Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

After many wonderful European vacations, my bride and i realized we haven't been to Paris in this lifetime, so off we go first week of July.

We spend 5 days in Paris and have another 6 days to explore Loire or a combination of Loire/Beaune.

Was hoping to gather thoughts about exploring Paris including accommodations, restaurant recommendations, markets, shopping and any other not to be missed activities.

Is 6 days in Loire way too much time to spend in the region? Was thinking spending 3 days in Saumur and 3 days in days in Blois area to cover the entire Loire West to East. Or would it make more sense to spend 3 days in Amboise get to see as much as possible in Loire and head over to Beaune or Dijon and explore that area. We generally don't enjoy a rushed vacation and i'm not sure if 3 days is enough to cover each region.

Thanks.

Happy to give some advice on Paris, as well as meet up if I am in town when you are here. I personally think that six days is a little long in Loire, but that is for me.

Feel free to PM me about anything Paris-related.

Cheers

Don't forget to have dinner at 'La Regalade' restaurant in Paris. It's one of the best I have ever had. It's not a fancy upscale restaurant, but the food is delicious.

Make sure to make reservation since there would be a considerable wait time (Even with reservation, we ended up waiting for half hour for the table). It's a bit cramped, but the food is very well worth it...IMO, their pate is to die for....

Enjoy the trip...

I agree with Tim re the Loire valley. It is beautiful, but there is a limit to the number of castles and wineries along the river I want to visit. I would rather visit Beaune and some wineries in Burgundy. If you do, make sure you have appointments made in advance (e.g. by a wine merchant if you don't yourself have connections in Burgundy).

brodway wrote:
We spend 5 days in Paris and have another 6 days to explore Loire or a combination of Loire/Beaune... Is 6 days in Loire way too much time to spend in the region?... Or would it make more sense to spend 3 days in Amboise get to see as much as possible in Loire and head over to Beaune or Dijon and explore that area. We generally don't enjoy a rushed vacation and i'm not sure if 3 days is enough to cover each region.

Thanks.

My wife and I visited Burgundy for the first time two summers ago and spent 12-13 days there and found plenty to do. While 3 days would still be fun, if you haven't been there I'd try to spend at least 5-6 days in Burgundy.

We spent 3-4 days in the Loire and had plenty to do, without visiting wineries every day, but also didn't feel like we needed to stay any longer. We rented a car and drove from Paris. Very easy once you got outside the city. Stayed at an old castle, Chat. de Noisay, just east of Vouvray. This was years ago, but the on-site restaurant had a great cellar with well-priced gems on the list. And they packed a darn good picnic lunch. Winery visits were by appt, but these were arranged same-day or next-day once we were already there.

Can't help with Burgundy as my only visit there was with BWE in 2005 - a visit to Bouchard arranged by Francois Audouze. Fabulous visit, but I'm pretty sure Francois got us the VIP treatment.

Thanks all for the suggestions. The consensus is that 3-4 days in the Loire is probably enough time to visit Chombard and a few castles and get a feel for the region. Not spending 2-3 days in Burgundy would probably be a sin not to take advantage of when i'm only a couple hours away by car. We can always come back to visit the region on a different trip if we fall in love with it. David, i too plan to rent a car in Paris and drive to Loire and then probably to Beaune. Vouvray is not far from either Tours or Amboise, so that may not be a bad base for the Loire trip. Any suggestions on where to stay in Beaune or Dijon? Please keep the ideas coming.