Dawn

I am in the beginning stages of planning our honeymoon to France during mid to late September for 14 nights. Our itinerary is as follows:<BR><BR>1 night St. Paul de Vence<BR>2 nights St. Tropez<BR>3 nights San Remy<BR>3 nights Loire Valley<BR>5 nights Paris<BR><BR>In St. Paul, I am deciding between Hotel le St. Paul and Le Mas d'Artigny. One is in the town center and the other is about a mile away in the forest. Should I strive to be in the town center for the best experience?<BR><BR>In St. Tropez, I am deciding between the Hotel La Ponche and Hotel Byblos. I am looking for easy access to beaches, a beautiful facility and luxury.<BR><BR>In St. Remy, I am looking at the Chateau des Alpilles, Domaine de Valmouriane and the Vallon de Valrugues. <BR><BR>In the Loire Valley, I have settled on the Chateau d'Artigny.<BR><BR>In Paris, I think that I have settled on the Hotel Balzac, but I wanted to get opinions on its location.<BR><BR>Thank you

Ron

The St Paul is a wonderful hotel--nicely decorated rooms, friendly staff, excellent restaurant. We usually time our stays to take advantage of lunch on the terrace. The town itself is charming.<BR><BR>You may want to consider the Chateau Valmer, which is a little west of San Tropez in La Croix Valmer.<BR><BR>

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Fluffy

Dawn;<BR>Saint Paul de Vence is a wounderful town perfect for honeymooners- I also highly recommend le Saint Paul hotel. Be sure to splurge and have dinner at the famous le Colmbe d' Or( spelling) on the patio . You will be able to find out more on this famous hotel/restaurant from any good guide book. To view photos. of the hotel log onto www.karenbrown.com <BR>viva ls France<BR>Fluffy<BR><BR>viva la france<BR>Fluffy

x

don't know about the other hotel in saint-tropez, but the byblos is "downtown," near the ports-you drive or are driven to a private beach. it's very well situated and luxurious-overstated, to the point of vulgarity-precisely what many of the guests seek for themselves and their canines.

lorraine

Just returned last night from our trip in France for three weeks. We stayed at the Chateau des Alpilles for 4 nights and absolutely loved it. (We took a look at the other hotels you mentioned and they looked very nice as well.) The atmosphere is just wonderful--inside and out. Just a little outside of town, which turned out to be great since I thought it was a little noisy-particularly in the morning. We had an enormous room with an incredible view of the front drive with the beautiful line of trees. We stayed at Les Orangers (fine little B& B/hotel)while in St.Paul de Vence and looked at the St. Paul Hotel--very nice. Wish we could have stayed there, but they were full. We did an unplanned trip into Vence from St. Paul de Vence and had an incredible dinner at Auberge des Seigneurs--only a few minutes from St. Paul de Vence.

debbie

I stayed at the domaine de valmouriane and it was fantastic. Just outside St Remy it is a beautiful property and deserves to be a 5 star. Has everything you could possibly want.

Fred

The Balzac a 4 star hotel and should be very comfortable with all the amenities.<BR>Here's what people who stayed there had to say about it:<BR><BR>Hotel Balzac-<BR>Very luxurious<BR>Italian style decorating<BR>large, lovely rooms<BR>a really nice hotel<BR>no complaints at all<BR>a lovely hotel<BR>For more Paris information go to www.anamericaninparis.com

Myriam

Re Saint Tropez: both La Ponche and Le Byblos are not really close to the beaches.<BR>La Mandarine, Le Domaine de l'Astragale, Ch&acirc;teau de la Messardi&egrave;re (www.messardiere.com), Villa Belrose (www.villabelrose.com) and R&eacute;sidence de la Pin&egrave;de (www.residencepinede.com) are all luxury hotels close(r) to the beach.

x

While La Mandarine (in Saint-Tropez)may be &quot;close&quot; to the beach (and is a terrific, though quiet hotelin the hills just above the town), it's still a drive to an outpost.<BR> P.S. There are no &quot;five-star&quot;hotels in France. The government system tops out at 4*, though there is a &quot;lux&quot; class of the 4th star.

Myriam

Just a clarification: in St. Tropez you won't find many hotels that are right on the beach. Many of the hotels have seaview but the beaches are all more or less secluded and not on St. Tropez territory. Best beaches are along the Baie de Pampelonne, in Ramatuelle.

kavey

I stayed in Le Mas d'Artigny a few years ago, in November - we got a superb rate in low season which was cheaper than what any two or three star hotels anywhere in the region would give us.<BR><BR>We found it a lovely hotel, peaceful, beautiful grounds and pool (too cold in November) and lovely staff.<BR><BR>It is certainly out of the way and it's not even worth considering without a car.<BR><BR>We didn't eat in the hotel restaurant in the evenings (too expensive for us) but drove into St Paul de Vence, because it was low season we could park just outside the main portal way in.<BR><BR>I don't know if it would be nicer to stay inside the walled village or not, it depends on how busy it is at that time of year. In November it was pretty quiet but we were told that in high season it's absolutely PACKED PACKED PACKED with people all the time.<BR><BR>St Paul de Vence is stunning though.<BR><BR>I am wondering whether 1 night anywhere is worth it on a honeymoon as you've no sooner arrived than you need to pack up and move on again, but thats just my preferences...<BR><BR>Congrats and have a great trip.<BR><BR>Kavey

Dawn

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and feedback on my questions. I thought I would go ahead and post the hotels that I booked with and the rates for those who are considering booking these hotels in the future.<BR><BR>We are getting married in Italy so while we are filing our paperwork in Rome, we are staying at:<BR><BR>Hotel Fiori Imperiali Cavalieri - 215 Euro for a Double Room including breakfast.<BR><BR>We are getting married in Venice and are staying at:<BR><BR>Accademia Villa Maravege - 230 Euro for a Superior Double Room.<BR><BR>Then on to the honeymoon in France.<BR><BR>In St. Paul de Vence we decided to stay at the Hotel le St. Paul - 230 Euro for a Double Room.<BR><BR>In St. Tropez, we are staying at the Villa Belrose (it is considered the low season in September) so we got a Double Room overlooking the garden for 200 Euro. Thanks to Myriam in particular for this idea.<BR><BR>In St. Remy, we are staying at the Chateau des Alpilles for 220 Euro for a Superior Double Room in the main building.<BR><BR>In the Loire Vally, we are staying at the Chateau d'Artigny for 270 Euro for a Grand Comfort (aka Superior) Double in the Main House.<BR><BR>In Paris, we are staying at the Hotel Balzac for 325 Euro for a Double Room.<BR><BR>Again, Thanks for the input.<BR>Dawn