mcburja

This July, we're staying for a few weeks with friends in a villa about half way between Toulouse and Barcelona. Having flown from Toronto to Paris two summers ago for around $450 USD each, I've had trouble adjusting to how much fares have increased since then.

HST, I've just found a RT fare Toronto to Standsted for around $600, and now we're thinking that we should consider either driving or taking the train from London to Toulouse.

I have no rail experience in Europe. Are we better off getting a Eurorail Pass, and catching the TGV on the French side? Or would you recommend the drive? We loved driving in from Paris to the Dordogne on our last trip. We have a fair amount of flexibility on dates, so have the luxury of considering various options.

Nikki

You could also consider flying from London to Toulouse on a budget airline. See www.whichbudget.com.

Dukey

I' sorry you aren't flying into Gatwick since there is budget airline service from there to Toulouse.

OTOH how about using the EasyJet service from Stansted to Barcelona and taking the train from there?

ira

Hi M,

I don't think that want to drive a UK car in France, even if the rental agency will let you.

Have you looked for discount airlines from LON to Toulouse or Barcelona at www.whichbudget.com?

If you go by train, you will take the Eurostar from London Waterloo to Paris Nord.

Trains to Toulouse leave from Paris Montparnasse.

It might be cheaper to purchase a RT Eurostar ticket to Paris and another pair of tickets Paris/Toulouse.

See www.voyages-sncf.com.

Enjoy your visit.

Michael

Since you've been to the Dordogne, I will not suggest taking RyanAir to Limoges, but you could take it to Montpellier or take EasyJet to Lyon and drive across the Massif Central to Toulouse. Stay a couple of nights in Lyon to visit the city.

alanRow

Ryanair does a lot of flights from Stansted to Southern France

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/dests.php?flash=chk

Dukey

www.skyscanner.net will give you all the budget options

Pvoyageuse

Since the villa is half way between Toulouse and Barcelona, you could fly Ryanair from Standsted either to Carcassonne or to Perpignan.

sheila

I think we need to know teh destination, but I'd be looking at Ryanir flights pretty much whereever it is

mcburja

Thank you all for your help. The gite is near Olonzac, between (and north of) Carcassone and Narbonne. I've checked Ryanair, EasyJet and so on, and the difficulty is that they all get into Standsted after our flight leaves at noon, so we'd have to look at staying overnight near the airport. From other posts, I gather that this wouldn't be the highlight of our trip!

If I can find anyone who flies into Stansted in the morning, I'll see if we can drive a little further to another airport. At least our last night would be in France.

sheila

What time does your flight get into Stansted?

There are Ryanair flights from there to Perpignan and Carcassonne about 1pm every day. There are earlier flights to Pau or Montpellier, but I supect the times won't work; and there are 4 flights a day to Girona- it's only 2 hours' drive from there.

Michael

I think that mcburja is talking about problems with the return flight. Girona might not be a good bet only because it would require the return of the car to the same airport to avoid the cross-border fees, whereas a French airport would allow the freedom of not having a RT from the same French airport.

mcburja

Catching a connecting flight from Standsted to the Languedoc is going to be fairly easy - it's getting back to the U.K. early enough to catch the noon flight back to Canada that's the trick.

On paper, I've got a workable solution. We'll fly Ryanair from Stansted to Rodez with 3 hours between flights, so no problem. On the way back, we can fly from Montpellier to Stansted, with a 90 minute layover.

Other posts have suggested that trusting Ryanair to catch a connecting flight can be a risk. Does anyone have any recommendations/suggestions?

p.s. I don't know how people travel without the incredibly generous help to be found on this site.

janisj

You really can't depend on any of teh budget airlines (or "legacy" carriers for that matter) to make a connection to a long haul flight.

Since the tix are on different bookings, you have no recourse if your flight is delayed or cancelled.

I would <u>definitely</u> fly to the UK the evening before.

sheila

What Janis has said is quite right, and I'm not a frequent user of the cheapies, but I HAVE used them all, and I've NEVER been late yet.(Touch wood)

mcburja

We'd still like to consider the train option. I'm having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to get from the airport to somewhere in France where we would rent a car to drive south.

We can fly into either Stansted or Gatwick, and then would take the train (Eurostar? BritRail?) to Paris or perhaps further south (we can take a few days to get from London to Olonzac.

So, Gatwick or Stansted - which offers the easier connection to a rail line to Paris?

Once again - our thanks for your help.

sheila

It must be Gatwick.

It is. You can get a train direct from gatwick to Ashford. The train takes 1 hour 35 minutes. You can then get a train from there to Avignon.

You can track it down on this web site.

http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/destinations.jsp

mcburja

Well, after watching prices rise steadily over the last few weeks, we finally commited today and have our flights booked. We'll fly Toronto to Stansted, then take Ryanair to Perpignan. Same deal on the way home, except with one night near Standsted.

With our gite booked for two weeks, we find ourselves with a couple of days on the front and three days on the back end of our stay to wander a bit more. Any suggestions for B&amp;B's in that locale? As long as we can get the rental car back to Perpignan by our final day, we're open to all ideas.

Michael

I gather you will have a car. I would suggest a drive up to La Tour de Carol and from there down to Foix and your villa. Or go to Prades and then take the road over the Col de Jau toward Quillan. Once in the foothills of the Pyr&eacute;n&eacute;es you will pass by some Cathar (sp?) ruins that you might want to explore.

alanRow

&lt;&lt;&lt; It is. You can get a train direct from gatwick to Ashford. &gt;&gt;&gt;

BUT it would be far quicker to go into London and get the train from Waterloo.