travelcat48

We will be taking a train from Paris to Brive, picking up a car, then driving to Sarlat for a 5 day stay.
Since we have now decided to fly out of Toulouse here is the question....
Drive back to Brive, drop the car and take train to Toulouse?
or
Drive to Toulouse from Sarlat and (hopefully) drop the car there.
We would then spend 1 (or 2?) nights in Toulouse before flying back to the states.
Would love to hear input on which is more reasonable...also 1 or 2 nights in Toulouse?...and even any suggestions about where to stay in Toulouse (anyone stayed at Hotel St. Claire?)

Thanks for any and all insight.....these forums are really helping us make our itinerary work the best.
Pam

Michael

Drive to Toulouse via Albi to see Ste. Cécile and the bishop's palace next door which has a Toulouse-Lautrec museum.

kja

I second Michael's suggestion to visit Albi. If you're there long enough for a meal, I strongly recommend the Le Clos Sainte Cecile.

I wish I'd had more than 1.5 days in Toulouse - loved it! But what interests me might not be what interests you...

Enjoy!

Carlux

It's an easy drive from Sarlat to Toulouse, and most of the car rental agencies let you drop off the car at a different location with no extra charge. And because it's not a large city you should be able to get into the centre without much difficulty, even if you have to take a taxi.

Flying out of Toulouse again is quite simple - you can take the navette to the airport from the train station, or several different stops. Or take a taxi. It's not a huge airport, and easy to navigate around.

In Toulouse spend some time in the main square, the Capitole, check out the wonderful church of Les Jacobins, and the Fondation Bemberg, the Musee des Augustins - or just walk aroudn the city centre, which is usally busy with young people and various events

travelcat48

Michael,kja and carlux, Thanks so much for the information...that is what we will do. Sounds easy.
Any hotel ideas?

StuDudley

Like everyone else stated - drive to Toulouse, stay 2 nights and visit Albi & Cordes on the way. We've started or ended many trips to the southwest from Toulouse. We did so this past July. We stayed at the Mermoz - which was quite nice & within walking distance of the train station - where we returned our car. Dine at Bibent - Christain Constant's new restaurant on the main square in Toulouse. Take the Michelin walking itinerary in the Green guide. We've also had several nice meals at Emile. Toulouse (along with Dijon) are our favorites cities in France - after Paris. Albi is in our "top 5" medium sized cities. Just about everything in Albi closes for lunch.

Stu Dudley

travelcat48

Thank you, Stu. As always, your input is detailed and valuable. Will check out Mermoz.

La_Tour_de_Cause

If you are ONLY going to Toulouse (and not interested in stopping in Albi & Cordes), I would drop the car at Brive and take the train to Toulouse. From the train station, it's an easy walk to plenty of decent hotels. The only disadvantage would be you'd have to drag your luggage through the streets, but if you're traveling light that's not a big problem...and could be made less of a problem if you can get a taxi to take you to your hotel from the station.

If you take the train, you won't have to drive your car INTO Toulouse. It's not a nightmare, but it is an unfamiliar city, and a little confusing around the train station/car drop-off area if you haven't been there before.

TPAYT

You'll have to take others advice on getting there as we flew into Toulouse and then drove to Sarlat.

I will comment on Toulouse itself though. We stayed 2 nights just to get over jet lag before driving and we were quite surprised at the city. We stayed at Grand Hotel de L'Opera right on the square and we were very pleased with our choice.

Toulouse is a great walking city, the main square with all the cafes is excellent, and there are many attractions within easy walking distance. It turned out that we wished we had stayed another day.

We took a cab from the airport and then to the train station when leaving. Here's my trip report if you're interested. We received so many helpful tips from the Fodorites.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-and-paris.cfm

annhig

when we flew to Toulouse for a short break, we spent 2 nights there [http://www.hotel-albert1.com/ - just off the main square, quiet, with a very good breakfast including eggs you boil yourself and freshly squeezed orange juice] and then picked up a car from the railway station.

this did involve traipsing our luggage along the street because there were no cabs, but you ought to be able to pick up a cab at the station, if you did this in reverse. as Toulouse is pretty flat, pulling the luggage wasn't such a problem.

it's a vey nice place and definitely has enough to fill a couple of days, if you can spare them.