I am in dire need of transportation from our hotel in St. Emilion to Bordeaux airport for a Friday departure at 11:50.
I am now learning that St. Emilion is quite rural, and as such, of course taxis and inexpensive transfer services are not to be found.
from research, it appears the few car transports I found will cost around 170 euro, which is fine, except I am not even certain which of these services are reliable? Since this is our first leg of our international fight home, we really can not miss this flight.
I should have researched more fully, but I already paid for the two nights in St. Emilion. However, I still might go ahead and pay
duplicate for one night at a Bordeaux airport for next day flight. it seems there is a train that will at least take us to Bordeaux, but then we would need to taxi to airport, and I am not sure if the trains run early enough? I'm thinking we should leave our hotel around 7 am, just to be sure. I guess we could rent a car the night before, if available, and drop it off at the airport, but we are fearful of driving in big cities. Europeans have driving skills that are quite intimidating to us! We are, however, driving in the Dordogne region for five days prior to this, dropping off our car in Sarlat. Maybe we should try to keep the car through to end of trip in Bordeaux, but we are worried, as I said, to drive in big cities.
Does anyone have any guidance or advice? Or can point us to a car transfer (whatever it's called) service that is reliable?
Thank you!!
Shelley
Posted by
Paris
7301 posts
Hi Shelley,
Even though there is a train from Sarlat to Saint Émilion, I would keep the car. From the station at Saint Émilion is 1 uphill mile to the village; I believe there is a shuttle but that alone can be annoying.
And to get to Bordeaux airport, you do not drive in the city at all. You go around it on the beltway. It does get busy in the AM rush hour, but a 7 AM departure will allow for plenty of buffer, and time to refuel the car. Also, since you list Bay Area as your location, traffic on freeways is unfortunately something you're probably familiar with!
Posted by
OP
Bay Area, CA , usa
89 posts
Thank you again, Balso, for your guidance! Yes, we live in the Bay Area, and we are very familiar with heavy, crazy traffic. We often drive in San Francisco, too, so we are not complete novices. But watching the driving skills in, for instance, Paris was astounding to both of us! It was like a well orchestrated play, and everyone seemed to know exactly their parts. So impressive! There are few roundabouts here, and when we happen upon one, let's just say it is NOT well orchestrated. So right this minute I will attempt to alter our rental car to keep the car from Carcassonne clear through to Bordeaux. Wish me luck! And thank you again!
Posted by
Paris
7301 posts
You'll have had plenty of roundabout practice between Carcassonne and the Périgord, so you'll be a pro by the time you leave Sarlat! You won't encounter anything like driving in central Paris, don't worry.