France+Spain(?) w/ 14 yr old
 

What do you think? France and perhaps Spain with husband and 14 year old daughter for 2 weeks in August. Paris with day trips for 4/5 days a given(he's never been, she's eager for Giverny). Then what? beaches are a must (art, nature, gardens rank high): south via Avignon to French Riviera or west to Barcelona, Cadaques and what about San Sebastien and Bilbao? She's studying Spanish. We prefer trains to driving. Thanks for any insights.

Bear in mind that in August, the whole of Spain and France is on holiday. Paris is empty of French people (left to the tourists) but all holiday resorts (eg beaches, mountains) are full. You would need to book in advance rather than just turn up and expect to find rooms. So San Sebastian and Cadaques will be difficult. Barcelona empties itself for August, you will even be able to cross the road safely (that is unless you are there on the weekend they all return). Try to avoid the weekend nearest to the 1st Aug and the weekend nearest to 31st August, as the roads, planes and trains will be full of people returning home after the summer holiday. There will be very long waits at border crossings.

&lt;&lt;There will be very long waits at border crossings.&gt;&gt; <BR> <BR>Can this be true? I haven't been in Europe in August for some years,but I do travel down the Costa Brava with some regularity, and there's never even a human being around at the border. Why would there be lines at the borders when there aren't even checkpoints any more? <BR> <BR>At any rate, traffic will certainly be VERY heavy anywhere remotely NEAR a beach in August and you will definitely need to make reservations. <BR> <BR>I haven't been to San Sebastien and Bilbao, but I do think Bayonne, Biarritz and St-Jean-de-Luz are far prettier than any place on the Costa Brava.

Topping for Nancy... who may not have realized that in 24 hours, a message can get "buried" 200-300 messages "deep"... <BR> <BR>Much better to come back to your original posting than to re-post, and get multiple "threads" going all directed to you, all on the same subject. <BR> <BR>Postscript: If this forum had an easier way to locate and direct readers to a specific (previous) posting by a unique identifier (timestamp), it would not be necessary to top (and repeat) information so tediously. This is my new crusade, and I am thinking about adding this postscript (when applicable) to every new reply I make here. If you agree with me, then please write to Danny Mangin or David Downing - - [email protected] - - and encourage them to move forward with this improvement (and any others they have up their sleeves) to this best-on-the-web travel forum! <BR> <BR>and CC: me if you do write to them! <BR> <BR>

Perhaps I went about searching for my original query the wrong way. I looked among messages last posted at the time I had originated mine and also searched by key words and by countries of interest - with no luck. I thought it had been dropped for some reason? Any idea what I did wrong?

Don't worry about it - - see the thread about new changes coming to the way the forum works - - starting TOMORROW morning. <BR> <BR>Here's to hoping for - - no more postscripts from me! <BR>