Iwan2go

My husband and I might have two weeks for a European trip at the end of April 2009, and I'm trying to come up with some ideas. So I figured, who best to ask for some input but you guys!?

We like to walk a lot and enjoy gardens, architecture and art, good food and wine, and staying in little exquisite bed and breakfasts where we can talk to the owners (especially love places where they informally serve dinners to guests). Budget around 150-175 euros/night, although we could go a little more for selected places. We're more mountain/lakes/ocean views (when there are trees) people - we don't particularly like laying on sandy beaches or looking at boats in the harbor. We have found that starting our trip in a larger city, followed with two or three small towns as bases for relaxed driving trips, works well for us. I'm thinking that the weather might be iffy (as far as rain and cold weather), so probably somewhere toward the south would be good.

If we went to Italy, we'd want to concentrate on the north - Cinque Terre or the lakes (have been to Florence, Rome, Vanice, and am not interested in the south of Italy for this trip). Went to southern Spain this year and loved it. Have been to France several times, including Provence around Avignon back in 1999 (but not the Cote d'Azur).

Since we loved Spain and didn't make it to Barcelona, I was thinking of starting there. Some options could be Barcelona -Aix (although that's a pretty long drive, about 6 hours) -Nice. Other ideas were Barcelona then the Dordogne. Or maybe Barcelona-fly to Pisa (cheap flight) -Cinque Terre - Portofino- Nice.

As I said, because the majority of the trip would be in smaller towns, the weather is a concern (don't want to be confined to my room if it's raining the whole time). Would the weather (late April) be too cold in the Pyrenees? Or the northern part of Spain? the Italian lakes?

I could change the trip completely and start in, say, Lisbon, go across the top of Spain and end in Barcelona.

Looking forward to your suggestions. Thank you so much.

TDudette

Iwan2go with you! We usually stay in larger places that can book tours for us so I can't help with B&Bs.
Hub and I did Barcelona, Montpellier, and Nice and travelled only by train between cities.
Montpellier a good base for travel to Colliure/Orange/Pont du Garde.
Nice fine base for train or bus trips to Monaco, St. Paul de Vence, Uze, Cannes. Even trained to Avignon and Arles from Nice.
You could make your last place a town in Italy instead.
We just visited Cassis (loved it-small attractive town)using Aix as our base-if you like to walk, look into the Calanques. Not sure how that compares with the Cinque Terre walk in strenuousness but visually, it is more stark.
Since you are driving, you might love the Aquabella Hotel in Aix-it wasn't so convenient to us as "bus/trainers" but it has a nice pool and restaurant to return to at the end of long drives.
Have a great trip!

TDudette

ps-I'm not sure what month the pool opens at Aquabella. Most days were fairly foggy/misty when we were at Lake Como (Bellagio)in March. "Everyone" said "Come back in May for the azaleas!"

PalenQ

Are you traveling by train or car? If buy train investigate the Eurail Select 3-country pass - and if you buy one by Nov 30, 2008 and it is for 6 days or more you will get 2 days extra free and can use the pass thru the end of June - have to activate it within six months of issue. I can tell you more about it but only if going by train.

ekscrunchy

Here is one idea that I like:

Barcelona (possible detour to the northern Costa Brava). Then across the Pyrenees to San Sebastian (day trip to Bilbao) and from there, the inland villages of the Pays Basque. And from there, if you have time which I am not sure about, north to the Dordogne. You could fly into Barcelona and home from Bordeaux. If you skip the Dordogne, you can fly home from Bayonne.

Iwan2go

Thank you for your input, especially about the weather (in Bellagio, etc) and about Cassis. I was jost talking to someone yesterday who had been there and liked it a lot.

We do usually (especially in France) rent a car, but I've also been looking into the train times from Barcelona to Avignon, etc. Looks like the car is faster.

I'll do a little more searching and reading and post some other questions later. Thanks again!

greg

If you are thinking of doing a Spain to France one way car rental, I presume you have looked at the car drop-off premium. There is usually a breathtaking charge if you pick up a car in one country and drop-off in another.

rogerbruton

Here in the Pyrenees last April the daytime temperatures ranged up to the high 20's centigrade - very pleasant. Night-time never went below 10 degrees centigrade. There was snow on the high peaks until May -- nice to look at! But you don't HAVE to go up there .

I could "gush" a bit more, but folk might think I was advertising!

Roger
http://www.fermedecandeloup.fr

mpprh

The Barcelona - Aix trip looks fine.

The mountains are never far from the coast from the Pyrenees to Aix. The exception is crossing the Rhone valley.

So, you could think of a few days in Barcelona / Costa Brava , then -
Pyrenees
Montaignes Noir
Cevennes
Alpilles
Alpes Maritimes

April weather is changeable, but in the Languedoc section rain is generally shortlived, heavy, and ...... overnight !

Local weather history : http://the-languedoc-page.com/langue...er-history.htm

Languedoc tourism : http://the-languedoc-page.com/tourism

Languedoc images : http://the-languedoc-page.com/photos...hoto-index.htm

More photos :
http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/ph...-photo-395.htm

http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/ph...-photo-403.htm

http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/ph...-photo-069.htm

And this would be very interesting hiking country :
http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/ph...-photo-365.htm

Peter

Mimar

I like your Barcelona/Cinque Terre/Nice plan. Instead of staying in the CT, you could stay in Santa Margherita Ligure. Portofino is just down the road and the CT a short train ride away. There's a hike over the Portofino peninsula. And you can check out the towns of Camogli and San Fruttoso. Then take the train to Nice, and there's lots to do around there.

For this trip you wouldn't need a car. A car is a pain in the CT; you just park it in some high up parking lot. And move between towns by foot, train or boat. Nice has lots of good daytrip options by bus and train.

And 3 stops gives you nice long stays in one spot. Plus the April weather in these areas is more reliable than in the mountains.

Iwan2go

Thank you all so much!

greg, I hadn't thought about the car drop-off premium - we usually don't take the car over the border - so if we decide to go from Barcelona to France, maybe we should try to take the train into France first and rent the car then.

rogerbruton, appreciate the info about temperatures in the Pyrenees!
mimar, you're right about not needing a car if we do Barcelona/fly to CT/ Nice.

I've been looking at guidebooks, doing a lot of internet searches, and refining things w/my husband. We are being drawn to the Barcelona/Provence/Ctore d'Azur option at this point, but that could change.

Thanks again for all the information and links to other websites, it's appreciated.