Paris, Biarritz and Arles for September trip
 

OK, with Stu Dudley's help, we set our itinerary. We will be staying 5 nights in Paris, hoping to do Hotel Bonaparte as we want reasonably priced twin beds in the 6th, 4 nights in Biarritz to be able to visit Pyrennes, St. Jean de Luz, Bayonne, 1 night in Toulouse, and 5 maybe 6 nights in Arles. Any hotel, restaurant, or sightseeing suggestions would be great. Traveling with my spry, whirling dervish Mother (75). We will take TGV from Paris to Biarritz and rent a car for the rest of the trip. We want to economize under 200E per night for hotels but desire all the luxury we can afford! Thanks in advance

To start with, I would spend the 4 nights in St-Jean-de-Luz instead of Biarritz. It's SO much more manageable (especially with a car), and prettier.
Same thing for Arles - getting in and out of those big French towns is a real pain. I'd base yourself in St-Rémy or Maussane or Fontveille or some smaller town where you still have plenty of restaurant options and stuff to do in the evenings but don't have to deal with traffic and exhaust and a lot of commotion.

Also, spending under 200€ a night in those parts of France isn't necessarily "economizing." You can probably stay at extremely nice places for that price, and could definitely stay at some perfectly lovely ones for less.

For a list of restaurants in the Arles area, do a search on this site. PBProvence just posted an exhaustive one a few days ago.

In St-Jean-de-Luz, we had very good Basque meals at both Au Chipiron and Irrintzina.

Thanks St. Cirq! Another Fodorite, JoeG, is posting his recent experience at the Moulin de Greoux in St. Remy. Waiting to hear back with more information from them.

Aliska:

In Arles I highly recommend the hotel Le Calendal:
www.lecalendal.com

It's in an excellent location, is well-priced, and is a charming, charming hotel.

A few doors down from the Calendal is L'Escaladou restaurant where my husband and I had one of the best (and least expensive) meals in Europe - fish soup served from a tureen accompanied by large croutons, garlic and parmesan cheese. A truly delectable experience. (On a different day we tried the bouillabaisse and it was full of bones - not nearly as enjoyable of an experience).

If you want to read more about our time in Arles and surrounds, go to our 2003 trip on our website:
www.davidandcarol.com

Have a great trip!
Carol

Carol - this is so funny! I have been to TripAdvisor and just found the Hotel le Calandal and just did a search on the name!! I guess we are on the same wave length. Will visit your web site as well. Thanks much!!

Good suggestion by St Cirq. St-Jean-de-Luz is an absolutely charming town, a great place to just hang out. We will be returning for 4 nights this September.

thumbs up for the Calandel, visit the Arletan Museum and St-Jean-De-Luz(we ate at the Arrantzaleak)
In Biarritzz we stayed in the outskirts at the lovely Claire de Lune but only as a stop on our way to Bilbao.

RonZ, can you share where you are staying in St. Jean de Luz? I would like to stay there, but not sure it will be convenient to some areas we need to visit. Mother stayed in this area during WWII as a pre-teenager in various places as the family hid from the Nazis. She spent time at a convent near Eaux Bonnes in the Pyrennes, Bayonne, Pau, Biarritz, and she wants to visit those areas as well. I thought Biarritz was the nicest of those locations and St. Jean de Luz sounded lovely as well. Believe it or not, as she spent 6 years in the Pays Basque, she has never been to Spain. If I had more time, we would press on to Barcelona, but unfortunately I am a wage slave and can only get 2 1/2 weeks.