RajatMakar

We have 15 days to explore some parts of France in end of April 2016. We are a family of 3 members, kid is 8 years old. We like to travel by road, explore the country side & stop at places we like.

I had done a shorter road trip in France in 2000. We rented a car and started from Paris and visited Caen, Normandy, Mont St Michel, few wineries & chateaus. That time, we didn't book any hotels and had complete flexibility. We stayed wherever we reached in the evening.

This time we want to cover the French Riviera (Nice, Cannes, Monaco & surroundings), the French Alps (Chamonix, Annecy) and if possible proceed towards Geneva, Interlaken. Finally the last 3-4 days will be at Paris before we fly back.

The planning is in early stages. Few questions :-

a) Need inputs on the places we have planned to visit, possible halt locations etc. I plan to prepare the draft itinerary in a short while.

b) Car Rental - Based on my research in the forum, I plan to take TGV from CDG to Avignon, explore the riviera for 2 days using public transport and then rent a car to explore surroundings and proceed to Chamonix. Return the car once I am back at Paris. Is this good enough?

c) I want to keep the trip schedule flexible. Will hotel booking on the go work out or will be much expensive?

Thanks,
Rajat

Jeff801

You will be far short of the Riviera if your first stop is Avignon, and public transportation is limited from there. Stay on the TGV at least as far as Marseille. Personally, I think you would be better advised to go as far as Nice, because it is a good transport hub and you have a variety of hotels available. It is also easy to get out of town when once you are in your car.

But, unless you are wedded to the idea of the train, you might want to consider a connection by plane to Nice. Advance purchase will not be that much more costly than the TGV, and you will save much travel time on the way to Nice.
(If you choose to pick up the car at the airport, you are likely to lose all the time you would save.)

For touring around the PACA, search Stu Dudley on this forum. His advice and itineraries are superb.

So long as you travel after the first weekend in April, the end of the Easter travel week, I think you should have little trouble with hotel bookings. If you are looking for a 2-3 night stay in any town, thus avoiding spending most of your holiday traveling, the local tourist office should always be your first stop to find a booking.

neckervd

If you go to Chamonix (and may be nearby Courmayeur) you are in the real heart of the high alps. I cannot imagine that Interlaken could bring you anything more.
May be you fly into Nice and out of Geneva.

Nice - Chamonix by car:
You may chck the scenic itinerary via Limone Piemonte - Turin - Aosta.

StuDudley

Rajat

I just sent you an Alps, Annecy, & Burgundy itinerary I wrote for a friend.

You already have my Provence/Cote d'Azur itinerary.

Provence, Cote d'Azur, Route des Grandes Alpes, Annecy/Mt Blanc, then train from Annecy to Paris to fly home (our out of Geneva) would be a good very-fast-paced plan. Interlaken in the mix would be very difficult to accomplish - especially if you get poor weather in the Alps.

Stu Dudley

roseclare

Stu,

Can you send me this itinerary as well? I also previously received your Provence, Cote d"Azur itinerary.

Thanks.

StuDudley

E-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach it to the reply e-mail. Specify which itinerary you would like.

Stu Dudley

bilboburgler

Avignon is a great place to start, lots of interesting cities nearby,

Not sure I'd bother to go to Monaco, April the beautiful people will not have flown in yet and while the Yachts may have turned up from the West coast and Islands the owners will have not.

Yes you should be able to book hotels on the go well into May or June. You may not get the hotel you want but if you use a phone and booking.com (and using the map tool) you can book that afternoon for the evening. What I have noticed now is that many French Tourist Information offices have free wifi in the environs of their office which allow you to save on roaming charges.

RajatMakar

Thanks all for the fantastic responses.

@Stu Dudley - Got both the itineraries and I am studying them carefully. Will drop Interlaken.

I will have to fly in and out of Paris mostly. If I fly directly to Nice and leave from Paris, the fare difference is ~ 50%. Similar for Paris/Geneva combination. Air France flight reaches CDG at 0820 hours.

I intend to take the TGV to Nice as I see that although EasyJet fares are cheap, the checkin baggage will inflate the overall cost.

High level draft is as follows :-
Day-1 : Arrive CDG at 0820, stay at Paris
Day-2 : Explore Paris, Stay at Paris
Day-3 : Take overnight train to Nice
Day-4-5 : Explore Nice & surroundings by Public Transport
Day-6-12 : Rent a car & explore Provence, Cote d'Azur, Route des Grandes Alpes, Annecy/Mt Blanc
Day-13-16 : Explore Paris & fly back

Booking hotels on the go might no be feasible as I just noticed that I need to submit confirmed hotel booking & itinerary during visa application

Do let me know your ideas on the high level draft. For Day-6-12 detail itinerary, I will need to work on it.

Rajat

RajatMakar

I started some study regarding car rental.

We will be 2 adults and 1 kid. Luggage will include 1 or 2 big suitcase and 2 soft baggage.

Car rental will be for ~ 8-9 days.

I checked auto Europe and have the following queries.

a) The website doesn't give any option to choose a diesel vehicle. How to ensure it?

b) I am thinking of renting a mid size car. Or is compact enough?

b) My credit card doesn't cover CDW etc. So, is it recommended that I take the all inclusive rate (Liability Insurance, Fire Insurance, Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) - with deductible, Theft Protection (TP) - with deductible)?

