My husband and I are taking advantage of our daughter doing a teacher exchange in Southwest England-Calne for the 2007-08 school year. Our itinerary is:
March 29,'08-London to Lisbon, Portugal on TAP Air. We have a timeshare in Casais for a week. Besides going to Fatima, we haven't a clue what to see, etc. and if it's worth driving into Spain. We will have a car.
Then a week in Les Diablerets, Switz.(timeshare)(3219meters) just west of Geneva.We will have a car but if anyone knows what we can expect for driving conditions April 5-12 would greatly appreciate it. We would like to drive to Nice,France fordaytrip..possible? Any suggestions on sightseeing, etc? We haven't decided to drive,fly or train to Rome for a week..April 12-19..suggestions? We have a private tour arranged with Roman priest of Vatican. Is Scavi tour worth it? I am partially disabled w/wheelchair but can walk some and willing to pay the pain-price if worth it. Should we take side trip to Assissi and/or Florence or just stay in Rome. Also we booked BestWestern at the Vatican $300nt for three.Any better suggestions?
We fly back to London and stay with our daughter for two months. We hope to make weekend trips and day trips from there. Is it better to fly or train around? Any input is greatly appreciated..Howdey

Hi Howdey,

The drive from Les Diablerets to Nice will take you 5h41 according to www.mappy.com. Not a good idea!

Some things to see & places to go from Les Diablerets: Gstaad (www.gstaad.ch), Aigle, Aigle castle, Montreux (might be a loong trip, info at www.montreux.ch), Leysin, and Chateau d'Oex (www.chateau-doex.ch).

Good luck!

s

Thanks Swandav2000...I love the websites! Why do you say the trip to Montreux might be a loong one... weather that time of year? Map says 49 mins. Forgive me if I'm not posting these right..first time at this sort of thing, but love it.

howdey, howdey [sorry, couldn't resist that; I've got it out of my system now]

i can only really help with te hRome, bit.

you have 7 nights and probably only 6 days, so most of it you'll want to spend in Rome, I would imagine, especially as getting around may take you longer than most.

florence is a long time in a train, there and back, but it reasonanly flat when you get there -is this an important consideration? Assisi on the other hand is hilly.

fortunately you don't have to decide about side trips before you go, unless you wanted to book private tours with your own car and driver. if so, there are some recommendations on this board, and, I believe, on slowtravel.

where exactly is your daughter going to be teaching? - i live in the south west [cornwall] and don't recognise Calne. [just looked it up, it's in Wiltshire, so near Wells, Bath, Salisbury - some great places to visit.]

have a great time,

regards, ann

Thanks Annhig...my motto is "have wheelchair..will travel!" It's a travel one that fold up and pulls like a suitcase(easy...'cause my husband pulls it). It does have some power limitations so thanks for the tip about Assissi. Sounds like there's more than enough to do in Rome.

I will be visiting Cornwall since we have a strong connection to the Cornish miners here in Grass Valley CA (hard rock mining...gold country) Howdey

Does anybody have ideas about Lisbon area Portugal?

You might be interested in my trip report:

http://fodors.com/forums/pgMessages....rt%3A+Portugal

WOW! Thanks Michael...lots of good info! Howdey

Hi again,

My mistake; you're right! It's only an hour's journey by train from LD to Montreux, with a change in Aigle. Your map info of 49 minutes would be right!

s

A couple of thoughts on Les Diablerets.

The town's not at 3200 metres, but at 1100, so you ought to be able to drive to and from it easily round Easter without faffing about with chains: it's only about 10 miles from the main motorway at Aigle. However, my memory of the glacier (and that's what's at 3200 metres) is that access from the cable car to the restaurant is nigh-impossible without snow footgear, and also involves a lot of steps. My memory might be faulty, but it really didn't seem friendly (or, frankly, safe) even for mild disability, and I'm not at all sure the cable car accepts wheelchairs.

