I’ve heard the beach in Nice is rocks.. not sand, just a heads up since I didn’t know myself until recently.

As far as places to go… don’t rule out ryanair.com, openjet.com, and easyjet.com as a quick way to get further. Check the sites and play around with it to see where you can go from Paris for cheap.

As far as your list is concerned, I’d check out Spain over the others. (Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia… but I’ve never been to any of them myself.)

Definitely check out Provence. The villages of Provence and the Alpes Maritime ("above" the Riveria) are wonderful. If you love to read and love food, do pick up Mayle’s books… You might even be able to do a Provence/Riveria combo in 4 days if you take advantage of overnight trains both ways.

I like Brussels, but only a small part of it is quaint, pretty and touristy. It’s big time, cosmopolitan city and I love the metropolitan flair of African beats on one street corner, Peruvian pan flutes on the next, Carribean beats on the next. Brugges is a nearby, quaint, tourist destination. Belgium has great beer.

Three days will work fine for Amsterdam. Its a quick train ride from Paris, central train station is close to most of the things you want to see and experience.

I’d definitely suggest Barcelona. If you wanted you could do it by overnight train, or grab a cheap flight on Ryan Air, Easyjet, or Vueling.

Go out to Reims, about 134 km (83 mi) northeast of Paris. You can get there by car or train…

There you will find the Mumm Champagne Cellars that are open for tours (and Champagne)
http://www.mumm.com/…

You will also find the Reims Cathedral, also called the Cathedral of Notre-Dame at Reims, where the kings of France used to be crowned. It looks much like the Notre Dame de Paris. The entire cathedral, even the flying buttresses, is covered with medieval sculptures of the Saints, angels, the Kings of France and biblical characters and stories. (not as many Gargoyles as the one in Paris)

— and I would suggest Bruges over Brussels anyday. Not so much of a "city" and friendlier too

You’re less than 4 hours from Luxembourg by train. It’s an attractive and fairly interesting city of bridges and parks and river canyons, an odd blend of French and Germanic influences. There are catacombs and some WW II cemeteries (lying as it does near the heart of the Battle of the Bulge). It’s a nice place for walking. Trier, just beyond L’bourg, is also quite good – Germany’s oldest city, with some cool Roman ruins (baths, arena, Porta Nigra) and some UNESCO World-Heritage-preserved buildings. It has a nifty pedestrians-only old town area. I liked it a lot, great for a short visit. There are HI and a few independent hostels in each place. You could do both places easily in 4 days.

Madrid is cool. Quite different to Paris. Brilliant for a weekend. Excellent nightlife. A high speed train will get you there comfortably, or you could stop in San Sebastian in the Basque country, or somewhere in southern France en route.

I hear great things about Brittany.

Never been to Belgium but people here seem to say there are much better towns than Brussels e.g, Oldlady said Brugges.

Strasbourg is an interesting city on the Franco-German border. It’s been both German and French over the centuries so has an unusual but interesting identity.

Paris is a good base for seeing other parts of the continent. Beauvais airport, just north of the city has cheap and direct flights to Stockholm and a few other destinations.

www.ryanair.com but there are a load of other discount airlines.

If you’re interested in Spain, Madrid might be too far if you have limited time, but Barcelona is just an overnight train-ride away. There are daily direct trains to Barcelona from Paris.

Hmmmm, I’ve pretty much decided that maybe i should stick to France and explore it more thoroughly, and since i am already going to reims (thanks for that link travelnchick) so it’s probably provence or brittany (I’m leaning towards brittany).

Russ, you make Luxembourg and Trier sound really interesting, so i’ll try that if i can get another weekend off. So 4 days is definitely enough for both places? And i can get to both places by train?

Thanks everybody for the advice!

Check with your school first, they may have one of these places planned. Provence and Bretagne are both pretty popular places for pre-planned France itineraries.

If you head south, keep in mind that the further east you go along the Mediterranean coast, the longer it takes. The TGV system consists of high-speed tracks from Paris to Marseille (as well as Arles, Nîmes, Avignon, etc), but then the TGV train takes conventional tracks along the Côte d’Azur (and to Nice). So, depending on where you go in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, manage your time well. On www.tgv.com click on the little map of France. A larger map will pop up, and it helps you calculate TGV traveling times from point to point. If you find that the TGV travelling time to your final Côte d’Azur destination is too long, definitely consider a conventional overnight train. www.sncf.com

(Also if you decide to do some research on Nîmes keep in mind it’s technically in the Rousillon region).

If you do decide to go to the Côte d’Azur, you should definitely do some research on Antibes (between Nice and Cannes) and Menton (just east of Monaco), and definitely consider them as alternatives to Nice.

I’ve really enjoyed Brittany, and one suggestion in this region is Saint-Malo near the famous Mont-Saint-Michel.

I like the LUX/Germany idea. Just take a train to Metz, right on the border, check Metz out, then head to Lux – Luxembourg is incredibly beautiful, especially Vianden. I loved Trier as well. Too bad you’re not a party-er, as LUX is home to one of the best pubs in Europe, The Pyg.

I agree with Russ on the Luxembourg trip- there are so many historical and beautiful buildings and statues there. You can easily spend a little time or a lot of time there. It all depends on how many of the museums and churches you want to see the inside of (after a while the costs start adding up, and if you get to some of the great museums in the larger countries, the smaller ones might not be cost effective). When I was there in 99, we went just for one night and then off to Bruges on a weekend off. But I would have spent more time in Luxembourg if we had it.

But talk with your classmates, especially the ones that have been going to school there for a while. They will all have great ideas on weekend trips. Don’t forget to explore the city you are in as well!!!

Okay, although the south of france technically did not win the vote, that’s where i’m headed.

I’ve decided on aix en provence, marseille, and arles, because even though they are hardly off the beaten track, i;ve only got 4 days including travel time so it seems like all i can take. (corrections? suggestions?)

I was planning to get the france railpass, so will probably take a second excursion, only 3 days to spare though including travel time. My friend suggested the loire valley, but upon research the area looks too big to cover in so few days.

what are the good towns to focus on? apart from chateax i wouldn’t mind a bit of cycling or sports along the river.

thanks to everyone else for the advice, too bad i’ve decided on getting to know france better this trip. will remember the suggestions for my next trip to europe!

No Avignon?