Please help me get to Chaudes-Aigues in July. Thanks!
May 10, 2013 3:14 AM Subscribe
I'm going to Chaudes-Aigues (France) in early July and I currently live in England (York). What are my (best) options for getting there? Would like to fly out of Manchester if at all possible, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what airlines and airports I should be looking into at the France end and how feasible train/bus travel is to/from places there. Thanks!
Also, besides being a spa town, what kind of place is Chaudes-Aiges? It appears to me to be very small and possibly expensive...could I stay somewhere nearby that's bigger, cheaper and travel-accessible?
Also, besides being a spa town, what kind of place is Chaudes-Aiges? It appears to me to be very small and possibly expensive...could I stay somewhere nearby that's bigger, cheaper and travel-accessible?
You have so many options on this one! I would look for airlines flying into Lyon, Marseille, Montpelier, or Toulouse. The choice depends on you - pricing, scheduling, and where you want to spend your non-spa time. Maybe you will have one flying into Clermont-Ferrand, but there is not much to do there on your way to the spas. You could fly to Paris, but it is going to be a longer train trip (5+ hours). My favorite place to check out who flies were - which is usually up-to-date-ish - is the Wikipedia page for the airport (Manchester).
Cross-check those results against the trains that will get you to Chaudes-Aigues using the national railway train schedule at sncf.fr . The closest train station is Saint Flour Chaudes Aigues.
I have never been there, so nothing to say about the destination.
posted by whatzit at 4:05 AM on May 10, 2013
Cross-check those results against the trains that will get you to Chaudes-Aigues using the national railway train schedule at sncf.fr . The closest train station is Saint Flour Chaudes Aigues.
I have never been there, so nothing to say about the destination.
posted by whatzit at 4:05 AM on May 10, 2013
Best answer: Toulouse is probably your easiest option: flights from Manchester or Leeds-Bradford, then train onwards. Rodez is the closest airport, but that puts you on Ryanair (ugh) out of Stansted (ugh) and there's not great connection options from Rodez.
There's a direct train once a day at 9:37am from Beziers to Saint Flour Chaudes-Aigues, but the Ryanair flight from Manchester to Beziers arrives in the afternoon, so you'd need to spend a night there.
This is actually one of those situations where taking the train the whole way, including Eurostar, may be just as fast and competitively priced: you can book a through ticket from York to Clermont-Ferrand. The change from Kings Cross to St Pancras is a saunter; in Paris, going from Gare du Nord to Gare du Lyon is an easy Metro trip.
posted by holgate at 5:07 AM on May 10, 2013
There's a direct train once a day at 9:37am from Beziers to Saint Flour Chaudes-Aigues, but the Ryanair flight from Manchester to Beziers arrives in the afternoon, so you'd need to spend a night there.
This is actually one of those situations where taking the train the whole way, including Eurostar, may be just as fast and competitively priced: you can book a through ticket from York to Clermont-Ferrand. The change from Kings Cross to St Pancras is a saunter; in Paris, going from Gare du Nord to Gare du Lyon is an easy Metro trip.
posted by holgate at 5:07 AM on May 10, 2013
bahn.de is the best way to figure out trains in Western Europe I find.
The problem with Toulouse is that it appears the last train for the day leaves at 1 and it takes 6-7 hours, Lyon is 12 (i'm looking on a Monday, other days may be better) and it takes 5-6 hours.
You can actually take the train from Manchester in 11 hours. It doesn't look like that would be appreciably slower than flying to Clermont-Ferrand and transferring to the train.
posted by JPD at 6:24 AM on May 10, 2013
The problem with Toulouse is that it appears the last train for the day leaves at 1 and it takes 6-7 hours, Lyon is 12 (i'm looking on a Monday, other days may be better) and it takes 5-6 hours.
You can actually take the train from Manchester in 11 hours. It doesn't look like that would be appreciably slower than flying to Clermont-Ferrand and transferring to the train.
posted by JPD at 6:24 AM on May 10, 2013
This is actually one of those situations where taking the train the whole way, including Eurostar, may be just as fast and competitively priced: you can book a through ticket from York to Clermont-Ferrand. The change from Kings Cross to St Pancras is a saunter; in Paris, going from Gare du Nord to Gare du Lyon is an easy Metro trip.
Except that, according to my Eurostar.com results, you may need to change from Gare du Nord to Bercy, which is a 20-35 minute Metro/RER ride, so that should be taken into account.
posted by knile at 6:34 AM on May 10, 2013
Except that, according to my Eurostar.com results, you may need to change from Gare du Nord to Bercy, which is a 20-35 minute Metro/RER ride, so that should be taken into account.
posted by knile at 6:34 AM on May 10, 2013
Best answer: Ah, you're right about Gare du Bercy: I stand corrected. Still, even including connections, it's 10 hours or so from York to Clermont-Ferrand, since York-London is a faster and more direct train route.
posted by holgate at 6:43 AM on May 10, 2013
posted by holgate at 6:43 AM on May 10, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks everybody for the help so far! I'm looking into all of this now and it seems like trains the whole way might be my best bet as far as simple goes (and esp. since I loathe airports these days).
Btw, I'm going there for the Tattoo Convention, not the spas (although that'd be quite nice beforehand, hmm...).
posted by iamkimiam at 5:34 AM on May 19, 2013
Btw, I'm going there for the Tattoo Convention, not the spas (although that'd be quite nice beforehand, hmm...).
posted by iamkimiam at 5:34 AM on May 19, 2013
From this FPP, it looks as though the route's best by train: http://www.rome2rio.com/s/York/Chaudes-Aigues
posted by ambrosen at 4:20 PM on May 19, 2013
posted by ambrosen at 4:20 PM on May 19, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
Or you could fly from Liverpool on Ryanair (on a Monday OR a Friday, but no other days) to Nimes. Presumably from the airport you can get to the Gare de Nîmes somehow. Then take the TER to Mende, then the CAR to St Flour Chaude-Aiges.
I haven't actually gone so far as figuring out precise timing of all of this, just tried a few options. But yes it does seem tricky...
posted by knile at 4:00 AM on May 10, 2013