Just starting to do some planning for trip to Paris, Normandy, Loire, the end of June. How are the hotel reservations looking so far? Booked or not so? Any great deals on air fare?

nothing specific but your horse has been lapped about 2 times already. Get on the ball NOW.

Just for a reference point, Pat. I made reservations in Paris for our October 2001 trip in March of 2001 and still didn't get my first choice hotel. Head what "ready" wrote.

xxx is right! We are a family of 4 (a problem right off the bat)going to Paris June 7th-11th. I started looking for hotels in February & wasn't able to get my 1st/2nd/3rd/etc. choices either. It took some doing to finally nab a reservation at du Levant. I hope it's a good place - if not, too bad I guess!

May have good deals on airfare but choice hotels may be booked already.

As all the others have said - you have left it quite late for rooms in Paris. If it is a special place or a good value it is probably already booked up. I don't usually use travel agents - but in this case that may be your best bet - turn it over to a TA to find you something.<BR><BR>You should be OK for Normandy, and the Loire region is probably hit and miss. You should be able to find something fairly easily.

I don't think it's quite that dire, I usually don't book my Parisian hotel room until May for July, but I do not stay in the hotels cited on here a lot and in common guidebooks (Rick Steves, etc), as I don't think you'll be able to get them this late (ie, Muguet, Familia, Balcons, etc). I also don't want to stay in areas right near the Seine. So, I don't think you need a travel agent who might book large chain hotels (like Sofitel or Meridien, although if you want those, fine), but you may need to be more creative and think outside the box (or whatever that current lingo is). If you don't care much about specific hotels and are willing to stay in areas other than St-Germain, the Latin Quarter near the Seine, etc, I wouldn't worry excessively but I still would try to nail down reservations within the next few weeks. However, I think June may actually be busier in Paris than July-August from what I've read, you can often get hotel discounts for August and after Bastille Day in July. Try www.france.com if you are having trouble.

Thanks for the advice. We will go in Septmeber instead when kids are back in school.