My husband and I are spending time in Paris and the Loire Valley November 4-11. Arriving in Paris on Nov 4, am - leaving from Paris on Nov 11, am. I am having trouble figuring out how much time to spend in each place and what mode of transportation to use. This is what I am thinking: Nov 4-8 in Paris. Train to Loire Valley Nov 8 - Paris to: Amboise or St Pierre des Corps??? Get a rental car in Loire Valley and spend Nov 8-10 - 2 nights. Return by train to Paris the evening of Nov 10 in order to fly out on the 11th. Am I making it too complicated? Help!! Thanks, Barbara
Posted by
ABQ
28 posts
Hi Barbara, we nearly made the same trip two years ago [instead we rented a car near Versailles and drove west to Normandy and south Mont Saint Michel before driving east to the Loire valley].
In my [initial] planning to go by train from Paris to the Loire valley, I learned this:
1
The train to Amboise takes twice as long as the train to Tours or Saint Pierre des Corps.
2
Car rental 4 blocks from the Tours station is substantially cheaper than at the St Pierre Des Corps station...for the same rental car company [Hertz]! Most TGV trains stop at Tours right after the St Pierre Des Corps anyway, but as it is, trains go between the 2 stations [which are ~2.5km apart] every few minutes.
I just checked it for arbitrary dates in October, and indeed it's 16% difference. Maybe it wouldn't be much of a savings for a two day car rental, but for us, it would have been more than $50 savings on the car rental.
Howver I noticed that neither Hertz location is open on Sunday, but the office near the Tours station is open on Saturdays [0800-1200 1400-1830]
The Hertz office near the Tours station is at:
57 Rue Marcel Tribut
37000 Tours, France
[GPS 47.389403,0.699877 ]
We did stay in Amboise [30 min by car from the Tours train station], here, I think we paid 50 Euros/night. It was simple but acceptable:
Hôtel Le Blason 11 place Richelieu
37400 Amboise - France
www.leblason.fr
[email protected]
[GPS 47.41012,0.985465]