My husband, son and I will be going to France for 2 weeks the first 2 weeks of April and were wondering what are the best options for places to stay and see. We were thinking that we might go to England for a few days as well. We are interested, right now, in going to Blois, Normandy Verselles and Paris.
Posted by
Pacific Northwest, USA
13 posts
Recommend perusing Rick's France 2010. He provides a great template of options.
Posted by
Fredericksburg, VA, USA
409 posts
My wife and I did a 2-week trip to France in September and felt like we saw and did a lot. Here was our itinerary, since we took in Blois, Normandy, Versailles, and Paris as you are planning. (And yes, I would skip England this trip and fully devote your time to France): (1) 3 nights in Paris - absolutely, positively recommend Bike About Tours for one of your half days...fantastic, your son would love it. (2) Took train to Versailles, spent most of the day, picked up rental car and drove to Giverny, where we spent the night. (3) Toured Monet's Garden, drove to Honfleur, then stayed in a Norman castle B&B in Normandy for two nights. Did a tour of the D-Day beaches and visited Mont St. Michel. (4) Drove to the Loire Valley, where we stayed 3 nights. Saw a number of the chateaux and took in the market in Loches. (5) Spent 5 nights in Languedoc / Provence...day-tripped to Uzes, Nimes, Arles, Avignon, St. Remy, Les Baux, Roussillon, Pont du Gard, etc. (6) Drove to Nice, where we stayed 1 night and flew out the next day. PM me if you want details on B&B's, etc.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
I would just mention that the weather in the north can be a bit like it is in Ontario that time of year. Sometimes nice and sometimes less so.
That argues for some flexibility and contingency plans in your back pocket. If you go out to Normandy for just one day, you'd better have an idea of what you'll do there if it rains, or else be able to pick a nice day to be there.
Posted by
Danville, California, USA
139 posts
My wife and I spent a little over two weeks in France in 2006. We went in order, and forgive spelling, Givenay (monet gardens), Bayeux (from where we took day trips to gold beach, cemetary, Omaha Beach, St Mare Englais, Hanflour, the twin towns of Douville and Touville (or something like that), then down to Ambois for a few days, from here we visited some beautiful chatues, Cinececue and Villandrey, Then we went down to St Emellion area for some wine tasting etc. We had a car up until this point. Then we turned the car we had picked up at the airport in at the train station in Bordeux and took train to Paris. We spent out last 6 nights in Paris, took day trip to Versaille etc. and walked walked walked the streets of Paris seeing everything.
Posted by
Rantoul, IL, USA
23 posts
If you decide to include England, I would suggest taking the ferry from Caen to Portsmouth and the train up to London. Teh HMS Victory is in Portsmouth and it was a highlight of our trip. The Normandy experience cannot be missed.