dhara

I am travelling to France and Italy on 5th June 2016 with my husband and 8 month old daughter. My husband has to attend a conference in Paris from 6th to 11th June. And after that we have time to go around till 25th. We are planning to visit places in France and Italy. I need help to plan our itinerary and how to go around? Whether we need to rent a car or can use public transport. Need all the details. Also we are tight on budget so don't want to spend a lot on high end hotels. Will prefer hostels or BB.

I would love suggestions on above.

Thanks in advance for helping us out.

Dhara

thursdaysd

Buy or borrow a copy of "Europe Through the Back Door". And possibly Rough Guide's "First Time Europe". Or camp out at your neighborhood bookstore with a cup of coffee and read them there.

Whathello

Nice weather usually in june and not many tourists.
You can anywhere you like.

vincenzo32951

You'll need to fill in a lot of blanks to get good responses.

What, exactly, is your accommodation budget?

What are your interests and priorities? If cities, then you don't need a car. If places like Tuscany, then you do.

Let me politely suggest you do some research and examine your wants and needs a little more.

traveller1959

France is a large country which is very diverse in terms of landscapes and climate. It is rather hard for us to give you advice without knowing your preferences and interests. Here just a few options:

- The Loire Valley is in a mild, lovely landscape with dozens of splendid castles.

- Bourgogne has wine villages, historical towns (like Auxerre, Beaune, Dijon), abbeys and also castles.

- The Provence has mediterranean landscape with olive orchards, vineyards, lots of Roman archeology and historical towns.

- The Côte d'Azur has beaches, incredibly beautiful coastline, modern art, yacht harbours, elegant promenades.

- The Alps have steep, snow-covered mountains, green valleys, lakes, whitewater rivers.

Whereever you go, it is probably a good idea to leave Paris by fast train (TGV) and then rent a car at the train station.

If you want to visit Italy, it might make sense to take the TGV to Nice, rent a car there, drive into Italy (Tuscany, Milan, lakes), back to France, visit Côte d'Azur, Provence, Bourgogne, drop the car and take the TGV back to Paris to fly home.

In France, you find many inexpensive hotel chains. The hotels are usually at the autoroutes and the highways. Major budget hotel chains are:

Formule 1 (belongs to Accor): http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/brands...formule1.shtml

Campanile: http://www.campanile.com/en

Ibis, especially Budget Ibis: http://www.ibis.com/gb/united-kingdom/index.shtml

B&B Hotels: http://www.hotel-bb.com/en/home.htm

Premiere Classe: http://www.premiereclasse.com/en

Mr. Bed: http://www.misterbed.fr/en/

StuDudley

For 2 weeks, I would just stay in France.

Perhaps try this:

- Take the train to Brive la Gaillarde. Rent a car, visit Collonges la Rouge. Then drive to the Dordogne near Sarlat and stay for 6 nights.

- Get an early start and drive to Carsassonne (largest fortress in Europe) and visit for 2 1/2 hrs. Then head to Provence and stay for 6 nights. Hopefully, you'll see some lavender blooming.

- Take the TGV from the Avignon TGV station back to Paris, stay at the Terminas hotel across the street from the train station, have a final meal in France, and take a taxi or shuttle to CDG the next morning.

For super discount train tickets, you need to purchase them now or very soon!!

Adding Italy to the itinerary involves some long train rides or some flights that consume time and might involve two "legs" (depending on where you start from).

Stu Dudley

StuDudley

>>If you want to visit Italy, it might make sense to take the TGV to Nice, rent a car there, drive into Italy (Tuscany, Milan, lakes), back to France, visit Côte d'Azur, Provence, Bourgogne, drop the car and take the TGV back to Paris to fly home<<

I would not move around that much within 2 weeks and an 8 month-old in tow.

Stu Dudley

inspiredexplorer

Are you flying on a multicity itinerary - into Paris, and out of an Italian city - or are you flying roundtrip to Paris? If you haven't bought flights yet, definitely look for the multicity / open jaw option, it will save you significant time.

