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Family trip Champagne Alsace Paris
Itinerary and lodging advice needed:
Our family of 8 will be doing a road trip for one week in August in Champagne, Alsace. Arriving from London by Eurostar, pick up car in Paris and return same location. Sightseeing, kids fun, markets, food and history are in the mix. Current plan is - Paris to Epernay/Reims (2 nights) - looking for a gite or country manoir - Verdun, Nancy, Metz as short stops before Colmar (3 nights) - Airbnb booked. We plan on day trips to Strasbourg, Basel or another town in Switzerland during stay - Troyes as short stop on way back to Paris Would it be better to follow this loop, or reverse, i.e. overnight in Troyes and visit Reims on way back to Paris? Parc Asterix - I loved the comic books but is this worth a stop for kids (ages 7, 9 and 12)? In Paris, we have booked with Paris Perfect but for this large crowd can be expensive for 6 nights. Any recommended family styled apartments near the Seine? Thank you for your help reviewing this plan. |
My thoughts
It's August a busy time in France. Finding a gite for 3nights in August is going to be difficult as they tend towards 7-day lets at this time. Airbnb is a more likely choice but it needs booking soon or you have to book for 7 nights and "eat" 4. Based in Colmar I would find better things to do than hi-tail it to Switzerland, the Vosges walking/cycling/castle visiting is pretty good and in August can be wonderful. If you do need a day out I'd just cross over to Germany and the foothills of the Black Forest The direction of travel, not important. Are you based in Britain? If so why so little time in France, if you are flying into the UK have you got your numbers of nights right? It does seem like a very hurried holiday to some of the most beautiful parts of France. Parc Asterix would be good for the kids but not as good as say Koenigsbourg https://www.tourisme-alsace.com/en/the-land-of-castles/ |
Thanks for the tips bilboburgler. Family visiting U.K. and heading to France, some for the first time so just thought one week outside Paris and one week in the city is good exposure. Normally I prefer slow travels as well, it will do that later in northern Spain after the clan goes home. like idea of biking or walking in Vosges, do you have any suggestions on trails, tours? |
No ideas for tours, but they exist and you can book them on the Alsace website I sent you. The wine area (on the slopes of the Vosges) have a bike trail which keeps you off the slow-moving wine road and on top of that there are paths through the vines, both concrete and gravel (don't use the narrow ones) and finally the back roads of this part of France are relatively safe for cyclists. So riding a bike about is easy, helmets really not needed unless you like doing vertical mountain runs or road cycle at 30 mph). Hiring a bike in high season is a bit harder but there is a place to the North of the railway station in the first car park you come to (use google maps) which rents out. You'll find Colmar tourist info has loads of bike guides/maps etc. Or you could drive say to Eguisheim (or any of the villages) and hire bikes there for half a day.
The Vosges proper have a major walking path along the ridge (becomes cross country ski path in the winter) and then the paths extend down both sides ending up at the Ballon d'Alsace which is a meadow looking south towards the Alps and is one pretty place. Again tourist info and websites cover this sort of stuff. My last Gite there even had piles of maps just for walks in that village. If I wanted to do something like, get up early drive out of Colmar to the top of the Vosges with light backpacks (lots of road side parking, first thing in the morning, with a map and just set off. Target visits are the Ballon and the Koenisbourg but there are other castles to visit (open and closed) and France's only concentration camp up there. While Colmar is the usual place tourists end up in, I would actually stay in a village, less to do but much much prettier. Local buses are pretty useless in the area, but you can use the train to get about. The wine road is pretty slow by car and during August will be buried in coaches full of Americans, Germans and Chinese come to see the glories of la Belle France. So when driving about use the main north-south motorway (2 lanes) to get about and then hack off when you want to go "inland". |
Champagne; if you like old churches, cities and stuff then Reims (Rence) is the place, but if you prefer small market towns then Epernay would be better. I prefer Epernay just because it is more rural and wine-focused while the "Mountain" in between is a wooded paradise with vines all around and dangerous wild boar lurking in the undergrowth. There is a slide park and fun area (low cost) to the northeast of the mountain which looks fun and might be an interesting base.
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Be aware that if you use the autobahn/autoroute in Switzerland, you must buy a vignette at the border.
Not too far from Basel, between Basel and Zurich, is a castle that might appeal to the entire family: |
Thanks for the great advice bilboburgler. Epernay it is! I found a nice place right in town, and large enough for all of us. We can fit in some hiking, biking here. From Epernay we will head towards Colmar with a stop in Nancy (my old friend’s hometown). Maybe Verdun if time allows. Any suggestions about this route and must-see spots? Colmar as a base allows us to visit Strasbourg, and stops along the Alsatian villages. Switzerland castle Wildegg a possibility, thank you Michael for the suggestion! I’ve been to Basel for work but didn’t have time to explore too much outside of it. On the way back to Paris, I am contemplating a stop in Dijon/Troyes via A-5 but not sure if too rushed for these places. Or we just use A-4 via Nancy, Metz. Is there any preference? We will be based in Paris for next 6 days with side trips to Normandy and Mont St Michel (history of the 2 World Wars to be part of this trip’s learnings). I myself will only be in Paris for 3 and head to Madrid for the next leg of my trip, to explore a future pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella. |
I preferred the old town of Troyes to the old town of Dijon, which is somewhat out of the way. I would stop by Ronchamp on the way to Troyes:
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I agree with Michael and I love the chapel. An alternative is to south of Troyes and go via Auxerre which is wonderful or you could add in Chablis and the abbey at Pontigny, it all depends on your time availability and how busy each motorway. We use this website https://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/
to chose which route to take in France as it forecasts likely traffic levels a few days before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontigny_Abbey |
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