Our first trip to France. We've rented a house in Caromb for two weeks in September - then we will return our rental car in Avignon and take the TGV to Paris (or somewhere along the way) to spend the last night before heading home. Our departing flight is at 2:30 in the afternoon. Ideally we'd like to find someplace more interesting than an airport hotel for the last evening. Any suggestions for accommodations that are an easy commute (train, shuttle or cab) to the airport.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...y_Picardy.html

I have stayed twice in Chateau de Ermenonville (once for three nights and once for two). Lovely grounds, small village, nice countryside. The chateau serves really excellent food. The rooms are very "shabby-chic", but more shabby than chic by a LONG way

However, the taxi ride to and from the airport is expensive, although its only abut 20 mins (I think its around 60 Euros) but I can't think of a better way to spend my last night in France. Depending on how much time you have, it might be worth your while renting a car when you get to CDG off the TGV, driving to and from the airport and perhaps seeing something of this lovely region; i.e. take an early morning train from Avignon, renting a car and driving to Chantilly or Senlis.

An alterative is to stay in one of the faceless, characterless hotels at the airport and taking the train into Paris for your last evening.

Regards Ger

On another site I got a strong recommendation for the Courtyard Marriot near CDG, within walking distance of the town of Roissy, which has a number of good restaurants.

You can stay at either at the airport or in the Ve or VIe Arrondissement along the RER B line, and get from your hotel to your gate in about the same time.

I am working on the same thing. A last "wonderful" night before we leave, close to CDG, but not a sterile "you could be anywhere airport hotel"

I will post some of the places that I have been looking at a little later when I have more time.

I was just excited to se someone else is looking for the same thing!

Something about Chateau Ermenonville that I'm curious about. Everyone raves about the food on Trip Advisor, but some were less than satisfied with the cleaniness of the bedrooms as whole. I was curious if anyone had stayed there recently, or if anyone recommended a certain room. ( My husband was not thrilled with the somewhat " worn but charming" decor of a hotel we booked in Hallstatt Austria a few years ago!)

<I was just excited to see someone else is looking for the same thing>

If you're on this site long enough you will quickly see that the same/similar questions are repeatedly asked like this one.

Type your question/inquiry in the search box and read and read.

Wrenwood, it is VERY faded, even in the deluxe rooms. The walls are lined with fabric in many (all?) the rooms and they are a bit tatty in places. The carpets are worn. I've had good bathrooms and bad ones. I don't remember it being dirty, just jaded. BTW, that is not unusual for these type of properties at all. The emphasis is on the food, they do a lot of weddings. The times I was there I was the only non-French visitor. Most of the dining room staff don't speak English.

It is, however, a really excellent dining experience.

Thanks OReilley, very helpful. As this is our first trip to France and we speak no French, having some people in the restaurant speak English is very helpful and far less intimidating.

I wish I had taken more foreign languages in high school!

I have been checking out this site for a week or two on places near CDG, but some of the thread are a little outdated, and so many places can change so quickly within a year or so.

We will be leaving from Amboise on the last day, so I'm also trying to figure out if I would rather see Fontainebleu, Giverny or Versailles on the way to wherever we stay the last night.

These are some of the places I have been looking at. Our flight leaves at 1:20 so I'm not sure how far away we should stay.

http://www.le-manoir-de-beaumarchais.com/GB-index.html

this one has been mentioned but is closed for remodeling
http://www.chateau-chaumontel.fr/

http://www.a-la-bonne-idee.fr/htgb/0002.htm#

http://www.douciniere.com/en_index.html

http://www.bonadresse.com/Ile-de-Fra...oprietaire=374

http://www.beenbees.com/rose/

http://hotel-de-charme-gastronomie.h....com/index.htm

This looked great, restaurant closed when we would be there
http://www.hotelgonfalon.com/gonfalo...gb/indexgb.htm

http://www.bonadresse.com/Ile-de-Fra...roprietaire=23

http://vert.saint.pere.free.fr/hote_uk.html

http://www.domaine-de-bellevue.net/

http://www.latourduroy.com/

http://www.bonadresse.com/Ile-de-Fra...oprietaire=374

These are a mix of hotels and B&B's I'm just looking for charm, good food and a memorable last night!

By the way, when I preview this the URL is posted twice, but when I go to edit it's correct, so hopefully it will post correctly!

wrenwood -- thanks for all the recommendations - many of them look wonderful but none seem to be as convenient to CDG as we would like. Since we won't have a car that last evening we really want someplace that is an easy cab or shuttle commute to/from the airport. I know that probably means we will have to sacrifice charm for convenience. If we can't find a place with personality we'll probably opt for this airport inn that has recent and good reviews on trip advisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html

If we can't get exciting I guess we'll go for reasonably priced. Still hoping the fodor"s group will come up with other options!

cm318 sorry I missed that you wouldn't have a car.

There was a place posted on another older thread that was very convenient to the airport and mass transit, my guess it was just on the outskirts of the city.

I've had some luck lately searching for places by doing a search in Trip Advisor or Google by the area/city/town that you know has mass transit.

I think some people mentioned staying in the Latin Quarter the last night, and that it was convenient to CDG?

Have you checked the Karen Brown website?

Good luck!

The airport train runs through the city right down the border between the Ve and VIe Arrondissements.

There are probably a hundred hotels in St-Germain and the Latin Quarter within an easy walk of the RER B stations at Luxembourg and St-Michel Notre-Dame. On the right bank, there are a hundred more.

The RER will get you to CDG Terminal 2 in ~35 minutes - about the same time as a typical airport hotel shuttle.