Are you looking to immediately leave Paris after the conference? You'll be able to explore city while your husband is at the conference, but perhaps check with him and see if he has desire for days in Paris after the conference ends.

I agree that we need more information from you to make better suggestions. Do you want beaches? Countryside? Cities? Villages? Small towns? Gardens? Museums? Lakes? Any specific focal points or interests? With about 14 nights open, you have plenty of options, and probably have enough time to add two or three destinations to your itinerary. By train, two obvious places to start are:

-Paris to Provence, the Cote d'Azur, and Italian Riviera (trains between, rent car in Provence, fly home from Milan or Pisa)

-Paris, overnight train to Venice (and from there time for Venice + 1 or 2 other destinations in Italy)

Flying from Paris to Rome or anywhere else in Italy is also an option.

There are sample Europe multicountry itineraries on this site that may also be of help in narrowing down destinations based on your interests.

traveller1959

Stu, my first thought was "stay in France and skip Italy".

But sometimes, the posters put things on their mind and if is important for them to include Italy I tried to make the best possible itinerary for them. It could go like this:

12 June: TGV from Paris to Nice (5:34, direct), staying overnight in Nice.

13 June: Taking a rental car, driving to Tuscany (5 hours).

14-15 June: Exploring Tuscany.

16 June: Driving to the Côte d'Azur (5 hours).

17-18 June: Exploring Côte d'Azur.

19-21 June: Driving to Provence (2 hours), exploring Provence.

22-24 June: Driving to Bourgogne (4 hours), exploring Bourgogne.

25 June: TGV to Paris (2:39), flying home.

Would be doable, not too much hassle and you would see some of the best of France and Italy. Would be, of course, more relaxed without Tuscany. Or skip one region in France to reduce changes of hotels.

StuDudley

I don't think the OP knows what she wants to do - other than "France & Italy". I didn't know what I wanted to do on our first trip to Europe in '77. Rick Steves has made all these "destinations" seem great, and closer together than they really are. On our first trip we spent waaaay too much time in the car, got to places too late in the evening to secure a good B&B/zimmer to stay in, and spent too little time at each location. I disliked many of the destinations too. My mother & sister were with us, and they "bailed out" half way through the trip. Two years later we pretty much repeated the same itinerary - this time spending more nights at each place.

I hate that drive through all the tunnels from Nice to Tuscany. We've done the tunnel drive 4-6 times - even making a wrong turn near Genoa and finding ourselves on the streets of Genoa - without a street map. I would hate it even more with an 8 month old that might need a stop/rest/care along the way. We took the train the last time we went from Italy to Nice - and that was very time-consuming and not nearly enjoyable as others on Fodors made it out to be.

Cote d'Azur, Provence, Burgundy would be fine.

Provence & Dordogne are our two favorite regions in France. We like Tuscany just as much as Provence & Dordogne.

Cote d'Azur, Languedoc, and Brittany are our next favorite regions.

Stu Dudley

Sassafrass

Take a stroller or good baby carrier so baby can sleep while you explore.

Tight budget means all kinds of things to different people. Be specific for advice that matches your needs.

Rather than hostels or B&Bs, I suggest a small apartment so you have a little kitchen for breakfast and late night snacks - easier with a baby and perhaps save money too.

If you do not rent a car, stay as close to city (town or village) centers as possible so you can walk right out and start exploring. A more rural area would also work if you rent a car.

What would you most like to see in Italy? Art, countryside, architecture, archeological sites, churches, etc? Any particular sights, cities or places you have your heart set on? Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Venice? Same question for France.

How you break up the time depends on what you want to see.

If you have to return to Paris, consider flying into Italy and have two bases with day trips using public transport, then flying to some place in Provence and renting a car.
Return to Paris via TGV.

Italy:
Rome plus Florence and surrounding area.
Rome plus Venice
Florence plus Venice
Fly into one and out of the other.

