Paris & Eastern France - Base & Mobility Advice
 

Hi all! I am in the preliminary planning/research of a trip with my parents celebrating their 60th anniversary. Yes, 60th! They are in their late 70s with some mobility concerns.

We will fly into Paris and spend 3 or 4 nights there to shake off some jet lag. We have all been to Paris before. And Dad has really expressed interest in re-visiting Musee d'Orsay and the Notre Dame restorations. Other than that, we are not planning to go full throttle in the city.

A major must-see is for us to travel East to visit my Dad's uncle's gravesite who died in WW1 - which has never been visited by anyone in the family, and we believe we have located his resting place in St. Mihiel American Cemetary just south of Metz.

I'd like to maybe visit Strasbourg and maybe Colmar, mobility TBA.

The problem I am having is where to base. The Cemetary is about 2.75 hours from Strasbourg (via car), which would make for a long day trip - over 5.5 hours of driving in one day seems excessive, and so far not finding viable public transport that is much quicker. The natural idea is to maybe stay overnight (one night?) in Metz on the way to Strasbourg, but this also does not seem to be an easy alternative transport-wise.

Any ideas to cover this will be greatly appreciated. Would possibly arriving in Basel make this a bit better, maybe?

I do not (yet) know how long we/they will have. One idea we have tossed around is for them to fly home from Basel while I go on to visit Belgium and/or Amsterdam - this is not set in stone. Obviously if we reverse, they would fly home from Paris.


Also, mobility is very much a concern. My Mom is not walking well, especially on uneven terrain, and my Dad had total knee replacement and it does give him fits. I am a bit concerned about using trains and their mobility, so advice on where to pick up car (Paris?) and navigating trains for those with limited mobility will be greatly appreciated.


Edit: apologies on duplicate. It had posted before I was done, kitten walked across my keyboard. I have asked the mods to delete!

I wonder ... would Luxembourg provide a reasonable base? I haven't been there, but not for lack of interest.

FWIW, I enjoyed Basel, particularly for its art museums.

(Ooh, new kitty! Good luck with your keyboard.)

I went to the St. Mihiel American Cemetery in 2022. You can read about my experience (and see some photos) here: France 2022

We were doing a driving trip and passed the cemetery on our way from Verdun to Colmar. The TGV passes within sight of the cemetery, but I don’t think there is a stop anywhere nearby where you could rent a car, but someone else with better knowledge of the area may have a way to do it. At any rate, the cemetery should pose no mobility problems, and you could even drive to the Butte du Mont Sec for a sweeping view of the area (you don’t have to climb the steps up the monument for a good view).

It does seem that you can take the train to Metz, spend the night, and pick up a car there. You could either return to Metz, or drive on to Strasbourg. There are rental agencies across the street from the station in both cities. I would consider doing what we did on our trip, and drive to Colmar or some of the towns on the wine trail. You might find a rental in one of those towns that would be on one level and suitable for limited mobility.

I don’t think riding the train should be an issue for mobility. We took the TGV from Strasbourg to CDG and that was easy.

Thanks kja and twk - very helpful. I do think the wine trail may hook Mom on this! I may also see if we can include Verdun while we're at it. Dad and I both will be interested in the museum.

Is there any useful advice about train travel with mobility issues on seat61.com? I sometimes have trouble finding the information I'm seeking on that web-site, but it's almost always there.

Quite easy to find on the SNCF website.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...96b56af554.jpg


Here's the link:

https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/a...-trip-services

I guess you know about cobbles, tram tracks and cycle lanes. Central Strasbourg is especially lovely with high densities of nice things to look at but also also a complex confusion of the things mentioned in my first sentence, this may be an issue for safe and easy access.

With mobility issues you will do better with a taxi sized tour of wineries, coaches often have to get parked out of town and walk in, which will not help but Uber/Taxis/Car service will drop you at the start to the pedestrian areas.

Each wine town will have a map on its website as to parking etc

If I was doing this I would focus on taxis and trains, but I tend towards trains.

What i was basically asking - which the sncf website does NOT detail is train information. As in, steps getting on/up to the seats. I looked. It mostly talks about the stations.

Seat61 does not have that detail either but he did have photos, which was helpful.

And there is no disability here, just limited mobility. My Mom struggles with stairs and uneven surfaces. My Dad is usually OK with those despite the TKR.

Can't help with the mobility issues, but Metz is an underrated city, and you could certainly do worse than stay there a night or two.

The cemetery is half way between Nancy and Metz. If you like art nouveau I would stay three nights in Nancy, visit the cemetery one day and Nancy the next. There is an Art Nouveau museum worth a visit, and of course the 18th century square and the museum of fine arts to be visited.




Depending on your actual mobility limits, Nancy is full ofart nouveau buildings, some open to the public, some not. Here is the Nancy photo album:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJrcPhp

First, you should rent a car. This is the easiest for mobility questions. You can always drop off your parents at the exact right place. No navigating train stations.

With a car, you don't have to stay in cities. And you don't need a 'base.' That way you don't have to double-back all the time. Think of this as no different than what you would do traveling in the US. Also, it is easier to visit villages, which can be just as spectacular as cities. Alsace has many wonderful villages to visit, where you can see what you have the energy for and leave whenever you want to go on to the next village.

Does your mom use a cane? If not, maybe that can help the question of uneven terrain. It helped my mom who had that problem.

Interesting isn't it how I see a car as nothing but a pain. Train will come when I want, taxi will deliver me to train and take me to winery, why would you want to hire a car, etc etc

Up to the OP of course.

The train comes when you want? I usually wait for the scheduled arrival or departure. Clearly I've been doing this wrong.

Cars are a good way to travel through a rural area. Many of the most famous villages of Alsace do not have train service. I think it depends. I don't have any one way of traveling.

Thank you and I apologize for the confusion. Remember, I am not a newbie planning my first trip. I have been looking into all of these things before I asked.

Please, I am not looking for suggestions on my parents' mobility itself and workarounds. Been through it. If any of you are ever in this position yourself, you may have an exasperated adult child like me.


I am simply asking for two things:

1. A base or a mini-base given our very SPECIFIC reasons of the cemetery. The wine trail is NOT our focus (but MAYBE an added bonus). Should that change, I will ask.
2. What we can expect getting on/in/into the trains. Both in Paris and around the region - such as IF we take a regional train, will have stairs TO the seats?
2a. Yes, stairs in some stations is a concern. Some of these regional stations aren't going to have a lift or maybe even someone that can provide assistance! Bigger cities this is less of a concern.

If we have a car, it will only be a portion of the trip and likely ONLY for Alsace region. I prefer to train to/from Paris/Basel, route depending. I am concerned about drive times. But, may do a couple of nights in Metz or Nancy just to satisfy the cemetery and not have the 3 hours one-way.

And, regardless, we may have this 3 hour- one way because of train options in this region. Again, I have looked into this! I hate backtracking and it looks like we will have to.

I am not concerned about driving around the villages. I am amenable to that. My point of asking about trains was to go to/from Paris and/or Basel, mostly and what we can expect (see #2 above). Otherwise, I am not comfortable driving in cities (which I am including Strasbourg) nor am I comfortable leaving my parents while I go drive around for parking - alone. Please reserve your comments on that - I have my reasons.

Hence, why picking up a car in Paris is not an option. Unless someone can suggest a spot for us to (taxi to apparently) in the outskirts for us to pick up the car.

Some of you are comfortable driving. That's fine. I am not you.

If you can't find the answers elsewhere, I believe you can email the Man from Seat61. No guarantees that he'll have the info, but he is incredibly knowledgeable!