Sunday, April 15, 2012

Flying from Paris to Bordeaux

We are staying in St Cyprien and instead of taking the train we thought that we would fly from Paris. I want to do a direct flight and Air France goes to either Bordeaux or Toulouse. Can someone tell me which city would be closer to drive to St. Cyprien and how long of a drive it will be? Thanks in advance for all the information.




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Can%26#39;t advise you on the driving - but I assume you are aware your trip will be longer, more hassle, and more expensive by air?




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Believe it or not flying is actually cheaper by $30 and it is only a 1 hour and 20 minute flight. I don%26#39;t know if Air France is having a sale but roundtrip is $135.03. Am I missing something?




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Going to St Cyprien by way of Bordeaux (or even Tousouse) is really the long way around. Either one would be, I would think, at least a two hour drive to St Cyprien. Also, regarding the cost you need to factor in the expense (or hassle) of getting to CDG (if coming from central Paris, which I assume you are), rather than taking the Metro to the train (or a taxi, but still a local ride rather than 45-60E out to CDG).





My own suggestion would be to take the train to Brive (about four hours from Paris, leaving from the Austerlitz station) and rent a car there, or perhaps to Perigueux (don%26#39;t recall which station as I have not gone there by train, but probably Austerlitz again as it%26#39;s in the same direction) and rent a car there, either of which would put you about 45 to 60 minutes from St Cyprien (but you would be driving along the Dordogne valley for a lot of that time so would see some of the sights you came to see (and could stop off as desired). Both train stations have car rental agencies right at the station, so quite convenient.





One other question - when are you doing this trip? If it%26#39;s more than a couple of months from now, the train might be less expensive than you think because if you book it yourself through the SNCF site (not Eurail - be sure you don%26#39;t list %26quot;US%26quot; as your location, or it will switch you to Eurail and the cost will be much higher) you can get good discounts and print your own tickets. Here is a link to a forum post that explains how to do that, so you can compare prices: tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187147-i14-k58793…







Good luck with the planning, and enjoy the Dordogne (my favorite part of France - I stayed just outside St Cyprien a few years ago, and loved it - it%26#39;s a great location for a vacation rental.)




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Robin





If you travel by train you%26#39;re missing a lot :¬)





Travel to the airport, getting through security, check-in times, waiting for your luggage, not being able to take anything liquid on the plane....





Usually in France the rule of thumb is that any rail journey under 4 hours is better undertaken than a plane trip.





I don%26#39;t understand your price thing either - booking from the UK I am shown the cheapest flight at £48 during the week, whereas the cheapest train for the same day is £39.50. This is, of course, looking at early booking (March 17, in this case)




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Berkeley,





My husband and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary by first going to London for 4 days and then flying to Paris for an escorted tour of France that lasts one week. We are then going to the Dordogne Valley on August 28 and staying in a B%26amp;B in St. Cyprien for 4 nights. We are renting a car and planning on driving to all the small towns and villages throughout the valley. My main reason for flying was to save time as that would give us almost another day of sightseeing. If we took the train that would be almost 10 hours roundtrip. I do know that from Bordeaux to St. Cyprien is a 2 1/2 hour drive but I thought we could stop at various places along the way. Even though our trip is 6 months away almost everything is planned except for this part and sightseeing stuff. I see that you are an experienced traveler and really appreciate your input. I am glad to know that we have picked a good spot to visit. I have tons of books on the Dordogne Valley and making lots of notes as we will need to plan out each day. I am sure that I will be posting again asking for suggestions from everyone at TA.




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Robin





Flying for timesaving is a false economy.





You have to be at the airport at least an hour before your flight - for CDG I would not risk planning to be there less than 90 minutes before departure. Add the trip to the airport - you should allow at least an hour for that - and the flight itself - and you have a 4 hour trip where you see nothing excpet the inside of an airport. THEN you have to drive from the sirport to St Cyprian





As opposed to a 3 hour trip on the train where you can see what is going on around you, you have control of your own luggage, you can can take your own drinks with you...





And the train is cheaper.




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