I recently took my first trip outside of the United States and spent 10 days in the beautiful country of France. Although I do not believe 10 days is nearly enough time to really explore the south of France and Paris I am here to share with you how we spent our time in France in hopes it will help you plan your own trip to France! The first tip I have for you is if you plan to explore both the south of France and Paris in one trip that you go for at least two weeks, this way you do not feel like you’re continuously packing up and traveling every other day. My mother and I made this mistake, although we did see a lot in the little time we had we were never able to fully unpack in any of the places we stayed since we knew we would have to travel again soon.
When we landed in Paris we decided to utilize the metro to get down to one of the main train stations. I will admit navigating our way through the Charles de Gaulle airport to get to the metro station was a bit confusing but not nearly as confusing as how to buy metro passes. Before we had left for the trip I had done some extensive research on directions on getting to the metro station as well as buying tickets. When you arrive at the ticket area there are several ticketing machines that you can buy one-way and multi-way tickets but the attendants at these machines do not speak much English so be aware of this when asking them questions about tickets if you do not speak French! If you do not plan on heading straight to one of the main train stations from the airport I believe investing in the Navigo metro pass, which is an unlimited weekly pass you can buy for around €26 that allows you access to all of the metro zones in paris. The ticketing machines do not allow you to buy tickets that have access to all of the zones within the metro, meaning if you are planning to explore paris first or want to use the metro to get to your hotel/accommodation the ticket may only allow you to use certain lines of the metro and you may end up paying for another ticket. You can also buy a day pass for €11 if you are worried you may not be able to figure out the ticketing machine, and want to ease any worries about which zones you can and can’t access! The Navigo desk is right across from the ticketing machines, but before you enter the line you need a physical picture of yourself, a copy of the one you used for your passport works, or if you forget to bring one there is a booth near the desk you can have your picture taken for it!
The next tip I have for you is… DO NOT PLACE YOUR TRAIN TICKET NEAR YOUR PHONE! If you decide to buy a one way metro ticket like we did, the physical ticket is very small and is also very sensitive as we learned the hard way. I had momentarily had my phone and ticket in the same hand and within that short amount of time to walk over to the metro entrance the magnetic strip had been wiped out by my phone and I could not use the ticket. We had to ask one of the attendants why our tickets were not working and they told us the tickets were very sensitive and could not be anywhere near phones or they would not work. When we finally gained access to the metro there was only one line that took you out of the airport which is CDGVAL line and brings you to terminal 3 where you can hop on the B line which runs from the Charles de Gaulle airport to the 2nd Arrondissement. Since we had decided to take the fast train down to the South of France we needed to get to the Gare de Lyon train station which is one of the main train stations in Paris. If you plan to depart out of the Gare de Lyon station you will need to to switch to the A line at the Châtelet- Les Halles stop of the metro, and this seemed to be the only station we really struggled to navigate our way through. These stations were much larger than I had anticipated and full of signs directing you in every which way, but I did not realize at first that some of the signs for the different lines were on the sides of the walls so make sure to check to your right and left for signs pointing to the A line when you get off! Once you have found the correct train it is only 1 stop before you reach the Gare de Lyon metro station. The Main Gare de Lyon train station that has the much larger trains that take you outside of Paris is across the street.
The train ride from Paris to Cannes is about 6 and a half hours, which if you prepare for it properly is not bad. By preparing for it properly I mean bring food, drinks and something to entertain yourself with or else it will be a long 6 and ½ hours for you. We rode the TGV INOUI train which was a very impressive train, very clean and quiet for the most part but I did not know much about the different classes, which may have been the only downside to the ride. Our seats did not recline and were in very upright positions so it was hard to get comfortable for a while. If they had seats available in a higher class that could recline or had a little more cushion I would recommend opting for that option.
Once we began to enter the south of France the stress and hassle of the trains quickly started to disappear as we became surrounded by large green mountains on one side and a gorgeous bright blue ocean on the other. On the other hand it just made me even more anxious to get off the train and start exploring but it wasn’t for another hour that we finally arrived in Cannes. But once we finally arrived and I took my first steps outside I instantly fell in love with the town, and it has become my favorite place I have traveled to out of everywhere I went. You can find out more about staying in Cannes during their famous Film festival and where to go to eat and explore in my next travel diary post!
Navigo link https://www.ratp.fr/en/titres-et-tarifs/navigo-monthly-and-weekly-travel-passes