France City breaks for October half term

[dahliadiva]

Looking for recommendations for an interesting city break in France for October half term. It's for me and my daughter, who is 16. The only place we've been in France already is Paris. We like castles, old town centres, architecture, good food, museums and walks. Would be nice by the coast but not absolutely necessary. Has to have good public transport as I'd rather not hire a car. So if anyone has had any fantastic experiences, please share! Thanks 😊

I loved Marseille, and the weather could be perfect in October (or it could be chucking it down, who knows 😆).
Very multicultural, cool, loads of street art, AMAZING food (not just classic French, but North African, Spanish, Japanese....there's everything in the Cours Julien area), the old Panier District next to the Vieux Port, a big new modern art museum- and beaches, and the Calanques National Park, which is beautiful and right next to the city.

Lyon is fab, lots of old streets to wander, great museums and the food capital of France.

We went to Marseille last year, it smelt revolting and it really put me off 😭

Nice would be the obvious one.
I used to have a friend in Toulon and always enjoyed going to see her, a bit more off the beaten track

Nimes is a good city break without a car; it has lots of day trip options using public transport, such as the Pont du Gard, Cévennes mountains and Le Grau du Roi on the coast. It doesn’t have a castle, but a Roman amphitheatre instead. It has its own airport and is well-connected to other towns and cities by train.

How long are you going for? I’m just back from a long weekend in Carcassonne in SW France with my 13 YO - you can fly Ryanair from (at least) Manchester, East Mids and Stansted. Loads of history and architecture, the Cite is amazing and a good time of year to be going and eating cassoulet! There probably isn’t enough to fill a week, but there’s a station close to the centre with connections to Toulouse, Narbonne and Beziers for some day trips which also have excellent history and architecture.

How long are you going for? I’m just back from a long weekend in Carcassonne in SW France with my 13 YO - you can fly Ryanair from (at least) Manchester, East Mids and Stansted. Loads of history and architecture, the Cite is amazing and a good time of year to be going and eating cassoulet! There probably isn’t enough to fill a week, but there’s a station close to the centre with connections to Toulouse, Narbonne and Beziers for some day trips which also have excellent history and architecture.

We're currently in Toulouse and I would definitely recommed it. Lots of traditional French stuff but it is also a pretty young multicutural city (big university and booming aerospace industry) so you get lots of historc squares, food markets and traditional French food, but also more international food , fun bars and funky shops that may appeal more to your 16 year old.

Also we went here yesterday and it was amazing - halledelamachine.fr

Touloise Matabiau is a big station with connections both to the Med and Bordeaux and a direct fast train to Paris.

I second all of these! Would also maybe add Avignon or Montpellier - maybe combine one of those with Nimes?

Avignon, Aix and Marseilles have already been mentioned in other threads on this forum. In addition you may like to consider Strasbourg or coastal La Rochelle. All are fairly easy to access and have trains and busses for days out.

Toulouse with a couple of days in Carcassonne for sure!

Thank you for all these! I will have a look into them all! @YorkshireLawyerCarcassonne does sound good and those airports are perfect as we are in Yorkshire too. I think maybe that, Toulouse or Nice. Or a combination. Was thinking of going for maybe 3 or 4 nights.

Second Carcasonne and trains, especially to Toulouse but also Narbonne etc.

We travel a lot and generally we love everywhere we go (or find something to love) but the only place we hated was Marseille.
Absolutely filthy dirty everywhere, Le Panier was just dead, the museum was empty. Did a day trip to Cassis which was nice but all the restaurants seemed to be tourist crap. We did another day trip to Aix en Provence which we did enjoy. But Marseille itself - just no.

@Hotchoc12 - l know the region well. Marseilles is a “marmite place”, it is known in France as Aix’s naughty sister. Personally, l disagree with “filthy dirty everywhere”. I would hardly call the Vieux Port area or The area surrounding Notre Damme dirty, and the beaches are clean, but l concede the city as a whole does have some rough edges, but so does Oxford.

As for the restaurants in Cassis, yes, l’ve had rubbish meals on the harbour, but like many cities the best places can often be found in the backs.

Does it have to be France? Go to Florence, we loved it.

Rouen is really nice and very walkable. There are buses too. Also Bordeaux. I've visited both with my teenage daughter and both were great trips.

You can get to both by train instead of flying if you want to, too. I actually really enjoy the train option, it's quite relaxing!

We didn't go to the beaches so cannot comment. We went in April year before last and everywhere was dirty, rubbish strewn and blown everywhere, including Vieux port and Cours Julien which yes, is trendy, but so unkempt. Maybe we were unlucky.

We took the dcs to Avignon for an autumn half term.. Lovely weather and loads to see - pretty old town, city walls, popes palace (and there are museums there though we didn't visit). And the bridge of course! 😄

Went on the train (changing at Lille so all one station, no crossing Paris required, and the line is v fast as far as avignon) and visited Nimes and pont du Gard (unmistakable !!) by easy train/bus. Also hired. Bikes one day and cycled along the river.

That said, I fancy Lyon and . Marseilles as well!

Nice. Loads to do in the area, many beautiful little towns along the coast for day trips. I've been twice that time of year and it was warm and sunny most days.

Strasbourg is beautiful.

Avignon is a good option with fly or train as options for transport there, has lovely buildings and is warm typically still. You can take a trip to nimes from there for Roman buildings.

For a 16 year old I'd probably go for Lyon out of these. The museums are fantastic (the cinema one is particularly good) and the frescos are great too.