Sandlady

I will be travelling to Paris with my husband and 22 year old son for about 11 days,from 6 July , and going to London 17 July. Another son will join us on July 11, and we want to go on to Lourdes. I am trying to figure out how to make the best use of our time in terms of itinerary, logistics of travel etc. The options are to do Versailles as a sidetrip from Paris for a day while waiting for my second son. After he joins us, we would like to visit some other areas on our way to Lourdes, possibly Mont St Michel, or the Loire Valley. Any other scenic area I should consider?

1) The question is whether we should train to Tours, visit the chateaux etc for a day, and then train to Lourdes, or go back to Paris to take the fast TGV to Lourdes from there. I would like to take a sleeper for the travel from Paris/ Tours to Lourdes but not sure how to book that on www.raileurope.com. If we travel at night, that will save both travel time and hotel costs, but is the sleeper conducive to a good night's sleep?

2) The next question is whether we should move on to Barcelona and Madrid, for the second week or just do Provence etc, ( is there enough time to do Carcassonne, Pont du Gard etc on the way there?) before we go back to London. After some preliminary research, it seems dificult to travel from Lourdes to Spain. Would appreciate advice on efficiency of travel and best areas to visit after Lourdes. Main consideration for us is not to waste too much time travelling, and not to have to make too many train connections and to end up in a city with direct connections to London. Barcelona, and Madrid would be my first choice if the travel arrangements are straightforward and not too expensive.

3) What is the best city/ town to visit in Provence, which encapsulates the fabled spirit of Provence? I would like to avoid one which is so cosmopolitan that it seems like any other big city.

4) Our interests are beautiful scenery and architecture, and sampling local cuisine and getting a taste of local culture. Any advice on good for value accommodation, restaurants that are not touristy, will be much apprecitated.

5) I keep reading that the metro in Paris is very efficient, but that there are no escalators or lifts. I have no problem walking on level ground but can't do more than a flight of stairs. So should I avoid taking the metro in Paris?

Thank you

yk

5) You should focus on taking buses in Paris. They go everywhere, minimize the amt of walking, and you get free sightseeing on the way. Go to www.ratp.fr and click on Plan Interactive in the lower left corner. The next page will be:
http://www.ratp.info/orienter/cv/carteparis.php

Then on the drop-down menu on the left, click on the BUS PLAN PARIS. You will get the Bus maps and you can play around with it.

Christina

Lourdes isn't really a city of any great size nor near a lot of metropolitan France, so you can't except direct train connections from Lourdes to Spain or a lot of places in France. I think about the only choices are Paris and Toulouse (and I did see one apparent nonstop to Bayonne which seems weird, but of no help to you).

So you'll have to have at least one connection, and something that is direct from Toulouse would work. Marseille would be a choice, and that sure has connections to London. But it sounds like you want a flight from the city you select to London, and there just aren't going to be hardly any places that fit that criteria from Lourdes by train. Toulouse actually might be a possibility, I don't know their flights, but I'd bet that could work. Then you could see that part of France (Albi, Carcassonne, etc.), although I don't think that is your desire. You could go to Marseille and then rent a cary and stay within driving distance of Marseille so that you could fly out of Marseille. You talk about going all around France, anyway, in that time (Carcassone and Pont du Gard aren't that close), so I'm not sure if you want to rent a car for that part of your trip or not.

As for sleeper trains, I've been on one and slept okay, but I had a first class private compartment. It was okay, not as comfortable as a hotel, but okay. You would save some time that way, but not a whole lot of money as I think that train costs more than the TGV to begin with (probably due to the compartment). I see fares of around 100 euro for the TGV and around 112 for the night train (assuming family compartment, second class). I don't know about Raileurope, but sure they sell those, you could call. I use the French rail website, but I can read French.

I don't think any city in Provence feels like just another city, they are definitely different than northern cities regardless (eg, Aix and Avignon are cities of around 100K population, but very different than some other cities of France to me). But a smaller place is a different experience. Lots of folks recomment St Remy which is south of Avignon, fairly small so easy to drive in and out of and you probably could drive from there to Marseille airport for departure. You'd have to rent the car at the Marseille train station and return to the Marseille airport.

It isn't true that there are no escalators or lifts in the Paris metro system. There may not be as many as some others, and you can't count on them always working or being there for your entire way you need to go, and if there is at your entry station and not your exit, it doesn't help much. So, if walking more than one flight is a problem, you definitely should avoid the metro, absolutely.

StCirq

You're bouncing around an awful lot of ideas for what is actually a very short trip. First, forget Spain; you don't have time. You have 5 days (or 4 really, if July 6 is the day you land) before son #2 joins you and you take off for Lourdes (son #2 isn't going to visit Paris at all? If he does, that cuts your time down even more) in Paris. One daytrip is really all you'll want; there is SO much to see and do right in Paris. Versailles is a good choice.

Visiting the Loire without a car is inadvisable because, although it can be done, it's a pain. I would drop the Loire from your itinerary because once son #2 arrives you only have 4-5 days left, which is no time at all to be wandering around when your stated objective is to get to Lourdes, which isn't that easy.

I'd take the train from Paris to Lourdes, visit there, then rent a car and drive east to Provence, spend the remaining days touring there, drop the car off, and take the TGV from Avignon back to Paris.

Sandlady

Thank you everyone! Sounds like I have a lot of logistical problems and might have to consider other options. From the map it looks like a long drive from Lourdes to Provence and I am not sure if the roads are narrow, winding and near deep ravines. Phobia for hilly roads!

flanneruk

The road from Lourdes down to the main East-West A64 motorway (for Toulouse and Narbonne) is downhill but reasonably straight, and un-winding. It actually feels quite wide, since it's usually devoid of traffic (most pilgrims arrive by plane, bus or train), and edged by open, flattish, unhedged fields.

There are lots of narrow winding roads in Provence, meaning there are many places you shouldn't consider driving to. But you can get as far as Avignon on the motorway without encountering such places. Looking at the map will show you where you should then avoid