Mini break suggestions

[Naylor's Ark]

There are loads of pretty towns and villages in France. ( And just over the borders)
So where would you suggest to visit for a mini break?
We've already booked in Annecy and Colmar.
We're currently looking for somewhere in October, but suggestions to put on our future visit list would be good for any month.

[RobertArthur]

What about Sancerre? Pictures made during a visit in October.
















Sancerre, village préféré des français.

[demi]

When my son lived in Haute Savoie and we used to drive over from UK we always stopped in Dijon for a few days on the way back. It is a city, but totally walkable, very grand in places but on a small scale & the Musee des Beauxs Arts in amazing. Lovely food, greatwine & amazing mustard!!

[Blaze]

Strasbourg is brilliant. There's a beautiful old quarter - La Petite France and the river Ill. If you take one of the boat trips on offer, you get a fantastic view of the contrast between the old bit and the new are where the European Parliament is. We enjoyed it so much we did the trip again ! There is some lovely Hausmannian architecture similar to that in Paris.

[exile]

Aix-en-Provence is a small but fascinating city. With around 100,000 uni students it is also vibrant but not overly noisy. Roman, early middle age and later architecture - look at how many buildings in the town centre have architecturally different upper storeys compared to the lower ones, showing upward expansion from the 1600s onward.

I can recommend the boutique hotel Cezanne if you can afford it. I couldn't by my company could - for the best part of 2 years. Them times were 'ard.

[exile]

I can also second @Blaze suggestion of Strasbourg and might throw in Colmar, Mulhouse***, Riquewirh and Eguisheim - all possible on day trips.

* Home of the cité du Train - French national railway museum, museum of textile printing and musée nationale de l'Automobile among others.

[Blaze]

I confirm what @exilesays - Colmar is beautiful and you can do a little trip on the canal with an interesting commentary. It's a little electric putt-putt boat.
We went to Colmar from Strasbourg by train, just half an hour away.

[Naylor's Ark]

Thanks for all the replies.
We're already going to Colmar in August and plan on also visiting Eguisheim. We can possibly fit in another nearby place at the same time.
Somewhere in the south might be a good idea.
We live in the centre of France, so all borders are about the same distance.

[MAD87]

Nyons, in Provence? Capital of yummy black olives.

[Spectrum]

Carcassonne ?