How to get from CDG airport to Ambois? Can you take a train from the airport, or do you need to take a train into Paris to get another train to Ambois? Rent a car at the airport or somewhere in the Loire Valley? Any advice appreciated, as this is our first trip to France. (We have a week before our 7 day RS Paris tour.)
Posted by
State of Washington, USA
300 posts
When we visited in Aug 2021 we took a TGV train from CDG airport to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps station, then changed to a regional train for a ~10 minute ride to Amboise station. Details:
- 8:10am: plane arrives at a gate in CDG Terminal 2E. Despite a 50 minute wait at immigration (in a very long line), we picked up our luggage and easily caught our TGV Train after transferring to Terminal 2F.
- 9:46am: TGV Train departs CDG Terminal 2F.
- 11:43am: TGV Train arrives at Saint-Pierre-des-Corps station. (There we withdrew some Euro from an ATM.)
- 12:29pm: TER Train departs Saint-Pierre-des-Corps station.
- 12:40pm: TER Train arrives Amboise station. We were picked up and transported to our lodging. (When we left Amboise a few days later we did the 15 minute walk to the station.)
Info about our Loire activities are in our trip report: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-france-28-days-aug-sep-loire-dordogne-languedoc-roussillon-lyon-burgundy-honfleur
Posted by
Panguitch, Utah
2967 posts
It depends greatly upon when you arrive. Some schedules will allow TGV travel to St Pierre des Corps, backtracking on a TER to Amboise. Sometimes it might be faster, and definitely cheaper, to take a taxi to Gare Austerlitz then TER directly to Amboise. Either can work.
https://www.sncf-connect.com/
https://www.thetrainline.com/en-us
Posted by
Paris
10889 posts
Another option to what Geoff offered would be to take the TGV from the airport to St-Pierre-des-Corps and then rent a car there for your time in the Loire Valley.
Amboise has hardly any cars for rental if I am thinking correctly, but a lot of people rent at SPdC.
I would not recommend renting a car at CDG airport and driving from there.
The Loire is an absolutely wonderful region; I hope you will have a great time !
Just a note for looking things up: be sure to keep the "e" on the end of Amboise. (Pronounced Am-bwahz).
Posted by
OP
Texas
42 posts
Thank you so much for your wonderful replies! Now I feel like I have gone from HELP!-I don’t know how to start!! - to-WOW, with all this great information, I can confidently start planning our days around Amboise!!
It looks like such a beautiful area. Compliments on your excellent, detailed trip report, GeoffB, and thank you Tocard and Kim for the additional tips!
Posted by
Long Beach, Ca, usa
2261 posts
Deborah, Just a note...be sure to enter the correct spelling when looking for transportation options. A spelling mistake could give you the wrong info, as many places in France have similarly-spelled names. It is Amboise, not Ambois. (e.g.,, there are more than one "Aix" es...Aix-en Provence, Aix-les-Bains...)