klondike

Here are the givens:
1) MUST leave from Denver, Co around Sept 10. and return around Oct 11 to catch connecting flight to Alaska
2) MUST be in Bath, England for international convention Oct 7-10
3) have friends near Bordeaux we would like to spend a day or 2 with (wouldn't necessarily need car here, but okay)
4) want to take 1 wk self-drive canal trip of Canal du Midi - with pick up or drop off near Toulouse at Negra or Argens (willing to pay xtra fee for one way trip instead of aller/retour from Negra if that's adventageous for saving time by not backtracking) Car not needed this week.
5) MUST spend 10 days-2wks in southern France with emphasis on the SMALL TOWNS of the Dordogne and of the Cote d'Azur--car mandatory.
6) We have both been to England before many years ago and prefer France. Except for this 4 day meeting in Bath, do not want to spend time in England/London. (No offense to those who do.)
7) Looking for itinerary that makes the most sense financially AND especially time-wise.

Our rough draft plan: Fly into/out of London since we can get an affordable nonstop flight via BritishAirways from Denver. Same day fly into Bordeaux (or Toulouse??). Rent car and made 2 week ovoid clockwise tour through Dordogne-Provence -Cote D'Azur. Drop off car. Connect for 1 week canal du Midi boat cruise. Depart Toulouse for London or train Toulouse-Bordeaux for flight from Bordeaux? Other option is to START with the canal trip and then do car rental, but we thought it would be more enjoyable after 2 weeks of being on the move in car.

Indecision seems to be whether it is best to have flights/car rental start/end in same city or whether it makes more sense to pick up car in one city and drop it off in another since we only need it 2 of the 3 weeks in France. Start in Bordeaux, end in Toulouse? Start in Toulouse, end in Toulouse? Expedia seems to have cheaper flights to Nice. Would that save time starting there and flying out of Toulouse or Bordeaux? My head just starts spinning with all the options and I don't see the BEST one necessarily!

Thanks in advance for helping me see things more clearly!

viking

didn't follow all your details, but i think you can find a nice flight between Bristol (near bath) and Nice under ezjet.com (or was it ryanair.com?). Sometimes these go for literally 2 dollars pretax...

Gardyloo

Go look at www.whichbudget.com - it looks like Ryanair fly from Bristol to Nice, but also FlyBE go from Bristol to Bordeaux, Bergerac (Dordogne) or Toulouse for £29-£39 all in (i.e. including tax.) Helluva deal. Why go back to London at all?

klondike

That's why I love Fodorites help. I didn't even know Bristol was an option!

Gardyloo, I have to return to London to fly back to the states, otherwise I would avoid it. But I can always train from Bristol if that seems like the best solution.

Thanks for the input.

StCirq

If the Bristol-Bergerac option is available, that's what I'd do on both legs of the trip, avoiding both Bordeaux and Toulouse. Bergerac puts you closer to where you want to start your France adventure, and it's far easier to navigate than either Bordeaux or Toulouse.