My husband and I are going to the Dordogne from Paris next month, and I have been conflicted on whether to take the TGV to Bordeaux or Angouleme. (I currently have rental car reservations in both places.) I have seen forums suggest Brive as well, but on the SNCF website, it has that train as a 4 hour trip.
Both trains take about 2 hours, and are about 2 hours from our destination. My mom suggested that car rental/driving would be easier in Angouleme, but I was concerned about the car rental there closing at 6 pm if our train is delayed. Train is supposed to arrive in at 2:30 pm, but I didn’t know how likely a long delay was, and what backup arrangements we could make if that happened. Our time in the Dordogne is only 4 nights, so we really don’t want to have to spend the night and rent the car the next day. However, driving in the smaller town of Angouleme seems simpler. Also, I don’t know if there are other factors I’m not considering.
Another option is to take the train to Bordeaux and then just drive back to CDG the afternoon before our flight the next day. I like that option for flexibility, but didn’t know how bad it would be to drive around Paris to CDG.
Thank you so much for your help!