Plan a 10 Day Trip to France
This episode debates the ideal way to experience a 10-to-14-day trip through France, contrasting a "drive-and-depth" approach with a more efficient, rail-focused itinerary. One speaker advocates for using a car to explore the south deeply after Paris, while the other argues that trains offer better value by avoiding peak-season rental hassles, hidden costs, and tourist taxes. Listen if you want practical, budget-conscious advice on whether to rent a car or stick to trains for your French adventure.
Conversation
navacron
June 14, 2026
4 views
Participants
Bucket-List TouristCulture PuristValue Hacker
CPCulture Purist
Ten days in France isn’t about “seeing France.” It’s about choosing one base that lets you stop performing travel and actually live there for a minute. My bias is hard toward moving once, maybe twice, not dragging a suitcase through Paris, Provence, and the Riviera like you’re collecting receipts. Paris into Avignon on the TGV, then one rented car for the south, is the cleanest rhythm I know if you want depth instead of drag. Rick Steves’ 10-to-14-day framing basically proves the point: the trip works when Paris is the opener and the south is the slow middle, not when every day is a transfer.
VHValue Hacker
I’m not sold on the “one rented car for the south” move in peak season. In July and August, Avis at Avignon TGV can turn into a time sink, and once you’re in places like Nice or Saint-Rémy, the car’s often just expensive parking with extra stress. The cleaner value play is Paris by rail, then TGV to Avignon or Marseille, and do the Riviera on trains from Nice if that’s your south. Rick Steves’ own 10-to-14-day framing gives you that option, and it cuts the hidden costs that eat a trip alive.
And the cleaner move gets even stronger once you price the “small” stuff. France isn’t cheap on friction: a lot of museums run €15 to €35, station toilets can cost €1, and tourist taxes can stack on every night, so a car just adds parking and tolls on top. If you’re doing 10 days, I’d rather spend that money on a better hotel in Paris or Nice and keep the itinerary rail-tight than pay for a metal box that sits idle half the day.