like most others of ft claim they are..

"how expensive is it for the autoroute" probably about a dime a mile, plus gas.

there are a number of fabulous places to stop and poke around. we walked the great vineyards of burgundy the last trip we took. we stayed in b&b's ate in 1&2*'s or equivalent.

Try using Viamichelin.fr for the drive option.
It'll do all the pricing for you and suggest some stopoffs.

I have done this trip
The distance is aprox 600 miles one way.
I stayed in Lyon for one night.
The cost is around 70 euros or so for tolls plus gas (depends on your car)
One way rental may be expensive so take that in consideration.
If you want to drive then Lyon-Avignon-St. Remy-Aix en Provence- Nice
with nights spent in Lyon and St. Remy

If you prefer by train, try:
from Paris to Lyon - spend one night in Lyon
Go to Aix-en-Provence and spend a night there
and then arrive in Nice.
Lyon to Aix and Aix to Nice would both connect in Marseilles.

Dunno, there are some good deals for air, it's a 55 minute flight, and then you can while away a couple of days on the Riviera. (What a plight! :))

The costs of the Autoroute and gasoline are not that much less than air tickets. Seems like a no-brainer.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions.

Wouldn't say costs are a non-factor, but for transportation itself it really isn't.

After perusing other areas of this France board I was hoping there would be more suggestions for spending time in Burgundy as one of the better places to spend a couple of days along this route.

More of a Bordeaux fan myself. Having said that, some of the best wines I have ever tasted have been Burgundies. Just been burned too many times to go to these wines more often. Wife is a pinot noir fan too. Thinking maybe it is time to spend a couple of days there and get educated on them.

Kind of leaning towards Burgundy region at this point.

The problem is, the distance between Paris-Nice is vast and you will spend the bulk of the 2 days covering distance between the cities and have little time for touring other areas, IMO.

Better, go by air and take day trips into the Arrière-Pays behind Nice with some breathtaking hill towns and perhaps a little further astray into the Var Coast or the Gorges du Verdon.

The regions of France need a bit more time-- next year? :)

P.S. Unless you have a lot of time for cave (as in wine) touring, which requires at least 2-3 days, and doing the degustations, you don't need to go to Burgundy. You will find wines of Bourgogne throughout the country.