6abc

Hi

Introduction:
Two 60 year olds...love hiking...being outdoors...photography...possibly doing a self guided hike for several days...love driving around finding out of the way places...will be renting a house for most of the time...enjoy being in smaller villages...shopping in markets and cooking our own food.

Planning a last minute trip to France. Last week of September first week of October 2013. First question is which is the best airport to fly in to. We will be coming from Philadelphia (USA) International Airport. I have seen flight from PHL to Paris to Toulouse. These are the same price if we were to just get off in Paris.

Is there another main airport people use to get there or is Paris the best route?

Is there a better town to fly into once we have arrived in Paris (USA Airways takes us to Toulouse through Paris with just the one stop in Paris)? Is Bordeaux a better option?

Is it better to train down from Paris to a specific village?

We might be doing a self-guided hike but not sure yet. Working out a twisted ankle currently. That is why everything is up in the air. We will still go even if the hiking is out but will plan accordingly. That is why I am concentrating on the flight first.

I guess at this point I should say we haven't even decided which village to stay in yet. I will be checking out some rentals but I wanted to figure out which way to get there. First things first.

Ideas on Best town to rent a car from and return. Suggestions on Favorite Car Rental companies or brokers?

Suggestions on Favorite Villages to plant ourselves in for 2 weeks or maybe 1 week one place and a few days somewhere else.

I have read many posts and I am getting confused as I usually do from all the great suggestions.

Anyone done any self-guided hikes I have seen a few companies on other forums and have used a few in the past for Italy and Spain. Any suggestions of ones used appreciated.

I have seen many suggestions on gites but please chime in on your favorite rentals and companies used to book.

WOW I am out of breath so I will stop for now.


Thanks for any advice.

Michael

Getting by train to the core of what most people want to see in the Dordogne is problematic. The quick connections are via Brive-la-Gaillarde and Périgueux, but a car or bus will be required to get to the basic triangle (Sarlat-Le Bugue-Montignac) of the Périgord noir. The bus, there is one from Périgueux, will go to Sarlat but any village chosen might not have bus service.

Given the questionable ankle, it might be best to consider renting a car and doing day hikes as the occasion arises. Get the Michelin Green Guide for that region (it used to be Périgord-Limousin) for the listing of what there is to see and the suggested touring routes through the region.

StCirq

I would fly Philly>Paris>Toulouse and rent a car there (in case you need an automatic, the best bet is always an airport pickup). Bordeaux would be fine, too, but these days Toulouse is, I think, a bit closer to the triangle you'll want to be staying in. I always use AutoEurope for car rentals.

You can easily use the Grandes Randonnées trails and maps for hiking, or just get a good map of the area and walk from village to village. Tourist offices will have ample information about hiking, too.

Do you want to be in a town or village? Some of the villages are very pretty but have little in the way of commerce. Towns like Sarlat and Le Bugue and St-Cyprien and Montignac, to name a few, have plenty.

Improviser

Well Bordeaux is closer than Toulouse but if you can get to Toulouse for no extra cost, it may be close enough. I would definitely agree with Michael that renting a car is the way to go. It's about a 2.5 hour drive from Toulouse to Perigueux for example. Not a big deal at all.

As for car rental, there are of course multiple choices but I would shorten that list simply by sticking to companies that have rental at the airport. The convenience outweighs a few $ more in cost if any exists. There are 5 in Toulouse airport. http://www.toulouse.aeroport.fr/en/p...utique_tid=All
Pick one.

That's flight and car rental decided in an hour from NOW 6abc. There are no wrong choices as I keep telling my wife, but procrastinating and agonizing over options for days is a waste of time. Make decisions.

That leaves where to stay and where to hike which needs a bit more research. I'd research where to hike and let that determine where to stay.

OR, you could just bite the bullet and book in to this place with hiking from the front door.
http://fermedetayac.com/local-news-a...erme-de-tayac/

Job done before close of business today 6abc.

twk

We flew through CDG to Toulouse and picked up a rental car there. As you are finding, flying on to Toulouse costs virtually nothing extra, and the airport there is on the right side of town (whereas you have to go around or through Bordeaux). If you want an automatic transmission rental car, an airport location is probably better than the train station at Brive.

Michael

If renting a car, do some comparison shopping. Look at the what Improviser suggests, but also take a look at www.autoeurope.com and www.kemwel.com. For these two, a train station or airport pick-up will cost about 40€, but there will be no one-way charge, nor is there a mileage limitation. It is also possible to decline the CDW coverage if your credit card will carry it, although it means that the renter is responsible for repairs and then submits the charges to Visa. The earlier the rental, the lower the price.

Improviser

Be aware that not all credit card rental coverage includes renting in Europe. Has to be checked before relying on it.

Michael

<i>Be aware that not all credit card rental coverage includes renting in Europe</i>

Western Europe is generally covered except for Ireland and Italy, but it does not hurt to check.

PalenQ

Be careful about picking villages - some like the perched villages are hopelessly overrun with day trippers - at least when I was there. Night and quiet at night but ice cream lapping tourist flood in during the day.

StCirq

Actually, Bordeaux is 203 kms from Sarlat, and Toulouse is 181.

PalenQ

Lilbourne a stop on the TGV line from Paris is a jumping off point for the Dordogne, either by train/bus or rental car if your company services this rather main station. The fantastic Dun de Pylat is also only a few miles away - awesome baby!

