Dordogne and Strassbourg
 

One of our best trips ever was going to CDG and taking TGV to Avignon, getting car for nine days, staying one place (Les Figes?) in St Remy, making day trips and walking to dinner every night. We now have mileage tickets RT CDG from Sept 25 to October 7 and knew we wanted to go to Sarlat via TGV at Bordeaux, pick up car. We have reservations for six nights and then want to move on, either by car, train or flight. I'd like to go to Strassbourg as base to see Alsace-Lorraine. DH is not against it but believes we can't get from Sarlat to Strassbourg. Is there an easy way? and then I know easy TGV from Strassbourg back to CDG. Have been to Paris three times, and though I'd love it, feel we should concentrate on the trips that require more physical effort in the next couple of years. Thanks.

You can go from Sarlat to Strasbourg by train, with one change. There is a regional train that goes from Sarlat to Bordeaux St.Jean and then take the TGV onward to Strasbourg. It'll take 9.5hrs including transfer time.

First off, the Dordogne and Strasbourg (note spelling) is a strange combination. But of course it can be done. I can't tell from your post if you're planning on taking the TGV from CDG and THEN picking up a car to drive to Sarlat, or if you think you can get to Sarlat on the TGV through Bordeaux - which you can't. A better plan in any case would be to take the train from Paris to Brive and pick up a car and drive to Sarlat from there.

And your husband is right. There's no easy way to get to Strasbourg from the Dordogne by train. You can go from Périgueux via Bordeaux, which will take you 8+ hours , or from Brive through Limoges and Poitiers, which will take you about the same.

Personally, I love trains but 8+ hours on a regional one isn't my idea of fun, plus it basically ruins a whole vacation day.

At least the Dordogne part of your trip:
Getting here:
There is a TGV (kind of - there isn't really high speed track all the way to Bordeaux) So, if you are already in Paris, just take the train from Gare d'Austerlitz to Brive la Gaillarde, pick up a car and go on to Sarlat.

If you land at Roissy/CDG and can get a TGV directly from there to Bordeaux it might be worthwhile, but normally you have to go into Paris, and if you do that,the Brive option is much better.

Strasbourg is the other end of the country - possible, but I don't understand why you would plan to do this if you don't have more time. It's a surprisingly long way/difficult trip to get from one end of the country to another.

bookmarking

Thank you for the info. I will check on best connections given our flight times from CDG to either Bordeaux or Brive for car rental to Sarlat. I was afraid that Strasbourg (thanks for spelling, St Cirq) was not going to be the answer to a second week of touring.

I just spent a delightful hour reading justretired's trip report of two weeks in Sarlat and although I'm definitely going to use the information, I'd still like to find someplace else to go from Sarlat. We have "done" Normandy and Brittany. Could anyone suggest a second base for various day trips by car and a train line perhaps to either CDG or Paris?

Thanks very much. Fodor's always a great resource and everyone very generous with their time and knowledge.

Well, since two people were generous to criticize your personal choice of a vacation destination as either strange or incomprehensible, I guess you should go wherever they generously, of course, suggest.

I would think a week around La Rochelle and Saintes and Ile de Ré would be just lovely. Maybe Angoulème as well, though I can't say as I know much about it.

Well, I didn't see Aramis' comment for three hours, then once I did see it, I walked around muttering to myself for another hour, then I decided that maybe an 8 hour train ride to someplace I really wanted to see (Strasbourg and environs) might be a fair trade-off. THEN I started to google various combination of places and modes of transportation for an hour. And THEN i found a non-stop Air France flight Bordeaux to Strasbourg, 90 minutes, $105 one way for each of us, available on the day we want to travel at 9 a.m. And I thank you all for your comments and "giving me to think" as Poirot would say. Fodor's always invaluable.

You could have tried Bordeaux-Basel serviced by EasyJet.

Glad you found your wings, gladtotravel

The villages in the Pays Basque are beautiful and you could include the beach resort of St-Jean de Luz.

Good to hear you solved the travel issue. Have NO idea what St-Jean-de-luz has to do with this. Great place, but not even remotely on this person's itinerary.

Gladtotravel, I'm glad you solved your transportation problems. We have stayed in both locations, but on separate trips. We loved Sarlat and used it as a base for a week in October 2009, I have written a trip report for it.

Last year we spent a week in Strasbourg/Alsace region splitting our time between Strasbourg and a cute Alsacien village, Riquewihr. That trip was late September and wonderful. I haven't done the trip report yet, but would be happy to help with any questions.

I'm envious have a great trip!