9-Day Paris to Provence: French Countryside & Riviera Magic

Tour Overview

Data source: TourRadar + goaheadtours.com. A journey south through France’s most enchanting regions.

Day 1-2: Paris — City of Light

• Arrive Paris. Eiffel Tower, Seine cruise, Montmartre. Day 2: Louvre, Notre-Dame (exterior, still under restoration from 2019 fire), Sainte-Chapelle (13th century stained glass — 1,113 biblical scenes across 15 windows, 15m high, 618 square meters of medieval glass). Evening Latin Quarter — the Sorbonne’s ancient streets, Shakespeare and Company bookstore

Overnight at hotel in Paris (2 nights).

Day 3: TGV to Lyon — Gastronomic Capital of France

• Morning TGV to Lyon (2h). Lyon has been France’s gastronomic capital for centuries — Paul Bocuse, the father of nouvelle cuisine, was born here. Afternoon walking tour of Vieux Lyon (UNESCO World Heritage) — the largest Renaissance quarter in Europe, with its famous traboules (hidden covered passageways used by silk workers and the Resistance in WWII). Visit the magnificent Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière on the hilltop, offering panoramic views over the city and the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers
• Evening at a traditional bouchon lyonnais — the city’s signature rustic restaurants: salade lyonnaise (frisée, lardons, poached egg), quenelle de brochet (pike dumpling in crayfish sauce), andouillette, and tarte aux pralines (pink praline tart). The city that invented the Michelin Guide is a food lover’s paradise

Overnight at hotel in Lyon.

Day 4-5: Provence — Lavender, Villages & Roman Ruins

• Train to Avignon (1h). The Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) — the largest Gothic palace in the world, built when seven successive popes ruled from Avignon (1309–1377) rather than Rome. The fortress-like palace covers 15,000 square meters — its walls are 4m thick
• Day 4: Afternoon drive through Provence at its best — visit the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct bridge built around 50 AD: 49m high, 275m long, three tiers of perfectly cut stone arches without mortar. It carried water 50km from Uzès to Nîmes — and still stands 2,000 years later
• Les Baux-de-Provence — a spectacular ruined castle and medieval village perched on a rocky outcrop in the Alpilles mountains. The Carrières de Lumières — a former limestone quarry transformed into an immersive digital art experience, projecting masterpieces onto the vast stone walls
• Day 5: Lavender Route (mid-June to early August) — drive through the Plateau de Valensole, the epicenter of lavender production. The view is surreal: endless purple waves stretching to the horizon, the buzz of bees (lavender honey is a Provençal specialty), the intoxicating fragrance. Visit Sénanque Abbey — a 12th-century Cistercian monastery surrounded by lavender fields, one of the most photographed scenes in France
• Afternoon in Gordes (official “most beautiful village in France”), Roussillon (ochre cliffs in shades of red, orange, and yellow — the Colorado of Provence), and the Luberon villages that inspired Peter Mayle’s “A Year in Provence”
• Market day in a Provençal village (depending on the day) — stalls bursting with olives, tapenade, herbes de Provence, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese wrapped in chestnut leaves, lavender sachets, and the famous Santons (hand-painted clay nativity figurines)

Overnight at a Provençal farmhouse hotel near Avignon (2 nights).

Day 6: Aix-en-Provence & Côte d’Azur

• Morning in Aix-en-Provence — the city of a thousand fountains, where Cézanne was born and painted. Walk Cours Mirabeau — one of France’s most beautiful boulevards, lined with plane trees, 17th-century mansions, and the Deux Garçons café where Cézanne and Zola debated art over pastis. Visit Cézanne’s studio (Atelier Cézanne) — preserved exactly as he left it, with his easel, palette, and the objects from his still-life paintings
• Afternoon drive to the French Riviera. Arrive in Nice — the queen of the Côte d’Azur. Walk the Promenade des Anglais — the 7km seafront boulevard built by English aristocrats in the 1820s, with the Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels) on one side and Belle Époque hotels on the other. The blue of the Mediterranean here is so distinctive it has its own name: bleu azur
• Evening exploration of Vieux Nice — a labyrinth of narrow streets, colorful shutters, baroque churches, and the Cours Saleya market (by day)/restaurant-lined square (by night). Dinner featuring Niçoise specialties: salade niçoise (fresh tuna, olives, anchovies, hard-boiled eggs — never cooked vegetables), socca (chickpea flatbread from wood-fired ovens), pissaladière (caramelized onion tart with anchovies and olives), and a glass of local rosé from the nearby hills

Overnight at hotel in Nice.

Day 7: Monaco, Èze & Saint-Paul-de-Vence

• Morning drive to Monaco — the second-smallest country in the world (after Vatican City), a principality of just 2.02 square kilometers on the French Riviera. Visit the Prince’s Palace, the Cousteau Oceanographic Museum (perched on a cliff, founded in 1910), the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit (the most glamorous street race in the world), and the legendary Monte Carlo Casino — Belle Époque architecture where James Bond gambles. The harbor is filled with superyachts, and the wealth concentration is staggering
• Èze — a medieval village perched 427m above the Mediterranean on a rocky peak. The exotic garden at the summit, planted among the castle ruins, offers a 360° view from Saint-Tropez to Italy. Friedrich Nietzsche lived here and wrote parts of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” — the Nietzsche Path (Chemin de Nietzsche) zigzags from the village down to the sea
• Saint-Paul-de-Vence — perhaps the most beautiful hilltop village in France, a magnet for artists since the 1920s. Chagall lived here, and the Fondation Maeght houses one of Europe’s finest collections of modern art (Miró labyrinth, Giacometti courtyard, Calder stabile). The village walls and ramparts date from the 16th century — commissioned by François I to defend Provence

Overnight at hotel in Nice.

Day 8: Cannes, Antibes & the Corniche Roads

• Drive the three Corniche roads (cliff roads) that hug the French Riviera: the Grande Corniche (highest, Napoleon’s military road), Moyenne Corniche (middle, most scenic), and Basse Corniche (along the sea). The views of the Mediterranean, the red rocks of the Esterel massif, and the Alps in the distance are cinematic
• Antibes — the old town enclosed by star-shaped ramparts, with the largest yacht marina in Europe (Port Vauban). The Picasso Museum, housed in the Château Grimaldi where the artist worked in 1946, and the Provençal market (Marché Provençal) bursting with local produce
• Cannes — the city of the famous film festival. Walk the red carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals, see the handprints of cinema legends on the Allée des Étoiles, and stroll the Croisette — the palm-lined boulevard of luxury hotels, designer boutiques, and private beaches. The contrast between Cannes’ glamour and the ancient villages just inland is quintessentially Riviera
• Farewell dinner at a seaside restaurant — bouillabaisse (Marseille’s famous fish stew, rich with saffron and rouille), washed down with Cassis white wine, as the sun sets over the Mediterranean

Overnight at hotel in Nice.

Day 9: Au Revoir, Côte d’Azur

• Morning at leisure — one last swim in the Mediterranean, visit to the Matisse Museum, or a stroll through the Marché aux Fleurs (flower market). Transfer to Nice Airport. “À bientôt, la France!”

Tour ends. Airport transfer included.