All inclusive is ~ 450 USD and basic is 312 USD for a compact.

Regards,
Rajat

StCirq

AutoEurope gives the dimensions of the trunk space for every vehicle it rents. Only you can decide if your luggage will fit in it.

Just about every car in Europe, other than the really tiny ones, is a diesel. But it's true, you don't get to choose. What difference does it make? You'll almost certainly get a diesel, though.

Get all the insurance you can. If you have an Amex card, they have a plan for about $25 for a one-time rental that covers everything.

As for your itinerary, why aren't you doing an open-jaw flight? I don't see any point in backtracking to Paris. I also wouldn't take an overnight train to Nice. Sounds romantic - in reality, it's just a bad night's sleep.

Whathello

Hi Rajat

You said costs increase by 50% with an open jaw - don't know why - did you check 'multiple cities' on the site or did you take 2 one ways ? (big difference).

Don't bother about diesel or gas - not much difference in the end, do pay attention for automatic or manual driving if you're not used to manual.

I'm not sure my advice is valid, but villa applications can work with only first hotel. Perso, when going to China, I don't know where I'll sleep and I give erroneous hotels - never had a problem, but don't take my advice on it, it is your trip.

Another way would be to book refundable hotels and cancel them once you have landed, giving you back your freedom.

End of April is oustide major holidays (Belgians have Easter holidays ending on April 8th). France is more complicated
North and PACA (Nice etc) : done by 18th april
Paris and soutwest : starting 16 ending 2 of may
Rest : 9 april to 25 april

Enjoy your vacation.

If you come from afar don't drive upon arrival.

Should I say Namaste ?

kerouac

Don't forget that most mountain passes are closed until the end of June.

StuDudley

>>Don't bother about diesel or gas - not much difference in the end<<

Unless you are concerned with costs. Diesel is less expensive (.20E/liter?) and you get better mileage with diesel. I always ask AutoEurope/Kemwel to specify "diesel please" in the "notes" section of their voucher. I've always ended up with diesels the last few years (at least 2-3 rental cars/year).

Stu Dudley

hetismij2

The price difference between diesel and petrol is less than it was in France as they have increased taxes on diesel.
Modern petrol engines are extremely efficient so the cost difference won't be that much.
Do make sure you know whether it is a diesel or petrol car before you set off.

Whathello

'Do make sure you know whether it is a diesel or petrol car before you set off.'

I once put diesel into gas tank - the car didn't work very well after that. ;-)

I rent a car every other week, always got diesel except, as said, for small cars, mostly gas. I got a hybrid once or twice. Fun. Good for cities.

Christina

That 50% increase for open jaw cannot be correct. In fact, sometimes it is actually cheaper on Air France to fly to Nice or Marseille and return from Paris than RT Paris. I've had that happen to me a couple times, it's weird but true, although not a lot cheaper. And the OP is flying Air France, so there must be something wrong with those estimates.

And to get to Nice, you will have to fly into CDG anyway, on Air France, as that is their hub, so then you transfer to another short flight. At least there aren't very many cities where you can fly nonstop to Nice than I know of (I think they do from JFK). For example, checking April from JFK, RT Paris is $1132 and flying into Nice and back from Paris is $1168. If you fly into CDG and return from NCE, that fare is $1147.

That's the kind of differences you should be seeing, within $50. From another country like India, the difference is about $934 RT Paris from DEL vs. $1011 to fly into Paris and back from NCE in April. I just noticed they have a flight from DEL that lands at 8:20 am so thought maybe that was the source.

You do have to pick the Multi Destinations tab on the Air France website.

RajatMakar

@whathello & Christina

We will travel from Bangalore (India). The prices I see for April are as follows :-
BLR - CDG - BLR = USD 550 (Air India), Air France is USD 754
BLR - NCE, CDG -BLR = USD 860 (Air France)

However, if the multi-city destinations are major stops like Paris, Rome, Munich etc then the cost is almost similar and sometimes less as you correctly pointed out.

We also do not want to backtrack to the port of arrival. So, I am now exploring an itinerary where we can leave from another major city.

Many thanks for explaining.

RajatMakar

Update :-

Finally flight tickets are booked and the trip plan has changed course From driving holiday around France to using trains and touching few key destinations.

The flight route is Bangalore -> Paris & Rome -> Bangalore. We have 16 nights in between. We got a great deal at 470 euros.

Our plan is now like Paris (6N), Interlaken (3N), Venice (3N) & Rome (4N). Travel between cities will be by train.

Next phase is to book the accommodations. Currently looking at "Entire Home" category through Airbnb. We are budgeting 100 euros per day.

In Paris, we want to stay in a central location and walk around to the major sites.
In Interlaken, saw some options in the town.
In Venice, everything is so costly. Probably will get something decent at 120-150 euro range
In Rome, we wish to stay in Trastevere.

Looking for inputs on the accommodation. It will be very useful.

Regards,
Rajat

bilboburgler

Trastevere is normally the cheapest in the centre, a bit noisier, and tattier than other places.

Not used to Airbnb but E100 sounds pretty low.

Paris centre is the way to do it but do use public transport to get around.. We stay in arond 5,6 or 7 and that works, a bit more student-like.

Venice, no way to avoid the price apart from look at rooms at top of buildings and back from the main canals, staying in Mestre is not staying in Venice and staying on the Lido is not either.

kalnalcl

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