France (Paris & Cassis) mother-daughter(s) trip?

[Anonymous]

I am in the beginning stages of planning a mother-daughter(s) trip to France in July 2025 for 8 nights. It will be my mother (upper 70s), myself, and my sis in our 30s/early 40s. We are splitting our time between Paris and Cassis, France and we fly in/out of Paris. We will spend the first 3 nights in Paris & are staying in a beautiful, very feminine feeling hotel between jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des plantes, and Notre-dame. We then will take the train to Aix-en-provence where we will rent a car and leisurely drive to our hotel in Cassis and spend a relaxing 4 nights there before taking the train back to Paris for one last night.

I've thought about different itineraries like getting a connecting flight upon arrival and going straight to the south of France or taking the train or a flight back to CDG instead of returning the day before but that feels too hard on my mom and there's too many opportunities for issues.

I've been to Paris a number of times through different seasons of life but I've never actually gone on a proper girls trip!! My mother has been to Paris twice before but it has been a LONG time and my sister has never been. My mom is has great stamina, is adventurous, but also does have some issues with her knees and going up and down lots of hills can be tough on her. Our hotel in Paris has a lovely garden so my mom can sit and rest there if she gets tired while me and my sis explore more (she wanted something like that) and our hotel in cassis has a pool, terrace, and beautiful view for again, same thing.

Please help suggest special activities in Paris or fun little stops along Aix-en-provence to Cassis or favorite spots near there. We will have a car in the south of France.

Here's what I have so far in Paris:

1) Seine river cruise
2) Walk along the seine some around notre-dame, visit Shakespeare & co.
3) Visit the Louvre but purchase tickets in advance for when they first open & have my mom/sis pick out top things they want to try and see....maybe walk over to Angelina's in the museum for a little treat and rest?
4) Maybe Musee D'Orsay? this is one of my favorite museums and I Think there is a restaurant in there but I've never been.
5) Galeries Lafayette & sit down for a coffee inside and check out the view.
6) Not sure about making it up to the Sacre-coeur. My mom cannot do those stairs but is there a more accessible way up or maybe take a bus or uber up to the neighborhood instead? I love the little winding streets up there.
7) Jardin du Luxembourg....
8) Unsure if my sis feels like she needs to actually go up the Eiffel tower (I've actually never been).
9) Canal St. Martin neighborhood (I visited for the 1st time during my last visit and loved it!!)

I've never actually been to Versaille (I know...a travesty!). I'm wondering if that might be too hard with my mom and sis since it will likely require a whole day. I imagine I could set up a tour to pick up us for my mom.

I might try to see if I can organize a mini photo shoot of us in Paris, just to have some really nice photos of a special trip if there's any recommendations.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

If it's anything like last year, Paris will be a complete zoo.

Leisurely? Relaxing? We've experienced many a traffic jam in the south at that time of year.

[Anonymous]

You can get to the Sacre Coeur from the back: an Uber can bring you up to level so you can walk around with steep climb or stairs (there is a bus line as well). For the Eiffel Tower you now need to pay to get closer to it. The Jules Verne restaurant is nice and is a good way to go and check out the view, a nice special treat for your trip. When you go to Notre-Dame, you can walk around l'Île de la Cité. The flower market is pretty, a couple nice restaurants on Place Dauphine and you can visit the Sainte-Chapelle. Versailles is 100% worth it. You can rent a wheelchair for your mom there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get to the Sacre Coeur from the back: an Uber can bring you up to level so you can walk around with steep climb or stairs (there is a bus line as well). For the Eiffel Tower you now need to pay to get closer to it. The Jules Verne restaurant is nice and is a good way to go and check out the view, a nice special treat for your trip. When you go to Notre-Dame, you can walk around l'Île de la Cité. The flower market is pretty, a couple nice restaurants on Place Dauphine and you can visit the Sainte-Chapelle. Versailles is 100% worth it. You can rent a wheelchair for your mom there.

^^meant to say without steep climb or stairs!!

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't train back to Paris. Book the ticket as DC-Paris, and Marseille-DC as a multicity ticket, will price the same as a roundtrip. There are many flights a day from Marseille to Paris to make the connection, and Marseille Airport is 50 minute drive from Cassis (about the same as to Aix TGV station). Will save time and hassle not adding the extra steps of train back to Paris, one night in Paris, getting out to CDG, etc.

[Anonymous]

You can fly nonstop to Nice from PHL that time of year on AA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get to the Sacre Coeur from the back: an Uber can bring you up to level so you can walk around with steep climb or stairs (there is a bus line as well). For the Eiffel Tower you now need to pay to get closer to it. The Jules Verne restaurant is nice and is a good way to go and check out the view, a nice special treat for your trip. When you go to Notre-Dame, you can walk around l'Île de la Cité. The flower market is pretty, a couple nice restaurants on Place Dauphine and you can visit the Sainte-Chapelle. Versailles is 100% worth it. You can rent a wheelchair for your mom there.

