britomart

My husband, his parents and I are planning a 3 week trip to France in June '08.' We have a rough itinerary sketched out, and I'd love some feedback on it. Also, we're not sure where it would be easiest to rent a car/travel by train. For example, is it easier to take a train from Paris to Normandy, and then pick up a rental car there?

1. Spend about a week in Paris. Rent a 2 bed. apt. in Le Marais: http://www.vrbo.com/15502

2. Take train/rent car to Normandy. One night each in Rouen, Honfleur, Bayeux, and Mont St. Michel. (This is the part I'm worried about, not sure this is enough time to do all this)?

3. Take train/rent car to Loire Valley. Stay 3 nights in Amboise? Chenonceaux? Stay in La Roseraie if staying in Chenonceaux.

4. Take train/rent car to Provence. Rent St. Remy apt for 1 week:
http://www.vrbo.com/114683 We're not planning on visiting the Cote d'Azur, so we thought this would be a good central location for Provence. Or would Aix be better? We're looking for "small town" charm here, but still close to restaurants/grocers.

We're also considering this B&B in St. Remy:

http://www.hotel-charme-provence.com/

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

StuDudley

Four people staying in 4 different places in Normandy in 4 nights is more hotel changing than I would want to do.

You didn't mention what other things you are expecting to see in Normandy, so I'll assume you're not visiting Monets home, but are spending time visiting the Normandy WWII beaches.

I would take a train to Rouen, spend half a day there, pick up a car, and then spend 2 nights in Honfleur. I would also spend 2 nights in Bayeux, visiting MSM early in the morning or late in the evening from Bayeux. The Normandy beaches, including the Caen museum, took us a full 1 1/2 days.

Then drive to the Loire, spending 3 nights there. Then I would ditch the car & take the TGV from St Pierre des Corps (Tours) to Avignon. You may need to make a train change - make sure it's not in Paris. It's 4+ hrs to the Avignon TGV station, which is 30 mins from St Remy.

Stu Dudley

britomart

Hi Stu,

Thanks for the feedback. I've been reading some of your posts on Provence. Sounds like you recommend breaking up Provence into two locations, with a few days in Luberon and a few days in St. Remy? Perhaps this would be best for us. I really enjoy renting apartments and being able to cook our own meals occasionally, but it would also be nice to stay in a B&B and have some time alone with my hubby.

I thought the Normandy section of our trip was too ambitious. We mainly want to visit the D-Day beaches. Monet's house would be wonderful, is this possible as a day trip from Paris? I think we could adopt your suggested itinerary, but would have to cut some days from Paris.

Thanks again for your invaluable advice. Could you send me your famous booklet on Provence? [email protected]

StuDudley

We stay in Gites (houses) while in France - usually for 2 weeks at a time. If going to food markets, buying stuff, then preparing lunch/dinner appeals to you - then rent an apt or house & do that instead of staying in 2 hotels. After we tried this in '97, we've almost never stayed in hotels.

I don't know if I would cut days from Paris - perhaps only a day if you want to visit Monet's house. However, that would probably mean renting a car in Paris & then driving into Rouen after visiting Giverny. We did not find the Vernon/Giverny area to be as interesting or scenic as other regions in France we've visited.

I sent 2 itineraries - Provence & Normandy.

Stu Dudley

britomart

Hi again,

Would you recommend breaking up Provence into 2 locations at the sacrifice of not being able to rent an apt. or gite?

StuDudley

For '08 you won't have any trouble finding a gite to rent. If for some reason this seems less appealing to you, then for 7 days I would stay in 2 different locations. St Remy to get the city/village buzz, then somewhere with a little more "out in the country" feel - like in the Luberon or close to Vaison in the Cote du Rhone area. Give Kevin's place (a frequent contributor here) a consideration.
http://www.masperreal.com/index.html


Stu Dudley

Cgibson

I am sitting in Sous les Figuers in St Remy right now. have just gotten back from Aix and can think of nothing positive to said say about the place. Parking is a nightmare for first timer. traffic bad etc.

Have been coming to Europe twice a year for several years: have traveled extensively in Asia and Aix was the biggest waste of time we have had.

St Remy is very well located and easy in and out. unbelieve quality restaurants. little pricey but excellant. Pleasant little place.

Stu has much more experience with France than I do, second trip for us, and I have followed several of his tips and they have helped a great deal. So i would listen to him, but would stay away from Aix.

Vttraveler

We rented a house in Noves near St. Remy for two weeks and enjoyed staying in that area. It is a good central location with are many, many day trips you can take (way too many according to our kids)
I would vote for the stay-in-one-place option especially since you will have been moving around earlier in the trip.

