We will be going from San Sebastian, Spain to Saint Emillion, France in the summer. Best to travel by car or train? 3 adults.
What hassles are there for crossing the borders with a rental car if we decide to take an automobile? And what happens when you cross the border via train. Show passports (from US) before boarding it? I welcome your suggestions and/or input.
Posted by
Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus
2501 posts
There are no passport controls between France and Spain so no need to show anything.
Take the car or train? That depends, are you returning the car to Spain? If not then train is the only practical option.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
what happens when you cross the border via train.
Answer: The language of the on-train announcements changes.
Both France and Spain are in the Schengen Area, so no passport checks, and both are in the EU, so no customs. The train will have multiple stops both sides of the border, it is not just for international travellers.
As for the car hire, equally just a sign beside the road (Example: http://static8.depositphotos.com/1035219/810/i/950/depositphotos_8109636-stock-photo-border-sign-between-france-and.jpg ), and a different set of traffic rules.
But, one-way car hire from one country to another is usually expensive. If you return the car in Spain, no problem.
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA
515 posts
Its usually a big problem to drop a car off in another country. I checked extensively when going from Vienna to Prague and it was at least 300 EU added as a drop off fee. So you could train from San Sebastian to Biaritz then car from there to St Emilon.
By the way, you probably won't be able to drop the car in St Emilon - maybe Libourne or Bordeaux. SE is has no cars at all in the city center, and we were lucky enough to find one parking area which was kind of a dirt lot which seemed almost a pirate lot. And then we didn't touch the car until we left again. So no advantage of having a car in SE. There are some gently rolling hills full of vines in the vicinity, and not far away on the road to Perigeux there was a winery by itself that served as a hotel too and had easy parking, but it was maybe 3 miles from SE itself.
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
Train timings for you. Note that you change trains at the Spain-France border (Hendaye) due to the differing rail gauges in each country.
ALV 4087
Dep 13:26 SAN SEBASTIAN/DONOSTIA (Spain)
Arr 13:55 HENDAYE (France)
TGV 8544
Dep 14:21 HENDAYE (France)
Arr 17:11 BORDEAUX ST JEAN (France)
TER65736
Dep 18:05 BORDEAUX ST JEAN (France)
Arr 18:41 ST EMILION (France)
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you all so much - I appreciate the good information!