For an overnight flight from the USA Delta/Air France offers:

a connection time(lay over) of 1hr 05 Min at CDG or
a connection time (lay over) of 4hr15 Min at CDG
After landing in Toulouse I have a 2-1/2 hr drive (car rental) to Sarlat

I have the feeling that a scheduled 1hr 05 min connection is short considering on-time arrival, France customs/immigration, security, getting from terminal 2E to 2F. I think I only have a 50-75% chance to make the flight to Toulouse. Or do they hold domestic flights waiting for connecting passengers? How about checked baggage? On the other hand I do not want to spend 4-1/4 hrs waiting in the CDG airport. I would like to get to my final destination ASAP. Another option is to drive (6hrs) CDG to Sarlat upon arrival at CDG (6 AM). Train is not an option because of connection time and flying to Toulouse is no additional cost. There are 5 of us. I know if I miss the connection they will put us on the next available flight that has 5 seats available, but when will that be?

Are my assumptions correct? What would you do?

hello, I have done this connection last year. I chose about a two hour connection time, which you don't seem to have possible. forget customs, why do you think that you'll go through customs as an arrival to France where you don't live, let alone during a layover on a flight. You won't go through customs.

I wouldn't think they are going to hold up a local flight for any passenger who doesn't make it from any other airline, I wouldn't count on that at all. They have flights all day long, after all.

To be honest, I don't like any of your choices, isn't there something in-between a 1 and 4.5 hours? If this is really Air France I'd probably choose the 1 hr as they will have to get you there somehow and I always fly AF. They usually seem to arrive in Paris 30-45 min early when I take them. They almost always do, actually. Don't know what Delta does, but I presume you are flying from Atlanta? It's hard to say with five people though, that makes a big difference than one person.

Your baggage goes through, you don't have to do anything with it.

So I guess you are considering a 7ish flight vs. 10:15 am? too bad there isn't one more like 8-9 but you won't be waiting four hours in CDG. Probably more like 3.

I can't even imagine you driving 6 hours after an overnight flight and getting out of the airport and renting the car (that last two might take 1-2 hours total). And I presume you've never been there before and don't know where you are going? If you get into TLS around 11:30 am (choosing later flight), true, I suppose you'd end up there at the same time, but you won't get there sooner driving from CDG, as far as I can see. So I wouldn't do that, it sounds dangerous to me.

I would have planned a different vacation, to be honest. Maybe spending a few days sightseeing in TLS after arriving before going to Sarlat.

I think your assumptions are correct.

It is possible to make a 1+05 connection at CDG but it´s definitely not assured. If you miss this connection, you will indeed need to wait for available seats which may not necessarily be on the next departing aircraft and may not all be together though you can certainly wait if you want.

I would never attempt a connection of less than 2 hours at CDG or any other airport.

I'm doing the same thing (AF to CDG, then needing to get to Beynac) and opted for the longer layover to Toulouse. We had 2 hours as a possibility for 4 of our party, but 2 would have been looking at just over an hour for the connection. Thought about taking the train, but since you can fly on from CDG to Toulouse for nothing but landing fees and the like, flying looks to be much cheaper.

If you're willing to go into Paris to either the Gare d'Austerlitz or the Gare Montparnasse, you have a large number of train choices.

If it's connecting tickets then go for the shorter connection as you'll generally get put on the later one if you miss it. In any case my experience is that AF are VERY good at short connections

Two points

1) you will go through immigration at CDG
2) is it really a good idea to go driving off into the distance when your body is jet lagged? This goes double if you drive from CDG

I'd recommend you go into Paris to Gare d'Austerlitz, take the train to Brive (there's usually one around 10 - check the SNCF website http://www.voyages-sncf.com/

Get off the train at Brive la Gaillarde, (4 hour trip)where there are numerous car rental agencies, pick up your car and drive about 45 minutes to Sarlat.

St Cirq and Carlux
If I did not have free airline tickets to Toulouse (no additional cost over flying to Paris) I would take the train as you suggest. In fact I am planning to take the train when returning to Paris.

