Follow the Seine, discover Lyon’s Renaissance courtyards and finish with Nice’s markets and Mediterranean waterfront.
This seven-day rail trip gives you three very different city holidays in one journey south. Paris opens with the Seine’s island neighbourhoods and a morning among the Louvre’s collections. In Lyon, the scale becomes more intimate: Renaissance courtyards, two riverbanks and the traditional restaurants called bouchons. Nice brings Baroque interiors, a produce market and a walk beside the Baie des Anges. Spend nights one and two in Paris, three and four in Lyon, and five and six in Nice; leave from Nice on day seven. That makes room for one full sightseeing day in each city and lighter arrival afternoons. Choose May, June or September for the mix of outdoor walks and indoor visits; April and October also suit sightseeing. Swimming is an optional addition, rather than the purpose of these two Riviera nights.
The Louvre brings ancient sculpture and European painting into the same visit. Choose a small group of works that interests you, then step outside into the Tuileries: the contrast between galleries and an open garden gives the Paris day its shape.
The Presqu’île sits between the Rhône and Saône, opposite the Renaissance streets of Vieux Lyon. Crossing from the broad squares to the older quarter gives the Lyon stay a clear change of scale, with a hillside panorama above both.
Nice’s old town has narrow streets and colourful façades, while the Promenade des Anglais opens onto the pebble shore. The last full day brings these two settings together, with time for a small palace museum and food rooted in local ingredients.
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StartBooker answer
Spend two nights in each city, with arrival in Paris on day one and departure from Nice on day seven. Use the full days for a Paris museum and garden, Fourvière and Vieux Lyon, then Nice’s old town and local food. The two intercity train journeys fall on days three and five. This is a varied first visit with three focused city stays; an additional Riviera excursion needs to replace part of the Nice day or extend the trip.
Explore tours, attractions and local experiences in Paris, Lyon, Nice along this route through France.
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1
Museum choices and neighbourhood walks
The eastern Marais suits the island walk and evenings around its streets; the Gare de Lyon area is more convenient for the first train south. Choose the Marais for neighbourhood time, or the station area if carrying bags across Paris is your main concern.
Read the Paris guide →
2
Old Lyon, rivers and food culture
Stay on the Presqu’île near Bellecour for the Saône bridges, shops and restaurants between the rivers. Part-Dieu is the practical alternative for station access, especially with an early onward departure; it has a different setting from the old-town lanes.
Read the Lyon guide →
3
Old Nice and the Mediterranean coast
Look around Jean Médecin and the southern part of Avenue Jean Médecin for a compromise between Nice-Ville station, the old town and the airport tram. Vieux Nice puts the final sightseeing day on your doorstep, with a longer walk back to the railway station.
Read the Nice guide →The full sightseeing days are two, four and six. Days three and five include intercity trains, and day seven is departure.
After reaching your accommodation, begin with the two islands at the heart of Paris. Walk from Île Saint-Louis over the pedestrian Pont Saint-Louis to Île de la Cité, pausing for the view of Notre-Dame’s eastern end. The smaller island’s town houses and quays contrast with the cathedral and former royal precinct on its neighbour. Continue along the river towards Pont Neuf if your arrival leaves time; a short out-and-back around the islands is enough after a long flight. This is an outdoor introduction, so there is no admission appointment to miss. The point is to understand how the river holds the old centre together before spending tomorrow inside a museum. Keep the evening in the same part of town rather than adding a separate monument across Paris. Arriving late simply means beginning with dinner near your room and using the island walk on another visit.
Base: Paris
Give the Louvre the morning, choosing a route through its collections before you arrive. The Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Mona Lisa and the Egyptian galleries offer very different reasons to visit; two or three priorities make a more satisfying first encounter than trying to see every department. Allow roughly three hours as a planning choice, then continue into the Tuileries for the afternoon. The museum occupies a former royal palace, and its grand courtyards help explain the setting as much as the artworks inside. The Louvre closes on Tuesdays. If that falls on your only full Paris day, use the Petit Palais instead: its permanent fine-art collections and garden are free to enter without a reservation, and the museum normally opens Tuesday to Sunday. The garden also gives you a quiet outdoor interval between the galleries and the walk back through central Paris.
Base: Paris
Travel to Lyon on day three, choosing an arrival that fits your accommodation’s confirmed check-in time. Leave your bags in your room before starting the afternoon walk. Begin on Place Bellecour and follow the Presqu’île north through its streets and squares towards Place des Terreaux. This is Lyon’s central peninsula, with the Saône on one side and the Rhône on the other; a detour to either bank makes the geography clear. Its shops, bookshops and theatres give it a different character from the older quarter across the Saône. For dinner, try a bouchon, the traditional Lyonnais restaurant. A quenelle is a light dumpling, often made with pike and baked with sauce; it is a useful first introduction to a cuisine that also gives considerable space to charcuterie and offal. You have another complete day here, so this afternoon can remain a compact walk.
Base: Lyon
Begin at Vieux-Lyon station and take funicular F2 up to Fourvière. The basilica and its esplanade give you a view across the city before you explore the streets below; individual entry to the basilica and crypt is free. Return to Vieux Lyon for its Renaissance houses, courtyard galleries and spiral stairs. The traboules are passages through buildings rather than another kind of street: a guided old-town walk is a good way to understand them while respecting residents’ entrances. The Saint-Jean quarter keeps the afternoon close to the Saône. For a different taste of Lyon, look for cervelle de canut, fresh cheese mixed with herbs, garlic and shallots, served with bread or potatoes. Its name recalls the canuts, Lyon’s silk workers. These details connect the city’s working traditions with something you can still experience at the table.
