About the trip 

Who: Me & my best friend, Jackie 

What: 10-day trip to France

Where: Paris, Bordeaux, Provence, and Cannes

When: February 

Why: To experience more French culture, since we’re both a little French by blood 

France itinerary: 10 days

Here’s a quick outline of the time we spent in each city during our trip. Subscribe to Blue Sky Mind for an email once I put out city-specific guides for Paris, Bordeaux, and the south of France! 

• Fly in to Paris 

• 3 days in Paris

• 3 days in Bordeaux

• 2 days in Aix-en-Provence

• 2 days in Cannes 

• 1 more day in Paris 

• Fly out of Paris

Where to stay 

We did mostly Airbnb’s, with one planned hotel and one *impromptu* hotel after finding out that I’d booked our Cannes Airbnb one day off. Whoops. We loved everywhere we stayed, though it’s good to keep in mind that anywhere you book in Paris - hotel or Airbnb - is going to be a fairly compact space. We definitely got more space in our Airbnb for about the same price in Paris. But we’d definitely recommend Le Pigalle, a vibey hotel in the up-and-coming Pigalle district, if you’re going that route while in Paris. 

How to get around 

We got around through a combination of trains, planes, and car. 

• To Paris: Plane (Lufthansa) from San Francisco, with a quick connection in Frankfurt

• To Bordeaux: Train (TGV)

• To Provence: Plane (EasyJet) to Marseille, rented a car through Alamo 

• To Cannes: Drove our rental car along the coast

• To Paris: Plane (EasyJet) 

• To San Francisco: Plane (Lufthansa) from Paris, with a one hour connection in Frankfurt (our bags didn’t make it, sadly) 

Know before you go 

Just a few French musings/learnings for you as you think about planning a trip…

• Plan for most things to be closed on both Sunday & Monday 

• If you rent a car, don’t let them give you a big American car; the roads in France (especially the south) are tiny

• Natural wines are everywhere; get ready to explore!

• Eat a big dinner - late night food is very hard to find 

• Look out for the many incredible books stores 

Packing list

I packed pretty terribly for this trip. Despite the temperature being “about the same” in France as they were in SF, it felt much colder in France, even the south. I brought way too many t-shirts and tank tops, and not nearly enough sweaters. Learn from my mistakes. 

Clothes and accessories

• Wool coat

• Down or heavy jacket 

• Multiple sweaters

  • Turtleneck, cable knit, retro quarter zip, white Champion hoodie

• Multiple long-sleeve tops

  • Turtlenecks, balloon sleeves and lace trim 

• A few t-shirts 

  • I brought my Anine Bing and leopard button up 

• Multiple pairs of pants

  • Straight leg denim, kick flare denim, white flares, black skinnies, leather leggings

• Leather skirt with black tights 

• Lug sole or combat boots

• White tennis shoes

• Black belt 

• Beanies (or a beret if you’re tres chic) 

• Blanket scarf

• Black crossbody bag 

• Cute backpack 

• One set of workout clothes (for yoga or spin, no need to bring shoes!)

• Pajamas

• Underwear & socks & bras (duh) 

Other necessities

• Passport

• Converter / power adapter

• Kindle 

• Chargers (phone, watch, Kindle) 

• Journal

• Ear plugs

• Eye mask 

• Sleeping pills (for red eyes and adjusting to a new time zone) 

• Water bottle 

• Jewelry

• Toiletries 

• Hair tools 

Lots more to come here in terms of city-specific recommendations, but hopefully this is a helpful start for anyone planning their trip to France! :)