Prebooked hotels and france in 14 days

I%26#39;m planning to run around France via train for 14 days in June. For any of the cities on my itinerary, does anyone know if its easy to get a single room the same day? I%26#39;m wary about pre-booking all the hotels--it makes my trip so rigid, but if there%26#39;s a chance that I wont have a place to say, I%26#39;ll do it.

8-Jun-06 Bayeux

9-Jun-06 Mt. St. Michel

10-Jun-06 Amboise (chateaux)

11-Jun-06 Amboise (ville)

12-Jun-06 Sarlat

13-Jun-06 Sarlat

14-Jun-06 Carcasonne

15-Jun-06 Arles

16-Jun-06 Arles

17-Jun-06 Nice

18-Jun-06 Nice/Monaco

19-Jun-06 Chamonix

20-Jun-06 Paris/Versailles

21-Jun-06 Paris

22-Jun-06 Paris

Sorry it looks so mechanic, I%26#39;m doing this on excel...LOL...

As an itinerary, I basically followed one that I saw in Rick Steves%26#39;, but does it seem like too much? Should i spend more time in one city that you see, or less? I know that RS can sometimes be biased.

Also, I%26#39;m a woman roughing it alone...will I have a hard time in any of these cities (in terms of service, getting rooms, etc)

Thanks in advance for the help!

Ri

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Have you looked at possible timetables for all these trips? Some of them, I think you will find, are going to take you several hours. And some may be better done by bus rather than train. Bayeux to Mont St-Michel looks problematic to me just to give you one example.

I%26#39;d guess Amboise to Sarlat at about 5-6 hours, and Sarlat to Carcassonne at that or more. Nice to Chamonix is another pairing that looks pretty doubtful, and you certainly will not be able to get from Chamonix to Paris and have time to visit Versailles on the same day.

Might I suggest that you go to

www.voyages-sncf.com

and start plugging in some times to your spreadsheet? It seems to me you%26#39;re going to end up with an intimate knowledge of every type of passenger rolling stock on the French rail system and not have much time for anything else...

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The list right now is a wish list...Chamonix and Mt. Saint Michel were the last two that I added, but in reality, you%26#39;re probabily right, they will be difficult to get to.

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Here%26#39;s what I would do if I were organizing this trip. I%26#39;d eliminate Mt. St. Michel. I%26#39;d do Bayeux as a day-trip from Paris. (It%26#39;s a lot easier to get from Paris to Amboise than it is from either Bayeux or Mt. St. M.)

I%26#39;d spend at least a couple of days more in Amboise. (By the way the chateau is IN the twon, and there really isn%26#39;t any need to give Amboise itself more than one day, even if you include Clos Lucé, which you should.) From Amboise I%26#39;d figure out how to get by bus or whatever at least to Chenonceau, and prferably also Chambord (not my preference) or Villandry and/or Azay-le-Rideau.

I%26#39;d eliminate Sarlat. It%26#39;s a terribly out of the way place, and, like Mt. St. M. a bit of a tourist trap, however picturesque.

I%26#39;d at least get to Avignon while I was in Arles. In fact I%26#39;d probably stay in Avignon as it is much easier to get from Avignon to other places than it is from Arles. I%26#39;d find a way to get to the Pont du Gard while I was there, since it is the single most amazing piece of Roman history in France.

I%26#39;d spend more time in Nice - or rather in Villefranche-sur-Mer right next door - if only to see Èze and the stunning Villa Ephrussi. And I%26#39;d eliminate Chamonix and posibly stop in Beaune on my way back to Paris.

And I%26#39;d spend the rest of my time in Paris. (Have you ever been there, by the way?)

Feel free to ignore every piece of this...

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thanks for the response. I would spend a whole day in Bayeux because I thought it would be more economical. If you had to pick between seeing Normandy and doing more days in the Loire, would you add the days in the Loire? The places I list up there are days where I would stay; I%26#39;d go on side trips from the base to other nearby attractions. As for les chateaux, I liked Chenonceaux, Blois, Chambord and Cheverney. They seem to be closer to Amboise, while Villandry/Azay le Rideau are closer to Chinon. I X%26#39;d them originally from the chateaux. I%26#39;ll look them over. I want to see at most 3 or 4--the best of the best, if that%26#39;s even possible to calculate.

Sarlat was going to be my base to see the Dordogne; should I pick another city?

While I%26#39;m in Arles, I will side-trip to Avignon; I haven%26#39;t yet gotten to the part in the GB where rick steves%26#39; tells me why I should stay in Arles vs. Avignon, so I%26#39;ll let you know.

What would u say is easier to get around, Beaune or Chamonix? I would hit one of them on my way back to Paris.

Also, RS doesn%26#39;t mention The French Basque region at all in his idea of the best of France, but I know that he%26#39;s also very biased sometimes...is this region worth seeing?

Thanks for the tips; I assume from all the ideas, you%26#39;ve been to France many times.

I have indeed been to Paris, that%26#39;s why versailles is up in the air. I do like returning.

This is turning a little stressful; I had originally planned a full 14 days in Paris, but decided to backpack instead. Now, I have a round trip flight our of NY, a shabby itinerary, and less and less time to plan this.