Thank you, KGC for your thoughts :) Appreciated.
We're considering looking at either April or May now.
We may possibly add 1-2 nights to the itinerary. This is a possible itinerary:
Arrive CDG and train directly to Tours
-1 night Tours area (taking train from Paris to St Pierre de Corps–2 hours)
-3 nights Tours area (picking up rental car in Tours)
-1 night Sancerre area (2.5 hour Tours –Sancerre)
-2 nights Burgundy area-Beaune? (3 hours Sancerre–Beaune)
-3 nights Alsace area-Colmar? (3 hours Beaune–Colmar)
-1 night Nancy (2 hours Colmar–Nancy)
-2 nights Epernay or Reims (3 hours Nancy–Epernay) train back to CDG for departure
We are hoping for decent weather with the least amount of rain. Our activities with a car rental would be wine tastings, visiting chateaux, visiting the towns and attractions along the way...
We're budget travelers and looking at booking dummy airfare I found a couple of possibilities.
Flight 1--a non-stop flight (flight time 8-9 hours each way) it would be the same price for each date set:
April 14--April 30
April 21--May 7
April 28--May 14
May 5--May 21
Flight 2--a 1 stop flight (flight time of 12-14 hours each direction)
same dates as above, but the total cost for 2 people is $200-$350 less than the non-stop flight.
Would one of the 2 week dates above be any better than the other in terms of weather, closings (May holidays/events), crowds, prices of lodging...
Which might you choose??