Paris and ????
Mar 17th, 2007, 06:21 AM
#1
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Paris and ????
2 couples traveling to Paris in July for 8 nights. We have to fly in and out of Paris but we want to go to 1 or 2 other places on our trip. We want to be able to take the train, we like wine, shopping, site seeing, beaches,good food is a must and want something different than Paris where we plan to spend 3 or 4 nights. We have been told Belgium, South of France (Nice) and the French Wine Country. Do you have any other suggestions? If you suggest 1 or 2 of the above what would you do and why and how long in each?
Mar 17th, 2007, 06:36 AM
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Hi M,
With only 8 nights, I don't think that you will want to go to more than 1 other place.
My suggestion is 1-2 nights in Dijon/Beaun.
The new TGV Est line will be open in July. You will be able get to Strasbourg in 2:30 hr.
You might want to consider a couple of daytrips instead of overnighting:
Chartres, Auxerre, Troyes, Strasbourg are all interesting.
With only 8 nights, I don't think that you will want to go to more than 1 other place.
My suggestion is 1-2 nights in Dijon/Beaun.
The new TGV Est line will be open in July. You will be able get to Strasbourg in 2:30 hr.
You might want to consider a couple of daytrips instead of overnighting:
Chartres, Auxerre, Troyes, Strasbourg are all interesting.
Mar 17th, 2007, 06:50 AM
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Almost all of French is "wine country", so I think you might need to narrow it down a little.
In July, you might want to skip a trip to the beach in France, since all French people will be either at the beach or on the roads to the beach. Unless your idea of holiday fun is 500 km traffic jam, skip the experience this time. When exactly, by the way, will you be in France?
Last summer, my husband and I did two weekend driving tours of wine country when my dad was visiting. We had great fun in the Champagne region (you can find the trip report if you look for posts under my name from late July or early August) and a second trip to Bordeaux. I preferred Champagne to Bordeaux (but I prefer whites to reds). For our Champagne trip, we rented a car in Paris and drove to the region, spending about 3 days away. You could also easily take a train to Reims and do tours from there. For Bordeaux, we took the TGV to the city and then rented a car on arrival. I'd recommend staying outside the city, in a country house if you can.
This spring, we're planning trips to the Loire and in Burgundy. Alsace would also be a great trip in July - and the TGV-East will have just opened, making the trip to Strasbourg quite speedy.
One other off-the-beaten path option. I spoke at a conference in Maastricht (Netherlands) a few months ago and fell in love with the city. It's beautiful, very arty, has some nice shopping and funky hotels. It's about a 2.5 hour train ride from Paris. To me it felt like a cross between a tiny, perfect Brussels (without the ugly modern architecture) and Amsterdam.
In July, you might want to skip a trip to the beach in France, since all French people will be either at the beach or on the roads to the beach. Unless your idea of holiday fun is 500 km traffic jam, skip the experience this time. When exactly, by the way, will you be in France?
Last summer, my husband and I did two weekend driving tours of wine country when my dad was visiting. We had great fun in the Champagne region (you can find the trip report if you look for posts under my name from late July or early August) and a second trip to Bordeaux. I preferred Champagne to Bordeaux (but I prefer whites to reds). For our Champagne trip, we rented a car in Paris and drove to the region, spending about 3 days away. You could also easily take a train to Reims and do tours from there. For Bordeaux, we took the TGV to the city and then rented a car on arrival. I'd recommend staying outside the city, in a country house if you can.
This spring, we're planning trips to the Loire and in Burgundy. Alsace would also be a great trip in July - and the TGV-East will have just opened, making the trip to Strasbourg quite speedy.
One other off-the-beaten path option. I spoke at a conference in Maastricht (Netherlands) a few months ago and fell in love with the city. It's beautiful, very arty, has some nice shopping and funky hotels. It's about a 2.5 hour train ride from Paris. To me it felt like a cross between a tiny, perfect Brussels (without the ugly modern architecture) and Amsterdam.
Mar 18th, 2007, 11:52 AM
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You could also consider Normandy; I spent some time in the seaside town of Trouville and liked it a lot. The beaches are lovely and the food is excellent.
http://www.trouvillesurmer.org/fr/bi...et_hp_bien.htm
I like the Dijon idea as well. I would not do two trips with so little total time.
http://www.trouvillesurmer.org/fr/bi...et_hp_bien.htm
I like the Dijon idea as well. I would not do two trips with so little total time.
Mar 18th, 2007, 01:22 PM
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Consider the Loire Valley and the chateaus. We drove there two years ago, but there was train service nearby. We visited Chenonceau, Vilandry and Chambord in two full days, if I recall correctly, arriving the night before. We stayed for two nights at a lovely hotel in Chenonceau called La Rosarie and had a very nice dinner there. A gem found on this web site, BTW. Terrific wines, too. We visited Chambord on the way back to Paris, stopping at the Cathedral at Chartres. Chartres was truly magnificent.
Try poking around the web site ViaMichelin.com . You can plug in different postal codes to get an idea as to distances and travel times, and do a search for attractions (3 star, 2 star, etc.), restaurants, hotels, etc. They have write-ups on different topics- Paris restaurants, regional driving tours, etc. I just printed out the Champagne Region writeup-
http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichel...-champagne.htm They might give you a european take on the area.
With four people, you might want to consider renting a car. Driving was not that bad, as long as one of you is good with maps. Might be more cost effective than the train, and give you more flexibility. We returned the car once we got to Paris- wasn't going to navigate there!
Enjoy your trip! / cel
PS- sorry for the strange URLs. Couldn't figure out how to fix them.
Try poking around the web site ViaMichelin.com . You can plug in different postal codes to get an idea as to distances and travel times, and do a search for attractions (3 star, 2 star, etc.), restaurants, hotels, etc. They have write-ups on different topics- Paris restaurants, regional driving tours, etc. I just printed out the Champagne Region writeup-
http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichel...-champagne.htm They might give you a european take on the area.
With four people, you might want to consider renting a car. Driving was not that bad, as long as one of you is good with maps. Might be more cost effective than the train, and give you more flexibility. We returned the car once we got to Paris- wasn't going to navigate there!
Enjoy your trip! / cel
PS- sorry for the strange URLs. Couldn't figure out how to fix them.