Base: Lyon
Use day five for the longer journey from Lyon to Nice, then go straight to your accommodation. An afternoon or early-evening walk from Place Masséna to the waterfront is enough after the train. Masséna’s red façades and patterned paving introduce a city whose public spaces feel quite different from Lyon’s river quarters. Continue towards the eastern end of the Promenade des Anglais, where the broad view over the Baie des Anges explains why the seafront became such an important part of Nice’s identity. The shore here is pebbly, not a continuous sandy beach. Tomorrow’s old-town visit explores the streets behind this open waterfront. If you arrive after dark, keep this as an evening near your accommodation; the following day has the outdoor time that makes the coastal finish worthwhile.
Base: Nice
Start at Cours Saleya, where the produce market normally runs Tuesday to Sunday, and continue through the old-town lanes. Try socca hot from the oven: this thin chickpea-flour pancake is made with water and olive oil and cut into pieces for eating straight away. Another local choice is pissaladière, bread dough topped with slowly cooked onions, anchovies and black olives. In the afternoon, visit Palais Lascaris on Rue Droite. Its frescoed staircase, decorated rooms and historic musical instruments give a tangible view of Nice’s Baroque culture; allow about an hour. It closes on Tuesdays, so use the Castle Hill park and its viewpoints as the main afternoon outing that day. On other days, choose between the palace and the hill according to your interests, leaving time to enjoy the old town rather than turning the day into a list of admissions.
Base: Nice
Departure belongs to day seven: the six hotel nights are already complete. With a morning flight, travel directly to the airport after leaving your accommodation. With a later departure, keep any final walk before check-out, then leave with your bags for the airport. Tram line 2 connects Jean Médecin with both airport terminals, with the airport describing the central journey as under thirty minutes. Add the walk to the stop, waiting time and the airline’s required airport arrival margin to that ride. For an onward train, depart from the station printed on your ticket; Nice-Ville and Nice Saint-Augustin serve different locations. The airport tram is separate from the intercity rail journeys described above.
Base: Nice
These are station-to-station estimates, not hotel-to-hotel transfer times. Use the stated central stations when choosing a service.
2 transfers
Paris Lyon
Choose Paris Gare de Lyon to Lyon Part-Dieu for this route. Other search results can use outlying stations or slower trains; compare the actual station pair before buying. Reserve a seat on the selected high-speed service.
Lyon Nice
Search Lyon Part-Dieu to Nice-Ville. Direct trains exist, while some journeys change in Marseille or elsewhere; choose a daytime arrival and a connection with a comfortable margin if a direct train does not suit.
Allow roughly €2,050–3,500 (≈ US$2,300–3,920) for two adults sharing a room in May–June or September, outside major events. The rows below are planning allowances, not bookable quotes. International travel, shopping and travel insurance are excluded.
Booking tips
Read the full line from Paris through Lyon to Nice, then compare how each hotel sits relative to the station and the day’s walking core.
Lyon
You can, but make it a deliberate alternative to part of the museum day. This itinerary concentrates on the Seine islands and an art collection rather than trying to include every major Paris landmark. A tower visit adds another timed commitment in a different part of the city. If it is your main reason for coming, replace the Louvre morning with it and keep the afternoon nearby; add a Paris night if both visits matter equally.
The only full Nice day is day six. An excursion therefore replaces the old-town and palace plan rather than adding a second full coastal day. Keep departure day seven for your actual flight or onward train. If Antibes or Menton is a priority alongside Nice itself, add a third Nice night and depart on day eight; that is an extension of this route, not the advertised seven-day version.
Yes, if the move to Lyon would displace something you especially want to see in Paris. Keeping two bases gives you more museum and neighbourhood time and removes one hotel change, although it also removes Vieux Lyon and its food traditions from the trip. The three-city version suits visitors who value that contrast. Decide which experiences matter before comparing the number of places on each itinerary.
Keep the city museums and old-town walks, but give the Nice finish a cultural rather than beach purpose. Palais Lascaris offers a compact indoor visit among historic instruments and decorated rooms, while the Paris collections can occupy more of the day. Shorter daylight makes a late train arrival less useful for outdoor sightseeing. The Louvre closes on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day; give your winter dates the same attention as the summer calendar.
The route can use public transport, but the suggested sightseeing contains old-town paving, hills and museum walking. Fourvière has funicular access and an accessible basilica entrance. Palais Lascaris is listed as unsuitable for wheelchair access; its historic staircase is part of the visit. Choose fewer outdoor segments and accessible accommodation near a useful transport stop rather than treating the whole itinerary as a step-free route.
Yes: keep two nights in each city and reverse the two train journeys. The full city days still fall between arrival and departure, but the museum closure calendar must suit the new Paris dates. Ending in Paris may make more sense for your international connection. The advantage of this route is the line of three bases, so choose the direction that fits your actual arrival and departure rather than making a return journey just to preserve the written order.
Reviewed by StartBooker
Last reviewed 2026-10-23
Updated
How this itinerary was checked: Route timings, museum access and local experiences were checked against the sources listed below. The budget separates published ticket prices from estimated accommodation, food and transport allowances; approximate US dollar conversions use a dated ECB reference rate.
19 references reviewed
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