StCirq

To get train schedules and fars, use www.voyages-sncf.com if you read French, or www.tgv-europe.com (and on the first screen click Antartica). The cheapest fares will be available 3 months out from your day of travel. To get to Amboise you have to switch trains in Tours, and you might as well pick up the car in Tours anyway (a city will always have more rentals available than a town). And you do the car rentals ahead of time with www.autoeurope.com or www.kemwel.com.

Doppio

I'd love to see a trip report on this. With video, if possible.

dugi_otok

Building on the info posted by StCirq. I use tgv-europe with great britain as ticket collection country which keeps you at the tgv europe website in English instead of transferring you to Raileurope website.

You will find that you can take the train to Amboise from Paris (intercities) or you can take a train from Tours (ter).

You do not need to go to your Amboise booking. You choose to.
You have to deal with a mountain. If you choose Amboise fine. If you would rather not that is fine also. Any non refund of a booking is a factor, but should not be absolute. You have too many conflicting requirements.

By the way, what dates are your Amboise booking?

annhig

crazy - if you booked through booking.com or similar sites, [or with some hotels direct come to that] they often have very generous cancellation terms.

worth looking at if you are reviewing the Amboise booking.

alternatively with such a long trip, the cancellation charges [which at this point may not be that high anyway] may be worth sucking up.

crazyfamilyof4

Goodmorning ...I am thinking that! We had a booking for Amboise 29th June to 2nd July. I didn't book through booking.com and as beautiful as it is I am thinking it would be better to spend the week in Paris and then do day trips on the trains to find places /castels and chateaus etc

Thanks everyone . .I really do appreciate your help in all this!

crazyfamilyof4

Ok...hope you all agree with my choice for our stay in Berlin

http://www.melia.com/hotels/germany/...lin/index.html

it seems reasonable and a good location

cathies

It looks great - book it.

crazyfamilyof4

BOOKED Not getting caught out again!!!! hahahaha

crazyfamilyof4

Ok so we will leave Paris on the 12th July and go to Bordeaux by train we will pick up our car and drive to Sarlat (prior booking which had allowed date changes ) We will leave on the 15th and drive to Carcassonne for the night and then drive to the best train station to drop off the car and catch the train into Barcelona.

Hopefully this sounds ok

annhig

YES! Melia in Berlin looks terrific.

A nice idea is to do a boat trip around the canals and river; you can even get a boat all the way to Charlottenburg to see the chateau and gardens.

your plan for Sarlat looks fine too. my only comment is that Brive would be closer than Bordeaux but if that's the train you can get....

[FYI Brive is about an hour's drive from Sarlat, Bordeaux about 2x that so even Bordeaux isn't that far away]

crazyfamilyof4

Hi ann, we originally was going to get the car from Brive but I was told that at times it is difficult to collect a car from this location and bordeaux is a better choice. Also I guess we can have a quick wander/ drive around before Sarlat. Just a thought but that was why we were going to collect the car from here.

Glad the hotel in Berlin is good. The prices were very reasonable in comparrison to the rest of the trip that's for sure! That one is all booked in!

I am getting somewhere! Slowly but surely!

crazyfamilyof4

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-468062-2.cfm

thought I would post this handy thread!

annhig

crazy - i understand about the cars. Have you checked the car hire options at both places? if you prebook [which surely you will need to do with 6 people] hopefully there wouldn't be too much difficulty in either place.

Berlin is great and the food prices are very reasonable - if your kids like schnitzel and bratwurst!

crazyfamilyof4

Hi Ann, I haven't looked into it yet but I will and if I can get the automatic in Brieve then that is what we will do.

Oh and my kids would live on sausages if they could! hahahaha that and hot chips!

crazyfamilyof4

Ok...Frankfurt is booked!

http://www.palmenhof.com

The apartment though. I believe it is a great location. We are spending over our budget for this but I figure by the end of the trip we are going to want somewhere nice to relax etc.

So Prague,Berlin and Frankfurt is sorted!

Just got to sort Italy . . .anyone stayed in a 2 bed villa in Italy that had great little drives. We are thinking Sienna for the week . . .THOUGHTS?

Thanks everyone!

StCirq

I stayed in a sort of "villa complex" called Vacanze Ideale in Umbria twice a few years ago. Had a darling little sort of cabin with a big fold-out sofa on the first floor and a double bed on the "loft floor" that my daughter loved. It had a nice kitchen, a balcony and a front patio where we ate most of our meals. It was not at all "resort-like," just a simple place in the countryside outside Paciano (a tiny, lovely town), but it had two or three pools, several of these little cabins, a kind of "hotel" across the street where other people stayed, an exercise room, a "party room" I never saw being used, and lovely grounds. It was 300 euros a week for the two of us (and we could have fit more into the space.

It was absolutely incredibly wonderful - and so inexpensive we couldn't believe it. I bet they've raised their prices, but still...http://www.vacanzeideali.it/

crazyfamilyof4

ooohh ...thanks looks beautiful .. will send an email and see what they say . . .300 for the week would be amazing! But I am not holding my breath!

SQ- the week in South France . .what would you suggest with Mum and I . .. we won't have a car.

StCirq

It IS beautiful, and incredibly wonderful for children of all ages because there are children all over the place, but once you're in your villa for the night, it's over...quiet, BUT I think I got a deal because an acqaintance of mine who lived close by made a deal... BUT...go for it because it is such a nice place and such a good deal and your kids would love it

thursdaysd

So what happened to the UK? Weren't you doing two weeks there? Even without a car you can still see plenty based in London or London plus Bath.

crazyfamilyof4

still doing a week in London but won't have a car so it will be day trips from London this time.

Hopefully we will get to Bath for a quick look.

Thanks SQ .. just waiting to hear from them. Looks great!