2-day add-on to 1 wk in Paris. Mobility difficulty.
Jul 20th, 2022, 01:41 PM
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2-day add-on to 1 wk in Paris. Mobility difficulty.
This is a fresh new question, though it bridges on to another question about managing my mobility difficulty IN Paris (for seven nights).
Some of you (old-timers) might recognize my name or remember me. I am a seasoned traveler. This is my 31st trip to Europe and my 14th time to Paris (though my first time to stay in one place for seen nights there!.
The "chaos at the airports" described (excessively)? on the evening news (earlier this month) got us to thinking.. What if we don't get there when we planned? Maybe we should try to move our flights back two days - - just in case. So we started checking this, checking that... and persistent patience. We already had a great nonstop flight (Cincinnati to Paris CDG). And just yesterday, we got it switched to the very same flight, just two days earlier. No additional charge.
Which leads us to the question: is there some other place we have never been at 2 hours or less from Paris ("-ish")? that would appeal to us? X over Y over Z? Towns are the easiest to research - - though a village COULD be the right answer. The short list, roughly in how we think would rank them is: Reims, Troyes, Epernay, Rouen. Even these _regions_ are essentially all new to us - - though we have explored Normandy a certain amount. Just never Rouen itself. We have been to Giverny, to Gisors, to Arromanches, to Honfleur, Fecamp and Etretat. We have also been to Chartres and to parts of the Loire (we recommend Montbazon, by the way)
I will be traveling with a "rollator" (I use it some of the time, not all of the time). We are comfortable renting a car for two days to do this.
What do we like? Well, good food and wine, of course. "After all, miss... this is France"!
We definitely would visit the Cathedral at Reims, especially since Notre Dame de Paris is closed (we might still try Sainte Chapelle while we are IN Paris,,, it would be a return visit).
We like shopping for art.
The medieval "look" of Troyes looks appealing. though yikes! all those cobblestones!!
Enough of my yammering. Your thoughts? And feel free to base a lot of your thought process on a specific hotel if you are fond of a special place.
Thanks in advance!
Rex
Some of you (old-timers) might recognize my name or remember me. I am a seasoned traveler. This is my 31st trip to Europe and my 14th time to Paris (though my first time to stay in one place for seen nights there!.
The "chaos at the airports" described (excessively)? on the evening news (earlier this month) got us to thinking.. What if we don't get there when we planned? Maybe we should try to move our flights back two days - - just in case. So we started checking this, checking that... and persistent patience. We already had a great nonstop flight (Cincinnati to Paris CDG). And just yesterday, we got it switched to the very same flight, just two days earlier. No additional charge.
Which leads us to the question: is there some other place we have never been at 2 hours or less from Paris ("-ish")? that would appeal to us? X over Y over Z? Towns are the easiest to research - - though a village COULD be the right answer. The short list, roughly in how we think would rank them is: Reims, Troyes, Epernay, Rouen. Even these _regions_ are essentially all new to us - - though we have explored Normandy a certain amount. Just never Rouen itself. We have been to Giverny, to Gisors, to Arromanches, to Honfleur, Fecamp and Etretat. We have also been to Chartres and to parts of the Loire (we recommend Montbazon, by the way)
I will be traveling with a "rollator" (I use it some of the time, not all of the time). We are comfortable renting a car for two days to do this.
What do we like? Well, good food and wine, of course. "After all, miss... this is France"!
We definitely would visit the Cathedral at Reims, especially since Notre Dame de Paris is closed (we might still try Sainte Chapelle while we are IN Paris,,, it would be a return visit).
We like shopping for art.
The medieval "look" of Troyes looks appealing. though yikes! all those cobblestones!!
Enough of my yammering. Your thoughts? And feel free to base a lot of your thought process on a specific hotel if you are fond of a special place.
Thanks in advance!
Rex
Jul 20th, 2022, 03:00 PM
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Rex, I’m a big fan of Reims/Epernay and feel they make for an excellent weekend break from Paris. The Reims cathedral is where French kings were crowned, not to mention it is a magnificent edifice, one of the best Gothic art has to offer. I recommend a visit to Tattinger, the caves are built in/over ancient chalk pits and a 13th century abbey, it’s something remarkable. You should be fine with your rollator, my mother visited in a wheelchair and went up/down in an elevator. You can also drive around the surrounding wine country and Route de Champagne, with stops at some of the small, but famous villages, with tastings of course!
We spent a day in Rouen and enjoyed it greatly. The cathedral is gorgeous and the old city interesting to potter around, but we didn’t overnight. Troyes too is another fav.
You’re spoilt for choices, have a wonderful vacation!
