Violet_Badali

My husband and I are planning to visit France in August 2010 for the first tim for 7days all together. We are in our late 50s love nice hotels, good food and real French places. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated. Thanks

StCirq

That is FAR too general a question for us to be of much help at all to you. Have you done any research at all to narrow down your preferences?

If you've never been to France, consider that 7 days in Paris alone will fly right by.

traveller1959

>>>and real French places<<<

Then avoid Eze, St. Paul, Grasse, Sarlat, Mont St. Michel, Honfleur and the D-Day beaches. The remaining 99% of France will be beautiful.

(A few more details on your preferences will be helpful.)

Violet_Badali

Is August a good time for visitni Paris? Any special area and hotel suggestions?

Michel_Paris

With that amount of time, Paris will meet your needs. Paris, but not Paris Disneyland

Next trip you can try more of the countryside, car rental, etc...

Christina

It depends what you are looking for by a visit. August is a popular French vacation time, so a lot of smaller shops and businesses or some restaurants may close during the month of August in Paris. It's not a big worry, you certainly will have places to eat, but it's a different atmosphere, of course. On the other hand, because there is little business that month, hotels have lower rates, so you can get a nicer one. It's kind of a lazy, summer feeling, of course, as I said, it depends what you want. You can certainly see all the main sites that way with no problem (except other tourists, but Paris is pretty busy now most of the year), and get a nice hotel, and not have to worry about cold weather. It stays light very late in summer, also. It'd rather go there than southern Europe in August, that's for sure.

Nikki

I suggest you start by deciding whether or not you want to go to Paris. You could spend a whole week in Paris or you could split the time between Paris and another location elsewhere in France. Or you could avoid Paris and go to one or two locations.

There are lots of appealing regions of France to visit, and I would start by reading up on some of them to see what appeals the most. The South of France has Provence, the Cote d'Azur, the Languedoc, the Pyrenees, the Dordogne, and more. In the East there are the Alps, Alsace, Burgundy, Champagne. In the West, there are Normandy and Brittany. There is the Loire valley with its chateaux.

All those places have good food and great destinations.

One really good source is the trip reports right here on Fodors. You could do a search and read about the trips that people have taken and see whether anything sparks your imagination.

Once you narrow it down to the region or regions you want to visit, people here can suggest specific hotels and itineraries.

nukesafe

August is by far the WORST of all possible times to visit Paris, IMO. It is filled with sweating tourists, many French folk are away on their own vacations, and a number of restaurants and shops are closed.

You will enjoy the city at any time of year, but late May/early June or late September/early October are my favorite times.

suze

I have only been to Paris once, it happened to be in August, we had a great time.

I would pick a hotel somewhere central (5th or 6th arrondisement) and stay the entire 7 days/nights there. Granted that's really not a "trip to France" rather a "trip to Paris" but that's what I'd recommend for a first time. It's easier to plan than moving around a lot, plus you can add a day trip or two if you really want.

adrienne

Decide if you are interested in cities or countryside and what types of things interest you.

There's a poster on this forum who takes walks and one of the walks she took was through the French countryside from Fontainebleau to Dijon. Here's a link to her trip report. Perhaps something like this will interest you. You would see small town rural France.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-dijon.cfm?114

A trip I would love to take is to see all the major churches in France.

I recently read a book, recommended here, about a restaurant in a village in southern France. Read the book, visit the village, and eat at the restaurant. The book is "From Here You Can't See Paris" by Michael Sanders. An excellent read.

Check out Michelin starred restaurants (or other quality restaurants) in France and then go and try the restaurants.

So you see there are many ways to see the "real France" and to vacation in France.

Michel_Paris

If Paris as a big city does not interest you, Lyons is another choice for a smaller city with good food (Gastronomy Capital according to some), art galleries, Roman ruins, Unesco-listed Old City, mountains nearby. And you would just land at CDG and take the TGV from there, about 3 hrs.

One of my fav "countryside" trips was renting a car and driving the Loire Valley. Small towns, casttes gallore, markets, fairs, good food, cheap accomodations, and not too far from Paris.

iris1745

Hi; If you considered staying in Paris for a week, then look at apartments. A good choice would be as Suze suggests, the 4th, 5th or 6th arrondisement. See www.vrbo.com for one of many reliable options. Dick

nytraveler

Paris in August is OKK as long as you make sure your hotel has good (as in American) AC - since it can easily be in the 90s. (Many modest hotels don;t have AC at all - as well as modest shops and restaurants - so you can easily be exhausted by the heat.

If it were me I wold do May/June. But if you do August do a lot of research on the AC.

If I had never been to France before I would stay in Paris and do a day trip to Versailles. If you prefer you could do 4 days in Paris and few somewhere very different - perhaps Strasbourg.

spaarne

May is the best month for Paris, and 7 days is hardly enough.

ParisAmsterdam

There's not a thing wrong with Paris in August!

On visits in August 2007 and 2008 it was coolish with no A/C required. In late June this year temperatures were as high as 34C! So you can't say June is cooler than August... it might be but then again it might not!

So go when you can and pay no attention to people who claim to know which month's weather will be best... go when your schedule allows and you will have a wonderful time!

Rob

Michel_Paris

For when to visit, summertime is fine. If you were looking to go to specific restaurants or shops, then August would require a bit more research.


Everything you will want to do will be there waiting for you.