My goal in coming to France was to tour Marriott’s timeshare located outside of Paris in Bailly-Romainvilliers. This resort is a 40-50 minute commute by train from Paris followed by a 7-minute shuttle or taxi ride. The cost for a roundtrip ticket from Paris was 13 euro each or $20.
The timeshare is located in the countryside, 3.5 kms from Euro-Disney. It is constructed to imitate a typical French country village with each 2-bedroom, 2-story unit looking like a small, attached house. Each one is slightly different in appearance from the outside but they are all the same inside. These cute units have a small kitchen downstairs as well as a spacious living and dining room. Upstairs is the master and guest bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Some of the 3 bedroom units have a bedroom and bath on the main floor. Each unit has a patio area with a small table and 4 chairs overlooking a water feature—pond or river.
There are 202 units—174 2-bedroom units and 28 3-bedroom units. Twenty-two of the 3 bedrooms are lock-offs. Since they lock-off into a 2 bedroom and a studio, you may find studios available for trade. Some studios are on a 3rd floor—a bit of a hike—with an adjoining door to a hallway of a 2-bedroom so they will be relatively quiet since there is no living space on the other side of the door.
There is a beautiful, indoor pool area located in a separate building with vaulted ceilings. Connected are men’s and ladies’ locker rooms complete with lockers, saunas, showers and steam bath. This is the first time I have seen such an extensive locker room area at a timeshare. There is also a large, outdoor pool with spa pools in the middle that form into a flower petal—each petal is a separate spa tub.
About 5 minutes away is a new shopping plaza, the first mall of its kind in France, with outlet designer stores and many restaurants–Val d’Europe International Shopping Centre, just next to Disneyland Park. The shopping complex offers designer discount outlets, a hypermarket and an aquarium. In addition to outlet shopping at La Vallée, you can also enjoy shopping at over 130 stores in the International Shopping Centre. For traditional French produce such as cheese and wine, head for the resident hypermarket, Auchan. There is no restaurant on-site of the timeshare so this shopping center is where you would head for many of your meals and to stock up your kitchen.
High season is in the summer when many of the owners from the Middle East escape the heat and stay at the timeshare. The springtime is the prettiest since all of the flowers are in bloom. The fall, when I was there, seemed very quiet—almost desolate. Only 14% of the owners actually stay at the resort so trading in through Interval should be easy.
This resort would be a good destination to see the countryside of France. You will need to rent a car to explore the area. In just 30 minutes you can explore the Champagne district or Versailles. However, if Paris is what you want to see, I would recommend staying in Paris for convenience. I think the nearly one-hour commute each way would become tiresome after a few trips.
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