# Reviews Posted: Vincennes (Paris) and Gavaudun (Dordogne/Perigord)



## Conan (May 16, 2014)

We're just back from busy weeks in Paris and the Dordogne. We visited many museums in Paris and drove 1500 km (900 miles) in the Dordogne.

The highlight in Paris was the Van Gogh exhibit at Musée d'Orsay (it's there through July 6, 2014).

The highlights in the Dordogne were the amazing Cro-Magnon cave art we saw at Pech-Merle, Font-de-Gaume (we lined up at the ticket window at 8:00 for the 9:30 release of the day's tickets), Abri de Cap Blanc, Combarelles, Lascaux II (reproductions), and Rouffignac. Many of the tours are french language only, but worthwhile even if you don't comprenez.

I've posted reviews of the timeshares we RCI-exchanged into:

http://tug2.com/RnR/ResortsGrid.aspx?ResortName=royal regency

http://tug2.com/RnR/ResortsGrid.aspx?ResortName=gavaudun


----------



## dreamin (May 17, 2014)

Welcome home Conan.  I enjoyed reading your reviews.  I was amazed how different the Gavaudin operation is compared to North American timeshares, especially with all those extra fees.  In your experience, is this typical of European timeshares?  Last year we stayed in a private rental apartment in the Bourgogne region and in Paris and had a wonderful vacation.  Next year we would like to try timesharing in France and Italy because it is more budget friendly.  I know that timeshares there can be more basic accommodation but I wasn't aware of the extra costs, other than an energy surcharge.


----------



## Conan (May 17, 2014)

I think the commonest add-on fees are for utilities (I remember paying those in Scotland; not sure where else). We've also paid mandatory 'club' fees in European timeshares, about 20 euros.  Gavaudun I think is one-of-a-kind. To finish the story on Gavaudun (since I don't know how to edit a review), I did make an effort to sweep and mop the floor, and post-checkout was charged half of the 50 euro cleaning fee (the proprietor emailed noting that I'd failed to clean the toilet and refrigerator). I was also charged 30 euros for over-use of the 'free' internet; I'd forgotten that only the first 100MB was free.


----------



## Laurie (May 18, 2014)

Hi Conan, I also appreciate reading your reviews, thank you for posting here that they're ready to read.

Sounds like Gavaudun has become much more heavy-handed since our stay, which I think was 2002. That's too bad, because this region is so rich in amazing sites, which so many of us will miss because we gear our travel to where there are timeshares, and build our trips around them.

At Gavaudun, our experience was so different. Actually we had an emergency come up while there. The woman in the office barely spoke English, and we barely spoke French. A phone call came in while we happened to be standing at her desk, that very day and very moment - otherwise I'm not sure everything would have been translated correctly: one of our older dogs was having a medical crisis, our dog-care person was crying hysterically. She  didn't speak French at all, had barely managed to get an international call made.  We had to make the decision and arrangements to have him taken to the vet by a different neighbor immediately, with calls to our vet to give her authorization to put him down in our absence, which had to happen. So this required numerous phone calls. The woman let us use their telephone, rather than having us struggle with using their pay phone, and didn't charge us for the calls. And she was very comforting and supportive to us.  

We often do have extra charges at European resorts, under different names, sometimes utilities, sometimes linen charge, etc. Your cleaning inspection at Gavaudun does sound over the top and silly, and general customer service sub-par. But glad you got to see the amazing cave artwork and other wonders of the region. Conan, I'm just curious -would you have traveled there at all, if there hadn't been a timeshare? We wouldn't have, back then. Now, maybe, maybe not.


----------



## Conan (May 19, 2014)

Laurie said:


> Hi Conan, I'm just curious -would you have traveled there at all, if there hadn't been a timeshare? We wouldn't have, back then. Now, maybe, maybe not.



Friends of ours came back raving about the area--they stayed in a $$$$ chateau near Cahors. So if there hadn't been a timeshare in the area in this case we would have gone anyway, staying in a more reasonably priced hotel.

But in general our travel has been skewed to go where the timeshares are, sometimes linking hotel stays in the capital to timeshare stays in the hinterland.

For example, we did a week in Portugal's Algarve (Four Seasons Villamoura) and a week in Madeira (Pestana Madeira Beach Club), both terrific timeshares, and in between we stayed a long weekend in a Lisbon hotel.

Likewise, after a timeshare week in Crete we stayed a few nights in Santorini, followed by a timeshare week in Paros, then a few hotel days in Nafplion, and a final night in Athens before flying home. (Nafplion and the surrounding Mycenae area are worth the detour.)

And for the most extreme example, after a timeshare week in Scotland we flew from Aberdeen to St. Petersburg Russia, stayed a few nights in a hotel there, and then flew home through London.

Still on our to-do list is Madrid and Bilbao--probably it's the lack of a convenient timeshare connection that's put us off.


----------

