Tisacco

Hello,

I am traveling with my husband to France for our 20 year wedding anniversary in September. I only mention the anniversary because the only request he has is to be drinking champagne in the Champagne region on our anniversary. We fly into CDG and plan on staying in Paris for at least 3 nights. Our big decision is whether we will have time to go the Bordeaux and Reims, staying in both places 2 nights. I don't know if it's too much traveling around. We are most interested in seeing a few sights and wine tasting with a mix of big city (Paris) and smaller towns. I would love to do this all via train, but after reading many of the forum posts, it looks like I will have to rent a car once we get out of Paris.

My big question to all of you is: Is it too much to try and go to both Bordeaux and Reims. We both LOVE bordeaux and champagne and enjoy tasting from different estates. But I'm trying to avoid rushing ourselves to get a better flavor of each place.

Thank you in advance for your reply.

doug_stallings

It probably is too much traveling around for such a short trip since Reims and Bordeaux are in opposite directions from Paris. It's also a very long and convoluted train trip from Reims to Bordeaux, and not a short drive, either.

What I might suggest is to limit yourself to northern France rather than try to get all the way to Bordeaux, which will eat up almost a full day of your trip. If you were willing to rent a car, you could explore a bit of Normandy, which would probably be very nice in September.

I'm not really familiar enough with the train schedules in that area to comment with much experience, but I suspect you will have to go back to Paris to connect to anywhere else by train, which is why I'm suggesting a car.

If you are really keen in wine, perhaps a trip to the Loire Valley instead of Bordeaux? It's not nearly as long a trip. Or if it's cuisine you fancy, you could go to Lyon. The latter you could certainly do by train, but I think you'd also need a car in the Loire.

StuDudley

I agree with Doug about Bordeaux. Also, we've spent about 3 years total traveling around to many different regions in France, and nothing I've read or heard from other friends and people at Fodors has persuaded me to visit the Bordeaux wine growing region. We've visited the city of Bordeaux 4 times & liked it - but from what I've heard/read, the "famous" wine growing cities and the area around them is dusty, boring, and the cities themselves have not benefited from the riches the wine industry has brought in.

When I was planning our very first trip to France in '77, I wanted to visit the Bordeaux area. I went to the French National Tourist Office where I lived (San Francisco), and he told me to forget Bordeaux and visit Burgundy instead. That's what I suggest you to do also. Dijon is my second favorite city in France (easy/quick access from/to Paris) and Beaune is one of my "top 5" smaller cities in France. Lots of other interesting cities too (Auxerre, Vezelay) and lots & lots of castles. BTW, we've enjoyed Dijon, Beaune, and Auxerre more than Reims - although Reims is very nice.

Stu Dudley

StCirq

You absolutely do not have time for Paris and Bordeaux and Reims, and the obvious thing to cut is Bordeaux. For one thing, you can't just drop in on the main wine estates - you need an appointment, and to get one you have to be a big name in the wine industry. For another, it's just not an attractive wine area compared to, say, Bourgogne. And you can drink fine Bordeaux wines anywhere in France. I'm also not crazy about the Champagne area, a fairly boring part of France as far as scenery goes, but if it's important to you to actually be there to drink Champagne, then go. But otherwise, enjoy Paris. Seven days is a short trip; don't spend it wandering all over the country.

jamikins

Absolutely too much for 7 days, you have enough time for 2 areas I think. Stick to Paris and Reims (or Epernay) and enjoy them. We spent several days in Bordeaux and were underwhelmed. We enjoyed our stay in Champagne much more. The towns were more inviting and the champagne houses were more accessible. Bordeaux wine houses are not really set up to visit unless you are serious buyer.

I will throw another idea out there – as much as I enjoyed Champagne, we loved Burgundy. We based on Beaune and did a day trip to Dijon. The countryside is beautiful, the wine is fantastic and very accessible and the towns charming. It is exactly what I pictured France to be like. So if it were my choice I would pick Burgundy and Paris.

Gretchen

We were in Paris for our 20th anniversary (china anniversary) and bought a set of china! Just a thought for you!!
Agree with all--only two places and make them CLOSE to Paris.
You do not have a lot of time to be changing places--each change costs a half day at least, even without travel time.

Tisacco

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your replies. In my gut, my tentative itinerary was bothering me and you all have confirmed what I was thinking. Being a logical traveler, I hate backtracking. But with never having gone there, I didn't know if there was an overwhelming reason to go.

I love your suggestions and will try and put them into our trip. I have read there are better places in the Champagne region to go than Reims and will research that as well.

Merci Beaucoup

Tracy