Christina and alan
We are flying from Cincinnati. There is only one direct flight from Cincinnati so we do not have a choice of arrival time in Paris.

The plane from Cincinnati is Delta co-ticketed Air France. I have monitored arrival times and Delta frequently misses on-time with 1 hr+ late and even a re-route to JFK.. There are also some 30 to 45 min early arrivals. The plane to Toulouse is Air France co-ticketed Delta.

I do have to go through immigration, if not customs, since I am arriving from a non EU country.

The flights to Toulouse leave at 7:15 AM, 10:25 AM and 1:30PM plus 3 night departures. There are other flights Paris to Toulouse from Orly but that doesn’t help when we land in CDG.

Driving from CDG after an overnight flight is no physical problem for me but you are correct it is a very poor option. I have all but rejected it.

As far as planning it differently, I did. We originally did not have to be in Sarlat until the next day. Our rental does not start until the next day but my son and daughter-in-law would like to attend the outdoor market in Sarlat which requires us to be there one day earlier. If I choose not to have an advance hotel/B&B reservation in Sarlat and wing it we can make a decision on that day

Sarastro and twk
You bring up the dilemma. I am currently leaning towards taking the long layover. Yesterday my thinking was go for the short layover. Ugh!

How long are you going to be in Sarlat? There are two market days, Wednesday and Saturday, though Wednesday's is smaller. Besides, there are excellent markets just about the same size in St-Cyprien on Sunday, Le Bugue on Tuesday, Lalinde on Thursday, Montignac on Friday, etc., etc. I wouldn't put THAT much emphasis on getting to a specific market.

Forgot to add that markets shut down by about 1 pm at the latest, so if you were planning on going to market in Sarlat the day you're traveling, you won't make it.

StCirq, where do trains from Montparnasse arrive in the Dordogne?

I'll be making arrangements for family members to meet us from Paris, and I thought the Gare Austerlitz to Brive ticket was the best option. (I liked, for their sake, that the route doesn't require any changes.) Is there a better option?

Pavot, the Gare d'Austerlitz to Brive ticket may well be your best option, but there are also TGVs from Montparnasse to Libourne and Bordeaux (and then connections on CoRail to Périgueux), or you can take the pokey train from Gare d'Austerlitz through Limoges (with either a change or a brief stop) to Périgueux.

St Cirq or Carlux
Will it be possible to find a hotel or B&B in or near Sarlat that rents for one Friday night in July so that I can go to the Saturday Sarlat market the next morning?

dugi_otok, I should think that would be no problem at all. Do a search here for hotels and B&Bs in Sarlat (since I have a home there I don't need accommodations, so I'm no expert on that).

Normally you should have no problem finding a hotel. There are at least 2 English speaking B&B - chambre d'hotes in Sarlat in the centre of town, La Lanterne and Les Cordeliers. They might want a longer rental, but a hotel should be fine - but if you are coming in July, I'd make sure to book it ahead, as it's a busy time here.

If flying from Orly is an option, you can take the Air France car (bus) direct--I've taken it a couple of times. I don't know what it costs now, it was $12 or $14 the last time. Of course you'd have to arrange the luggage transfer yourself--but it is an option.

I've been on an 11 hour flight from LA to CDG, picked up a car at the airport and driven past Toulouse--but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is not either a fool or an idiot.
(I am both) It helps that the speed limit on the peages is 130km/hr but you have to get across Paris and to a real highway before the driving becomes at all easy.

Remember American/BA/Iberia are joining forces in April 2011 and will be adding CDG to the LHR already offered. Don't know if they have the info on line (still has to be accepted by US gov) but it's an option.

(Thanks for the train information, StCirq; and sorry for the thread interruption, dugi_otok.)

You say that you're leaning toward the longer connection at CDG. I think that's wise. If I were traveling alone or with one other person, booking the one hour connection would be worth the risk to me. The odds of getting seats on the next flight would be very good. However, the odds for five people all getting seats on the next flight probably aren't all that good.