Holiday in France Advice

Kynthia

My hubbie doesn't want to fly for our holiday this summer and neither of us like driving abroad. I really want to see a few famous sites as well as relax by the sea somewhere sunny. We both enjoy eating in patisseries so we've decided to go to France in early September.

We thought we could spend in a few days in Paris seeing the main attractions like the Eiffel Tower and Louvre before getting a train somewhere on the coast that is warm, has nice shops, restaurants and patisseries, but also has things to see and do without driving. Where would you recommend as I know nothing about France? Is Nice good, someone mentioned La Rochelle, is the south coast too far, is the west coast hot enough if the weather is bad in the UK????

Bob_the_Saver

The weather can be good it can be bad, it is not guaranteed even in the far south on the med.

richardw

There's a bit of a rule of thumb that the weather is better at Bordeaux and south of, so that would rule out La Rochelle.

The https://www.bahn.de website is good for train times and https://www.seat61.com for lots of tips.

Btw there are direct trains to/from Lille to Montpellier and further South West and to Toulon and further South East, which avoids crossing Paris for that bit of the Journey where you don't want to stop in Paris. You would have to allow extra time for passport checks at Lille if you were doing the Lille to London sector.

peachyprice

If you don't want to fly but want to go further south you can now book Eurostar through to lots of destinations beyond Paris. Depending on where you choose you either change at Lille of Paris GdN, you can book as far south as Nice, which is a 9hr journey including connection time.

http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/destinations/france#.UatHCNKR9c0

Dunroamin

You've a better chance of good weather on the Med but Nice can be very busy and very expensive so I'd consider looking at somewhere rather smaller.

knightstyle

Just a thought, rather than the crowded pricy South coast have a look at somewhere like Bourg-Saint-Maurice on the Italian border, great access to Mt Blanc and mountains, great river where the white water canoeing competitions take place plus white water rafting.
Not sure how the trains go there but we found it by accident a few years ago when camping and loved it.
As for La Rochelle, it to is a great town but the beaches are out of town, South or North. We are going to St-Hilaire-de-Riez where we have rented a mobile home, 270€ for 10 days next later this month so hope the weather is OK!

Kynthia

Thanks for your help. I know there's no guarantee of good weather but it sounds like the Riviera might be my best bet for the relaxing by the beach part of the holiday.

Sounds like Nice might be too built up for what we're looking for, and the beach is pebbly. So does anyone have knowledge of the other towns in the area and what attractions there are to see?

knightstyle

We also stayed at the camping site in Menton, the last town in France before Italy. Another great French town, squeezed between the hills and the sea. Good pedestrian area and nice often crowded beach. There is a good youth hostel at the campsite but we were camping. Nice to go exploring in the unspoilt villages above the town.