Hi travelers. The help was so great here when I asked about London hotels, I want to throw another question out there. Am planning a trip the last week of May and first week of June 2014, a week in France and a week in London. I need help with transportation on the France leg of the trip. Here's the overall plan:
-Fly into Charles de Gaulle, spend a couple days in Paris
-Travel to Sarlat from Paris via Bordeaux, spend 2-3 days
-Return to Paris, spend another day
-Depart for London via Eurostar. Will the subway or train be accessible just about anywhere in Paris to get to whatever gare has the Eurostar to London?
-What is the best pass to get for three non-consecutive days of getting around Paris?
I lived in France for 16 months, but it was 30 years ago. I used to really know how to get around--now I'm fuzzy. In fact, my head is about to explode! Here are a few questions. (Please tell me if I should break this down into separate posts--I don't want to have bad etiquette.)
1-Getting from the CDG airport to a hotel in Paris via public transport--what's the best way? Subway lines or trains--and is there a universal pass to purchase that will enable us to use various modes of public transport while we're in Paris? There used to be a carte that was good for a month--is there anything good for say, a week?
2-Paris to Bordeaux to Sarlat--I think that topic is covered pretty well on here, but additional tips are welcome.
3-Getting back to Paris from Sarlat via Bordeaux, and then to wherever we need to be to catch the Eurostar the following day. Help!
Hope this makes sense. Thanks for any insights to getting around France. Oh, and we don't want to rent a car. Period. I traveled all over these places using public transport back in the early 80s, so I know it can be done.
-Fly into Charles de Gaulle, spend a couple days in Paris
-Travel to Sarlat from Paris via Bordeaux, spend 2-3 days
-Return to Paris, spend another day
-Depart for London via Eurostar. Will the subway or train be accessible just about anywhere in Paris to get to whatever gare has the Eurostar to London?
-What is the best pass to get for three non-consecutive days of getting around Paris?
I lived in France for 16 months, but it was 30 years ago. I used to really know how to get around--now I'm fuzzy. In fact, my head is about to explode! Here are a few questions. (Please tell me if I should break this down into separate posts--I don't want to have bad etiquette.)
1-Getting from the CDG airport to a hotel in Paris via public transport--what's the best way? Subway lines or trains--and is there a universal pass to purchase that will enable us to use various modes of public transport while we're in Paris? There used to be a carte that was good for a month--is there anything good for say, a week?
2-Paris to Bordeaux to Sarlat--I think that topic is covered pretty well on here, but additional tips are welcome.
3-Getting back to Paris from Sarlat via Bordeaux, and then to wherever we need to be to catch the Eurostar the following day. Help!
Hope this makes sense. Thanks for any insights to getting around France. Oh, and we don't want to rent a car. Period. I traveled all over these places using public transport back in the early 80s, so I know it can be done.
BTW, we plan to go Paris-Bordeaux-Sarlat and back via train.
You have many options to get into Paris, mostly it depends on where you nbeed to go to and how much you want to spend. Look here for details: http://paris-cdg.worldairportguides....sportation.php
For Metro/Bus/RER look at www.ratp.fr - a carnet is 10 discounted tix, but there are other passes as you'll soon see.
For Bordeaux it's Montparnasse, for London it's Gare du Nord, the RATP site will show you how to get there.
For Metro/Bus/RER look at www.ratp.fr - a carnet is 10 discounted tix, but there are other passes as you'll soon see.
For Bordeaux it's Montparnasse, for London it's Gare du Nord, the RATP site will show you how to get there.
Thank you, Michel. I've been online all evening refreshing my memory about Paris and the RER. I'll take a look at those links you posted. Carnet...yes, yes, I vaguely remember the carnet now. Hopefully the long lost knowledge will come back! 
<<Travel to Sarlat from Paris via Bordeaux, spend 2-3 days>>
Don't travel to Sarlat - it's a pain. Travel to Brive, rent a car, and tool around. Unless you want to spend all your time in Sarlat (why?), you'll need a car.
<<What is the best pass to get for three non-consecutive days of getting around Paris?>>
A carnet or two.
