The all too famous paris honeymoon...?

Question

i am getting married mid-may 08 and we are planning to go on a extended vacation to "the city of lights". (=

i am currently enrolled in french and my fiance lived in france for a year so language shouldn't be much of a problem*i hope*...but i was wondering where in paris we can go to enjoy the atmosphere and life of paris w/o the overload of tourists...not saying that i don't want to visit the chateau de versailles and notre-dame*because i AM very excited to see these* but i would like to emerse myself in the life without all of the tourist-traps.

also we want to visit the loire valley, brugge,brussels, and amsterdam-but paris is our main focus...but any information on these cities *esp. the loire valley*<--not a city i know<--

would be much appeciated!!

thank you for any information you can give us!!!!

also how is the weather in may??(=

thanks again!!!!

Answer 1

Congratulations !!

I think you have to spend about 3 days to see Castles along the Loire river, at least : Blois (for his strange and well-known double stairs in the tour), Chambord (the biggest one of François 1er) and Chenonceau (the only one above the river). For example, you can sleep in a hotel in Blois.

To visit Bruges in Belgium, you need 2 days, it&#039;s interesting but small. For Bruxelles, you need also 3 days minimum.

For Amsterdam, you can go for 3 days, but it&#039;s better to spend 5  or 6 days.

And in Paris, it depends what you know already, but of course to see the main things it&#039;s one week minimum.

So if you have 3 weeks, it could be good. If not, probably you&#039;ll have some choices to do.

In fact, I think you can&#039;t see everything at the same time unless you will run all the time and maybe it&#039;s not very cool for a honeymoon.

Another point is how much money you have.

If you can spend rather expensive hotel, you can try Relais et Chateaux :

http://www.relaischateaux.com/page.php3?...

They propose hotels outside of great towns generally in little castes. Here are some near Amboise (one of the castle of Loire). Of course, there many others and good hotels less expensive everywhere in France.

You can look in Accor chain :

http://www.accorhotels.com/accorhotels/i...

You can write to me if you want some further informations, I live in Paris

Answer 2

Well, it is very, VERY difficult to visit Paris and be completely removed from the other tourists.  Also, I don&#039;t think Paris has any  true tourists traps; just about everything is worth seeing.  The only tourist traps would be the little souvenir shops and the vendors around the Eiffel Tower selling the tin tower replicas and other junk.

Typically Parisian activities are sitting and talking in a cafe, going to smaller museum and arts exhibits, and enjoying long dinners.

Definitely, go to Brugge in Belgium.  I&#039;ve heard you can skip Brussels.  Then Amsterdam is also another great city to visit.  Both Brugge and Amsterdam are easily accessible from Paris thanks to the TGV.

In the Loire valley, some of the most popular things to do are to take bike tours going from town to town and staying in the different castles.  There should be plenty of operators that can propose some organized tours.  They are not very intense, cycling-wise.  Maybe only 4-5 hours of light cycling per day, with plenty of rest stops.

May weather is a bit cool.  Lows are about 50 degF and highs in the upper 60&#039;s.  Sometimes light rains.