Thank you all for your replies regarding airports in Southern France! I booked our air for last week of Nov & first week in Dec: Flying into Paris. Staying 6 nights. We will have 9 nights in Southern France, ending up in Bordeaux for our flight home. We want to start by taking the train from Paris to Annercy and spending 1 night there. Before we leave from Bordeaux (stay 1 night the night before we leave), we want to spend at least 4 nights in Sarlat. That leaves 3 days & nights to get from Annecy to Sarlat. We'd rather not rent a car until we get near Sarlat (maybe in Brive) unless we have to. Therein lies the problem. Can anyone who has been there & gone from Annecy to Sarlat offer a suggestion for the most efficient itinerary to get from Annecy to Sarlat over 3 days? Can't seem to find a train route unless we return to Paris, which of course, we don't want to do. Thank you! Brenda
Posted by
near Ringwood, Hampshire, UK
521 posts
Therein lies the problem. Can anyone who has been there & gone from Annecy to Sarlat offer a suggestion for the most efficient itinerary to get from Annecy to Sarlat over 3 days? Can't seem to find a train route unless we return to Paris, which of course, we don't want to do. Where are you searching for a route? I didn't find anything on http://en.voyages-sncf.com/ by entering Annecy and Sarlat in the planner, but the SNCF app on my phone offered me only routes via Paris, which presumably is what you found. However, bahn.com shows me a number of interesting alternatives, such as Annecy - Lyon - Montpellier - Toulouse - Agen - Siorac en Perigord - Sarlat. The first section is by bus, then it's a mixture of TGV, Intercites and TER trains. The most 'efficient' route might be via Paris, but you could either use the bahn.com site or a French railway map such as http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Europe%20World/Resources/France-sncf.gif to sketch out an alternative, break it down into sections over your 3 day timeline, then get prices and buy tickets on the SNCF site.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
As you're finding out, thanks to long-term cultural and political issues the public transportation system in France is very inconvenient when it comes to travel between regions where the direct route isn't via Paris. Your options are essentially to travel via Paris, to take a complex route involving multiple changes of train and bus, or to hire a car in Annecy and drive all the way.
Posted by
near Ringwood, Hampshire, UK
521 posts
thanks to long-term cultural and political issues the public transportation system in France is very inconvenient when it comes to travel between regions where the direct route isn't via Paris In addition to which , results in the SNCF journey planner don't include routes with more than 2 changes, which makes it useless for exploring your options like Brenda is doing.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
Don't rent your car in Brive. It's too hard to get there by rail. Come round by the south. If you are interested in Carcassonne, you could spend a night and morning there, which would leave you 2 days to drive to Sarlat. You could visit some combination of Albi, Castres, St Cirq, the Grotte du Peche Merle, and/or Cahors. Or take the train all the way to Toulouse and get your car there, for a straighter shot to the Dordogne.