Tuesday, April 24, 2012

closest scenic mountains to paris

My wife, son (16 years) and daughter(14 years old) are going to paris in the summer and I would love to visit a town in a scenic mountain setting. What would be a good choice, prefeebly something that could be a day trip or at most a one night stay?




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If you want proper mountains it is well over 500km to



the near Alps or or even the Massif Central. It%26#39;s a lot of travelling each way, even if you stay overnight.




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The Massif Central area includes the upper Dordogne river valley (also Vezere river valley), which is beautiful scenery. I%26#39;m not sure that just an overnight trip would give you time to enjoy it, however - the train trip from Paris is about four hours to Brive, and you then would rent a car and drive an hour or so. It is, however, amazingly beautiful, and you could see some of the cave/cliff dwellings, etc. There also are many beautiful bastide towns (small fortified mountain town) in the Massif Central but that would involve quite a bit more time. If you can give it two days instead of an overnight, I would recommend it.




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How about the Vosges? With the TGV-Est, Colmar via Strasbourg is under 3 hours and Alsace has everything - scenic villages, vineyards, wooded hillsides and bare mountaintops, history. However, you%26#39;d need a car to get out of the town, and, as with the others, a day isn%26#39;t enough to do it justice. Google some images of Riquewihr, Kaysersberg, Gerardmer, grand ballon, route des cretes, and you%26#39;ll see what I mean.



There are also fast trains to Switzerland - the train journey alongside Lake Geneva up towards Brig is beautiful.



Nearer Paris, but not mountains, is the rolling forest between Compiegne and Laon - car or bike hire essential!




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I have just come back from a trip to Annecy: it%26#39;s in the Alps very close to the Swiss border, and can easily be reached by TGV (from Gare de Lyon) in just under 4 hours. Stunning scenery, beautiful lake and many opportunities for trips up into the mountains (La Clusaz is a ski resort close by).





We paid 22 euros each way per person by booking 10 weeks in advance.




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Grenoble by TGV.




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