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Laura's castle
Tell me, is it worth going on a tour of the Loire Castles if the price is 100 euros, or can you somehow get there from Paris? Who went and saw how you feel? Versailles is better or not?
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Answers • 13
Worth going for sure!
When traveling on your own, you will save but not much. The difference is the fact that you are not tied to the tour bus.
I wrote a review on our trip to the castles of the Loire - below is a fragment of it:
Already the time is coming to 3 o'clock - it's time to think about what to do next. For us, after two days of cursory acquaintance with Paris, acquaintance with its environs began. Then we walked on foot to the building of the Invalides and from it it is already a stone's throw to our hotel - we pick up things and in the subway - to the Austerlitz station. We purchase tickets to the city of Blois and forward.
Advice! Regarding the purchase of tickets. There are vending machines everywhere - both for purchasing tickets in the subway and for train tickets. In order to figure out how to use it, just play with the machine for 2-3 minutes and everything will work out (fortunately there is a choice of language in English), or buy a ticket at the box office.
Our cashier even knew a few words of Russian and seemed overly happy to be able to give out all his Russian vocabulary to us. Judging by the reviews on the forum, tickets can also be bought on the French railway website, but I decided not to bother with it.
When traveling on your own, you will save but not much. The difference is the fact that you are not tied to the tour bus.
I wrote a review on our trip to the castles of the Loire - below is a fragment of it:
Already the time is coming to 3 o'clock - it's time to think about what to do next. For us, after two days of cursory acquaintance with Paris, acquaintance with its environs began. Then we walked on foot to the building of the Invalides and from it it is already a stone's throw to our hotel - we pick up things and in the subway - to the Austerlitz station. We purchase tickets to the city of Blois and forward.
Advice! Regarding the purchase of tickets. There are vending machines everywhere - both for purchasing tickets in the subway and for train tickets. In order to figure out how to use it, just play with the machine for 2-3 minutes and everything will work out (fortunately there is a choice of language in English), or buy a ticket at the box office.
Our cashier even knew a few words of Russian and seemed overly happy to be able to give out all his Russian vocabulary to us. Judging by the reviews on the forum, tickets can also be bought on the French railway website, but I decided not to bother with it.
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answered 12 years ago
Moreover - before traveling to Europe, get a chip card - fortunately, many banks issue it as a salary, and if there is none, then you can get one for 200 rubles a year.
Advice! A few useful links:
http://www.infolignes.com/index.php - France train timetable
http://www.sncf.com/en_EN/flash/ - the same - France train schedule
On one of the train journeys, we met the inspectors. It turned out that the purchased ticket must be validated before entering the train - for this, there are such yellow boxes at all stations - you need to put your ticket in them (I thought that they were needed to check the validity of the ticket - like in the Moscow metro)
So, a little more than an hour passed (the train was moving at an average speed of 160 km per hour, occasionally accelerating to 200 (Hello Sapsan) and our train arrived in the city of Blois. I chose the hotel not by chance - as close as possible to the car rental station. In the city there are at least 2 of them - Hertz and some local one.It is not necessary to say that the choice fell in favor of the first - and the price turned out to be lower.
The hotel itself is located in a very old building, although the rooms in general have everything you need (and even dead Wi-Fi) and for 40 euros per day it’s quite
Advice! A few useful links:
http://www.infolignes.com/index.php - France train timetable
http://www.sncf.com/en_EN/flash/ - the same - France train schedule
On one of the train journeys, we met the inspectors. It turned out that the purchased ticket must be validated before entering the train - for this, there are such yellow boxes at all stations - you need to put your ticket in them (I thought that they were needed to check the validity of the ticket - like in the Moscow metro)
So, a little more than an hour passed (the train was moving at an average speed of 160 km per hour, occasionally accelerating to 200 (Hello Sapsan) and our train arrived in the city of Blois. I chose the hotel not by chance - as close as possible to the car rental station. In the city there are at least 2 of them - Hertz and some local one.It is not necessary to say that the choice fell in favor of the first - and the price turned out to be lower.
