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Post by traveler63 on Jul 21, 2009 1:13:56 GMT
We are starting to put our itinerary together for our trip to France in September. We will base out of Paris and we plan to take some day trips during the month. Here are the ones we have been talking about.
Reims
Bruge
Loire Valley
Versailles (yes, still haven't been there)
Burgundy - Beaune primarily
Would love to hear what you all think, comments, recommendations, etc. We are looking at doing this all by train. Good idea or not?
We are also looking at going Mont Saint Michel. Comments? We know that there are day trips for this but it seems too quick to really see and experience this place. We were thinking about staying overnight. What do you all think?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2009 4:51:02 GMT
Are you driving?
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Post by lagatta on Jul 21, 2009 11:44:00 GMT
I think traveller is trying to do too much in one trip, personally.
Versailles is a suburb of Paris, but some of the other places aren't exactly next door. Bruges isn't even in France (does one change trains in Brussels, or Lille?)
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 21, 2009 14:22:24 GMT
lagatta
We will be in Paris for 28 days. Most of the places I listed we will be only spending a day in and no we aren't driving, we intend to take the train. As for Bruge, everything we have looked at says train change in Brussels.
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Post by bazfaz on Jul 21, 2009 14:26:01 GMT
Why don't you stay over nighbt in Bruges (or Brugge as the locals have it)? That wy you won't be so rushed.
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Post by Jazz on Jul 21, 2009 14:33:07 GMT
Traveller63,
As I read your thoughts, with my sense of timing it looks like you would be spending about 12 of your 26 days out of Paris. (your other 2 days are jet lag and preparing to go home). I personally hate constantly rushing and this is my take:
Reims---1 day
Versailles---1 day
Bruges---2 days It is a very long 'day' trip' and I would overnight and come back to enjoy the next evening in Paris.
Mont Saint Michel---2 days The same reasoning as Bruges.
Personally, these two would drop to the bottom of my list, if at all.
Loire Valley
Burgandy---3 days each, perhaps more. Both areas will give you a wonderful feel for the French countryside if you need a break from Paris. I would definitely want to see the Loire Valley, but I might go to another area than Burgandy...perhaps Provence? The TGV (high speed train) is so fast that you can go to any area in France in about 2-3 hours. I can't imagine doing any of these as a day trip. There are day tours to the Loire chateaux, but I would want a bit more time.
Thus, your small trips add up to 12 days.
Train vs. car: I love train travel and it has several advantages. The both of you can relax. Cost is also a factor. If you drove from Paris to Provence, it would be an an 8 hour drive (2-3 by train) and the high cost of gas. If you plan ahead for your longer outings, you can get a very inexpensive 'prems' trainfare. Since you are going soon, you could get them now and print them off online. Car is wonderful in a different way and you can explore more uniquely. Or, do a combination.
Have you spent much time in Paris? I think this may guide some of the replies here. There is so much that I have yet to do and see in the city. What I do is have a list of possible day trips with me, at least 20 possibilites, and if I am in the mood, I go.
One that I loved was spending the morning at Auver-sur-Oise, the tiny village where Van Gogh spent the last three months of his life and painted 90 paintings. We then travelled through the countryside to Giverney and enjoyed the gardens, Monet's house and the American impressionist museum. Dinner, then back to Paris. Very sensual and doable within a day.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 21, 2009 15:43:08 GMT
Yes, those artists' homes in l'Oise are very close to Paris and well worth seeing.
Another easy daytrip is Chartres Cathedral.
Yes, Bruges takes quite a while - the Paris-Brussels leg is only an hour now, but the train to Bruges is much slower. Bruges is lovely.
I'd also prefer a longer break from Paris in Burgundy, Loire or Provence. There are also some beautiful places in the southwest.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2009 17:11:05 GMT
If you can make some loops, you can fit in more things. For example, you can do Paris-Brussels-Bruges-Lille-Paris and then take trains from Paris to the Loire Valley, continuing on to Mont Saint Michel (Pontorson is the station) and (I would suggest) Saint Malo before returning to Paris again, perhaps with a stop along the way somewhere.
Going to Burgundy (Dijon, Beaune) also gives you a chance to make a loop... perhaps on to Nancy or Strasbourg before going back to Paris.
Have you read about "Prem's" tickets sold on-line by the SNCF? If you can choose your trips 3 months ahead of time, you can often get even long distance tickets for only 22€.
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 21, 2009 19:23:55 GMT
Thanks everyone for your great suggestions. Yes, we are aware of Prems, also our total trip is 31 days so we have actually 28 days on the ground in Paris. Yes we have been to Paris before, twice for a total of 20 days altogether so we have done the requisite tourist thing. this trip is to spend more in depth time in Paris with some side trips. We have a very close friend in Bordeaux, who was in the wine business as the chief negoiant for one of the major exporters there. He has since started his own winery on his 100 acre Chateux right out of Bordeaux and he his very unhappy that we may spend time with him, so that is another option for us.
Any other suggestions would be really welcome.
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Post by lola on Jul 21, 2009 22:15:14 GMT
Sounds wonderful. I love France in harvest time.
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 23, 2009 22:02:29 GMT
Update !!!!! We have looked at our list and have determined that the only one trip that we will definitely plan is Loire Valley for some of the Chateaux. Thanks K2 for the Prems idea. We will actually use this for the Loire trip. Kirk had seen if a couple hours before I posted. So we jumped on the site and we will be trying to use Prems.
Jazz, I think we will take your advice and do an overnight for Bruge.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 24, 2009 0:25:22 GMT
I would. I was only in Bruges/Brugge for a short day visit with some Belgian friends, and would liked to have awakened there. It is an enchanting and memorable canal town. Like many exquisite towns (I'm thinking of Perugia where I studied) it owes its historic-architectural integrity to a heyday many centuries ago and a long period of decline, until a turnaround based on its historic value as well as other factors (its port onto the sea).
There are trains to Lille as well as to Brussels, so work out which is faster and cheaper for you.
Brugge is the Flemish (Dutch) name, and Brugge is in a Flemish-speaking region of Belgium. Bruges is the French-language name, usually used in English.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2009 18:14:45 GMT
Bruges is lovely, but it is considered by all visitors to be a deadly boring place in the evening, so perhaps one shouldn't spend a night there. Nearby Ghent is more lively, and Brussels is a joy (to me at least, even though most of it is ugly), besides being on extremely convenient rail lines and only 1h20 from Paris.
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Post by bjd on Jul 24, 2009 19:33:16 GMT
I must admit that I'm with Kerouac here. I spent a couple of hours in Bruges once, but wouldn't have stayed longer.
On the other hand, I'm taking my sister to Paris for a few days in August (not my choice of time) and I'm taking her to Brussels for a day trip.
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Post by bjd on Jul 24, 2009 19:34:15 GMT
Now that I think of it, she, being a North American, would probably prefer to see a place like Bruges, but I'll let her take photos of the Grande Place before visiting areas I like  |
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