granbury

After our visit to Paris, my daughter, 2 grandchildren, and I want to explore some areas south of Paris, after which we will drive to Belgium. We will have 5 days (Nov,this year) and a car. Our interest is in seeing small towns and villages, markets, acquiring some pottery, and just getting a feel for France. I know some of my questions sound pretty basic but this is our first trip to France. I have researched this sight and numerous other sites and have determined that the area south of Paris would be best for us. I would like some advice in several areas:

1. We would like to just take things as they come and not make lodging reservations. Will it be a problem to find places to stay?

2. Considering driving time, is St. Remy and surrounding area too far to this 5 day trip? Or would we be better off staying in the area closer to Paris? Any suggestions are appreciated.

3. Will it be difficult making our way around if we don't speak French (beyond the basic hello, please, thank you)? I have traveled by car in other countries in Europe, but I could speak a little of the language.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

RonZ

We get by very well with our fractured french, and accomodations would not seem to be a problem that time of year.

I would work out driving routes on www.mappy.com, which is very useful for France, realizing that time estimates are just that.

If you are heading toward Belgium, I would suggest perhaps going south into Burgundy [maybe as far as Auxerre, depending on driving times], and then north through the Champagne area.

Powell

Granbury,

St. Remy takes 8 hours or so of driving and is in the opposite direction from Belgium.

You could take the TGV to Avignon (2 1/2 hour train trip from Paris)and rent a car there. You could return by TGV to northern France somewhere near Belgium.

Or, you could save St. Remy for a future trip and travel to the nearer the Loire Valley to visit Chateaux.

Or you could drive to Normandy and enjoy its markets, food, history (three hour drive). It is not south but nearer to Belgium than St. Remy.

France is a big country. The age and interests of your daughter and grandchildren, of course, are another significant element.

Good luck.

Anthony

Underhill

If you're heading toward Belgium, the region of the Ile de France and north, possibly east to Normandy, would be your best bet--Provence is definitely too far given your time constraints. There are any number of interesting villages and markets in Normandy, along with excellent pottery.

travelbunny

..your trip is short! agree with Normandy. That or just do Paris with a day trip to the Loire.

granbury

Thanks for all the great replys. I felt that Provence was too far. I had looked at the viamichelin site and drive time appeared to be about 7 hours. I thought about breaking it up halfway, but was afraid that this would not give us enough time to do much once we got there.

RonZ - I like your suggestion. The route you suggested to Auxerre and then through Champagne was actually what I had in mind as a back up plan. My daughter thinks that we should go to Provence and I am trying to convince her that we don't have time. You said that we should not have a problem finding lodging, but I guess my question should have been, will we have trouble finding reasonably priced lodging just driving into a town and looking?

When I was in Scotland I had a book with a listing of all the B&Bs and hotels in all the small towns and villages. Is there anything like that for France?

Powell and Underhill - taking a train and then renting a car is not an option. We will be in my daughter's personal vehicle. My grandkids are 8 & 10 and pretty easy to please. They actually like to shop and sightsee. I have to admit that I haven't really looked at the Normandy area. I will research it. It sounds as if it might be what we are looking for. Just what you said....interesting villages, markets, and pottery.

travelbunny - I agree that Provence is too far away. We will have already spent a week in Paris doing things with the kids. The drive through interesting villages looking for pottery is for my daughter and me.

Thanks for your responses. This forum helped me so much last year when I went to Italy. I don't have much time to plan this trip but you have really helped me focus.

kwren

granbury - my husband and I have rented a car in France and driven where our mood has taken us several times. We never had a problem arriving unannounced in small hotels in the charming little towns of France. I suppose using a guide book would even up the odds of finding a good hotel, but we didn't use one and were usually very happy with our selection and had fun experiencing the 'real' France. It was great to see a hotel which looked great from the outside and decide to give it a try. The only time I would not recommend doing this with kids would be in Paris because if you hit the wrong times, many hotels can be sold out. (I speak from experience here!)

Underhill

granbury,

Explain to your daughter that the drive from Paris to Provence can take a good 8 hours EACH WAY on the autoroute--no stopping to look at interesting villages. So all you'd have for looking around would be 2 days before heading back up for a long, long drive to Belgium.

But if you go to Normandy, in 4 days you can do quite a lot of sightseeing without heavy-duty driving. We spent 5 days there last September and were able to see just about everything we wanted to without hurrying.

What time of the year will you be traveling? That makes a huge difference in terms of not reserving lodgings.

I'm not aware of a book that lists small-town hotels and B&Bs, but you might get one for Logis de France. That lists small hotels throughout the country.

granbury

After reading the posts here my daughter has decided that she would still like to go to Avignon. We have decided to take the train and then rent a car. I am headed to the bookstore for a guide book on Provence to see where it would be best to base ourselves and what we would like to see. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks again.