)
<<Getting from the CDG airport to a hotel in Paris via public transport--what's the best way? Subway lines or trains--and is there a universal pass to purchase that will enable us to use various modes of public transport while we're in Paris? There used to be a carte that was good for a month--is there anything good for say, a week?>>
Depending on the actual days of the week you will be there, there might be a pass, but otherwise pay the 9.50 euros to get from CDG into Paris and then buy a carnet or two.
<<Paris to Bordeaux to Sarlat--I think that topic is covered pretty well on here, but additional tips are welcome.>>
No need to go to Bordeaux and then Sarlat. See my comment above.
<<Getting back to Paris from Sarlat via Bordeaux, and then to wherever we need to be to catch the Eurostar the following day. Help!>>
Same thing in reverse - Brive to Paris.
Don't travel to Sarlat - it's a pain. Travel to Brive, rent a car, and tool around. Unless you want to spend all your time in Sarlat (why?), you'll need a car.
<<What is the best pass to get for three non-consecutive days of getting around Paris?>>
A carnet or two.
)
<<Getting from the CDG airport to a hotel in Paris via public transport--what's the best way? Subway lines or trains--and is there a universal pass to purchase that will enable us to use various modes of public transport while we're in Paris? There used to be a carte that was good for a month--is there anything good for say, a week?>>
Depending on the actual days of the week you will be there, there might be a pass, but otherwise pay the 9.50 euros to get from CDG into Paris and then buy a carnet or two.
<<Paris to Bordeaux to Sarlat--I think that topic is covered pretty well on here, but additional tips are welcome.>>
No need to go to Bordeaux and then Sarlat. See my comment above.
<<Getting back to Paris from Sarlat via Bordeaux, and then to wherever we need to be to catch the Eurostar the following day. Help!>>
Same thing in reverse - Brive to Paris.
Return the car at the Limoges airport and take Ryanair to Stansted. Yes, Ryanair is not customer friendly, and the tickets will cost more than expected but probably less than a standard airline fare. You will save travel time and the extra day's rental cost.
Thanks, StCirq. I appreciate all the advice about details such as carnets and the suggestion to go to Brive. However, I want to take my family on a canoe trip down the Dordogne to Beynac, and I believe there are tour companies in Sarlat that do so. I've been to the area and want to share it with my husband and daughter. Did all of this on public transport from Perigueux back in the day, but can't for the life of me remember how we got from the Sarlat train station to Sarlat, or from Sarlat to Beynac--I believe it was a tour bus but need to do some research about options.
No, we don't intend to rent a car. Just afraid to drive in a foreign country, to be honest. Would a car rental for a couple days be as economical as taking public transport, and is it easy to navigate in the Sarlat area? I know it would be more efficient. I'm concerned about how much of our time will be eaten up in travel on public transport.
I was just in the Dordogne area last month and cannot imagine doing it by public transportation. The roads are easy to navigate and distances short. Driving was really very pleasant. We took the train from Paris to Brive and rented a car there (from Europecar through Auto Europe - the car rental office is right across the street from the Brive train station). My hotel (Les Remparts) had a private parking garage (tiny and two blocks away from the hotel) but there are several free parking lots on the edge of Sarlat (but still only a few minutes walk from the center). I really think you waste a LOT of time trying to see much of the area by public transportation.
You will need a taxi to get from Sarlat to the canoe rental--18 km. to Groléjac canoe rental. Public transportation is not very frequent even if there is a bus from Sarlat to La Roque-Gageac (another possibility for a canoe rental). Assuming you spend a full day in Sarlat, which makes one day on the canoe, one day in Sarlat, your third day has impossible transportation. You would have to find a bus either to Montignac (to see Lascaux II) and then a taxi to Lascaux II, or a bus to Domme and Beynac, if they exist.
I think that a car is essential, and it would make going to England far more efficient because you could, as mentioned before, go from Limoges to Stansted, leaving Sarlat very early in the morning because there is only one mid-day flight available.
I think that a car is essential, and it would make going to England far more efficient because you could, as mentioned before, go from Limoges to Stansted, leaving Sarlat very early in the morning because there is only one mid-day flight available.
We are doing the exact trip as you next month. We will be in Paris for 1 week then take the train to Bordeaux (not because we wanted to but because most car rentals are not open on Sundays) then we are driving to our rental house in Baran (small town 3 miles from St. Cyprian) we plan to tour Sarlat and canoe as well. We then return to Paris and hopefully take the Euro star to London but we may change that and fly. I will try to post as we go along and maybe that will help with some of your planning?
