Heather

My husband, daughter and I want to travel to Paris (for her 21st birthday) while we are in Italy in May 2000. What is the best way to go? Does anyone know how much train fares are? Would it be better to hire a car? <BR>Any information would be gratefully received as we live in a small country town in New South Wales Australia and it is hard to come by.

Bob Brown

You can consult this website: <BR>http://voyages.sncf.fr/voyages_gb/acgb_accueil.html <BR>It is in English. Scroll down and find a "hot spot" for time tables and schedules. I just checked the site, but May schedules are a little far in the future. Right now, it looks like the trip is anywhere from 11.5 to 13.5 hours. You will have to study the available schedules and determine how you want to do it. But one train leaves Florence shortly before noon and arrives <BR>in Milan where you change to the TGV which arrives late at night, about 10 PM, at Gare d'Lyon. <BR>Arriving that time of night, I strongly suggest that you have your hotel reservations in hand and that you take a taxi, despite the cost, to your hotel. <BR>Paris buses and Metros are not exactly user friendly if you are carrying luggage. I hauled two suitcases around on the Metro when I was 22, but at 66 I opted for a more convenient means of getting about. (At the time I had more strength and stamina than either brains or money.) <BR>You might be able to work out a more favorable schedule if you spent the night in Milan before departing for Paris. I did not query the French rail system board that much. <BR> <BR>Paris is loaded with small hotels, of the two and three star variety, but it is also a very active tourist town. <BR>I cannot comment on hotel availablability in May, but perhaps some of the others can. If you book several weeks in advance, you should have no trouble finding an acceptable place. <BR>Just be prepared for rooms that are on the small side in many places. For me as an American used to the spacious rooms at Hampton Courts and Fairfield Inns, I find them a bit cramped. There are several good websites that list Paris hotels, and Paris as a general topic has been very popular on this forum. I hope this helps. <BR>(By the way the English version of the Sncf website accepts the spelling Florence rather than Firenze. I was surprised. Often you have to use a European spelling. ) I do not know the cost. These web sites do not usually post costs becase more than one national railway is involved. <BR>To get an idea of costs, you might consult Rail Europe, which is a US site, but you can still get an idea of what it might cost. Trains are not cheap. <BR>For 3 of you, it would be cheaper to drive. But then the question looms of what do you do with your car in Paris?? <BR>You might drive to Paris and drive in Paris and survive, but where do you park?? It gets expensive and at times difficult to find a convenient parking place. <BR>I hope some of the other veteran posters will jump in here and help.

elvira

You can do the car, but recognize that a car for 3 people will barely hold one piece of luggage for each. You'll have to get a bigger car, and now you're talking about $500 (manual transmission - automatic transmission adds another $200), plus tolls. In addition, gasoline is very expensive; it's 4x what it is in the States, but I don't know about Australian gasoline prices to compare (6 1/2 ff per litre). Figure on at least 13 hours of driving; more if you hit some sort of celebration or parade (the French are ALWAYS parading for something). Ditch the car outside of Paris (like Versailles or some other 'burb) and take the train in. If you leave it in Versailles, stay over night, visit the chateau and take the train into Paris. This website will give you the route, time, cost, etc (depart FIRENZE): <BR>http://www.iti.fr/$www-OB4XTOPJWa7Jvm9VPDY0LWIpxm0-ACFhHA.iti$/Accueil/accueil.hei?direct=accueil <BR> <BR>For the train, I'd recommend an overnight; there is a train out of Florence around 7:30pm (at least, that's what the SNCF site on the web says) that arrives in Paris at 8ish the next morning. Reserve a 3 person sleeper for the trip (cost is about $780 but it might be cheaper as your daughter is under 25), and you'll have a pleasant sleep (save on one night's hotel room cost) and arrive in Paris early enough to enjoy the day (most hotels don't let you check in until 11ish, but the front desk will keep your bags while you sightsee). <BR>You'll need to decide things like do we want to drive 13 hours straight? or do we want to stop halfway? is it worth the extra money to take the train, and not drive? yada yada yada ad infinitum <BR>You've got your work cut out for you (oh yeah and all those prices will change for May, guaranteed)

Bob Brown

One thing about taking the train is that no one is stressed from driving. <BR>My wife and I opted for the TGV train from Paris to Lausanne this summer. We could both watch the country side fly by without having to watch out for traffic. <BR>Once in Lausanne we got an Avis car and <BR>drove up into Val d'Anniviers and spent the night in Zinal. <BR>I think an Opel Vectra would be large enough for 3 people and luggage. That is the type of car we got from Avis through Auto Europe this time. It was more than ample for the two of us. Four pieces of luggage fit easily into the trunk and the back seat was clear, except for a jacket or two. However, rental cars in Italy tend to be more expensive than in other countries in Western Europe. There are a lot of factors to weigh. But the major one to me is the lower stress of taking the train. <BR>

