Paris....?????...Venice

I am now...officially..%26quot;deer in the headlights%26quot; confused. My wife and I fly into Paris next year on

July 17. We stay in Paris for 2 weeks. We then have

18 days of uncommitted vacation. On August 26, we

begin the last week of our trip which will be spent

in Venice. Friends%26#39; suggestions have ranged from

Loire valley, Burgundy, Bordeaux, French Riviera,

Barcelona, Provence, Cinque Terre, Como, Maggiore,

Portofino (all places we have never been). We would

be fine renting a car for part of the 18 days, but

are not interested in changing hotels every 2-3

days....Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I know this is a little vague, but this

community is so helpful. Many thanks in advance. P.S.

I also know that we can%26#39;t do it all (0:

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I%26#39;m sure that there will be lots of suggestions to help confuse the issue even further, but if we all put in our two cents%26#39; worth, it might help dim those headlights a little!

If it were me, I would look at exploring the regions between Paris and Venice and save places like Barcelona, Bordeaux etc for another time. Perhaps pick three regions and divide your time amongst them - say five to six days each and base yourself in one place whilst you look around. For example, you could go to Burgundy, then down through Provence to the Riviera, then up to the Italian Lakes before finally heading to Venice. These are within fairly easy reach of each other, so within a comfortable day%26#39;s drive. There are also various options here to combine rail travel and car hire, to take the load off the driver. And they are glorious places to visit - you could easily spend a few days exploring a relatively small area!

You could also consider staying for a week each in an apartment or gite in two places, with four days spare for miscellaneous travelling. We%26#39;re staying for a week on Lake Como at about the same time that you%26#39;ll be there next year - we used www.homelidays.com to find a place to stay. In France, sites like www.gites-de-france.com are also excellent. There is a little more paperwork and hassle re deposits etc, but we really like the flexibility of an apartment when staying somewhere for more than a few days. It%26#39;s a popular time of year for these locations, though, so I%26#39;d be making my mind up sooner rather than later and booking something...

:)

So that%26#39;s my vote - Burgundy/Riviera/Lakes. Hope this helps!

halwimsey

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You might care to look at the trip we took recently and pick the eyes out of that. I would definitely choose Provence as one base, from which to branch out to other sites. North west France is also charming with medieval, half timbered houses. If you have not been to Europe before the old buildings, still in use for their original purpose, will blow you away, especially in Italy.

www.nickbooth.id.au/France08/index.html

We also did a France/Italy trip in 2004 with not much more time than you have.

www.nickbooth.id.au/NickWeb/Index.html

If you are choosing Provence then I don%26#39;t think I would also choose rural Tuscany as they are similar experiences in many ways, though I will forever love Siena.

The drive through the French Riveria was horrendous, all built up and many traffic jams, but inland through places like St Paul de Vence was charming (earlier trip)though we enjoyed our stay at Menton this time, when we finally got there.

There are fairly big extra costs for hiring a car in one country and returning it in another, so consider taking a train or plane out of France, maybe to Florence for the art and then take the train into Venice. You don%26#39;t want a car in Florence. Parking is impossible.

I would give Spain a miss this time and concentrate on Italy and France.

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Thank you Halwimsey and Lynn(Nick?) for such quick

and helpful responses. Already have placed Barcelona

on a %26quot;nother trip%26quot; list. Kind of like the thought

of southern France and up and into Italy and then

time on Como or Maggiore. Last year we spent 3 weeks

in Italy (first time ever) and enjoyed Milan, then

Venice, then Florence, then Rome and our last week

at an Agriturismo just outside of Montalcino..with

a car. Loved it all...but especially Rome and Venice

and days trips to Siena. Probably don%26#39;t need to

explore Tuscany again this trip. Like the idea of

an apartment for a few days on Como. Thanks for the

hyperlink. I%26#39;ll keep you all posted. Thanks for the

help and, in advance, for any additional advice.

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Hi Hal and Lynn/Nick,

Thanks again for your posts a while back. Have some new ideas and would love your feedback. Tell

me what you think of these ideas, please:

We leave Paris on August 1. Next spend 2-3 days

or so in the Loire valley visiting Chateaux and

wineries (?). Then down to Provence area. Could

stay in Avignon,Aix, or ???? Thinking of spending

a week there and renting a car. After that on to

Lake Como and finding an apartment in Varenna. Thinking of 3-5 days there and then on to Venice.

Our week in Venice begins on August 19. Again,

we have never been anywhere in France other than

Paris.

If you wouldn%26#39;t mind, I%26#39;d love to hear any comments you might have on whether this makes

sense...or am I leaving out places I ought to be

including ??

Thank you all for your help..........Gary

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Hi Gary,

Sounds like a good plan to me! A leisurely pace and varied attractions, ideal. And quite diverse regions in terms of architecture, cuisine etc.

A couple of suggestions from a purely personal perspective. Loads of chateaux to see in the Loire, but one of our favourites was Villandry with its stunning gardens and delicate interiors. Worth seeing!

I%26#39;d also recommend taking a route across the Alps to get to Lake Como - slightly slower than, say, going via the coast and Milano and only using the autoroute/autostrada, but magical. I have to admit to a penchant for mountains, so we always head into Italy from France that way, trying a different pass each time! The roads around Barcelonette are very scenic; you could also head up through Cuneo and Piemonte. If time is a problem, use part autoroute etc, part smaller roads - but if you can spare a night in the mountains on the way, you won%26#39;t be sorry! Glorious!

Hope this helps.

halwimsey

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It looks really lovely. A nice pace. I agree with the week in Provence, a place I would happily return to. We have stayed a week on two occasions, ones at Uzes on the western edge and once at L%26#39;Isle sur la Sorgue which was magical as we were right in the town in a house we would not normally have hired because we were expecting friends to join us. They couldn%26#39;t in the ned, but we had this glorious house with two double and a single bedroom, two bathrooms, a kitchen, lounge, dining and terrasse, parking outside the gate and a great host who couldn%26#39;t do enough for us. Wine, olives in the fridge, stores in the cupboard and a jazz band playing outside on market day. I could get very used to that very quickly.

This was the place we stayed

avignon-et-provence.com/provence-vacation-re…

but that agent seems to have lots of nice properties in the area

avignon-et-provence.com/provence_accommodati…

I agree taking an extra day and going via the alps would be good, as it will be a long drive however you go. We came over Col de la Bonnett which is the highest pass in Europe, very scenic and still some snow. Excellent roads, nothing to worry about.

We will stay at either Varenna or Bellagio this coming trip too. We have been to Bellagio and it is very lovely. We actually stayed at that tiem at a tiny town called Nesso, in the one and only hotel. Very good food and a lovely view of the lake but nothing mush else right there. Can you get an apartment for just a few days at that time?

Anyway, the trip looks really good. Fine tuning now. Enjoy.

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Lovely house, Lynn! It%26#39;s nice when things turn out well even when original plans go awry. Your poor friends missing out on that!

Yes to Bellagio, absolutely. Easy to catch the ferry across from Varenna, too. It%26#39;s been ten years since we%26#39;ve been there and we are very much looking forward to going back this year!

:)

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