Fayew

Hi all
Well, I thought I had it all figured out. Was going to take a train from Austerlitz to Souillac but apparently there aren't any trains running to Souillac from Austerlitz on Saturday June 11. The rail lines are listing Montparnasse as the station. Is this correct?

If so, any advice on how to get from CDG via rail to Montparnasse? Also, is there luggage storage at the Montp. station? We'll have a few hours to kill before our train leaves.

Seems like prices are much higher out of this station!

thanks all!
Fayew

PalenQ

I suspect that summer schedules which start about that weekend are not yet loaded for Austerlitz services, which take 4.5 to 5.5 hours vs 7.5 via TGV from Montparnasse

For example on Sat June 4 this train and others run from Austerlitz -

Paris Austerlitz Sa, 04.06.11 dep 10:18 4:26 0
Souillac Sa, 04.06.11 arr 14:44

This showing a direct train from Austerlitz (schedule from www.bahh.de the German railways web site that has schedules for all of Europe.

I would wait until trains from Austerlitz come on the schedule as I presume they will and yes they are a lot cheaper and quicker.

a good way to access the Wunderbar IMO www.bahn.de or German Rail English schedule page is to go to the home page of www.budgeteuropetravel.com and click on the link there "Best online European train timetable" (or some such wording) and you get the English schedule page with a From and To box and Date box and viola all the trains for that date and time. I give this homepage link because it also gives you several useful tips for using the fab IMO bahn.de site that are not apparent perhaps at first encounter.

Carlux

I really don't understand this, except that it's the Saturday of a long weekend - Pentecost. I've never seen a day when there are NO trains from Austerlitz to Souillac.

It's not hard to get to Montparnasse - there is a bus (navette) from the airport that goes directly there.The train from Montparnasse takes longer and is more expensive because it goes much further - takes you south of Souillac and then back up again.

Before you do anything, let me try to call the station at Souillac and ask them what's happening. Maybe they have construction underway that day. There wont be anyone there now, but I'll try tomorrow morning.

thomo91

As far as I am aware, all the major train stations in Paris have luggage facilities ( although you have to pay to use most of them).

Carlux

'I suspect that summer schedules which start about that weekend are not yet loaded for Austerlitz services, which take 4.5 to 5.5 hours vs 7.5 via TGV from Montparnasse'

Yes, but the schedule for 18 June is loaded and looks fine.

PalenQ

Well Sat June 4th shows direct trains Austerlitz to Souillac and you say 18th is too - then some kind of track work may be the culprit.

Fayew

thank you all for the information. I'll see what Carlux can find out by phoning the Souillac station.

Fayew

Carlux

Unfortunately, as I suspected, the whole line is closed Saturday and Sunday for 'travaux' - construction. So unless you can get down on the Friday, you'll have to take the long way around, or look into trains to Libourne/Bordeaux, or to Perigueux.

Too bad, as Paris-Souillac is so easy.

Fayew

Ugh! Well, that really does make it difficult. The rail europe website has a good trip combination but the trip is going to cost close to $700.

I can find the trip more inexpensively on the Voyages-sncf site but I'm concerned that I'm doing something wrong and I'm not sure I can book the tickets from the US. Has anyone had experience with the sncf site?

Christina

I am through Montparnasse station a lot, they do have a paid left-luggage facility in there (consignes) on level 1. It's automatic, you need coins but I think some of them take credit cards in there.

yes, I've had experience with the SNCF site, I've bought several tickets through it over the years. I read French so it doesn't concern me to use it, I am not worried as I can read the instructions and follow them, and I have a long-standing account with SNCF. It sounds like you don't read French.

mingwei1

when you go on sncf site put in your country of origin as Britain rather than us, and you will be able to pay european prices, as Rail Europe is much more expensive. You can then print out the tickets at the end of the process. At least this is how it worked for me, and hopefully it will all work out when I go to France in May -- others with more experience will chime in I'm sure.

PalenQ

Try the SNCF site and see if it works - if all else fails you can be comfy with just showing up and getting tickets on any of those trains IME - but if you are the type who needs a ticket in hand with the required seat reservation and all else fails then in the U.S. then contact Byron at www.budgeteuropetravel.com - whom I have bought passes from for years and will give you great personal service - a RE agent however so RE pricing - but as a last resort if you are unsuccessful with voyages-sncf.com or uncomfy just going to Paris and buying full fare tickets, which again should be readily available, especially if you will be in Paris some days before the train. You could also investigate www.easyjet.com to see if they have cheap flights to some airport near Souillac.

Fayew

Well, I'm not having much luck finding anything cheaper or quicker.

Any thoughts on driving? Looks like a 6+ hour drive. Ideally we'd drive down from CDG and drop the car somewhere and take the train back. Is there a rental agency in souillac?

thank you all for your advice!

Carlux

It's not a difficult drive - the autoroute is fast, and certainly as you go farther south it gets more interesting and attractive.

There is no rental agency in Souillac, but there is in Brive la Gaillarde, about 40 minutes away, and so you could leave the car there. You'll need one here,anyway.

If you do decide to take the train, have a look at the information on Slowtrav, which has a detailed description of how to use the SNCF site http://www.slowtrav.com/france/trains/index.htm

StCirq

The SNCF site isn't that hard. There are countless threads here on Fodors about how to use it. I'd figure out how to buy tickets from it before deciding to rent a car and drive, for sure.

PalenQ

Keep in mind predatory tolls on the autoroute in your cost factors as well as $8/gal or so petrol.

PalenQ

Looking at schedules for June 11 it seems a train leaving Montparnasse about 10:15am gets into Limoges in 3.5 hours or so and the drive from Limoges to Souillac is a lot shorter than from Paris.

Fayew

thanks everyone. Just to explain, we have scheduled a bike trip that begins in Souillac. Our bike representative was to meet us at the train station in souillac at which point we would no longer need a car. they have agreed to meet us in Brive now so we can drive to Brive and take the train home the following weekend. Thank you all for the input! I'm off to search the forum for information on what type of license is needed to drive in France!

Carlux

All you need to drive here is a valid drivers licence.

PalenQ

Well make sure your license is not expiring soon - there may be a requirement that a license must be valid for some period of time to be valid - is in some countries. But I have always driven on my regular state drivers license in France - no need IME for International Driving Permit, available at AA and does not cost much - is a certified translation of your license info - required in some countries - a translation that it - but I think not in France.