My own bias is that Nice is “over-famous”. I don’t mean to say that it’s terrible (I’ll be spending a few days in a small town near there in about a month myself), but what I’m trying to say is that, too often, people seem to have the idea that the only two places to see in France are Paris and Nice, and the two places are separated by a long distance—— so I’ll try to encourage you to consider seeing places along the route, and maybe even stopping at Cassis if you’re determined to see a beach town.
Since there will be 4 of you, renting a car might be a reasonable approach, although I normally advise taking the trains, which are a pleasure in France. If you do use the train, look into a France Rail Pass for the two adults, and see if it might save some money.
I think that, in a short time, seeing the Loire Valley AND going to Nice would be possible but a little hectic.
By either the train or a rental car, the route to Nice would pass through (or near to) some very worthwhile stopping points; just to name a few: Dijon, Beaune, Beaujolais region, Lyon, Avignon, Arles, Aix-en-Provence. Beaujolais can really only be seen if you have a car, although you can see it pass by from the train!

thanks for all that information Basie. We definitely haven’t set our hearts on Nice and I will check out Cassis. Will also compare the prices, but like the stress free nature of a train ride better already. One issue though…what happens to our luggage if we’re just stopping off along route for a couple of hours?
 
Which one or two of those places you mentioned would you recommend as the best places to stay overnight?

Pack lightly. Seriously.  But there are left-luggage services at some train stations, including Avignon and Toulouse.
[url=“http://raileurope.typepad.com/info/2005/02/leftluggage_ser.html”]left luggage[/url]
Arles, Cassis, Antibes. I wonder if the kids might enjoy the Roman ruins at Arles, and/or the Pont du Gard.

thanks very much Cil for that very handy info.
 
Any suggestions on night time stopovers between paris and Nice? Maybe Lyon???

Lyon, Avignon, Aix-en-Provence are all, to me, lovely, historic, and fairly kid-friendly.

There are baggage storage facilities in Dijon, Lyon, Avignon, Arles, Aix-en -Provence, and Marseille. Strangely enough (since there are many tourists), Beaune has not had baggage storage during my last few visits! Once, I went across to a hotel nea the station, and paid to leave my luggage there. Another option might be to leave your luggage in Dijon, and make a round-trip from Dijon-Beaune; the distance is roughly 20 minutes, and there are more south-bound trains from Dijon. I’d say that you see Dijon and Beaune in a few hours each. The old section of Dijon is about a 10-minute walk from the station. In Beaune, the station is again about 10 minutes walk from the old section of town,and you’ll wonder why I recommended the place until you’ve reached the center of town, within the walls of the city.
Lyon is a big city, with two large rail stations, and a metro/tram/bus service that’s quite easy to use. It’s very walkable, too, though I tend to walk in one direction, then take public transport for the return.
As you go south from Lyon, you’ll notice a change in the landscape as you get to Provence. Lyon and other cities were founded by the Romans, and Lyon and Orange have nice theaters, while Arles has a “colosseum” like the one in Rome, and the Pont du Gard fairly close by is a beautifully preserved aquaduct. I mention these associations with ancient Rome because I think the kids will like seeing them!
As to your question about where to stop, that’ll depend on your own schedule/tastes, but any of the places I’ve mentioned would fine. Possibly you could see Dijon/Beaune in one day, then spend the night in Lyon, for example.
Read about the places that I’ve mentioned, and see if they interest you. I like to use the Michelin Guides—- the Green Guide offers a lot of info about history, etc, while the Red Guide covers hotels/restaurants with current prices, and a new Red Guide in English will be released approx. April 28th.
I’d mentioned Cassis earlier, thinking you’d have a car, but it’s a fair hike from the station to the town, so you might need a taxi!
Maybe you could take a “regular” south from Paris and make lots of stops, and the TGV (high-speed train) on the return (or vice versa)—- the TGV goes from Marseille to Paris in just over 3 hours!

thanks again for all that info. Basie. You certainly do know your stuff!
 
We won’t be returning to Paris because we are continuing onto Italy for the next 15 days.
 
Do these luggage storage facilities cater for large suitcases?

how many in your group?

Personally I’d take the train.  But if there are 4 of you……..then a car could be cheaper.  Still i’d still take the train for the convenience and speed and not having to park. 

My trip from Paris southward was like this:  Paris to Blois (2 nights) to Amboise (2 nights) to Lyon (2 nights) to Carcasonne (2 nights) ..to Barcelona then to Avignon.

I like the Loire.  Blois was a nice base to check out chateaux. I checked out 4 i think from Blois.

Amboise was my base for checking out Chenonceau.  This was my favourite chateau in the valley.  Amboise….not so great.

Lyon………basically i went there just to eat…………went to a Bocuse little restaurant……it was ok.  Had some nice cheese desserts on this trip.

I think you only have time to stop at maximum 2 places before you head south.  I’d do 2 nights in one place and 1 night in another or 3 nights all in the same place before heading to Provence. 

Avignon…..not that great.  The Palais des Papes was disappointing.  Got to experience the wicked Mistral though.  Suggest you try Arles instead.

Happy travels.

many thanks for your reply renagal.
 
There are going to be 4 in our group (2 adults, 2 kids) but we are definitely liking the idea of the train. It has only just occured to me that if we use the train we could still go to the Loire Valley so I’m going to get out my books and check out some of the possibilities you have suggested.

While in the Côte d’Azur, is there a specific reason you’ll be staying in Nice?  Some alternatives are  Cannes, Menton, Fréjus, or Antibes.  Although neither of these is exactly off the beaten track, they are smaller than Nice, and thus on a more human scale.  You can easily visit Nice on a daytrip.  Or, if you don’t mind staying inland, Grasse. 

I’m a roadtrip kind of guy and I think that if you can afford to rent a car, then do so.  I think it’s an even even better idea to rent a car, not for the entire duration of the trip, but for specific regions.  For example, train from Paris to Arles or Nîmes, and use either of those cities as your base, and explore Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Languedoc-Roussiloon regions by car, visiting the Côte d’Azur towns, and/or Avignon, the Pont du Garde (near Nîmes), Aix-en-Provence, Sète, etc…. You can do the equivalent of this in the Loire chateux area.

Yeah, do agree with you and we do want to hire a car at some point and continue on with it throughout Italy. I’m now toying with the idea of the train from Paris to somewhere like Beane for the first night, then on to Arles for another night or two and then get a car from there on, but where would be the best place to pick up a car given that we would want to drop it off in Rome which is where our trip will end? Do they let you do that?