Heather

Thankyou all for your considered advice. You are quite right there is a lot to consider. I had thought we might stay say in Giverney and travel to paris daily ormaybe in Versailles. <BR> <BR>Do you think there is going to be a problem with accomodation etc in early May? <BR>Thankyou Elvira for that fantastic web site. <BR> <BR>Will let you know how I progress. The best thing would be if I could find an airfare that will include a stopover in paris at a reasonable cost. <BR>

Bob Brown

Hi Heather: Before staying around Giverny for the purposes of visiting Paris, I think you should check out the location first. The Giverny I think of is the little area around Monet's home and gardens located about 3 miles from the rail station in the town of Vernon. The bus schedule between Giverny and Vernon is geared to the train schedule to and from Paris. <BR> <BR>Of course there are taxis, but those are not all that cheap, either. We split a cab fare with another couple, which helped with the cost. I don't recall how much we paid. <BR> <BR>Without discounts the rail fare for one person from Vernon to Gare St. Lazare and return is 132 francs. For the 400 francs it costs 3 people to ride the train round trip between Vernon and Paris, you could afford a very nice hotel room in Paris and save the daily commute of about 40 minutes each way, and forego having to gear your life to train schedules. <BR>(Figuring that 850 francs per day will get 3 people a decent room, 1250 francs should get a very nice room.) <BR> <BR>I have no objections to Vernon per se, but I did not see much in the area to hold my attention. Any difference in hotel rates would, in my opinion, be more than offset by the cost of the Paris commute. <BR>We enjoyed our visit to Monet's home and gardens, but as an attraction it does not surpass many locations in Paris. <BR>Assuming no family ties, one would go there mainly if learning more about Monet's life and environment was a high priority item -- as it was for my wife, which was the driving force behind our visit. <BR>Staying in Versailles might be a workable alternative. But again, you have a commute into Paris on the RER, or the "banlieu" train into one of the rail stations, such as Gare Montparnasse. We took the RER, Line C, to Versailles Rive Gauche, which is located a short walk away from the main entrance to the palace. (The RER is a commuter rail system that is separate from the regular Paris Metro but it has many interchange points with it.) Commuting from Versailles is quite doable in terms of scheduling and price. Trains run often and the price is 28 francs round trip as I recall. <BR> <BR>I have a further question: how long are you contemplating staying in the Paris area?? Once you go through the struggle of planning to get there in the first place, you should also take steps to maximize the benefit you derive from the cost of your visit! Once you say "Paris visit" on this forum, help will come tumbling in from very well informed posters.

Bob Brown

Hi Heather: Before staying around Giverny for the purposes of visiting Paris, I think you should check out the location first. The Giverny I think of is the little area around Monet's home and gardens located about 3 miles from the rail station in the town of Vernon. The bus schedule between Giverny and Vernon is geared to the train schedule to and from Paris. <BR> <BR>Of course there are taxis, but those are not all that cheap, either. We split a cab fare with another couple, which helped with the cost. I don't recall how much we paid. <BR> <BR>Without discounts the rail fare for one person from Vernon to Gare St. Lazare and return is 132 francs. For the 400 francs it costs 3 people to ride the train round trip between Vernon and Paris, you could afford a very nice hotel room in Paris and save the daily commute of about 40 minutes each way, and forego having to gear your life to train schedules. <BR>(Figuring that 850 francs per day will get 3 people a decent room, 1250 francs should get a very nice room.) <BR> <BR>I have no objections to Vernon per se, but I did not see much in the area to hold my attention. Any difference in hotel rates would, in my opinion, be more than offset by the cost of the Paris commute. <BR>We enjoyed our visit to Monet's home and gardens, but as an attraction it does not surpass many locations in Paris. <BR>Assuming no family ties, one would go there mainly if learning more about Monet's life and environment was a high priority item -- as it was for my wife, which was the driving force behind our visit. <BR>Staying in Versailles might be a workable alternative. But again, you have a commute into Paris on the RER, or the "banlieu" train into one of the rail stations, such as Gare Montparnasse. We took the RER, Line C, to Versailles Rive Gauche, which is located a short walk away from the main entrance to the palace. (The RER is a commuter rail system that is separate from the regular Paris Metro but it has many interchange points with it.) Commuting from Versailles is quite doable in terms of scheduling and price. Trains run often and the price is 28 francs round trip as I recall. <BR> <BR>I have a further question: how long are you contemplating staying in the Paris area?? Once you go through the struggle of planning to get there in the first place, you should also take steps to maximize the benefit you derive from the cost of your visit! Once you say "Paris visit" on this forum, help will come tumbling in from very well informed posters.