First Visit to France as a Solo Traveler

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Casey Armistead had her first visit to France as a solo traveler. You might think that someone who's coming to France for the first time is likely to stay in Paris the whole time or might have a limited itinerary. Not Casey! She wanted to see a lot more of France and she used trains and car rentals to see all the places she had in mind.

Take Home Lessons for Your First Visit to France as a Solo Traveler

Casey only spent a couple of days in Paris. She had listened to my walking tours of Paris, so she had an idea of the places she wanted to concentrate on. She also picked an excellent hotel in a central neighborhood. Casey ended up doing the Ile de la Cité VoiceMap tour backwards. You can do that if you set off the commentary manually. She decided on that because she wanted to end up at Le Calife for her dinner cruise (also a great choice!)

Casey had done an itinerary consult with me before her trip and at that time I recommended that she get an external battery pack such as this one. Remember to bring a battery pack because using Google Maps will suck your phone battery dry in half a day, especially if you're taking lots of pictures!

Sometimes it makes sense to take the metro even if you enjoy walking. The Sacré Coeur is 4.6 kilometers away from Notre Dame (that's 2.8 miles) and it's mostly uphill. This is one case where I definitely recommend you either take the metro. Get off a metro Abbesses and take the elevator to the surface. You'll do plenty of walking in Montmartre once you get there!

For instance, she didn't take the metro even when it would have made sense. As a result, she walked 15 miles in a single day! Wow, respect!

About her Kayak experience under the Pont du Gard

If you'd like to kayak under the Pont du Gard, look at companies that do this from the town called Collias.

Hotels Recommended in this Episode

Petit Belloy in Paris. This is a basic and yet comfortable hotel with friendly staff and in a great location at the border of Saint Germain des Prés and the Latin Quarter.
Le Jardin de Marie B&B in Aix-en-Provence