Your plan sounds a bit inefficient to me. You are doing a lot of traveling and a lot of backtracking for 3 days in Dordogne. Why not fly into Paris, spend 4 days, train to Brive as suggested by St Cirq, rent a car for your Dordogne stay, drive to Limoges, fly directly to London.
I wouldn't travel in Dordogne without a car. Our driving experience was quite pleasant and easy. I would spend an extra day or two in Dordogne and shorten the London stay. I love London but going all the way to Dordogne for 3 days sounds hurried.
I wouldn't travel in Dordogne without a car. Our driving experience was quite pleasant and easy. I would spend an extra day or two in Dordogne and shorten the London stay. I love London but going all the way to Dordogne for 3 days sounds hurried.
While there have been good suggestions re transportation (DO rent a car for the Dordogne! or fly Limoges/London etc) the one thing not yet mentioned is time. It takes time to travel from place to place and you don't have much of it.
You mention you have 2 weeks. 14 days. Drop the first and last days because on the one you'll be travel fatigued and on the other you'll be at the airport most likely first thing in the morning to fly home.
So now you have 12 days. 4 each for London, Paris and the Dordogne. That's not enough for any one of them but it gets worse... most of a day will get eaten up Paris to Sarlat. So down to 11 days. And most of another day Sarlat to London. So now you're down to 10 days. And a lot of time spent in transit.
I'd drop one of your destinations. Stick with London and Paris or Paris and Sarlat but doing all 3 will just be short changing yourself.
You mention you have 2 weeks. 14 days. Drop the first and last days because on the one you'll be travel fatigued and on the other you'll be at the airport most likely first thing in the morning to fly home.
So now you have 12 days. 4 each for London, Paris and the Dordogne. That's not enough for any one of them but it gets worse... most of a day will get eaten up Paris to Sarlat. So down to 11 days. And most of another day Sarlat to London. So now you're down to 10 days. And a lot of time spent in transit.
I'd drop one of your destinations. Stick with London and Paris or Paris and Sarlat but doing all 3 will just be short changing yourself.
I know you don't want to hear this, but your plans are impossible and you should either rent a car and stay longer in the Dordogne, or drop it. It is a 6- to 7-hour train trip from Bordeaux to Sarlat, and once there, you're stuck. There is virtually NO public transportation in the area, except for schoolchildren. You'd have to carry around a list of the very few taxi drivers in local towns, many of whom double as ambulance drivers (and guess who has priority for their services - not canoe trippers!) and plan to spend hours more than the average canoe tripper just getting to and from landings and from Sarlat to wherever else you want to visit. And with the possible rare exception, they won't speak any English.
Something has to go, and since you're scared to drive in a foreign country, it's going to have to be the Dordogne. You just cannot do this the way you are imagining it.
Something has to go, and since you're scared to drive in a foreign country, it's going to have to be the Dordogne. You just cannot do this the way you are imagining it.
Those of you who have commented that I'm trying to pack too much into too short of a time--yes, I have feared that. Our original plan was just Paris and London, but having lived in Perigueux for several months and getting a taste of Dordogne, I just SOOOOOOOO wanted to visit Sarlat and Beynac on a sentimental journey with my family. I absolutely fell in love with that area. But you've given me a reality check and I appreciate it. Will have to do some hard thinking about priorities... I don't want them to just see Paris; I love rural France. But I don't want them to just see rural France, since they've never seen Paris.
To complicate it, we're flying into London, taking Eurostar to Paris (please don't tell me to fly--no offense, it's a good suggestion, but that decision has been made) and after a few days in France we're Eurostarring it back to London.
In the words of Elton John, "All I need is just a little more time..."
Jimpink, I would love to hear about your trip and how it works out. Sounds like your trip will last longer than ours. We only have two weeks--well, more like 16 days.
To complicate it, we're flying into London, taking Eurostar to Paris (please don't tell me to fly--no offense, it's a good suggestion, but that decision has been made) and after a few days in France we're Eurostarring it back to London.
In the words of Elton John, "All I need is just a little more time..."
Jimpink, I would love to hear about your trip and how it works out. Sounds like your trip will last longer than ours. We only have two weeks--well, more like 16 days.