Check with the tourist office before making too many plans, though the town's relatively low altitude and reasonable number of restaurants in the centre make it a pleasant place to be without needing to get up to the glacier or on to the pistes. Driving conditions should be fine, but there'll be a thaw on then, and overnight frost will still be likely at 1100 m. so underfoot conditins might be tricky.

Driving to Rome from Les Diablerets poses the old problem of ferocious penalty fees for one-way hires if you leave a car in a different country from the one you've hired in.

If your timetable allows it, personally I'd drive each way - but it IS at least a nine-hour drive each way before any stops, and before the near-certainty of slow-moving traffic through and round the major Italian cities. Driving this route gives you enough choices for pleasant places to stop to last a lifetime. BUT...

Offhand, I can't think of anywhere in or near Rome a driver unused to driving in an Italian city could easily get to that then makes it remotely feasible to get a wheelchair into and out of central Rome each day. Someone might have a solution, but I really do doubt it. Italian urban driving really ISN'T for the faint-hearted, or even for the gutsy but inexperienced.

However, the thought of giving up the wonderful drive through the Alps and down the Italian coast for the tedious drive to Geneva airport and a dismal hour on Easyjet strikes me as such a wasted opportunity I'd repost a question seeking other posters' help on finding somewhere in Rome a car can get to that's close enough to town you can get a taxi and wheelchair each day to the sights.

Thanks flanneruk...welcome advice and glad to hear the elevation in LD is the same as home. We'll just have to wait and see about the glacier...husband and daughter can go anyway.

I think we are going to fly to Rome. Our hotel at the Vatican has parking so we might rent a car for a couple of days and head out to the coast. Really appreciate your input since we are "flying blind" and hate tour packages. Thanks again, H

hi, Howdey,

how exciting! Cousin Jacks [as ex pat cornish miners are affectionately known] crop up all over the world.

where in Cornwall do you have in mind? we live in the middle of mining country in St. Day. -just east of Redruth if you want to find in on the map. Once the richest square mile in the world, allegedly! Hard to believe now.

if you'd like to think about a GTG, or ask me some specific questions, you are very welcome to e-mail me - [email protected]

Happy planning,

regards, ann

t

I wouldn't just stay in Rome. For me the Vatican was best part of Rome. All the other sights held my intrest total-one day. To have a private tour of the Vatican-fabulous. I don't know what Scavi tour is, but the Vatican is so easy to see on your own. Don't need to pay a pain price there. Assisi is an upscale type town, I didn't see much of interest there. Florence, though is very interesting and easy to get around with a chair.
From Rome, it's easy to get to Florence & Assisi by train, I forget how long it takes but not long, and looking at the countryside as you go along is a bonus.

If time permits, I'd skip Assisi and go further to Lucca, such a delightful little walled-city & many beautiful sites, (especially the Churches) & chair-friendly.

For a lot of good ideas and information about Lisbon, see the long thread started by Matt from England:

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34740328

Annhig..haven't made set plans for Cornwall yet but your area sounds great. I'm not sure what GTG means...?
PalenQ..ditto for t
Virgi, thanks good advice and
Nikki..thanks I found that thread and really enjoyed it.

The reason I didn't get back sooner was that I was at Lake Tahoe, California for the week. As usual, it was gorgeous and we were treated to the first snows of the season...a beautiful dusting of white fairy dust on the peaks around the lake. What a site. A great destination for world travelers.

Howdey"

GTG = GetToGether (fodorites meeting up)

t = topping. Bringing the thread back to the top of the list so others will see it. (usually seen as ttt - To The Top)

I was thinking of driving up to Tahoe a couple of days ago - and then I-80 was closed due to snow. The road opened pretty quickly - but I <u>hate</u> putting on chains and decided against. Where did you stay? I'm hoping to go up to Incline for a few days before the end of the month.

Thanks janisj...I'm lucky to have a brother with a cabin right on the lake in Kings Beach. Know what you mean about chains...sometimes worth the $20 for the chain monkeys to put on. It sure was beautiful. Where are you driving up from?