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France with Northumberland 3 weeks June/July 2022

France with Northumberland 3 weeks June/July 2022

Old Mar 15th, 2022, 04:12 AM
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topping
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Old Mar 15th, 2022, 05:03 AM
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You do know the ferry doesn't leave from Amsterdam but from Ijmuiden?
Buses:
In cooperation with Brouwer’s Tours, DFDS Seaways offers its own busline between Amsterdam and the Felison Terminal.

Buses leave daily between 15:00 and 16:00 from the busstop accross from Amsterdam Central Station, directly in front of Hotel Victoria on the corner of the ‘Prins Hendrikkade’ and ‘Damrak’. Busfares can be reserved at the reduced rate of 8 euros per one way trip. If you buy your fare in the bus itself the price is 10 euros. You will be dropped off at the Felison Terminal, where you can check in.

You can take Connexxion busline 74 from Beverwijk Station to IJmuiden. Exit the bus at the ‘Oranjestraat’ busstop. The terminal is a 5-10 minute walk from there. Please check www.9292.nl to check the exact times.
There are a lot of two nighters which means just one day in the place. Loire is huge and vague. I would drop at least one of those over night stays, and add it elsewhere.
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Old Mar 15th, 2022, 09:19 AM
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Thanks Hetismij2 I did know that. I understand the comments about the 2-night stays, but this is not our first trip to France and I hope it won't be the last though one never knows. I was hoping specifically to get advice on the pros/cons of the location of our car rental drop off.
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Old Apr 22nd, 2022, 03:16 AM
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Curiosity where is your base in Northumberland? We are planning a trip in September.
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Old Apr 22nd, 2022, 04:02 PM
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Hi Cindy, We're staying in Seahouses where family/friends have rented a vacation property and we have been invited to join them.
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Old Apr 22nd, 2022, 11:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Kiddo
Thank you to all who responded with suggestions-very much appreciated. After much thought and research our plan now is:
1) fly to Paris and train to Versailles stay 2 nights;
2) pick up rental car and drive to Sarlat for 6 nights;
3) drive from Sarlat to Loire staying 2 nights;
4) Loire to MSM for 1 night;
5) MSM to Bayeux for 2 nights;
6) Bayeux to Brussels Airport or Lille to drop off rental car and carry on to Bruges. Question - originally I thought we'd drop off rental car in Lille and train to Bruges but noticed there is a direct train from Brussels airport to Bruges and we can drop off the car there for no additional fee. What are advantages/disadvantages if any?
7) Bruges 2 nights and train to Amsterdam staying 2 nights;
8) UK portion of the trip 4 nights then Edinburgh 2 nights prior to return flight.
Would appreciate your thoughts.
NIce that you have found a way of doing Bruges. There is on the surface no big advantage in dropping the car at Zaventem over Lille, except you might lose a little time by driving that much further, even if there is that direct train to Bruges. Trains to Bruges from Lille (Lille Flandres station) are local trains and there is usually a change in Kortrijk. I don't know which rental car company you have in mind but it might be worth checking out if you can drop the car directly at Lille Flandres. If not, then maybe Zaventem is better. Watch out because there are 2 big stations in Lille, and Lille Europe is for the high-speed trains but is a short walk from Lille Flandres with luggage.

Lavandula

Last edited by lavandula; Apr 22nd, 2022 at 11:33 PM. Reason: spelling / punctuation
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Old Apr 23rd, 2022, 03:53 AM
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Thanks very much Lavandula. We decided to return the car in Lille and I checked our reservation and we're returning it to Lille Europe station.
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Old Apr 23rd, 2022, 01:59 PM
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Oh, OK, well, you will have a walk between stations with your luggage to Lille Flandres. Maybe you can drop off one person with the luggage at Lille Flandres and the other can take the car to the drop-off point at Lille Europe ...? It's a bit more than a kilometre, about 5 minutes with no luggage.

Lavandula
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Old Apr 23rd, 2022, 03:26 PM
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It appears you have your trip pretty well fine tuned. My wife and I were in Arras overnight in 2015 before visiting Vimy the next day and driving on to Bruges. We enjoyed our stay and meal at the Hotel de l'Univers. We loved the large squares in the town and plan to return one day.

The Vimy memorial is awe-inspiring in person. The visitor centre is staffed with Canadian university students as guides. Do take the free guided tour of the preserved trenches as being with the guide is the only way you can access the tunnels.

There's no food at the site so pick up sandwiches before you leave Arras. Bon voyage!
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Old Apr 25th, 2022, 02:38 PM
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Great tips Lavandula and ParisAmsterdam. Thanks very much!
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