RidgeRose

It's so nice to hear from you, FrendhMystiqueTours! Thank you so much for that information. I have copied your reply and will e-mail it to my brother.

He has already booked his hotel in Paris but he really would like to visit that area while in France. He may decide to go to Strasbourg and stay the night. If he does do that, he will want to rent a car. is it better to take the train to Strasbourg and then rent a car or rent a car in Paris and drive to the area?

And Goquelicot, I totally agree--I was so very fortunte to get all the wonderful advice in this thread. It helped us beyond measure! My brother is very nervous about this trip because he hasn't traveled overseas in half a century. It's his dream, and I'm trying to help him out so I came back to the experts who were so wonderful to me!

FrenchMystiqueTours

Well it's nice to hear from you RidgeRose and I'm glad your trip worked out so well. If your brother wants to go to Strasbourg and overnight there and maybe rent a car the second day that would work but he needs to know a few things.

To buy train tickets he should use www.voyages-sncf.com. If he gets redirected to the RailEurope then try again and enter Antarctic as the ticket collection country. RailEurope usually has higher prices and won't show all available trains. He might also try a new ticket website called www.capitainetrain.com. Tickets won't go on sale until 3 months before your travel date. Buy them once they go on sale and they are the cheapest. Last minute train ticket purchase is the most expensive. So if he wants to go to Strasbourg he should buy his tickets now as they will only get more expensive.

Also, one day car rentals are usually the most expensive. You usually get a better deal when you rent for 3 days or more. He can look at www.autoeurope.com for car rentals.

Going to Strasbourg, staying overnight and renting a car won't be cheap but if he has the budget then it is possible.

He should look at some of the local tourist office websites to learn about what he can see and do. He can find a hotel on the Strasbourg tourist office website. Here are a few to get him started:

http://www.otstrasbourg.fr/?lang=en

http://www.ot-colmar.fr/en/

http://www.phalsbourg.fr/Le_Tourisme...e/Presentation

http://www.ribeauville-riquewihr.com/en/index.htm

http://www.tourisme-alsace.com/en

http://www.haute-alsacetourisme.com/index.php?lang=en

http://www.tourisme67.com/en/

RidgeRose

Thank you so very much! I've sent him all this information and he's begun his research. I think he'll be busy for at least a few days! Thanks again!