Where to go for 3-4 days from Paris?

If you're a history buff, Normandy area, especially the beaches. My wife spent a good chunk of our honeymoon in the Champagne region, visiting the champagne houses, grabbing a picnic lunch here and there, just chilling...T

 

If you've never been there, the South of France is well worth 3 or 4 days of your time, especially in September. Make Nice your base then travel to Monaco, Eze, Cannes, St Tropez, St. Paul de Vence, Antibes, Aix-en-Provence, Villefranche, etc, etc. Visit vineyards in Provence and perhaps even Bandol. The food, wine, scenery and weather will all be spectacular.
It'll take about an hour to fly there from Paris.
Your girlfriend will love it.

 

a big decision is what do you want to see and are you talking drive or train or fly?

I mean, pretty much most of europe is reachable within ~2 hours flying...

Do you have to return to Paris to depart, or can you fly home from the "other place"?

Since "everything" is reachable in two hours, its pretty hard to recommend anything without some idea of what you want to do/see/experience and what you like or dislike...

I agree that Greece is far enough away that you would likely fly over many cool places to get there when combined with a Paris trip.

With only 1 week, I'd stay in France and drive someplace, but that's "me". I think getting a taste of a country in 7 days is pretty light in any event.

If staying in France, some recommendations:

- Normandy (if you want to see "where it happened")
- Champagne or Burgundy if you want to be in wine country (or one of the other regions, if you like their wines more).
- Southern coast if want to see provence or cannes or monaco or something along the coast.

If you want "another country" and food and historical sites are your goal, then:

Rome
Barcelona
Granada/Seville area
Florence
Tuscany
etc etc etc etc

Give us some better idea of what you are after...

 

Just re-read your first post. Let me address a couple of places you mention:

Amalfi is a special place to me (met my GF there and we were just there a few months ago for the 5th anniversary of meeting). But, I would not add it to your Paris trip. It takes a full day to get to Amalfi from Paris (fly,2 trains, ferry). And it takes a long time to get back to Rome to fly home on the return.

Italian Lake district is "nice", but I would not put it up there with the other places you mention.

I'd stay in France in order to not lose too much of your limited time to "travel" and just drive or TGV someplace.

Or, if you want to venture further, fly to someplace easy to get to/from the airport. Airport close to the town you are going to (vs. Amalfi for example).

If you have never been to Barcelona, that is an amazing city for many reasons and is a short flight and easy/short cab ride. Vueling likely has cheap flights from Paris to Barcelona. Love that city...go pretty much every year...if you want I'll give you some recommendations on what to see, how to see it, where to eat, etc.

Thinking about it, a one-week Paris "+" another major city, for me, has to be Paris + ROME or BARCELONA. Those two cities are as interesting and varied as Paris.

A more "francophile" version would be Paris + another place in France. There are many interesting and varied places...but need more about what you want from the 3 days to make a meaningful suggestion beyond the ones made above by me and others.

 

Hotel du Cap in Antibes is one of the prettiest hotels in France (which is saying something). Antibes is centrally located...you can easily get anywhere in the S of F (including Monaco) from there.

 

I agree with the suggestion of the Riviera. There is much to do there, and it's the seaside with adjacent mountains. Museums (incl a small car museum in Monaco), historic/cultural places (Van Gogh's home/studio, Grace Kelly's grave in a beautiful cathedral, the Cousteau aquarium, perfume manufacturers), beautiful scenery, great cafe's & public squares for dining or having wine, etc. The train service to other places along the coast (including the Cinque Terre in northern Italy) is fantastic. What's not to like?
May I also suggest taking a train about 3 hrs to Annecy, which is referred to as the French Venice? It's beautifully located, is within an hour or two from Geneva, the French alpine towns of Megeve, Chamonix, a fantastic medieval village on Lake Geneva called Yvoire, etc. Very underrated as a tourist destination.
At the risk of contradicting someone whose opinion is at least as valuable as mine, I would not go to Normandy unless you are a war history buff. It's all a little too similar and lacks variation. Also, the water is too cold for swimming (unless you are from the Great Lakes area)!
Have a great trip.

 

Yes, you can train or taxi over to Monaco or Cannes if you want to see those during the day or evening.

If Hotel Du Cap fits your budget, you simply cannot go wrong there. I've not stayed there, but have been to the property (sadly its outta my retired lifestyle budget). For me, Antibes is the best location to stay down there. Its a short flight from Paris. Its very short taxi from the airport to the hotel (I hope they pick guests up on a magic carpet for their rates). This sounds like a winning idea to me!

I've stayed in Cannes and in Monaco before. If I had the ability to stay for a short three day/night trip at Hotel du Cap, no question I would do that over any other option.

Now, a place to stay for a longer period to "live like a local" (as you mentioned in another post), that would be a different town and not a hotel. Perhaps Eze or Aix in an airbnb...

 

Eze is on a cliff right next to Monaco (5 minutes away by taxi) and is one of the best views and hotels I've ever stayed in as it's a true medieval castle with ultra-modern rooms. http://www.chateaueza.com/m/hotel-sitemap.html


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