Hi, I am leaving for my first trip to europe in a few months, i will be travelling with my b/f from Australia, im trying to work out our France itinerary and need some help/advice/suggestions, we arrive in paris by train from Bruge where we will spend 5 nights in total inc a day trip to Versailles. im thinking to stay in the marais area as i have heard it is very nice as well as walking distance to alot of sights but mainly due to the nightlife in the area, i know its known as the gay area of paris , i am not gay but from what i have been reading online anyone is welcome and the area caters to anyone . is this true? i want to be able to go out at night and be able to walk back to hotel,can anyone recommend what area? we are in our 20%26#39;s. from paris we then plan to take a train to Bayeux ,does anyone know how long this takes? also on the way to bayeux what would be a convienient town to stop in and look around, its fine if we get to bayeux late in the day as we are going there to catch a DDAY tour which begins early the next morning,after bayeux we then plan to visit mt st michel. i am so so confused here, should we rent a car and drive to mont st michel or go by train? also does anyone know how long the train actually takes?
should we get to mont st michel late and see it at night? from msm we plan to visit the loire valley, we will defintely be renting a car for this region , we plan to sleep in amboise, is renting a car from msm to amboise a good idea? we will then also have the car in the loire for 2-3 days to explore the region, i plan to sleep in a chateau in amboise ,le manoir les minimes, Does anyone know how long it takes to drive from msm to amboise and is this an easy drive ? im a bit worried as we are not used to driving on that side of the road, after the loire i cant work out what to do, we will prob have a few extra days (en route to spain) where i dont know where to spend?? we can have the car if necessary. i was thinking st emillion??? basically a nice place between amboise-loire and on our way to spain, note we will be re entering france after spain and going to Provence and riviera, sorry i know this is a long post and i have asked many questions, hopefully i can get some great suggestions, thanks all
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I%26#39;ve been following your posts around with interest - it sounds like you have everything planned down to the minute detail, but if you don%26#39;t mind me saying, this does have its deficiencies - you will find out that things don%26#39;t always go to plan and it is sometimes easier to just let things happen :) It is much better that way and you will sometimes see things that you didn%26#39;t plan on seeing and you will meet interesting people on your way.
Anyway, I can answer a couple of your questions here, and will add some more on your other posts elsewhere, where they are relevant.
Paris - Bayeux is certainly feasible by train. It takes about 2 hours 15 from Paris St. Lazare. There is an early morning train which arrives at 09:27 (change in Caen). To get to Mont St. Michel, you will probably have to go back to Caen and get a train from there check out the website www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/acces_gb.htm.
Your best train guide is the German Railways site www.db.de - there is an English button, and it will give you information about train times in pretty much any country in Europe.
In Paris the Marais is fine - as well as being the gay area, it is also the orthodox Jewish area, so the two together can look a bit odd! Just watch out for the tourist traps everywhere in Paris and don%26#39;t get conned into spending your money on silly things like having your caricature done or you will find that you might need to come home sooner than you had anticipated :)
I can%26#39;t really help you on the rest of the country - it%26#39;s been too long since I did all that.
As for driving on the other side of the road - there is no need to worry about this one, but don%26#39;t even think about it in Paris. The rules are completely different there, if there are any at all. Don%26#39;t forget - France is a big country and driving around can take a long time - also don%26#39;t forget that you have to pay motorway tolls.
The other thing you have to bear in mind is that not all trains are flashy inter-city trains and you will inevitably end up sitting in some indeterminably slow ones as well that stop in every village.
Whatever - you will have a great time and if it is your first time out of Oz it will certainly be an eye-opener.
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We like using Autoeurope for our car rentals. Check and see if you have access to a toll free number--the reps are very knowledgable.
As you probably know, when driving on the wrong side of the road you have to be really careful when making left turns!
Driving route planning:
viamichelin.com/viamichelin/…MaHomePage.htm
http://www.mappy.com/
Train schedules, route map and tickets:
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
…raileurope.com/map_of_europe/france.html
www.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/_SvHomePage…
You can purchase tickets on SNCF up to 90 days in advance. By indicating ticket pickup in France and declining any insurance, you can print your own ticket.
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also check ww.viamichelin.com for routes, driving times, distances etc very good site for planning. St Emilion is lovely small town. Are you driving to Spain or taking train if so where are you dropping car? very interesting towns in Aquitane area look at Nerac ( very small bastide town) or go further south to Toulouse.
Previous poster is right don%26#39;t schedule every minute....leave time for just sitting in a cafe or serindipitous discoveries along the way.
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thanks for the replies guys, i wont be booking/planning EVERYTHING but i have a good idea of where i want to go
i will defintelty look into all the recommendations provided,
thanks so so much.
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