France with the family
 

My wife and I are bringing our son and his family to Paris next September. After a week in Paris we want to rail south and take a self drive canal boat in the Canal Du Midi for one week.
I have some questions that I would appreciate help with.
1. Accommodation in/around Paris for two couples and two teenagers. Probably a self contained apartment with at least three bedrooms would suffice.
2. What is the best rail route to take from Paris to Castelnaudary. Are there fares that cater for groups? Are there days / times that it is cheaper to travel by rail?

We are not after 5 star but also do not want to slum it

Try parisbestlodge.com for apartments. They have lots to choose from. If you don't like these apartments, then just google paris apartments - there are thousands to choose from.

Can't help with the rail question, sorry.

Hi M,

>What is the best rail route .....<

See www.voyages-sncf.com

- 3 months ahead will get you the least expensive train fares on the SNCF site.
They are called 'prems' and you can print them out at home.

- Stay on the sncf site ... it may try to redirect you to the more expensive RailEurope site. If that happens use GB or France as the country where you want to tickets delivered.

- good train info to help you can be found at http://seat61.com/

Bon voyage!

Rob

Thanks Rob
The prices I got astounded me as we have travelled far cheaper previously.
thanks for that site Cathies. I have checked it out and it is really useful. The only problem is that we have been caught before where we booked an apartment (in Rome) via the internet, and I can tell you that what we got was definitely nowhere near what was advertised. So I was actually looking for recommendations where real people have actually dtayed in these apartments

Hi macca, Paris Best Lodge is widely used by Fodor's contributors. I haven't heard of any complaints, in fact, the opposite is true. Their apartments are well located, clean and well stocked with the things you will need. I couldn't actually recommend an apartment that would suit you though as we only needed a 1 bedroom apartment. Thierry, the manager was very quick to respond when we needed help a few times while we stayed in the apartment. I doubt you would repeat the Rome experience if you use Paris Best.

www.tgv-europe.com is a multi-language site operated by SNCF. It offers the same discount fares as the main SNCF site, www.voyages-sncf.com. To keep the site in English and to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site which doesn't offer discount fares, choose Great Britain as your country of residence. The standard 2nd class fare for Paris-Castelnaudary is 82.30 euro. To have the best chance of getting a 26.30 euro Prem's fare, book ASAP (up to three months ahead). Important note: Prem's fares are non-exchangeable and non-refundable so be sure you can commit to a specific departure date and time.

This is a GREAT thread with 300+ posts about Paris apartments that fodorites enjoy.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ent-thread.cfm

Bookmarking since we did a similar trip with a week in Paris and a week on a self-drive canal boat in Brittany. This was a couple of years ago with 2 young teenagers. I would love to hear about your experiences.

Can't help with apartments, as we had a 2-bedroom in the Marais area.

Bookmarking for me too. Thanks.