Allis

Hi

I need some advice on where to spend our time when travelling from San Sebastian to Paris in three days. Any suggestions, we will be travelling by train. WOuld you do one night in Bordeaux and 2 in Toulouse? Or the other way round? Thanks, Allison

ekscrunchy

St. Jean de Luz would be good as long as this will not be in deep winter. You could combine this with Bordeaux. Or Biarritz.

Michael

Going from Bordeaux to Toulouse or vice-versa is not a straight line to Paris. If you have never visited the Loire valley, I would suggest Bordeaux and a stop in the Loire valley to visit a chateau. Or from Bordeaux meander through the Charente and stop in La Rochelle.

ekscrunchy

Yes yes..I was going to mention La Rochelle! Fabulous town! Fabulous seafood!

Michael

Rectifying my original post. It would be difficult to meander through the Charente by train. But you could take the train to Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Angers and then Paris.

Langcraft

Allison:

If you are traveling by train north into France from San Sebastian and have 3 days to explore Southwestern France, you may want to stay in or around Bordeaux. Toulouse is a lovely city but be advised that it is 150 miles southeast of Bordeaux. You mention that you are traveling by train so although it is possible to go from San Sebastian-Bordeaux-Toulouse, it is a lot of train travel for 3 days.

I would suggest a day and night in Bordeaux. Bordeaux, although once a bit seedy down near the docks along the Garonne River, is still a lovely city to stroll around. Visit the Maison du Vin and learn about the wines from the region.

After a day and night in Bordeaux, you could head to either La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast or Angers in the Western Loire valley. Both cities have enough things to do to occupy your time for another day and a half, i.e the Tour de la Chaine/Tour St. Nicholas in La Rochelle along with the Aquarium. You can also stroll around La Rochelle's harbor and admire the ocean view, sip some local white Charentaise wine and eat oysters (one of my favorite activities at Bar Andre). Angers is home to the Chateau d'Angers which houses the Apocalypse Tapestries, along with some pedestrian only streets to stroll about.

Drop me a line if you need some more advice.

Allis

Hi everyone

Thanks so much for all your advice. I have left my planning for France very late, having concentrated on Spain, however now with all this good advice I can concentrate my research on these places.

We are going to be leaving San Sebastian on the 18th January so does this affect your advice on going to La Rochelle? I haven't been to Europe in Winter before but I love coastlines in all weather, well in Australia anyway.

Thanks again, Allison

StCirq

La Rochelle will be lovely in winter. Be sure to go out to the Ile de Re.

Also agree that Bordeaux is a lovely city; you might want to go out to Arcachon and the Dune de Pylat also, though that time of year they won't be at their best.

A stop in Angers would also be good.

Toulouse, if you look at a map, isn't the best choice geographically.

Allis

La Rochelle sounds great, fortunately we have some flexibility in our days so might make some changes now. Thanks again, Allison

Michael

Bordeaux should be the fourth album in this listing:

http://www.photoworks.com/members/mksfca