kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 3, 2011 11:39:25 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
I havent been on the forum for awhile, but now that our 3mth European holiday is getting closer, it was time to revisit and get advice from all the wonderful people in this forum. You prob dont remember me, but the last time I was on the forum we were about to have a baby and make a move to Miami (from Sydney) for 2 years...well, time flies! I have been haunting the trip reports once in a while, but working & having a toddler has limited my internet time! Our 3mth holiday was meant to be 6mths living in Paris - but my DH decided not to pursue the unpaid job in Paris - so I miss out being a local with a chance of becoming better with my French, but this is still good...
Heres the deal - I will be travelling with my husband and my son will be about 2 1/2. We are planning to spend 2 weeks in Paris (will trawl through your apartments forum to find one) - then 4 weeks around France. We plan to do the lease/buy peugeot program that I heard of, but still need to research that. Having a toddler means that we wont be moving around too quickly and spend a minimum of 3 days at any one place. We are pretty open to any suggestions as aside from seeing the Loire valley, I havent really seen any part of France (except for 3 trips to Paris). We will be travelling in Europe between July and October - no fixed time on when to do Paris/France - so any recommendations on the best time will be good too. The rest of the time we were thinking maybe a month in Italy and whatever is left will prob be the UK. But we are open to anything..
Looking forward to hearing your top destinations in France....
cheers
Kirstin
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Post by holger on Jan 3, 2011 14:30:57 GMT -5
Welcome back! I adore the Dordogne. Also Dijon and Lyon and the areas around them are well worth time. You have ruled out the Loire so won't mention Amboise. Would suggest that with a toddler you look for areas where you can have a home base and do some touring but that also have apartments or rentals available so that you can have space for the child to play and rest.
We traveled with our two at 4 and 3 many years ago and found that that was important for all of us as was the ability to cook meals.
Another possibility given the great trains from Paris is to take an apartment for a month and do day trips to most places Since the monthly rate is often much less than the weekly, you could even stay overnight for some places. Or you could rent for two weeks in different parts of France and only have three moves in the 6 weeks you seem to be scheduling for that portion of the trip.
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Post by mez on Jan 3, 2011 16:28:49 GMT -5
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kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 3, 2011 17:14:05 GMT -5
holger - thanks for the welcome back! I completely agree with you re:digs with child. In our travels this year, we have exclusively stayed in apartments for the reasons you mentioned. That is the plan for France. Your idea of having 3 bases, thus limiting to 3 moves is a great idea. I will really need to do some strategising to work out where those 2 other places will be though as we would only want to drive an hour or 2 max. I havent ruled out the Loire at all - i only spent a day there (I just meant its one of the other places i visited in france aside from paris). I have dreamt of going to MSM since I was in high school and i hope to make it this trip! I will def root around the forum for more ideas - thank you for the suggestions of dordogne, dijon & lyon - i will read more....
Mez - OMG - its virtually the same title! thanks for leading me there - I'll be sure to look for you trip report for that holiday!
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Post by holger on Jan 3, 2011 17:42:51 GMT -5
Kurgy,
As we had to defer this past fall's trip to Brittany and Normandy to next Fall, I haven't been to Mt. St Michel as yet. We planned to stay in a Chateau hotel for ten days near the Mont which also has cottages. It is Chateau de Bouceel and well located for both Normandy and Brittany.
They also have a pool which could be great for children. If you do go back to the Loire, Amboise is wonderful. We stayed at a B & B but I can pull up my materials for house or apartment listings. If you start in the UK and pick up the car there you could take the ferry across to Brittany and then start there, with Paris in the middle depending on your other locations in France.
Such fun to plan, isn't it?
In Paris we use the apartments at perfectlyparis.com and love the 9th. Belle Epoque which we stayed at and will go back to is near a small park, great for children. Gail is wonderful and very helpful as to type of accommodations.
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Post by mez on Jan 3, 2011 17:43:58 GMT -5
Mez - OMG - its virtually the same title! thanks for leading me there - I'll be sure to look for you trip report for that holiday! Haha - don't get too excited. The trip never happened. In the end, life had other plans for me and the 'France' part of my next trip (May 11) is less than a week: 1 night in Bayeaux, 1 night on MSM and several nights in the Loire.  |
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ardea
New Member
Posts: 9
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Post by ardea on Jan 3, 2011 18:37:56 GMT -5
Kurgy,
2 years ago I spent two weeks in the Alsace & Lorraine Regions before travelling to Besancon, Dijon (huge favorite) & then into Paris. It was my first time in that area & I absolutely loved it--particularly Strasbourg, Nancy, & Trier in Germany (just over the border & very easy to reach by train.) It's so different from Paris/Nice/Bordeaux in almost every way, but unless you cross over into Germany or Switzerland, it is still France. I was there in late September & the weather was beautiful.
There was plenty to keep me busy with museums, gorgeous scenery, historic sites, great wine & food, and pleasant locals. The region isn't as heavily packed with people as the Southern areas & it made for a wonderful trip.
Another thought is to spend some time in Antwerp, Bruges, & Gent in Belgium. They are easily accessible from each other via short train rides & also from Paris. Bruges & Gent have spectacularly beautiful town centers & are easily walkable. All have some lovely parks where your son could run about. The people in all three cities were among the friendliest I've encountered travelling. I would go back in a heartbeat. And the artisan chocolates in Bruges are out of this world.
You will have a wonderful time whichever cities you choose. Enjoy your trip.