The hotel itself is located in a very old building, although the rooms in general have everything you need (and even dead Wi-Fi) and for 40 euros per day it’s quite
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answered 12 years ago
Day three.
Morning starts with breakfast!
Advice! It’s not worth taking breakfast at the hotel - we go outside, turn right - and after 50 meters we run into the main street - turn left and walk 50 meters - we see at least 2-3 cafes where you can buy coffee for 1 euro, croissants and yogurt.
After breakfast and a short walk of 15 minutes, we are at the car rental station (Link) - another 5 minutes and the car keys are in my pocket. Our rally through the lands of France begins. Today we have to visit 4 castles - Blois, Chambord, Chaverny and Chamod on the Loire.
Advice! Stock up on a navigator in advance - without experience and knowledge of the roads of France, it will be difficult.
The route we traveled on the first day is here http://g.co/maps/n9fdb
The first transfer - from the rental station to the hotel - pick up the suitcase, from the hotel (Link) to the parking lot of the castle of Blois (Link). Parking is paid - just like in our supermarkets - at the entrance I took a ticket. At the exit, I stuffed the ticket into the machine - it showed how much money to throw into it. (I don’t remember if it’s possible or not to pay with a card - I threw coins - usually parking cost 2-3 euros) We examine the castle of Blois. I will say again - we were in January, so there were no people at all - in one of
Morning starts with breakfast!
Advice! It’s not worth taking breakfast at the hotel - we go outside, turn right - and after 50 meters we run into the main street - turn left and walk 50 meters - we see at least 2-3 cafes where you can buy coffee for 1 euro, croissants and yogurt.
After breakfast and a short walk of 15 minutes, we are at the car rental station (Link) - another 5 minutes and the car keys are in my pocket. Our rally through the lands of France begins. Today we have to visit 4 castles - Blois, Chambord, Chaverny and Chamod on the Loire.
Advice! Stock up on a navigator in advance - without experience and knowledge of the roads of France, it will be difficult.
The route we traveled on the first day is here http://g.co/maps/n9fdb
The first transfer - from the rental station to the hotel - pick up the suitcase, from the hotel (Link) to the parking lot of the castle of Blois (Link). Parking is paid - just like in our supermarkets - at the entrance I took a ticket. At the exit, I stuffed the ticket into the machine - it showed how much money to throw into it. (I don’t remember if it’s possible or not to pay with a card - I threw coins - usually parking cost 2-3 euros) We examine the castle of Blois. I will say again - we were in January, so there were no people at all - in one of
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answered 12 years ago
Next, transfer to Chambord Castle (there are many signs to the castle from Blois to the castle - it’s hard to miss it) - one of the largest - this castle is impressive in its appearance and view from the observation deck at the very top. The next point is Chambord Castle - similarly from Chambord to Chaverny there are many signs along the way. Shaverny is interesting because from the outside it looks like an ordinary mansion, but inside you can see how they really lived in those days - a very beautiful interior. There you can also look at the sheepfold. The next transfer is the castle Loire / Chaumont-sur-Loire. It is really worth seeing it - firstly, in the summer there is a garden festival, and secondly - gorgeous views for photographing. The power of the castle is amazing. And here's the thing for the evening. For us, it was already a long drive to spend the night at Château d'Artigny. In fact, I’m not sure about the correctness of the decision - having already traveled this path, I will recommend the following route: From Chamod Castle on the Loire, we move to spend the night in the city of Amboise, where we settle for the night. We stayed at the hotel (Link). In the morning we visit the Amboise Castles - there are 2 of them Amboise himself (we didn’t go to it, we only took pictures against its background) and the second Clos-Lucy
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answered 12 years ago
From Amboise we move to the castle of Chenonceau. Then, how will the mood be - either we include some other castle in the program (I originally planned to visit the Château de Azay-le-Rideau castle, or we go to the city of Tours, where we successfully rent our car (Link), check into a hotel, explore the city and In the morning of the next day we go back to Paris.