If your flights are not booked, that is even better.
TGV from Paris to Avignon, Rent car and explore. Fly to Italy (Venice), home from Italy (Rome). Use trains in Italy.

traveller1959

Stu, I think we have made the same experiences and we share the same preferences.

Always this Rick Steves! I wonder how many trips this guy has ruined with his foul advice. His books are ridiculous. Even the maps in his books are totally wrong, completely manipulated, probably according to the commission contracts he has made.

We have a current thread where we are asked not to lecture the OPs and respect their wishes, even if we think that they won't do themselves favours with their over-loaden itineraries. So, I am trying to give the best advice possible.

I suggested Bourgogne, Provence, Côte d'Azur, because it makes sense travelwise, especially if OP insists in visiting Italy. Dordogne, Brittany, Loire, Aquitaine are also fine regions, but they are in different directions from Paris and would require more driving which would not be advisable with a baby.

StuDudley

>We have a current thread where we are asked not to lecture the OPs and respect their wishes,<<

It's all about "passing down" knowledge & experiences - and doing so "tactfully" without insults, belittling, or being condescending. My parents would not let me do a lot of things I wanted to do when I was a kid. On my first couple of trips to Europe, I wish I could have consulted something like Fodors to learn some "do's & don't". I made lots of mistakes on our first trips - mainly trying to see/do too many things in too short a time & driving too much.

Here is something to consider for the OP if she wants to drive from France to Italy:

If you rent a car in France and you have the "correct" credit card, the card will cover your CDW insurance for free. If you rent a car in Italy, you are required (Italy law) to purchase or prove you have CDW (at least this was the case 3-20 years ago). About 15 years ago, I asked our CC company if I would be covered by their CDW in Italy if I rented the car in France and drove it into Italy. They said yes. Today, my current CC company says that they will not cover CDW in Italy in that case. So the OP would have to purchase insurance in France to cover travel in Italy. At least, that's my understanding - but things change & I don't keep up with changes all the time.

Stu Dudley

StCirq

Well, tactfully, then, the OP needs to hunker down with a bunch of guidebooks and maps and explore the internet in order to narrow this down. "France and Italy" isn't much to go on. Stu and Travelller1959 have given great starter advice. Now go do some research and figure out what will work for you! I KNOW my trips, as pleasurable as they are to me, wouldn't work for 90% of the people on these boards, and I'd bet a lot of frequent travelers would agree with me.

I REALLY don't think CDW insurance purchased in France covers you in Italy, BTW (but I'm not sure because now I own a car in France and am totally insured for prety much everywhere - though I'll certainly look into it if we plan to drive to Italy!).

traveller1959

I am pretty sure that any kind of insurance is valid in any other EU country - thats the main principle of European Union. But better double-check with reading the fine print (sorry, I don't because I get my insurance for rental cars from my credit card company).

kerouac

It is really quite a short trip. I discourage you from going to Italy in addition to France.

nytraveler

I don't know but have a strong suspicion that at least some hostels will not have accommodations appropriate for infants - nor are the infants likely to be comfortable in many.

B&Bs are more likely to - but I would agree to renting an apt so you don;t have to go to bed the same time as your infant.

nytraveler

I don't know but have a strong suspicion that at least some hostels will not have accommodations appropriate for infants - nor are the infants likely to be comfortable in many.

B&Bs are more likely to - but I would agree to renting an apt so you don;t have to go to bed the same time as your infant and can do at least breakfast as well as snacks and light meals there.

StuDudley

>>renting an apt <<

Just a warning here.

We stay in Gites/apts while in France. 67 of them so far. We'll be near Provence this June and in the Dordogne this Sept. We had both of these gites secured around May of last year. Today, these gites are completely booked up from May through October. Good apts & gites in the most popular destinations are "grabbed up" quickly.

Stu Dudley

Whathello

Well

We have been all nice and polite and have all asked for OP to give more info.
Some of you have given lengthy and detailed answers, as requested.
But OP hasn't found the time or the inclination to come back on her thread.
So what now ?