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Paris is awesome but so is the rest of France. I’d do some sort of two location trip and take the TGV out of Paris to get there for a quintessential French experience. (Book plane tickets as a multi-city/open jaw route if you do that).
Looking at the TGV route map, maybe go to Lyon and rent a car to explore the Alps a bit from there or alternately train down to Nice and spend a few days along the original Riviera.
The Accor hotel group is France’s home-grown hotel conglomerate and has a ton of different brands from luxury level to bare bones. The important thing is that almost all of their properties will have AC, which is not a given with indie hotels, and when we were in Europe last summer ,we had the obligatory 33C/100F+ heat wave.
Paris is awesome but so is the rest of France. I’d do some sort of two location trip and take the TGV out of Paris to get there for a quintessential French experience. (Book plane tickets as a multi-city/open jaw route if you do that).
Looking at the TGV route map, maybe go to Lyon and rent a car to explore the Alps a bit from there or alternately train down to Nice and spend a few days along the original Riviera.
The Accor hotel group is France’s home-grown hotel conglomerate and has a ton of different brands from luxury level to bare bones. The important thing is that almost all of their properties will have AC, which is not a given with indie hotels, and when we were in Europe last summer ,we had the obligatory 33C/100F+ heat wave.
I agree with this post, especially the part about exploring the French Alps, especially in summertime. France can be brutally hot (to me, at least, because I detest hot weather), so I would forego the Riviera. Spend a couple of days in Paris, then take trains to the mountains for a couple of days. Lyon is great, and you can take day trips from there.
And as the above poster suggested, make sure your hotels have A/C.
With only one week, I would stay based in Paris and not move. There is so much to see and do in the Ile de France without changing your base.
I won't list all the attractions and events in Paris because I'm sure you are already aware of these but understand that Paris is a wonderful city for walking and random explorations. Lovely cafes, interesting street markets, unknown (to you that is) churches and museums. Shopping! The Grand Magasins (https://francetoday.com/culture/shop...rtment_stores/) are a tourist attraction even if you don't buy anything.
Also, there are many easy day trips from Paris so that you don't have to spend time changing hotels to visit.
If you want to travel outside of Paris, here are some of those easy trips that only require taking the train from one of Paris's train stations.
From Paris, it's an easy train trip to Versailles. That's a whole day trip in which you can be overwhelmed by the grandeur and scale of the royal palace and gardens. https://en.chateauversailles.fr/
If this is the family's first trip to Paris, just stay in Paris and absorb the ambience, food, and air that is Paris. No need to travel outside the city for enjoyment and new experiences.
For lodging, I would recommend securing an apartment so that you can shop in the traiteurs and bring delicious food back to the apartment for dinner. And nothing is better than fresh croissants for breakfast. Easy to get at the many boulangeries around the city. There are many ways to rent an apartment, but make sure that there is a/c in all the rooms, not just the bedrooms. Just search for vacation rentals in Paris and you will get a comprehensive list. Depending on how many family members are going, a one bedroom may suffice with a pull-out sofa in the living room. Many Paris apartment buildings do not have elevators, so if mobility is an issue, inquire. Be aware that the ground floor, or first floor in the US, is called the RC (Rez-de-Chaussee) in Paris. Their first floor (1er Etage (1st Floor)) is our second floor.
Traiteur (the closest we have in the US is a deli, that has prepared, ready to eat foods):
Boulangerie (boulangerie is a bread bakery that also has small dough based pastries and some sandwiches. Patisserie is a bakery for pastry and cakes.) :
Last edited by Lillie767; 12-28-2022 at 08:48 AM..
Suggestion, try to stay at least 10 days, or more ! Seven will seem too short. When my son went to France, he tried to speak what little French he knew. The locals so appreciated his trying, went out of their way to assist him..
When entering a shop in France, he learned to always greet the owner, to thank them when leaving, whether he purchased something or not. Learn some customs, again appreciated.
With only a week (and assuming you're bookending your week so have more like 8-9 days) I'd suggest you do an open-jaw flight, arriving in Paris and departing from Lyon. You could also choose another city like Bordeaux or Montpellier as 2nd location but Lyon would the easiest to get to since only two hours by train and is the food capital, access to the French Alps, and downtown river views that are prettier than Paris.
PM me if you want to know anything about Lyon, we just spent a few months there this summer so know it pretty well and it is still fresh in my head.
With four people paying 4x for transportation tickets, I'd recommend renting a little car. That would avail you of farm-stays for overnight accommodations. A week will go by very quickly. I woul get in the obligatory Paris the first couple of days then get a days drive out of Paris, say, to Brittany, and then just hang out and let France show you what it's got.
Pre-internet, pre GPS, pre Cell phone... we used local tourism offices to find and book Agri tourism. Those rural spots required a car, and took a long time to find the location! (Don't start looking in the dark...)
We set our teenage kids free in cities (after breakfast) with a specified place to meet for a late lunch. They often would take us back to places they found while exploring (which were far better than the places we found).
Consider listening to a few Rick Steves and Lonely Planet videos for not so common fun things to do and places to visit.
Staying with locals or small private B&B is our favorite way to travel, Staying in local neighborhoods and with local people. Been doing it without problems for over 30 yrs. ~$20/ night worldwide (often free), a great experience for families and kids.
World Packers and Servas are good options and purposed for cultural exchange.
DW nixed our frequent intl Hosteling due to too many coed showers while in SW France. "Come-on-in" was not the appropriate greeting for mom.
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