Aigues-Mortes to Paris

Hi all,
Have gleaned some great tips from the TT and everyone's knowledge and experience. Thought I'd ask for advice on an upcoming trip to France in September. Unfortunately, we're time limited, but because we're going for some training in the south, thought we'd take advantage of it and have a bit more time to sightsee before having to go home. We have one day free after arriving to Montpellier (albeit jet lagged!) and into Aigues-Mortes before starting training and we'll have hired a car to get to and from our course. Any suggestions as to what to do on this day for a day trip? Are there good places to see around the Carmargue?

After we've finished training, we have 6 full days before having to fly out of Paris. We were thinking of driving the car up towards Lyon and Annecy (better to drive or train it from Lyon to Annecy?) and then catching the train up to Paris from Lyon in order to have at least 2 full days in Paris. There were thoughts of trying to first get to Carcassonne, but I'm wondering if this is too ambitious? We'd like to see at least a couple of lovely villages for the contrast to big cities.

Very open to suggestions as there's some decision fatigue creeping in here! Thanks for your help!

For your first day: Montpellier, Arles, Avignon, Nîmes.
For the rest: there is excellent public transportation in France with the TGV, high-speed train, connecting the most important french cities with Paris. The major roads are mainly toll-roads. Unless there is a group of you using public transportation will be cheaper than renting a car. Have a look at http://www.viamichelin.com/ to see what the costs are to go from A to B, including toll and fuel. NB the figures in the website I quoted are usually quite accurate and better than what you would get from Googlemaps.

For your first day, Aigues Mortes itself is a nice medieval city. Around and depending on your interests there are plenty options : nature (horse riding in Camargue...), roman ruins (fabulous Pont du Gard or/and Nimes or/and Arles), old cities as Uzès or romanic church as the important landmark that was Saint-Gilles in XII century.

Then, during your 4 days, if you are interested in Carcassonne (it's worth going there), I will skip my plan and give back the car either in Toulouse (and back to Paris by plane, the fares are similar as for train) or in Bordeaux (and High Speed train to Paris).
So during these 4 days, you can visit Carcassonne and then to visit either the area around Albi (a lot of old villages in this area as Cordes, Najac, Penne, Bruniquel, Puycelsi...), either Lot area (same with a lot of opportunities to discover rural, typical villages with good food, markets...) or Dordogne area and give back your car.

Thanks for that liberat. Will definitely look at the train as an option. I guess the advantage of a car is the freedom of being able to explore the small villages on the way..

Thanks for such a prompt reply sjeanmarc1. Great suggestions for villages to see, thank you! So, would you suggest this side of France, rather than up through Lyon?

Well, you suggested Carcassonne and wanted to visit villages. So I think the south west part of France has plenty of "typical" places to experiment traditional French way of life : open air market, good food, wine, old castles and churches... just google images places as "Najac", "Cordes sur Ciel", "Bruniquel", "Penne Tarn",
"Puycelsi" and you will see what, for example, you can find in an area of around 50km2

Thanks again for those tips. It's really helpful that you've specified villages to consider, as it makes planning so much easier when time is limited and precious!

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.