^^meant to say without steep climb or stairs!!

Can also take the funicular most of the way up the hill- you can use a 2.50 metro ticket. It is a very slight uphill 3 block walk from the Abbesses metro station. A lot of people get there from the Anvers metro, which is a block closer, but that walk is much steeper to get to the lower level funicular station.

[Anonymous]

Does your Cassis hotel have AC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your Cassis hotel have AC?

There is a misunderstanding about availability of A/C in Europe by some Americans. Many (most?) places in northern Europe do not have it. In southern Europe, in places oriented towards tourists, it is pretty ubiquitous in hotels, and almost all rentals that lean upscale will have it as well. Cassis is a pretty upscale area, and a hotel there is 98% likely to have A/C.

[Anonymous]

OP here- thanks for the recommendations! I'm actually not sure if there is AC where we are staying. I stayed there before and was not hot at all. It is much cooler in Cassis than in Nice/Antibes and the water is very cold too. It was lovely last time.

We already bought our tickets. We are flying a budget airline because that's what me and my sister are able to afford but I've flown with this airline multiple times and it's honestly not bad and we did upgrade a little so we will be sitting next to each other and will have a carry-on and personal item. The cost was like $1,300 vs $700 so it made a big difference for me.

I am worried about driving into Marseille. It is a HUGE city and I anticipate that being really stressful for me and my sister trying to drive. I'd much prefer to go to Aix-en-provence and it be less stressful. It's a gorgeous city and the markets are perfect. I also found out that some relatives of ours might actually be in Paris our last night as well so we are going to try and coordinate going out for dinner so it may actually work out for the best

Thanks for the tips about the sacre-coeur, I knew that there were alternative ways up. I guess we will just see which option works best with what we are doing.

[Anonymous]

Just check the rental car office hours in Aix. They have a habit of opening late, closing for lunch and not being open on holidays or when you want to drop it off. I don't like putting the keys in a drop box, then having them find mysterious damage.

Also, sometimes they don't have an automatic available even if you book it. We grew up driving shift so can cope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks for the recommendations! I'm actually not sure if there is AC where we are staying. I stayed there before and was not hot at all. It is much cooler in Cassis than in Nice/Antibes and the water is very cold too. It was lovely last time.

We already bought our tickets. We are flying a budget airline because that's what me and my sister are able to afford but I've flown with this airline multiple times and it's honestly not bad and we did upgrade a little so we will be sitting next to each other and will have a carry-on and personal item. The cost was like $1,300 vs $700 so it made a big difference for me.

I am worried about driving into Marseille. It is a HUGE city and I anticipate that being really stressful for me and my sister trying to drive. I'd much prefer to go to Aix-en-provence and it be less stressful. It's a gorgeous city and the markets are perfect. I also found out that some relatives of ours might actually be in Paris our last night as well so we are going to try and coordinate going out for dinner so it may actually work out for the best

Thanks for the tips about the sacre-coeur, I knew that there were alternative ways up. I guess we will just see which option works best with what we are doing.

No need to drive into Marseille- just drive out a few minutes out to the Cassis train station, which has parking, and take the TER regional train into Marseille if you want to see the city a bit. It's 25 minutes and trains run every half hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in the beginning stages of planning a mother-daughter(s) trip to France in July 2025 for 8 nights. It will be my mother (upper 70s), myself, and my sis in our 30s/early 40s. We are splitting our time between Paris and Cassis, France and we fly in/out of Paris. We will spend the first 3 nights in Paris & are staying in a beautiful, very feminine feeling hotel between jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des plantes, and Notre-dame. We then will take the train to Aix-en-provence where we will rent a car and leisurely drive to our hotel in Cassis and spend a relaxing 4 nights there before taking the train back to Paris for one last night.

I've thought about different itineraries like getting a connecting flight upon arrival and going straight to the south of France or taking the train or a flight back to CDG instead of returning the day before but that feels too hard on my mom and there's too many opportunities for issues.

I've been to Paris a number of times through different seasons of life but I've never actually gone on a proper girls trip!! My mother has been to Paris twice before but it has been a LONG time and my sister has never been. My mom is has great stamina, is adventurous, but also does have some issues with her knees and going up and down lots of hills can be tough on her. Our hotel in Paris has a lovely garden so my mom can sit and rest there if she gets tired while me and my sis explore more (she wanted something like that) and our hotel in cassis has a pool, terrace, and beautiful view for again, same thing.

