Friday, July 25, 2008

Getting here

Happily Dordogne is only one day's drive from the channel coast, and is usually comfortably reached by about tea-time if you have taken an over-night ferry from Britain.

Crossing the channel  Take the ferry or the tunnel. The tunnel is only a 35 minute trip end to end.

EuroTunnel    http://www.eurotunnel.com/  
P&O Ferries   http://www.posl.com/
Into France   http://www.book-a-ferry.co.uk/

Driving   370 km south of Paris (about 5 hours drive ). 
540 km south of Calais (about 8 hours drive ). Caen, St Malo and Ouistreham are about 7 hours drive.

Autoroute Information (in English) http://www.asf.fr/control/index.aspx?pageid=Anglais.209

If you want to stop and break your journey there are plenty of places to stop off. Have at look at logis de france for basic accommodation along the route. Ask us for directions to find us.

Flying     Easiest airports are Limoges, Bergerac, each about 80 minutes drive. Bordeaux is only a little further. Car hire from the airports. Buses however are a rarity and connection to the towns is best by taxi.

Ryanair  http://www.ryanair.com
British Airways  http://www.ba.com/
Air France  http://www.airfrance.com/
FlyBe   http://www.flybe.com/

By Train    Perigueux, Thiviers, Limoges and Brive have railway stations with nearby car rental.  Motorail to Brive in holiday season.

TGV - nearest TGV station is Angouleme, with direct service to Lille, connecting to Eurostar to London. Angouleme is about an hour and a half's drive from our office.

French Rail (in English)  SNCF

French High Speed Trains www.tgv.com