Ardea
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Post by Anne on Jan 4, 2011 7:52:51 GMT -5
Kurgy, if you decide to stay in very touristic areas, I mean areas where French people spend their summer vacations like all seaside areas plus also Provence and Périgord (although less than seaside), I suggest that you don't go there until, say, end of August. Crowds drop dramatically by then and so do the rentals prices, yet September and some of October still have very nice weather.
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kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 5, 2011 23:57:45 GMT -5
Anne - thanks for telling me the timing - that really helps a lot. I was thinking of going to Paris last week of September as the rentals seem to drop there at the beginning of October, which will then leave from the beginning of September (3 weeks) to explore France - what do u think? This will leave July/August to do Italy and wherever else we decide to go (again open to suggestions outside of France), unless we just decide to spend 8 weeks in France?? Ardea - thanks also for your suggestions and reminding me of Belgium, such a quick trip from paris - will def go there. I will also look at the other regions u suggested. Mez - its great u r still going to France, even if it has been cut short...will await ur report in may Holger - am i just being cheap, but the charges some of the agencies add really inflates the prices...Is it safe to rent with vrbo? the last time we were in Paris in 2007 we used Lodgis & stayed in the Marais on rue du turenne, 5min from Metro St Paul, i chose them i think because they had the cheapest extra charges - our budget is pretty low, hoping not to spend more than 700Euros a week. what do u think of this one? www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p652208a - maybe i should put this on the rental boards... |
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Post by holger on Jan 6, 2011 8:15:42 GMT -5
This apartment looks OK but not my favorite location as it can be super busy. Perfectly Paris gives real value for money, deposits are really low and quickly repaid, service at start and during stay is excellent and free phone calls, internet, etc, presence of high end equipment and washing machine also means savings. While VRBO apartments may work, I like the security of having someone on call should something not be working correctly or there be some other problem.
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Post by Anne on Jan 6, 2011 10:24:31 GMT -5
Oh yes, september will be fine. Actually, back-to-school day this year will be Monday, Sept 5th, which means that most families will have gone back home by Saturday, Aug 27th (virtually all rentals are from Saturday to Saturday in high season - don't know about September). After that, you'll be left with mostly retired persons and also some families with very young children. We always rent our vacation rentals from Gîtes de France, a totally reliable semi-public organism, and very good value too. www.gites-de-france.com/gites/uk/rural_gitesThe self-catered accomodations are called "rural gîtes", there is a research box where you can specify your criteria in terms of location, size, ears of wheat (similar to the stars in hotels), swimming pool, etc ... Be aware that some gîtes offer (or allow you to opt for) bed linen and towels, final cleaning, etc .... but some don't. You may also want to check whether there is a washing machine, but I think that all gîtes from 3 ears of wheat onwards must have one. |
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Post by Jody on Jan 6, 2011 10:36:43 GMT -5
Tat's why I like VIP..no service charges, no security eposit, there is a key deposit since they mail you the keys before you leave home and refund it quickly when you retrun them. And they have agents in Paris if something goes wrong
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Post by Jody on Jan 6, 2011 10:40:33 GMT -5
"If you start in the UK and pick up the car there you could take the ferry across to Brittany and then start there, with Paris in the middle depending on your other locations in France."
BUt the steering wheel will be on the wrong side! I do think there are places you can rent in the UK, dop off before boearding the ferry and then pick up another car in France
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kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 6, 2011 14:53:48 GMT -5
I read in one of the threads someone mentioned Anthony Bourdain's provence episode - so I was inspired and watched it last night on Netflix - WOW! Getting pretty excited! Also, I found this little 7 day suggestion for Provence - can't afford their accommodation, but the food tips are good. www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/502676?pageNumber=2&all=yesAnne - thanks for the suggestion about Gites, will look at it. Jody - VIP - vacation in paris? will also look at it. We are going to do France last, so not sure how we will get to mainland Europe from the UK yet. I saw there was a boat from england to Holland which seemed interesting. then wander down from holland to italy..maybe. |
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Post by Jody on Jan 6, 2011 14:55:56 GMT -5
Sorry , yes Vacation in Paris
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Post by sunshine817 on Jan 7, 2011 1:48:37 GMT -5
and I don't think there's anybody who will let you take a rental car from the continent to England or vice versa. (the dropoff fees, even if you could find one, would be mindblowing)
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Post by mossie on Jan 7, 2011 5:54:32 GMT -5
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kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 7, 2011 7:56:40 GMT -5
thanks mossie - thats the ferry i had read about AND we werent planning on bringing a car over. Were looking at the peugoet lease/buy program, still researching that though.
I've come up with a route - seeking opinions
UK - 1 week
Denmark - a few days
Netherlands - a few days
cut through Suisse - a few days
Italy - 1 mth
France 6 weeks
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Post by holger on Jan 7, 2011 17:09:18 GMT -5
How are you getting from UK to Denmark? My husband is Danish so we go frequently from States. When you say a few days what are you planning to see and do?
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kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 8, 2011 14:44:11 GMT -5
Annette - thanks for the tip - that is very very useful info! i hope we find one that does do that...
holger - to tell u the truth - we had no real plans - we just had a look at the map of europe and saw what was across England! Do u like it? Would u recommend the trip? I just initially thought a few days in Copenhagen, still researching the vicinity as to where else to go at which point we'd skip the Netherlands.
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Let the riot begin! LOL - 
hahahha