loisco

I was wondering whether it's ok to do this. We would leave the luggage in the trunk, particularly at Mont St mIchel where we would find it nearly impossible to climb all the stairs...or perhaps at places where we only stay overnight. (to avoid having to bring in things).

However, someone has told me that is very risky in France. I wonder if any one has any experience in it.

rex

The generalization of saying that it is risky to do "in France" seens unfounded to me - - but at such a clear-cut tourist destination (especially where there exists this temptation to not want to carry the luggage up)... well, if I wanted to make a living from stealing things from people's cars... I think that's where I'd go.

Best wishes,

Rex

nytraveler

If you want to leave lugage in the trunk you are taking a chance - but I think a fairly small one. (And as I recall most of Mt St Michel isn;t stairs - there are some near the top - but more of it is like a ramp - although cobblestones.)

If you do this you must put whatever you will take into the hotel with you inside the car - so when you get there you aren;t fumbling with the luggage in the trunk - picking out what to take in and what to leave.

So when you leave the last stop before your hotel (the previous hotel or a restaurant or a sight) take whatever you will want for the night out of the trunk and put inside the car.

(To me, this whole thing is too complicated - we don;t travel with that much luggage that there are all these choices - just one rollie each and a small carry-on.)

loisco

We will have 2 22inch suitcases but we are "old" and it's hard to carry things in particularly when there are long walks and inclines...

sandi

It's called a porter or bellman. Have the hotel get your bags from the car. It's one thing if you drive right up to a hotel's front door, but if you have to walk steps, inclines or whatever, use the bellperson. It's certainly worth a few Euro tip both in and out.

hopscotch

Loisco,

Only leave those things in the trunk of your car that you can live without. The chance of theft is high throughout Europe, especially at tourist sites.

Visit the train station at St. Malo or Rennes and put your stuff in a lock box or leave it with the attended baggage depot if there is one.

Patrick

We left our luggage in our trunk at Mont St. Michel, rather than using the offered services of a porter to lug it all up the mount for us. That seemed stupid as we were only spending a night, and chose instead to just take a few necessities with us. We had been advised that there is "very little problem" with thievery, and we had no problem.

I honestly think the real problem is when someone stands at the back of their car for ten minutes pulling items out and rearranging the luggage for any would-be thief to see what's there as soon as they leave. On the other hand, how would a thief know which trunk to break into when there are probably a couple hundred cars parked in that lot every night? It would hardly be worth it to randomly start breaking into all the trunks in the hopes that there was something in one. We chose to remove our items and put them in the back seat before we ever got there, rather than announce to the world "hey look at what we're leaving in our trunk".

By the way, here in Naples, Florida that's the same problem. The cars at the beach that get broken into are invariably the ones where the people stood there making a big production of locking up their cameras, luggage, etc. before toddling off to the beach out of sight. It's funny. No one with an empty trunk ever seems to report someone breaking their lock to get into it. So unless the thieves have X-ray vision, it seems they have been showed the goodies.

ira

Hi Lois,

I would spring for the porter - about 5E/bag.

Consider it insurance.