If you don’t want to bother with renting a car - that is, there is a special tourist bus - it leaves at 9 am from Blois and takes you to three castles - look on the Internet for a lot of information about it. With this option, your cost for TWO will not exceed 100 euros, including tickets to castles, travel by train and payment for this sightseeing bus. (approximately 40 euros round-trip ticket, 15 euros bus + 15 euros entrance tickets to castles.
If you don’t want to bother with renting a car - that is, there is a special tourist bus - it leaves at 9 am from Blois and takes you to three castles - look on the Internet for a lot of information about it. With this option, your cost for TWO will not exceed 100 euros, including tickets to castles, travel by train and payment for this sightseeing bus. (approximately 40 euros round-trip ticket, 15 euros bus + 15 euros entrance tickets to castles.
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answered 12 years ago
Thank you very much for the detailed description of your trip! I think this will be useful not only to me, but also to other travelers.
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answered 12 years ago
Here is a link to the site where you can buy an excursion to the castles of the Loire for 105 euros per person
http://www.karta-paris.com/
http://www.karta-paris.com/
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answered 12 years ago
It should be noted that 105 euros is only travel + another 50 euros per person for tickets.
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answered 12 years ago
If you have enough strength to visit all 5 castles, then somewhere like that, and we visited 3 castles, two left for a review, walked nearby, and it turned out 25 euros +
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answered 12 years ago
Avoid the services of the company "Karta-Paris.com" and its leader Igor Tikhonov. Under the guise of an intellectual and erudite, a thief and a swindler is hiding, ripping off our Russian citizens without shame or conscience.
In September 2013 he sent his retired parents to Paris. After a detailed study of the offers of companies offering excursion services in Russian, I chose "Karta-Paris.com". They bribed excellent reviews on the site, which, apparently, the crooked leader Igor Tikhonov composes and posts on the site himself along with his wife. I booked a tour of the castles of the Loire for my parents with the price stated on the website of 100 Euros per person.
Upon returning to Moscow, I learned from my parents that the guide Igor collected not 100 Euros, but 150 Euros from 8 people in the group (tickets were paid separately), but Russian tourists, relaxed and intoxicated by the atmosphere of Paris, easily parted with their money without even thinking that initially this excursion cost 100 Euros, as, indeed, with other similar companies. This is what the fraudulent guide Igor Tikhonov uses, throwing 50 Euros per person and receiving an additional "fat" of 400 Euros from each tour of the castles. Such is the business "a la russ".
Nez
In September 2013 he sent his retired parents to Paris. After a detailed study of the offers of companies offering excursion services in Russian, I chose "Karta-Paris.com". They bribed excellent reviews on the site, which, apparently, the crooked leader Igor Tikhonov composes and posts on the site himself along with his wife. I booked a tour of the castles of the Loire for my parents with the price stated on the website of 100 Euros per person.
Upon returning to Moscow, I learned from my parents that the guide Igor collected not 100 Euros, but 150 Euros from 8 people in the group (tickets were paid separately), but Russian tourists, relaxed and intoxicated by the atmosphere of Paris, easily parted with their money without even thinking that initially this excursion cost 100 Euros, as, indeed, with other similar companies. This is what the fraudulent guide Igor Tikhonov uses, throwing 50 Euros per person and receiving an additional "fat" of 400 Euros from each tour of the castles. Such is the business "a la russ".
Nez
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answered 11 years ago
Immediately after the return of his parents, he wrote to Igor in the mail with a request to transfer to the account the money that he received in addition to the cost of the excursion. Igor, admitting this mistake "due to his great
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answered 11 years ago
Conclusion: If you want pleasant memories from France not to be overshadowed by financial losses from the fraudster Tikhonov, and the feeling that you have been robbed, avoid the services of "Karta-Paris.com".
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answered 11 years ago
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