Michael

<i>The fantastic Dun de Pylat is also only a few miles away - awesome baby!</i>

The dune de Pylat (look for the bassin d'Arcachon on a map) is on the opposite side of Bordeaux and driving on the ring highway is the pits.

wunderbar2

Hi 6abc, we did a similar trip this past April & May. We spent one week in Paris, before picking up our rental car at Gare du Nord (be sure to book from the US) then drove to Beynac for a 7 night house rental. The drive from Paris was about 6 hours, most of it highway and not bad at all. We loved the house in Beynac, a very small town but a great jumping off place for doing day trips. During the week we went to the Sunday market in St, Cyprien, a must see if you like markets, visited Sarlat, Domme, Rocamadour, Montignac, Lalinde and many more. We also visited the caves at Lascaux and St. Christophe and several bastide towns. It was a wonderful area to drive the back roads and stop if something looked interesting.

After Beynac we drove back to Paris as our air was r/t Houston IAH to CDG, returned the car at the airport, spent the last night a one of the CDG airport hotels and headed home the following morning.

If you're interested in any of our info, let me know. If not, have a great trip.

Michael

<i>We spent one week in Paris, before picking up our rental car at Gare du Nord (be sure to book from the US) then drove to Beynac for a 7 night house rental.</i>

One saves money and time by taking the train to Brive-la-Gaillarde and picking up the car there; the only reason not to is that Brive might not have a car with automatic shift. If tickets are purchased soon enough, they can be had for 15€ (that's what we paid).

If leaving from Paris, Gare de Lyon, or a rental location near the porte d'Orléans, or the gare Montparnasse would be more convenient for going south.

6abc

Thank you all for the input. Looks we will fly into Toulouse and MAYBE out from there too. I am still up in the air about maybe driving up to Paris and staying a few days there before heading home OR....

Saving Paris, Normandy etc for another trip.

I think my problem is I am getting overwhelmed about all the different towns with names I pronounce with my American way of speaking which I am sure are not even close. And also the distances to drive to these towns for day trips. Don't mind a couple hour drive back and forth that is the fun of it sometimes.

StCirq....WE usually stay in the countryside someplace. We did that in Provence and in Catalonia Spain and loved be out of the traffic. As long as a market is within driving distance.

Any good areas that are near some good hiking and small markets or even big ones is ok.

wunderbar2 would love to hear more about your trip and the name of the house you stayed in.


Is there a place near the airport in Toulouse to stay for a few nights that is nice. I am not sure we want to drive 2 hours after a long flight .....any comments on this.


Improviser...ready to book in a few days. Will look into Ferme de Tayac.

Thanks for all the good car rental info. we usually do AutoEurope might stick with them and a stick shift is OK.

ONE LAST question for now. Comments on staying the entire time in one spot or is the area too big to keep traveling out from one base. Do we need to do a few days in small hotels further outside of the area?

Liked the comment on doing hikes on our own. It always is an worry about booking a hiking trip and dealing with injuries. We have been lucky thus far but aging stinks and thinks break down now.

thanks again

Will check back in later today.

kansas

We stayed in Toulouse for 2 nights on our way to the Dordogne. It is a lovely city. Then spent 2 nights at the Domaine de la Rhue, a favorite place among Fodorites. I believe there is a walking path from the Domaine to Rocamadour (or at least a view of it)...perhaps 45 minutes each way. If I am not mistaken, I I got this information from a posting by Tower.

If I was doing the same trip again, I think I would add another day to Domaine de la Rhue. We did not have time for Gouffre de Padirac, Martel, or Collonges La Rouge.

There is much to see between Toulouse and Sarlat. If you click on my name, you can find my trip report from 2011. We are going back again in early September.

Blaise22

If I were doing your trip, this is a place I would consider staying that is near Toulouse but still out in the country in a beautiful village. On Google maps it says it takes 53 minutes to get there from the airport.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._Pyrenees.html

kenav

We flew into Toulouse to do this region. We got a car at the airport and then drove to Albi for the night. Really nice, historic town. Recommended. About an hour's drive from Toulouse.

Drove from there to Rocamadour. Stayed for 4 days. Then to Les Eyzies de Tayac for a few days and finally back to Toulouse for flight home. Splitting our time between those two areas gave us access to different towns, sites, prehistoric caves. Worked very well.

PalenQ

https://www.google.com/search?q=roca...=1600&bih=1049

Rocamadour is said to be the 2nd most visited site outside of Paris after Mont-Saint-Michel and for good reason - see the pictures of this ancient pilgrimage mecca built into a cliff!

Though not technically in the Dordogne it is just across its border.

http://www.tourisme-lot.com/en/648/p...amadour/page/0

wunderbar2

Hi 6abc
We rented the house in Beynac-et-Cazenac via VRBO, below is a link to the house, we were 2 couples and if traveling as one couple you may not need as large a place but it was gorgeous, looked exactly like photos on the website and the owner lives in the US and answered all emails promptly. We did book this particular rental 13 months in advance because we knew this was THE ONE. However, don't let this dissuade you, there are many rentals in other areas.

Here is the link

http://www.vrbo.com/148294

The owner also has another smaller home in Beynac, very nice and while it doesn't have the views over the river, it is charming.

Anything you want to know, fire away.

Susan