RugbyTrippin

Hey all,
I've just signed up, as I'm one of the lucky few that seem to have successfully navigated the horror show that has been the RWC2023 ticket sale so far.

So rather than leaving it to last minute, I'm starting to do a bit of research on the travel side of it.

My wife and I managed to get match tickets for St. Denis and Lyon, so will be starting in St. Denis and travelling to Lyon, before travelling back to St. Denis. We'll have a couple of quiet periods between matches also and we'd look to travel further afield, but for now I'm just looking for some advice on accommodation types.

We'll likely drive over and bring a tent, but would be open to flying and hiring a camper instead.

All depends on the cost and standard of camping locations and whether it's worth it versus brick & mortar.

I've heard the French really have their act together when it comes to camping, so wondered if anyone had any advice/experience on this, or suggestions for specific accommodations in the geographic area between Paris & Lyon that I could look into and start to put a costing on things. Ultimately that's what will make our decision for us, so wanted to get some idea on cost as early as possible.

Thanks in advance for any and all help 😁

bilboburgler

You might also consider taking the train.

you'll find seat61.com very useful to get the best out of French railways

RugbyTrippin

Great, thanks for that. We had more or less discounted the public transport option purely on the basis of flexibility.

Have a few places we want to go to in downtime, and the car would give us flexibility to ramble, but will definitely give it a look 😊

kerouac

I admire your interest in camping, and it is true that most of the campgrounds are excellent, but in view of the current situation it is much too early to make specific plans. 2023 is still a long time from now, probably a couple of epidemics away.

RugbyTrippin

True, thanks

... and yes, 2.5 years is far to early for specific planning, not least because it's not possible to book anything yet.
This is why I'm not making specific plans right now, regardless of Covid or other pandemics 😁

I'm assuming that the majority of the same establishments / rental companies will still exist when it comes final decisions and booking, so I'm making it easier on my future self by starting the info gathering process now.

That's all I'm looking for ... information

annhig

Hi RugbyTrippin - sadly I don't have any experience of going to a rugby World cup [dead jealous BTW] but having booked various "event" based accommodations in the past, my best advice is to look at what there is available now which might interest you, and see when it comes on line to book in 2021 for 2022. That will give you some idea of when you might be able to book in 2022 for 2023. Also i would definitely target places with very generous free cancellation terms, even if it means paying a bit more. And I would book a reasonable back up with those terms as early as possible while I looked for something else that might suit me better.

As for transport, [assuming that the St Denis you mean is the one next to the Stade de France] getting from or to there to/from Lyon could hardly be easier - just take the RER D to the Gare de Lyon, and hop on the train. The hardest thing will be getting from the rugby ground to the station which where we went to an England v France match there was heavily guarded by some very fierce looking riot cops.

As the area around the Stade de France and St Denis is a bit "sketchy" you might want to consider doing what we did which was to stay in Central Paris and just get the RER up to St Denis a few hours before the match, if only to see the cathedral which was spectacular but a tad draughty and cold in February. Google maps is not showing any campings adjacent to the area and it seems a shame not to spend a couple of nights in Paris at least. Then you could just hop onto the TGV to Lyon and be there in a couple of hours. Or go further south, spend a few days in Avignon [non stop 2 hrs 30 mins] and then return to Lyon on the train in just over an hour.

Bon chance!

RugbyTrippin

Ah yes, that's exactly the advice advice hoping for, thank you!!

Just to know how easy/difficult it is to get from place to place. When you're used to the quality/frequency/reliability of Irish public transport ... it's hard to not be influenced by that when looking at travel in other countries.

Thanks for the tip about St. Denis! We would prob have ended up staying in Paris centre ... don't really care about standard of accomm in fairness ... it's the rugby and sight-seeing we're going for. If it's that easy to get from Paris to Lyon, that might open up the possibility of a single base we can work from too ... would free up a lot of moving travel time.

Brilliant, will factor all of that into the planning anyway ... fair play 😁

annhig

Glad to have been of service, RT. The RER and TGV are great, and Paris is really easy to get around.

Watching Scotland v France as I type - who do/did you fancy for the championship?

[I appreciate that by the time you get to read this, the question may be moot!]

RugbyTrippin

Tbh I've been torn over the result. Was dead against a French Championship after their disregard for Covid protocols and then trying to blame it on Ireland ... they completely threw Scotland off their stride after a massive start from them. They should have had the result awarded against them and this match shouldn't be happening.

That said, we are where we are and after Wales cynical finish to their match last weekend ... I'm getting behind France for this. 🤞🏻

annhig

oh dear. ah well. I was happy to see Scotland win, TBH, not least because one of my international rugby match activities is WhatsApping with a friend who lives in Italy but is ½ Scots. She gets a bit conflicted when Italy is playing Scotland but i think that the Scot in her usually wins out. Had there been a possibility of England taking the championship I suspect I'd have been less sanguine about the outcome!