David

My wife and I are travelling to Paris this May. First timers I might add. Anyhow, we have accomodation while in Paris (1st 2 days & nights and Last 2 days & 1 or 2 nights) with family. Now help me if you will with this plan. We plan to see the important sites in Paris with a little help from you and our hosts. We will be leaving Paris (via car rental)on the 3rd morning and heading to Chartes then on down to the Loire Valley for 2 nights some where in the Tours/Amboise area. I have read alot of postings on visiting the variety of chateau in the area, thanks for the advice. Next we plan to head for Burgundy via Bourges to end in Beaune for 3 nights. We would like to make a day trip to Geneva while in Beaune. Then head back to Paris for the last 2 nights or possibly stop in Champagne around Troyes or Reims for 1 night. So what do all you traveling folks think ? Is this do-able. Is it too much for one day to go from Amboise to Beaune? Does anyone have any advice on B&B's in these areas? I want to visit a few wineries along the way and collect as we go, does anyone have experiance bringing/shipping a couple of cases of wine back to Canada eh! I have looked at the Revenue Canada web site and printed the Exise Duty Summary for spirits,beer,tobacco and it states that the duty is $11.066 per litre of absolute alcohol. So I figure that since most wines are about 12.5% alchohol, then 24 x 750ml bottles should have a payable duty of approx. $1 Cdn + GST. BUT I have heard that it is indeed much more expensive to bring these treasures home. PLEASE HELP.

Bill Fleites

David, Here are some distances and travel times for your trip that I pulled from euroshell: <BR>1. Amboise to Beaune via Bourges is 240mi - 4.75hr <BR>2. Beaune to Geneva is 150mi - 2.5hr <BR>3. Beaune to Paris is 197mi - 3.25hr <BR>4. Beaune to Paris thru Troyes is 245mi - 4.5hr <BR>5. Beaune to Paris thru Reims is 300mi - 5hr <BR> <BR>It looks to me that your traveling distances and times are reasonable. <BR>Have fun on your trip. <BR>

Bill

Spent five weeks in Paris and travel- <BR>ing around France last Sept-Oct. <BR>Brought home six bottles of wine <BR>from Burgundy and no charge unless <BR>you went over the minimum. <BR>Found a good chain of hotels that are <BR>generally good and they will make <BR>reservations ahead so you can spend <BR>your limited time touring and not trying <BR>to find a place to stay. "Hotels de <BR>Silence" <BR>Have a great time <BR>

David

Thanks fellas for the tips, Is that main route times or tourist route?

Bill Fleites

David, The distance and times I listed are for the fastest route. If you like to see the actual list of roads taken go to the Euroshell web page at: http://www.euroshell.com/. Beware, that it had difficulties with Amboise, so I used Tours instead.

alan

Sounds doable for 10 days. Driving in POaris is an experience. If you have driven in New York City or some other large city then it's ok to drive in Paris.. What we do these days is pick up the car rental at the airport even if we are staying in the city. Paris was difficut to find the rental return center in the city center. We were somewhat disapointed in Troyes. My wife more so thasn myself. Chartres is something else. Probly the most spectacular church I have seen, and that includes Notre Dame in Paris...enjoy

Maria Angeles

We were there last September. Try to stay on the local roads. It is so much more fun! We saw 4 chateaux in order of appearance on the road: Chambord sooo big), Chaumont, Amboise (the village is adorable) and my favorite Chenonceau (built over the river Cher). The entrance fees were reasonable (45 francs = $8/person). We then drove up to Le Mans (my husband is a car fanatic). From there we went to Mont St. Michel and I fell in love!!! Our last stop before heading back to Paris was Giverny (Claude Monet's home), another dream of mine. We did this in 3 days and were really pushing it and wished we had had more time, specially to see the tide come up at Mt. St. Michel. We did not have reservations, and had no problems. Just remember the first day when you arrive, you will be tired and don't plan too much. Also your departure day is a lost day. While we were in Paris we did a day trip (we had a car) to Epernay - the capital of champagne - and visited Moet & Chandon (Dom Perignon). The car will give you so much flexibility and leave room for the unexpected. HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME! Maria