Anybody know Brive, France?
 

4 of us are traveling from Amsterdam to visit family in St. Robert, France. In his letter, mostly in English, he says they would pick us up at the train station in Brive. Wondering about the best route to take to get there from Amsterdam and what to expect in that area of France.

Sure...it's one of the gateways to the Dordogne, one of the most beautiful areas of France.

I imagine you'd take a train from Amsterdam to Paris and then the TGV to Brive. Pretty straightforward. Check out www.sncf.com for schedules and rates.

Not sure there is a TGV from Paris to Brive...but a few years ago we took a four hour ride on a non TGV to Brive..yes, indeed, Brive is the gateway to the lovely Dordogne...
St. Robert is a very short distance to Brive..
Stu T.

Thanks for your help. I'll check on the train schedules. I am still trying to sort out whether it is best to buy a Eurail select pass since we will be traveling from Amsterdam to Brive then to Paris and eventually back to Amsterdam. Any thoughts on this?

The point is that PREM fares might be available from Paris which would make the train fares much cheaper by buying individual tickets than using a rail pass.

Can you fly there ? I flew there one year from Orly.

It's got a great rugby team

My main reaction to your plan is that you are doing a lot of travelling, but it is possible. The SNCF site indicates that it should be possible to get from Amsterdam to Paris North. From there you can leave from Gare d'Austerlitz to get to Brive - 4 hours on a NON TGV, but still reasonably fast. We find Brive an attractive town, (We live 40 minutes away, and do a lot of shopping there) though not necessarily a tourist attraction in itself. If you are there, try Chez Francis, on Ave de Paris, for lunch. A super little bistro, probably the best food in the city, and a great welcome from Dominique, whose husband does the cooking.
An interesting footnote - 5 years ago we were in Australia, and spent some time with a friend I grew up with in Toronto, but hadnt seen for many years. She's a high school drama teacher, and was asked by her school to teach French - after all, as a Canadian she must be bilingual. Only another Canadian would know how unlikely this is. Anyway, whe was keeping one step ahead of her Grade 10 class, but wanted to know if I had ever heard of a town called Brive - their text book was based around a girl name Julie who lived in Brive. Quite a coincidence over all thoses thousands of miles. The Tourist office in Brive was quite intersted in the story, and we managed to send her class in Melbourne posters and other material about the town.