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Car rental advice - Rent car in Normandy travel to Loire -more best drop off for train to Madrid

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We are traveling to Paris in Sept and flying out of Madrid in Oct. We want to travel to Normandy Bayeux and see the sights with tours in that area

We want to continue to the Loire-Amboise and the Dordogne and maybe French Basque by rental car. We are thinking Caen, France to pick up car.

What is best place to drop car off in France to continue into Spain, Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Cordoba by Train that won't be a real long train ride. We have flexiblity. Will the airports have a nearby fast train station. Thoughts are welcome.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Posted by
7278 posts

If you visit the French Basque country, then you should drop off at Biarritz, and:
Option A. by train
- drop off at Biarritz train station
- take the train to Hendaye
- cross the border to Irun RENFE station, 5 min by local Euskotren + 5 min walk
- take the afternoon train from Irun to Madrid, at around 3:30 PM, taking close to 7 hours

Option B. by plane
- drop off at Biarritz airport or train station
- take a taxi, preferably prebooked (although you should find taxis at the aiport), to San Sebastian airport. Price should be €100 or so.
- fly to Madrid

You could combine A. and B. by taking the train to Hendaye and a cab from there to the airport in San Sebastian, but I do not know about local taxi arrangements in Hendaye.

If you stick with Dordogne only: drive to Toulouse airport, and fly to Madrid.

Posted by
1103 posts

I did a similar trip in reverse order. From the Dordogne, you can drive to Perpignan (4 hour drive, although we stopped overnight in Carcassonne). Drop your car off at Perpignan station, and take a train to Barcelona, then on to Madrid. Perpignan is the closest large station to Spain, so the shortest train journey.

I saw some suggestions via Biarritz. Nice country, if you want to see it, but the train connections will be much more plentiful from Barcelona than from the Basque Country.

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