Sunday, Oct 13, 2024

New York to Paris

To avoid having to be picked up at 2AM for our early morning flight we decided to spend the night before at the airport hotel. Now we only need to get from terminal 4 to terminal 5 before checkin!
Since we are arriving late in the evening to Paris our only goal is to get to our hotel!

• Flight: Air France 9087, New York NY, JFK - Paris, CDG
  • 8:15am - 9:35pm 7h 20m, Non-Stop
• Hotel: Cour des Vosges
  • Oct 13-18

Monday, October 14, 2024

Paris

Good Morning Paris!!! Not such a bad place to celebrate your birthday!
Time to explore the city. We’ll start off with a bang!

• First stop is Arc de Triomphe followed by a visit to the Eiffel Tower and some champagne! We’ll try to catch a light lunch on our walk between the two somewhere in the Trocadera neighbourhood.
• To get to our next stop of the day we plan to catch the Seine hop-on hop-off ferry. We’ll hop off at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame , unfortunately is still closed so we will not be able to tour it, instead we will view if from outside and then walk over to Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie for a visit.
• To round off the day we’ll catch some dinner in the Latin Quarters before heading back to the hotel and some well needed rest.

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Paris

Another day of exploring the city. Today we plan to stop by:

• Passage des Panoramas , the first covered passageway in Paris.
• Palais Garnier , historic opera house.
• Galeries Lafayette - Flagship department store opened in 1894!
• Montmartre neighbourhood

And, we’ll end the day with a belated birthday celebration at Table by Bruno Verjus , Nr 3 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024.

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Paris

There’s a huge chance that we will be sleeping in today. The only fixed item on the itinerary is a visit to The Louvre at 2:30pm.
Depending on when we leave the hotel we have the following options before lunch.

• Visit Panthéon followed by
• Check out the gardens at Jardin du Luxembourg
• Walk through / lunch in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Versailles

Today we’ll venture outside of the city with a visit to Chateau Versailles

If we have any spare time in the afternoon we might catch up on any places left out from yesterday.
At a minimum we need to venture out and find some dinner, maybe returning to a previosly visited neighbourhood or perhaps we’ll explore a new one!

Friday, October 18, 2024

Paris to Dijon

Today it’s time to leave Paris and start our journey south. We’ll pick up our rental car and drive to Dijon where we will spend the night.

When we planned our trip to France we signed up for the Passion monuments card . The card includes free access to more than 90 castles, abbeys, private mansions, villas, archaeological sites across France. This gives us the perfect excuse to stop at places we otherwise might have skipped.
One such place between Paris and Dijon is Château de Bussy-Rabutin where we might make a stop, however, they are closed between 12-2pm so it will all depend on our timing

Once we get to Dijon our plan is to explore the city on foot and most likely take a self guided audio tour.

• Hotel: Grand Hôtel La Cloche
  • Oct 18-19

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Dijon to Lyon

After our quick stop in Dijon we are off to Lyon!
Along the route to Lyon we’ll most likely make a stop at another of the Passion Monement sites, Monastère royal de Brou in Bourg-en-Bresse . For the evening in Lyon we have booked a Food tour to get familiar with the area.

• Hotel: Intercontinental Lyon
  • Oct 19-21

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Beaujolais wine region

Today we’ll take a half day wine tasting tour to the Beaujolais region .
Once we return to Lyon we’ll pick up some lunch at the food market Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse
For the late afternoon we’ll take a stroll in Parc de la Tête d’or .

Monday, October 21, 2024

Lyon to Avignon

We are continuing south, today we will reach Avignon.
There’s no Passion Monements on the way but we are passing by the European Fighter Aviation Museum of Montélimar . We might make a stop if we are in the mood or we might just continue to Avignon.
Once we reach Avignon the plan is to check out Palais des papes and surrounding area followed by dinner at the hotel.

• Hotel: Auberge De Cassagne Spa
  • Oct 21-23

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Today we’ll go on our second wine tour, this time we’ll head to Châteauneuf-du-Pape for a full day of wine tasting! Cheers!

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Avignon to Gordes

Originally we were supposed to stay 4 nights in Avignon but when we received the hotel suggestions from Arianna at sarahwlee.com both of the hotel options looked amazing so we simply had to split our stay in 2 and ended up adding Gordes to our itinerary!
On the way there we will first go in the opposite direction to and check out the Roman Aqueduct Pont du Gard .

• Hotel: Arielles Gordes La Bastides
  • Oct 23-25

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Hike and/or relax

Today is one of those days without a set agenda.
If we are in the right mood we might drive south to the Alpilles Natural Park for a hike. But, most likely we will just stay in Gordes, walking around the village, borrowing some E-bikes from the hotel, ordering a picnic in the gardens and simply just relax at this beautiful hotel.

Friday, October 25, 2024

Gordes to Aix-en-Provence

We continue south, our next stop is Aix-en-Provence.
After reaching our hotel the plan is to explore the city by foot and stop by the Saint-Sauveur Cathedral and the Town Hall. For dinner we plan to find one of the many farm to table restaurants.

• Hotel: Villa Saint Ange
  • Oct 25-27

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Aix-en-Provence

Today we have booked a lunch time Food tour.
In the afternoon we’ll continue to explore the city with a visit to Vendôme Pavilion and maybe some art at Caumont Art Centre .

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Ocean time!

Today we will finally reach the Mediterranean.
We’ll drive along the coast as much as possible stopping in small villages and beaches along the way.

• Hotel: Lily of The Valley
  • Oct 27-29

Monday, October 28, 2024

St Tropez

The plan for today is to explore St Tropez with all it’s shops, art galleries, and historic sites, either on foot or by bike.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

To Nice

Continuing east along the coast will take us to Nice where we will check into the final hotel for this trip.
We’ll spend the afternoon/eveing exploring the city, most likely we’ll visit the Old Town since it’s close to our hotel.

• Hotel: Le Perouse
  • Oct 29 - Nov 1

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Nice

We’ll spend the day exploring Nice, pack our bags and fill up on wine. We’ll check out the Hilltop park Colline du Château, maybe a visit to Musée Masséna and why not a stroll along Promenade des Anglais.

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Monaco

Finaly day of this trip. We’ll spend the day in Monaco, we are planning to catch the train which is supposed to take about 25 minutes.
Once in Monaco we will of course check out the Casino de Monte-Carlo (else you have not been to Monaco!). Other than the casino, we plan to take a stroll through the city & the waterfront, we’ll find some lunch along the way, we’ll pass by the Grand prix track Hairpin bend and we’ll make sure to check out the Musée Océanographique de Monaco, the building is said to be breathtaking! If we have time left we’ll also visit Princess Grace Japanese Garden before taking the train back to Nice again.

Friday, November 1, 2024

Time to return home!

Our time in France has come to an end, at least for this time. Our flight leaves from the Nice airport around noon so no time for anything else than travel today.