Favorite Places in France/Switzerland

[C172Navigator]

What are your favorite places to visit in France and Switzerland?

I'm off for 8 days touring in a C172 next week, and would appreciate some ideas of interesting places to land / visit.

Thanks.

[QDMQDMQDM]

I'm off to Switzerland in three weeks. Great places are:

Gruyeres -- lovely grass strip, near the castle and the cheese-making factory. Nice cafe, lovely sun terrace, friendly people, Bucker Jungmann for hire and a Piper Cub too.

Saanen -- spectacular location, great place to stay for a couple of days and explore the mountains. Tarmac, 3000 feet long, 3000 feet high, an interesting downwind leg! Just up the valley from Gruyeres.

QDM

[capt_sparky]

My favourite French destination is Saumur in the Loire Valley. It's a beautiful town and an excellent place to pick up some fine wine!

http://www.ville-saumur.fr/

Capt Sparky

[grow45]

Dont have a particular favourite in Switzerland (love em all) but suggest you have a look at www.nelly.ch/01map.html for an interactive map with links to airfields etc.

g45

[Flyer Flier]

http://www.airclark.plus.com/saanen.jpg

There you go, approach into Saanen. Must admit, it was one of my most memorable flying days, not just because it is such an interesting approach flying up the valley towards it, as the photo shows. But also because it was taken from the front of a BAe146 !! As I remember you continue down the valley after take off and pop out at Montreux over Lake Leman.

Also, I'd recommend Annecy in France as a nice airport and a great town to visit. :D

[bingoboy]

For grassroots ambience Gruyere must be hard to beat.

My experience of French airfields is that they can be quite friendly - if you can find anyone ! But I do like Avranches. Also St Malo is a pleasant club field.

[Flying Boat]

Sorry, I don't know Switzerland, but my favourites in France are Rouen, Poitiers, Carcassonne, Rennes & La Rochelle.

They are all GA friendly.

Have a good trip.

FB:ok:

[bluskis]

Be aware of some pretty massive restrctions in the Geneva, lausanne montreux and Annemass area due to the G8 meeting.

[Spitoon]

Take a look at Ambri (http://www.ambri-airport.ch/) near Airolo in Switzerland. I've never flown there - just gone past on the train - but it looks wonderful.

[A and C]

Troyes Is the best place to Tech stop I have found in France you can clear customs and refuel inside 20 min.

The town is quite historic and as with all of france good food is easy to find but it is quite small and only worth night stopping if this fitts in with bigger plans.

[FougaMagister]

I agree that Troyes-Barberey is nice, but be careful, there can be a lot of gliders on week-ends. If you want to continue until near Paris after crossing the Channel, you can land at Beauvais; they have Customs there, and you will come accross MyTravel Lite and Volare A320s, Ryanair 737-800s, and maybe a Rossiya Tu-154M. Did a touch and go there last year, and they "forgot" to sent me the landing fee!

Le Plessis-Belleville is a nice one, with a 700x20m asphalt runway, but beware of CDG IFR-only airspace starting virtually at the end of the circuit pattern, and of associated Class A airspace above 1,500 ft. amsl... I liked Epinal-Mirecourt, with a neat 2,700mx45m asphalt runway, NDB, VOR, and settled in the scenic Vosges region way to the East-South-East of Paris. From there you can go to Vittel, Evian etc (but again, check NOTAMs for the G8 summit). There is also quite a bit of MIL traffic to contend with in Eastern France...

Happy flying!

[Fuji Abound]

Lognes - great for Paris and Euro disney. Rouen for the restaurant - the last time I went (a few years ago) it was truely memorable (I wonder if it still is as good).