Summer arrived with a vengeance that year.

If you were anywhere near Europe, you would remember it. Headlines screamed of flight cancellations, lost luggage mountains, and endless queues in London, Paris, Amsterdam and across Germany. Airports looked like survival camps. Add two heatwaves (early June and mid-July), plus the rise of Omicron BA.5, and suddenly “revenge travel” felt more like a test of resilience.

We sidestepped most of the chaos by doing what I love most in Europe: traveling by train.

No airport drama. No missing suitcases. Just platforms, espresso stops, and the romance of rail journeys.

Well… almost no drama.

We did have a Covid incident right in the middle of the trip — a plot twist I’ll share in a separate post — but somehow, everything still unfolded beautifully in the end.

The Plan: A French Summer Reunited

This trip was long overdue.

We were finally going to spend the entire school summer holiday in France — to visit my sister in La Fare-les-Oliviers and meet her newborn baby, whom we hadn’t seen for years because of the pandemic.

With cases slowing down in April, I bought tickets for the three of us. Hubby had to stay back for work but promised to join us toward the end of our stay.

The plan?
Two weeks of train travel across France:

• Week 1 – Cultural North: Strasbourg & Paris
• Week 2 – Mediterranean bliss: Côte d’Azur

And Provence framed our beginning and ending, since we were based near Marseille with my sister.

Week 1 – Storybook Towns & Parisian Magic

Strasbourg (3 nights)

Day 1 – Train from Aix-en-Provence TGV (5h55 direct)
Check-in at Ibis Strasbourg Gare — literally steps from the station (my kind of convenience).

Day 2 – Explore Strasbourg
Half-timbered houses, canals, cathedral views — it felt like walking into a storybook.

Day 3 – Day trip to Colmar (30 min by TER)
Colmar was pastel perfection. Quiet lanes, geranium-filled windows, and that timeless Alsatian charm.

Paris (4 nights — and not enough!)

Day 4 – Train to Paris Gare de l’Est (2.5h direct)
We stayed in the Latin Quarter at Mercure Paris Notre Dame Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Small room (very Paris), excellent location (very worth it).

Day 5 – Disneyland Paris
Full day. Kids’ vote. Democracy in action.

Day 6–7 – Explore Paris

Here’s my honest thought:
If I could redo this, I would add one more day in Paris.

Because although this wasn’t my first time, it was the kids’ first. And allocating one entire day to Disneyland left us with just 2.5 days for the city itself. Paris is never a checklist city. It’s a wander city. And we didn’t wander enough.

Week 2 – Slow Living on the Côte d’Azur

Menton (3 nights)

Day 8 – Train from Paris Gare de Lyon to Menton
6h57 with a connection in Nice. Long, but scenic.

We stayed near Plage des Sablettes — morning swims, lemon-colored houses, Italian air drifting across the border.

Day 9 – Explore Menton
Slow breakfasts. Seaside strolls. That golden Riviera glow.

Day 10 – Day trip to Monaco

Originally, we planned to continue into the Italian seaside — it was literally across the border.

But then… Covid happened.
Fabio tested positive.

Italy was cancelled. Plans pivoted.

Nice (3 nights)

Day 11 – Train Menton to Nice (39 min TER)
We moved to an apartment near Gare de Nice so Fabio could isolate comfortably.

While he rested, Alyssa and I wandered.

Day 12 – Èze Village
Day 13 – Villefranche-sur-Mer
Clifftop views, turquoise water, quiet coves — the Côte d’Azur at its finest.

Day 14 – Train back to Aix-en-Provence TGV

Second week was intentionally slower. Fewer cities. More sea. More pause.

Sometimes the best travel days are the unplanned ones.

What’s Missing? Provence.

You won’t see Provence in this formal itinerary because we were based there at the start and end — in La Fare-les-Oliviers, about 30 minutes from Marseille.

From there, we did scattered day trips:
Lavender fields. Hilltop villages. Swimming. Markets. Golden evenings.

Provence deserves its own post (and it will get one).

If I Could Redesign It…

Ideal 3-Week France Summer

• Week 1 – North (Strasbourg & Paris)
• Week 2 – Provence
• Week 3 – Côte d’Azur

Only 2 Weeks?

If you’ve never been to Paris:
8 days Paris + Aix-en-Provence
6 days Côte d’Azur

If you’ve already done Paris:
Focus entirely on South of France — Provence + Côte d’Azur.
Summer is their moment.

Lavender blooms mid-June to mid-July.
The Riviera sparkles.
The Mediterranean is warm enough to swim.

Strasbourg and Colmar?
Beautiful year-round. But truly magical during Christmas market season — especially with snow.

Final Thoughts

That summer was chaotic on paper.

Heatwaves. Headlines. Covid mid-trip.
And yet — trains rolled on. Villages shimmered. Family reunited.

Sometimes the most imperfect itineraries create the most vivid memories.

And France, as always, held us gently through it all. 💛