DeborahAnn

Fodors is a great resource in many ways and always one of the first place I come with travel questions. However, there isn't as much current information for destinations like the Pyrennes and the French Alps. Where are other travel forums you can suggest for those roads less traveled. Thanks so much, Deborah

ira

Hi DA,

Have you posted a question about these destinations? I seem to have missed it.

WillTravel

I agree you should try posting the questions. But http://Thorntree.LonelyPlanet.com
often has info on less-trafficked destinations.

Momliz

I like Slow Travel: www.slowtrav.com.

DeborahAnn

Ira, I have been scanning fodors first, not much here. I did post one question yesterday about which is the easiest train station to drop off a car in Lyon. No answers to that.

My other questions are along the line of weather in the Alps in August, driving distances, practicality of gondola/cable car rides at Mont Blanc. Too many questions that aren't about Paris and Provence There is little weather historical data on weatherbase.com and weatherunderground because the towns in the Alps are too small.

I ran into similar difficulties gathering information about the Pyrenees. Just trying to find more informational sites. Thanks Willtravel will check out Lonely Planet. Deborah

julies

I agree with you that this board has a particular focus on Paris and London and other major tourist hot spots. However, if you take some time searching you will find a wealth of information on other areas. We were in the Pyrennes last summer (both Spain and France) and I fould a lot of information here. Frankly, I also use Lonely Planet but find it much more useful for Central and Eastern Europe. When so many of the posts on this board are about Paris, it gives a newcomer the impression that thisis the only place people visit. We've been to France, Spain, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, iceland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania. In all cases (other than Romania and now there is more info on that) I found lots of help here. This summer we are visiting the Baltic countries and I hope to both get some tips here and post some of my own when we get back.

laartista

Also www.virtualtourist.com they cover everywhere.

suze

I'm a avid reader and participant at The Thorn Tree Lonely Planet's forum but don't recall much discussion of the areas you are asking about there either.

I think the leaning of that site is more younger, budget, backpacker types which may or may not equate with off the beaten path locales.

DeborahAnn

laartista, thanks for the virtual tourist site. I just did a search for Aiguille du Midi and came up with some great information. Thanks for the help.

I have always found this forum to be extremely helpful for many of my destinations also. I just have very specific questions for a very specific location not just help me decide between London and Paris
Deborah

flanner2

I wouldn't ask any slightly obscure question on this board at 1830 GMT on a Saturday night, as you did about stations in Lyons.

The strength of a number of Fodors threads (especially Europe and Australia) is the number of local residents who contribute - many, pretty clearly, as interruptions to their work. Most have other things to do on Saturday nights.

Try bringing your questions back during the European working day (just type ttt)

Incidentally, I wouldn't drop anything off anywhere near Perrache, which is a traffic nightmare. I'd leave a hired car at the airport and get the excellent local transport into town.

The Mont Blanc cable car questions have been asked several times on this thread: just search. Driving distances from ViaMichelin.com.

What's your question about Alpine weather? A great way to get an answer to a question is to ask it.

DeborahAnn

flanner, thanks for the advice. You are correct regarding when to pose a question, timing is everything. Yes, I know to bring a question back to the top and I did a search for Mont Blanc. the most helpful answer came from Rex back in 2002 or 03 I think.

It just made me realize I need to also look elsewhere. Virtual Tourist listed three pages of information on Aiguille du Midi !!! I hope travel sites listed here might help others in their searching.

thanks for your help, Deborah

DeborahAnn

flanner2, thanks for the info about Lyon train stations, that was precisely what I needed. merci beaucoup, Deborah

gracejoan3

This website has a great deal of information that you are looking for and you can "google" hours and hours of info. I have recently done all this myself, as I will be doing east and west along the Languedoc/Pyrenees/Basque areas with Dordogne thrown in the middle, probably. I would fly into Toulouse and depart from Biarritz, picking up car in TLS and leaving it at BIO.

Many great places to stay and certainly things to see along the way...spend some time searching on Fodor's and do some googling..

Hav fun.......

Underhill

DeborahAnn,

Try the tripadvisor.com site, where I've recently seen several queries about the French Alps that elicited good responses. It's also quite a civil site.

John

I second Virtual Tourist. Many times you can "talk" to people who actually live in the area.

DeborahAnn

Underhill, thanks I do check often with slowtrav, especially useful for Italy. I searched there for Briancon and the Alps and didn't find much information. I don't think it was due to my lack of a cedilla Deborah

BTilke

Don't jump to the conclusion that you won't find good answers here. Several Fodorites are off in the region around Briancon right now to attend the Olympics. Wait til the Olympics are over and you might get some very detailed answers.
As for the SW France, try the Yahoo group Dreaming of SW France. You'll find lots of help there.

DeborahAnn

Tbilke, I certainly appreciate all the information I have received from your postings. I love this forum, it is usually my primary source of internet travel information. I consider myself a Fodorholic but I still believe there are better sites out there for certain topics.

I think that Slowtravel forum is terrific for traveling to Italy. Bonjour Paris provides a wealth of information for traveling to France. Fodors is the best for both broad and specific information.

I thought I was using the right search words but not getting the results I had hoped for.

I don't know why but I expected that more answers will be coming from inhabitants from the US and Canada who are travelers not from residents of Europe. I was focusing on my search, not on the time of my posting. Deborah

DeborahAnn

sorry BTilke, for flubbing your name, Deborah

Intrepid1

Answers can definitely depend on when you put the original post up, especially for folks in Europe to see and respond to it. I find early AM (East Coast-US time) has worked well for me. And i disagree that the board is all about Paris and Rome and London, etc. There are plenty of people here who have been to many of the most obscure places.