I will have 9 nights and 8 days in France coming up in April. I've got a great itinerary...for 9 days, lol! I need to shave down a day. Here's our plan so far:
Day 0: Night spend in Paris
Day 1: Day in Paris
Day 2: Day trip to Versaille
Day 3: Day in Paris
Day 4: Trip to Charters, then drive to Amboise. Stay overnight in Amboise
Day 5: Spend a full day in the Loire Valley--See Chenonceau and Chambord (and perhaps one more!) Stay overnight in Amboise
Day 6: Drive to St. Remy. Some touring, Stay in St. Remy
Day 7: Full day in Provence, Stay in St. Remy
Day 8: Ride the train to the Italian border, then backtrack (bus or train) on various sites on the Cote
Day 9: Full Day in Nice
SO. I need to cut one day!
The easiest and neatest way to cut a day would be to cut the trip to the Loire. I'm not excited about that, mostly because although this will be DH's first trip to France, I've been everywhere EXCEPT the Loire before, though to be fair, I'm also visiting Southern Germany and Switzerland for the first time so there will be some novelty on the trip.
Another option is to cut a day in Paris? Maybe cut one of the side trips? Or make Versailles a shorter trip and put more Paris stuff on that day?
A final option is to cut to less than a full day in Provence. I'm partly visiting because I lived in one of the small cities there. While I do love it, I love it more in the Summer than in late April. It is likely that nearly the whole city will be shut down in the early evening. So maybe cut that trip by a half a day and a nights stay and maybe cut down slightly on time spent on the Cote?
Would love your thoughts! Should I cut the Loire? Paris? Provence? Any other "hacks" you can see that would allow all the stuffs, lol?