2010

Must give another perspective to cgibson's comments about Sous Les Figuiers and St Remy. We've stayed in St Remy twice, and this past July we stayed at the Sous Les Figuiers. We found the accomodations to be peaceful, comfortable & tidy, and the service was outstanding! True, the parking on the grounds could be a bit tight but it was convenient to be able to leave the car and walk (5 minutes) into town. St Remy is a lovely town with good choices for dining, shops, galleries and a wonderful market on Wednesday! I would not discount staying in St Remy at the Sous Les Figuiers if that's the kind of experience you want!

coldwar27

You may want to consider skipping a night in Honfleur. If you time it right, try to hit market day there on the way to the next town. I visited Honfleur for a half day and was satisfied. I did what was suggested here and took a train from Paris to Rouen and spent a night in Rouen. I was part of a tour but again, if you want to spend the majority of the time in Normandy seeing the WWII sites, no need for a whole night in Honfleur in my opinion. I do recommend MSM and if you can stay on the Mont, do so. The tourists will be gone by the evening and you can explore on your own and it is lovely at night. In Loire, I stayed in Amboise and it was a nice base to see Chenonceaux and Chambord.

I hope you have a great time. I was able to spend three weeks in France in 03 and LOVED it!

klondike

2010: I undestood cgibson to have negative view of AIX and not St. Rémy or Sous les Figueiers.

StuDudley

Cgibson

Is your complaint about the traffic and parking, or about the city's attraction??? It's a Sunday, and I suspect most of the cute shops my wife likes to poke her nose into were closed all day - an many were covered with steel bars or ugly aluminum shutters. We never visit a city in France on a Sunday (except Paris).

Stu Dudley

2010

klondike, yes I see that I did misread cgibson's post. My apologies to cgibson. However, my enthusiasm for St Remy holds!!!

britomart

Hello all. Thanks for the invaluable input! I had actually been considering Sous Les Figuers, sounds like we should definitely stay there. I was wondering how far it is to town from the B&B, so thanks cgibson for your input. I think we will also stay in Luberon for a few nights, just because I've been doing so much research on the B&B's and they all look so wonderful! It would be good I think to experience another view of Provence from the perspective of another B&B and its innkeepers/guests.

Sounds like Amboise is a good base for La Loire also! Thanks coldwar.

I suppose it would be possible to skip Honfleur, but I am really looking forward to staying in this town (Rick Steves' show makes it look so appealing). We will consider staying on MSM, didn't even know that is an option!

Thanks again for all the advice. If only we were going this June, I can hardly wait!

amwosu

Have you considered skipping Mont St. Michel to make the Normandy portion less hectic?

StuDudley

I would rathar stay in Honfleur than MSM.

Unless you can get too MSM VERY early in the morning (8:00) you might consider skipping it unless it's one of your "don't miss" sites. In June it will be a mob scene between 10:30 and 6:00 (church closes at 5:30). The streets of this very attractive site are cluttered with people, postcard stands, trinkets, stands selling braclets with ever conceivable child's name, soup mugs & toothbrushes with child's names, etc. It really detracts from the enjoyment of the town. They usually don't pull out the "junk" till 9:30 or so. Last time we were there, we couldn't get out fast enough at 11:00, when we finished the tour of the church.

If you don't have problems with elbow-to-elbow people & tacky trinkets, then mid-day is OK.

If you are like me, I would either stay overnight there & see it early in the morn or late in the evening, or get there very early in the AM from a hotel elsewhere (like Bayeux). I would not use it as a 2 night base for touring Normandy or Brittany.

Stu Dudley

britomart

Isn't Bayeux closer to MSM than Honfleur? If we stayed in MSM one night, we would only stay in Bayeux one night. Skipping MSM is a possibility, will have to check with the others in my party. I think my mother-in-law is quite set on it though...

Has anyone stayed at Le Blason in Amboise? I'm torn between it and La Roseraie? Other B&B suggestions 100 euro per night or less?

Cgibson

Sorry about the confusion on my earlier post. Should not have sent it in the state of mind was in. We're just back in states and did not have convenient internet access after sent the post.

To clarify - St Remy is a wonderful little place. Very much enjoyed it. Sous les Figuers is a wonderful, delightful place to stay. Could not figure out why it seemed familiar until realized it reminded me of small places in Indonesia especially in Bali that stayed in the early and mid 80's. It is very pretty and restful. Very clean, very good bed, real bathroom with an honest to goodness shower. The owners are very friendly, pleasant, and helpful especially Kups who understood my Texas Panhandle accent perfectly. They are good folks. And we would stay there again in a minute.

Problem with Aix was that we over did it that day. Had already been to Sunday market at Isle sur la Sorgue and then to Arles for lunch. We were sitting in the Cafe Van Gogh (good WC) having a beer and met a couple from states and their daughter who is an exchange student in Aix. They said should go, no problem, etc. So we went had. Had parking picked out but it was closed and took long time to find any close. Was mostly my fault because was looking for blue P signs and they are green there. Finally found parking near Cours Mirabeau and stolled down it and were not impressed. Market was just breaking up and swarms of kids were about. So went back to St Remy.

Was too much for us to do in one day and we know better, but still did it. I should have just gone to bed and not posted. Hope did not offend or confuse anyone. Everyone likes different things and neither of us happened to like Aix, but one has to go there to find out for oneself whether it is worth the effort. So don't let me discourage you from going.

britomart

No problem cgibson! I think we will definitely stay at Sous les Fig. Thanks again for your comments!

cigalechanta

Don't worry about opinions here. Some like Aix, others like me, prefer Avignon.
Neither one is wrong. We bring our ouwn experiences to the board, We stayed in Aix one year and had no problems getting around. It also helped that our in-town hotel had a parking parc of its own.