Hi all, we are signing up for the Basque Country of Spain and France tour. The tour begins in Bayonne. We live in Tampa. I'm looking for suggestions as to the best way to get to Bayonne. I.e. which major European city to fly into; train or fly to Bayonne from there. Or other means of transportation. All help is appreciated!
Here's one of the previous posts with ideas :
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/can-t-find-flights
The easiest way would probably (from Tampa) be fly into Paris and take the TGV to Bayonne.
That is an A+ tour. Prepare yourself for a wonderful experience - delightful guides, beautiful scenery, incredible food and an interesting variety of adventures.
I recommend a 2 day pre-tour Parisian stop then train to Bayonne. The station is a five minute walk to your hotel. The departure station in Paris is Montparnasse, so, if you elect to follow this plan, a hotel nearby would be wise.
We took this tour last fall, it was one of the best we had been on! We flew to CDG and connected to a flight to Biarritz on separate tickets, we had nearly a 4 hour layover, would not recommend any less time. From Biarritz we caught a cab to St Jean de Luz where we spent 3 nights to get over jet lag. From St Jean de Luz we took a train to Bayonne, and then walked to the tour hotel.