We spent a day in Rouen and enjoyed it greatly. The cathedral is gorgeous and the old city interesting to potter around, but we didn’t overnight. Troyes too is another fav.
You’re spoilt for choices, have a wonderful vacation!
Jul 20th, 2022, 03:26 PM
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If you arrive at CDG 2 days earlier - that means you really only have about an extra 1 1/2 days to do stuff. If this was my trip - I would just stay in Paris in a different area. Seven nights in Paris is a "short visit", IMO.
Assuming that you want to go elsewhere, if you are worried about travel chaos and arriving hours or days late - that pretty much rules out taking a scheduled train elsewhere from CDG. Even renting a car at CDG may be problematic if you arrive 6 hrs or more late. I would not want to be calling Europcar and asking them to "hold" the car that I have reserved. Or arriving at 7PM and trying to "rush" somewhere.
Places close to Paris (that you can get to by car) which we have enjoyed are Rouen, Fontainbleau, Reims, and Compiegne & surrounds. However, if the the plane is late - it may be too time-consuming to get to these areas. Perhaps the safest is Chantilly/Senlis. Or how about a taxi from CDG to Versailles??
Troyes is one of our favorites - but perhaps too far away. Reims & Rouen might even be too far also.
Stu Dudley
Assuming that you want to go elsewhere, if you are worried about travel chaos and arriving hours or days late - that pretty much rules out taking a scheduled train elsewhere from CDG. Even renting a car at CDG may be problematic if you arrive 6 hrs or more late. I would not want to be calling Europcar and asking them to "hold" the car that I have reserved. Or arriving at 7PM and trying to "rush" somewhere.
Places close to Paris (that you can get to by car) which we have enjoyed are Rouen, Fontainbleau, Reims, and Compiegne & surrounds. However, if the the plane is late - it may be too time-consuming to get to these areas. Perhaps the safest is Chantilly/Senlis. Or how about a taxi from CDG to Versailles??
Troyes is one of our favorites - but perhaps too far away. Reims & Rouen might even be too far also.
Stu Dudley
Jul 22nd, 2022, 08:12 AM
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I don't really understand how you plan to get to this place. Any place that is authentically Medieval is going to have something that is not asphalt pavement or modern sidewalks, at least in that area. The historic city center of Rouen is no different, of course, given it is Medieval. However, Rouen does have one of those little tourist jitney train things that goes around so you can see things without walking that way. I don't think troyes is any diffrerent from Rouen in terms of stones in the city center, they aren't the original ones.
see
https://en.rouentourisme.com/mini-tr...train-1036-en/
I don't think Troyes has one of those.
I don't think Reims does either, they have one of those city bus tours but it's in a small bus, and isn't one of those big double decker things which can be enable in fine weather for views. But it might be ok for an overview, you get a ticket with the City Pass card. Reims has trams, though. I mainly visited the cathedral, the fine arts museum, the Musee de le Reedition (I walked, but I don't think there is a tram stop there, one is about 1.5 blocks away) and maybe Tau Palace.
this is the tour bus
https://www.reims-citytour.com/
So I think any of this could do. I don't know how you plan to get there, though. There are no direct trains to any that I know of. There is a direct Flixbus to Rouen but don't know if they can handle a rollator in cargo or not. If you plan to drive, I think all of these are about 2 hrs, but Troyes is farther, closer to maybe 2.5.
I think Reims has the most to see/do among your choices, of course, as it is bigger. I have no use for champagne, don't like it, so never went to any champagne house when there and wouldn't care about Epernay for that reason.
see
https://en.rouentourisme.com/mini-tr...train-1036-en/
I don't think Troyes has one of those.
I don't think Reims does either, they have one of those city bus tours but it's in a small bus, and isn't one of those big double decker things which can be enable in fine weather for views. But it might be ok for an overview, you get a ticket with the City Pass card. Reims has trams, though. I mainly visited the cathedral, the fine arts museum, the Musee de le Reedition (I walked, but I don't think there is a tram stop there, one is about 1.5 blocks away) and maybe Tau Palace.
this is the tour bus
https://www.reims-citytour.com/
So I think any of this could do. I don't know how you plan to get there, though. There are no direct trains to any that I know of. There is a direct Flixbus to Rouen but don't know if they can handle a rollator in cargo or not. If you plan to drive, I think all of these are about 2 hrs, but Troyes is farther, closer to maybe 2.5.
I think Reims has the most to see/do among your choices, of course, as it is bigger. I have no use for champagne, don't like it, so never went to any champagne house when there and wouldn't care about Epernay for that reason.
