Need help with hotels St. Jean de luz, La Rochelle and intinerary
 

We will be landing in Paris from the US very early in the morning. Is Air France the only airline to offer service to Biarritz? Out of Charles de Gaulle there is only one flight, meaning we would have to wait 5 hours. If we shuttle to Orly, we have a choice of a few more flight times but serverely jet lagged, that sounds like a complicated ordeal. We could take the train but we would we have to get to Montparnasse from CDG airport? The train and 1:30 flight would arrive at the same time. Any suggestions?

In St. Jean de Luz, we are torn between Hotel La Diviniere in town and Hotel Parc Victoria--out of town. We always prefer to have a restaurant selection in the evening but the Parc Victoria sounds great too. Perhaps in early May the parking in town won't be a big deal. How do we decide (the price is not an issue between these two)

We will travel north after 3 days and stay overnight on the western edge of the Dordogne. Would you recommend Brantome? The Moulin de l'Abbaye sounds a bit over the top--we never get too excited about these gastonomic expensive dinners. Should we consider staying in St. Emilion instead? We like upper end but not luxury class--nothing stuffy and formal, and definitely not isolated in the middle of no where.

Then 3 nights either in La Rochelle or Ile de Re. We think we would like to spend the first day in La Rochelle then head over to Ile de Re and spend 3 nights. The bridge toll sounds expensive so we won't want to go back and forth too often. Hotel de Troiras sounds charming on Ile de Re. Any other hotels to consider? We don't want the modern, basic moderate style--something quiet with charm.

Years ago I stayed at Clair de Lune outside of Biarritz and decided during that visit that I wanted to return and stay in St. Jean de luz. I have also toured the Dordogne but not on the western edge. With only a one night stopover, a little town to explore would be fun.

We love St Jean de Luz and would recommend that you stay in town, perhaps having dinner at one of the restaurants on Rue Republique. Our favorite is La Portua. You will not need a car while there.

We vastly prefer St Jean de Luz over La Rochelle, by the way.

Brantome is a very attractive town, and the Moulin de l'Abbaye is a beautiful hotel. Suprisingly we found the cuisine to be second rate when we stayed there a few years ago.

Do you think we should consider 4 nights in St. Jean de luz and only 2 nights Ile de Re? Is there enough to see in that area? Seems to me from my last visit that the town itself only takes one afternoon.

We have taken a flight from Orly after landing early in the a.m. at CDG. It's not hard to do. Just get the Air France bus that runs betweeen the two airports.

I'm also planning a simular trip and notice that the train fare is much less than the airfare. Have you checked the price options?

Hi RichardJ,

My wife and I both liked the Parc Victoria Hotel. We left the car at the hotel and walked to and from our dinner (two nights). I did not think it was far, except for the added distance skirting dog droppings. JQ

JQ Reports--Thanks for the thumbs up on Parc Victoria. Did you happen to stay in the deluxe or suite?

Images 2--If the train from CGD goes to Gare du Nord, how would you get to Montparnasse--taxi? The 10:10 train from Monparnasse gets into Biarritz (according to raileurope.com at 5:20 and costs $94 US first class--a substantial savings from the flight at 11:50 (Orly) for 278 E. Are you sure the AF flight and the train are the only options? (driving is out of the question).

Hi Richard.

Are you sure there is only one flight? I did this before and took a morning flight after a transatlantic flight. Just checked Expedia (for dates in May) and there is a direct flight at 0915 from CDG. Second choice would be a flight from Orly.

Meant to add, you might also consider flying into Bordeaux from CDG (more flights) pick up your car there and drive to St. Jean (about 200Km).

Richard, for your Dordogne night, I stayed at a wonderful little hotel in Bourdeilles (not far from Brantome), called the Hostellerie les Griffons.
Bourdeilles is a very charming little village with a great castle - Chateau de Bourdeilles. They have a great restaurant and the couple who own this place are terrific. The price was quite reasonable for a lovely room and wonderful dinners (I stayed there 2 nights and wished it had been longer).
The hotel is part of the Chateaux & Hotels de France group and is a Karen Brown rec. I think the website is
www.griffons.fr

Richard, We too found the Moulin a little rich for our blood and so stayed at Hotel Chabrol in Brantôme. Family run, Rooms run 43 euros to 70 last we were there. Wonderful regional cuisine and comfortable rooms, some overlooking the Dronne river. We really enjoyed our overnight stay here and all within walking distance of the local sights. Can't compare it to Bourdeilles, another neaby town, but we certainly wouldn't hesitate to make a little detour to visit Brantôme again.

In La Rochelle we really like the old-world charm of the France-Angleterre et Champlain, a former Hotel Particulier and appreciate its calm away from (though within walking distance of) the waterfront. Rooms run 60-100 euros. We contact them directly instead of going through the Best Western site.

If you like, contact me at [email protected] and I will send you hotel/grounds photos of both these, and don't forget to post a report as my husband wants to get down to St. Jean de Luz this fall. We don't have any hotel in mind for there yet.

Topping--because I'm interested too.

We stayed at the Moulin de Abbaye in Brantome and the Moulin du Roc in Champagnac de Belair(near Brantome-6km)
Another year we were at the Chateau du Clair de Lune but stayed in the hunting lodge and not the main house.
We dined at Parc Victoria in the dining room with all the cat replicas. There were no rooms available so we did not stay there In La Rochelle we stayed in a woman's house called 33 Thier.

Hi Richard,

Take the train from CDG to Denfert Rochereau. Don't get off RER B at Gare du Nord. From Denfert Rochereau take metro line 6 Direction Charles de Gaulle Etoile to Gare Montparnasse. Or you can take it to Chatelet and get meto line 4 to Porte d'Orleans and take it to Gare Montparnasse. Also check out the ticket prices on www.voyages-sncf.com Depending on the dates you are looking at, it is possible to get a prem ticket for 43€ each, 2nd class.

CigaleChanta--which hotel did you prefer: Moulin de l'Abbaye or Moulin du Roc? Quite a price difference between the two.

Images 2--I made an interesting discovery. I went to www.airfrance.com and clicked on the France website. It's in French but necessary to get domestic info. If you type in CDG and destination of BIQ (Biarritz) round trip, you will be amazed at the cost difference. The round trip price is 40E per segment vs. 278E for the one way. Buy a round trip and throw the return away. So much easier than getting to the train station from CDG with luggage and jet lag.

Richard, I likes du Roc but could not appreciate the grounds, it rained so heavily. It seems everytime I'm in that area, I get hit with rain.

CigaleChanta--What time of the year did you visit? We will be there mid-May. Is it a rainy time of the year or do you have bad luck? We feel like a black rain cloud follows up no matter where we travel.

It was September and late august on most visits.

Richard,

We've also stayed at the Moulin du Roc in Champagnac de Belair outside of Brantôme (6 km) and loved it. We were there for several nights in mid May a few years ago. One never knows about weather, but we were fortunate that year with mild temperatures and no rain.

The Moulin, its grounds and general setting are quite lovely. Our room, Noisette, had a nice-sized balcony overlooking the river. We had dinner there twice and also one evening we chose to eat in Brantôme at the Moulin de l'Abbaye.

Richard, Thanks for the suggestion to look at the Air France site. Those fares are without tax, so the actual cost is about 145€ per person, round trip. Still, much better than the one way fare, but much higher than the train fare. We're not going until next spring, so I have plenty of time to plan. We're off to Brittney in 5 weeks. Please post a report when you return so we can learn from your experiences!

Thanks so much.

I just checked one way prices and you can get a one way fare for 80€ each, includes taxes!