I am in the beginning stages of trying to figure out a trip in the middle of July to a little town in Provence named Dieulefit. I will be staying with friends there, but only for five days or so (hopefully around the time of the Bastille day celebrations), the rest of the trip I was hoping to spend travelling around west Germany.

My question is, where should I fly into? I was thinking maybe Frankfurt, and then I could just take the train down to France? I am not sure how easy or time-efficient this would be. I have friends in Germany who will drive me around while I am there. So I am tentatively thinking I could fly into Frankfurt, spend a few days in Germany, then take a train to S. France for a few days, then take the train back into southern Germany (I have friends in Konstanz,Stuttgart,and Munich) I guess for now I am just wondering how easy it is to take the train from Germany to southern France?

Thanks in advance for any advice

Well, naturally, you can get from anywhere to anywhere by train - - eventually. But the geography respects rivers, Alps, and the general Paris-o-centric rail network. So it will be slower and more expensive with multiple transfers than you might hope.

I would divide this into two trips, mentally, joined by a cheap flight from Koeln-Bonn to Nice on www.germanwings.com - - I am having trouble coming up with an actual sample fare right now, but they are usually available at very low cost.

And look into an open jaw flight to get you to and from Europe - - that is, into one city and back home from another city.

Best wishes,

Rex

How lucky for you to stay in Dieulefit! It's one of our favorite towns in the Drôme (just north of Provence); in fact, we love the whole area. You should have a wonderful time, especially if you're there for Bastille Day! You probably know that Dieulefit is a major pottery center, and there are any number of medieval villages to visit in the area. About an hour south is the olive town of Nyons, which has a famous market--beautiful scenery in the area. I'm envious.

Rex mentioned the low-cost carrier germanwings. Good idea!
There's another one from Cologne to Marseille/ Provence: Hapag Lloyd Express www.hlx.com (sample fare on Sunday, July 18th, would be 40 EUR including taxes and everything).

Thanks so much for all your kind words and advice. I am really looking forward to Dieulefit!

I am wondering, though, are there any airlines like the ones mentioned above that fly from either Frankfurt or Munich to the south of France?

Well, Ryanair flies from Frankfurt Hahn to Montpellier (that's it for southern France). Hahn is about one to 1.5 hours from Frankfurt proper - there are buses.

EasyJet flies from Munich only to Stansted, from where you could connect and fly into Nice. Or, you could fly on Germanwings from Munich to Cologne to Nice. However, don't know how the schedules work out.

If you plan to be in France at the beginning of the trip, you should just fly to France. It doesn't seem to make sense to fly to Germany and then spend the money and time to go to France. I think the closest city would be Lyon, isn't it? That's a major city so you shouldn't have trouble getting a flight there.

Christina you are definitely right. I am going to fly into Paris or Lyon and then get to Germany from there. I am actually thinking three weeks just in France sounds great in itself and my friends from Germany can come visit me there!