Travel from Paris: Grasse and Fragonard Tour
Traveling from Paris to the perfume town of Grasse you’ll most likely want to fly to Nice or take the train. One day should be enough to discover the small charming south of France town as well as do a tour (free guided at Fragonard) and enjoy some local food.
Grasse is the perfume capital located in the historically rich French Riveria. It takes 1 1/2 hours to fly (100 Euros round trip) into Nice from Paris and 5 1/2 hours via train (170 Euros round trip)
A summer story.
Over the summer I do what all well deserving fake Parisians do: vacation in the south babe! I remember packing my bags for Nice thinking how lucky I was to be in a city that has a gateway to so many other amazing places here in France and around the world. CDG is my hub.
Travel from Paris to Nice was exciting because even though we stayed in a small village, I could also do some day trips to Cannes, old Nice and?Juan Les Pins in C?te d’Azur.
We stayed in the cutest tiny little town on a hill called Fayence, at nights we’d watch the sun set over the city below (clich? but so true) as we ate dinner on the terrace with funk music pumping from our Spotify.
From time to time we’d hear our neighbors next door Marie-France telling her husband that he has to eat (he was a retired artist in his 80s bedridden and had decided he had given up on life, even if his physical body hadn’t).
Fayence had many british tourist there in the village – to my surprise many of the banks and pharmacies had people who spoke english.
On one of our days out – we decided to spend a day in Grasse. And oh this little town is nothing but cuteness and tourist overload (by the buses!) With such a rich history that’s to be expected.
Fragonard got its name from famous painter Jean-Honor? Fragonard in 1926. The factory?tour was actually lots of fun – if you like history like?the flowers used for making the Chanel N?5 perfume are grown and harvested here.
To top that our guide?had a dry wit I loved! Telling us about how they used to extract the fragrance with a mixture of pig fat in the old days.
You’ll get to touch and smell a lot of the natural fragrances – partake in some fun quizzes (if you want!) and finishing in the gift shop. Bah oui. A free tour calls for a sale my friends.
But chances are if you made the trip to Grasse, you’re ready to spend!
What I love about the brand is that every single thing is of great quality – no seriously – even the makeup cases, and kitchen towels. I know because for years their Montmartre shop facing Sacred Heart church has been my go to gift shop for birthday and wedding gifts. And the prices are so reasonable.
I did find more in Grasse than Paris – especially their home ware collection was just so rich and full of amazing colors with bags and rugs coming from India and North Africa.
The entire town is a little tribute to Fragonard – you’ll find over 5 different Fragonard boutiques.?The are some other perfumeries worth visiting like?Galimard (1747) and Molinard?(1849).
We?still managed to enjoy ourselves and sneak away from the Fragonard factory tour to the city center – to see some “local” life.?We ate lunch at the central square, had some crepes and enjoyed a coffee before walking down the hill in the rain slipping and sliding, like little children.
Getting?to Grasse:
We drove as we were already spending a few weeks in the south, but you can see how to get to Grasse via train here.?
You can also find out more about Grasse from the Toursit Office:?Place de la Buanderie,?06130 Grasse, France + 33?4 93 36 66 66 ?-??www.grasse.fr
So you see traveling to Nice (and also Grasse) from Paris is super easy. I’d strongly suggest going with a soul-mate; friend or lover, traveling solo is fun too though.
Eating and Sleeping in Grasse:
There are lots of places to eat around ?the sqaure ,?Place aux Aires, 06130 Grasse, but you can also find ?a list here?Where to eat in Grasse. ?We ate Pizza at?Brasserie de Aires, not french but simple and we were in the mood. See some places?Where to sleep in Grasse