Please help suggest special activities in Paris or fun little stops along Aix-en-provence to Cassis or favorite spots near there. We will have a car in the south of France.

Here's what I have so far in Paris:

1) Seine river cruise
2) Walk along the seine some around notre-dame, visit Shakespeare & co.
3) Visit the Louvre but purchase tickets in advance for when they first open & have my mom/sis pick out top things they want to try and see....maybe walk over to Angelina's in the museum for a little treat and rest?
4) Maybe Musee D'Orsay? this is one of my favorite museums and I Think there is a restaurant in there but I've never been.
5) Galeries Lafayette & sit down for a coffee inside and check out the view.
6) Not sure about making it up to the Sacre-coeur. My mom cannot do those stairs but is there a more accessible way up or maybe take a bus or uber up to the neighborhood instead? I love the little winding streets up there.
7) Jardin du Luxembourg....
8) Unsure if my sis feels like she needs to actually go up the Eiffel tower (I've actually never been).
9) Canal St. Martin neighborhood (I visited for the 1st time during my last visit and loved it!!)

I've never actually been to Versaille (I know...a travesty!). I'm wondering if that might be too hard with my mom and sis since it will likely require a whole day. I imagine I could set up a tour to pick up us for my mom.

I might try to see if I can organize a mini photo shoot of us in Paris, just to have some really nice photos of a special trip if there's any recommendations.

Thanks

I love Versailles. There is electric golf carts you can rent to get around if you worry about distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks for the recommendations! I'm actually not sure if there is AC where we are staying. I stayed there before and was not hot at all. It is much cooler in Cassis than in Nice/Antibes and the water is very cold too. It was lovely last time.

We already bought our tickets. We are flying a budget airline because that's what me and my sister are able to afford but I've flown with this airline multiple times and it's honestly not bad and we did upgrade a little so we will be sitting next to each other and will have a carry-on and personal item. The cost was like $1,300 vs $700 so it made a big difference for me.

I am worried about driving into Marseille. It is a HUGE city and I anticipate that being really stressful for me and my sister trying to drive. I'd much prefer to go to Aix-en-provence and it be less stressful. It's a gorgeous city and the markets are perfect. I also found out that some relatives of ours might actually be in Paris our last night as well so we are going to try and coordinate going out for dinner so it may actually work out for the best

Thanks for the tips about the sacre-coeur, I knew that there were alternative ways up. I guess we will just see which option works best with what we are doing.

No need to drive into Marseille- just drive out a few minutes out to the Cassis train station, which has parking, and take the TER regional train into Marseille if you want to see the city a bit. It's 25 minutes and trains run every half hour.

I need to double check but I've been to the train station in Cassis and it's a good distance from the main part of town and transportation there isn't reliable. I didn't see anywhere to rent a car right there in cassis and they have no taxi's unless something has changed, but that is why I was going to pick a bigger city. I'd love to be wrong though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks for the recommendations! I'm actually not sure if there is AC where we are staying. I stayed there before and was not hot at all. It is much cooler in Cassis than in Nice/Antibes and the water is very cold too. It was lovely last time.

We already bought our tickets. We are flying a budget airline because that's what me and my sister are able to afford but I've flown with this airline multiple times and it's honestly not bad and we did upgrade a little so we will be sitting next to each other and will have a carry-on and personal item. The cost was like $1,300 vs $700 so it made a big difference for me.

I am worried about driving into Marseille. It is a HUGE city and I anticipate that being really stressful for me and my sister trying to drive. I'd much prefer to go to Aix-en-provence and it be less stressful. It's a gorgeous city and the markets are perfect. I also found out that some relatives of ours might actually be in Paris our last night as well so we are going to try and coordinate going out for dinner so it may actually work out for the best

Thanks for the tips about the sacre-coeur, I knew that there were alternative ways up. I guess we will just see which option works best with what we are doing.

No need to drive into Marseille- just drive out a few minutes out to the Cassis train station, which has parking, and take the TER regional train into Marseille if you want to see the city a bit. It's 25 minutes and trains run every half hour.

I need to double check but I've been to the train station in Cassis and it's a good distance from the main part of town and transportation there isn't reliable. I didn't see anywhere to rent a car right there in cassis and they have no taxi's unless something has changed, but that is why I was going to pick a bigger city. I'd love to be wrong though!

From the OP:

"We will have a car in the south of France."

It sounded like your plan was to pick up a rental car at the Aix-en-Provence TGV station when you arrive from Paris, use it to drive to Cassis, and use it while you are in Provence. Then return it to the same TGV station for your train back to Paris. If that is the case, getting to the Cassis station shouldn't be a problem at all.

I am sure there are taxis in Cassis also.