The posted question from David is exactly the question I am asking. No one answered his question. They only referred to driving. We will be in Barcelona 3 nights and then want to go to Sarlat, France without stopping overnight somewhere. Are there trains or should we plan to take the
bus to Toulouse and then train to Sarlat, where we will rent a car?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
The runs I see on www.bahn.de take 10.25hrs-12.0hrs with 3-5 train changes depending on the run. That's a long journey by train. Is there any way you can rent your car in Narbonne or Toulouse? It's 5.0hrs on the TGV to Toulouse. Even shorter to Narbonne.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
Another argument for a car: how are you going to get to the sights in the Dordogne once you get to Sarlat? This area is just not served well by rail.
Posted by
columbus, nc
294 posts
My wife and I took the train to Carcassonne, rented a car and drove to Sarlet via Albi. It is a long day however you go.
Posted by
OP
Green Valley, Arizona, USA
4 posts
Thanks for suggestions. We do plan to rent a car to see the Dordogne area but were hoping to rent in Sarlat and not Toulouse as we are heading north to Paris and didn't want a drop charge up there. We also will be staying in the Loire Valley. We usually use public transportation but it seems like Barcelona is not
a good place to begin our travels.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
You might be surprised that there may be no drop off charges if you rent in France and drop off in France. Very common when you rent and drop off in the same country. Not like the U.S. We rented last year through Europcar and picked up our car at Nimes. We then drove 2,000km through a large area of France and dropped it off at Dijon. No drop off charge. Europcar even emailed us to tell us that that there would not be a drop off charge. They have an
English-speaking U.S. number to clarify. 877 940 6900 Nimes wouldn't be a bad place for you to pick up a car either. Rental car places are right in the train station and the cars are in the large multi-level garage underneath the station.
Posted by
washington
837 posts
Bonnie, if you are going to Sarlat, Toulouse is the best bet for travel by train with car pickup there. If you wish to see either Carcassonne or Nimes, they would be fine, but, especially Nimes, is WAY out of the way if you are headed to Sarlat.