dianebarnes23

My husband and I are going to trvel in late March with our son and his wife. We want to see castles and they want to see WW2 historical sites. Fly into Paris or Franfurt, rent a car.... they want to try to see Venice too... in 10 days.. any suggestions?

smueller

For a driving tour of castles, Frankfurt is a better arrival option than Paris. The Middle Rhine, which is Disneyland for castle enthusiasts, is a 45 min drive (probably less from the airport). France has some great castles, but they are more scattered. The Loire Valley has a high concentration of beautiful chateau but most don't regard these as palaces rather than castles.

With a ten day limit, I would be tempted to leave Venice out of the schedule. Too many countries, especially if you are going to do both France and Germany. If you must go, I wouldn't drive. Turn the car in and go by train, and definitely consider an open-jaws flight so you don't have backtrack halfway across the European continent.

smueller

I'm sorry.

My last post was supposed to say that the Loire Valley chateau are regarded as palaces rather than castles.

rex

That sounds like a lot to bite off in ten days, but your objectives are only partially elucidated by your brief sketch of a plan. Have you been to Paris before? It could be a hub for traveling to (some of) the WW2 sites in Normandy... and <i>some</i> castles in France - - but withOUT allocating anytime to Paris itself - - and then travel (fly) to Venice for the final 2 or 3 days.

I'm not clear why you even mention Frankfurt. Perhaps connected to wanting to visit castles in Germany? There are so many different kinds of castles all over Europe, it depends on what kind of itch you're trying to scratch there. There are medieval castles (and ruins) throughout both France and Germany (and virtually every other country in Europe also), there are palatial royal residences and princely jewelbox chateaux. And almost in a category all their own are the fantastic (architecturally) &quot;wanna-be&quot; castles created (ore re-created) as someone's image of what an era would have could have looked like (Neuschwanstein and Haur Koeningsbourg fall in this category).

Of courses, Venice (and especialy the Veneto) has its own &quot;palaces&quot;, in their own way, as well.

It would take another hundred words to outline just some of the &quot;great&quot; WW2 &quot;sites&quot; - - from Churchill's Underground London to countless locations of invasion and battle... to the &quot;Hll of Shame&quot; sites (Dachau, Auschwit, Anne Frank's House).

Right now, you need books. Lots and lots of books, and some decisions to get you focused and pared down. You have many, may possibilities that you could not visit in their entirety in ten <i>weeks</i>, let alone days.

But the agony and the fun both... are in the picking.

Best wishes,

Rex

ira

ttt

Amart

I would opt for Paris, then taking a car from the airport to Normandy/Loire for 5-6 days, drop off car (most are free within country, take a train to Venice, spend about 2 long days then fly out of Italy (probably Rome). It was cheaper for us to fly in/out Rome/Paris than Rome/Rome, so check the prices. I think the Loire Valley Chateaux are unique and beautiful. You can see about 2-3 per day. Check out the Rick Steves website for Normandy beaches. Another alternative is to hang in Paris and take a couple of day trips out to Loire/Normandy with a taxi company like http://www.accodispo-tours.com. By the way, we loved http://www.locandalevele.com/ in Venice with a room behind the desk with a tiny bath, tiny balcony on a canal, huge windows and enough room for 4.