hi all,

we are just finalizing the dates for our france/england trip ... so far, our trip looks like this:

sept 23-30 - paris
sept 30-oct 7 - provence (TGV from paris)
oct 7-10 - london

we will be flying into paris and flying home from london.

what is the best (i.e. easiest) AND cheapest way to get from provence to london? (TGV from provence to london does NOT run after sept 13).

originally, i had thought we would take the TGV back to paris and then eurostar over to london ... but this seems tedious and somewhat expensive. can anyone comment on this trip? is it tedious??

i can't find TGV/Eurostar rates this far out so i'm using dummy dates and so far, the trip from provence to paris to london looks like it will cost about $200 per person.

i've looked into flights out of marseille ... and they seem to only go to gatwick. i'd really prefer to go to heathrow (relatives are picking us up and they live 15 mins from LHR). british airways flies from nice to heathrow ... but nice isn't exactly close to where we are planning to be (carpentras/mt ventoux area). worst case scenario - we could take a shuttle from gatwick to heathrow and get picked up there...

anyway, i'd love some feedback - not sure what the best route would be from provence to london...

thanks!

check the low cost carriers, ryan air and easyjet. They dont fly heathrow, but are so much cheaper, it would pay to take a cab.

...and cheaper still to get a bus from Luton, Gatwick or Stansted to Heathrow.

However, the airport in SE England with arguably the best coverage of airports in southern France is Southampton, which - in addition to direct flights to Avignon, the handiest airport for you - has good train links to central London, to Woking for local pickup and to a wide array of intermdediate stations that might suit your relatives better than Heathrow

Go to these four airports' websites, check their summer schedules then work out what's best for you

How about Easyjet Marseilles to Gatwick, October prices seem to be around £30 one way. Ditto for Nice to Luton

Check out www.whichbudget.com & www.skyscanner.net as there are other airlines that fly from various Provence area airports to the UK

Flybe does Southampton to Nice but only 4 times a week

Prices currently are around £40 currently

excellent advice! thank you everyone.

i have also found BA flies direct from lyon to heathrow...another possibility (apparently for 77 pounds right now)

i'm assuming that the original plan of TGV back to paris and eurostar over to london is NOT advised??? and my original hunch that it would be tedious and expensive is TRUE??

THANKS again!!

i just wanted to close the loop on this one ... we have decided to fly BA out of lyon direct to heathrow ... the flight cost 77 euros per person (typo in my previous post). the drawback to this plan is that we will need to leave super early from carpentras (where we are staying the night before) and drive up to lyon the morning of our flight (flight departs at noon). but at least we can squeeze out as much time as possible in provence and still arrive at heathrow...

thanks to all for their advice.

BA fly direct from Marseille to Gatwick and from Nice to Heathrow, with prices starting at EUR25 + taxes for October.