Leaving Your Trip in DIJON

This page offers help (concrete or informational) on leaving your trip. Topics include...

1. Where you leave your trip (see immediately below)
2. The closest airports.
3. Our “Access Packages,” designed to help you travel onwards from your trip.
4. Suggestions on how to time your ongoing travel, whether you are having us arrange it, or doing it yourself.
5. Service information regarding train travel from your trip end location.
6. Suggested post-trip visits, especially when these are not geographically obvious, but are rendered economical and convenient by direct rail connections.
7. Hopefully helpful hints for those setting up their own travel from the trip.

If you wish to arrange some or all of your travel through us, please tell us what by means of this response questionnaire, designed to collect all the information we need to be able to book your travel.


1. WHERE and WHEN Do You Leave Your Trip?

Your trip disbands in Dijon, Burgundy’s capital, on Friday, after a full day of biking, wine tasting, and other foolishness.

If you wish to arrange your own ongoing travel (in other words, you do not want to set up any ongoing travel arrangements through us), a couple of hints regarding ongoing travel are offered at the bottom of this page. Otherwise, look over our “Access Packages,” below.



2. The CLOSEST AIRPORTS

The closest airports are in Paris, at least in terms of travel time. Lyon and Geneva are the same distance away, and generally cost roughly the same to reach, but the trip takes longer.



3. Our ACCESS PACKAGES
as of January 20, 2008

Our “Access Package” includes a festive Burgundian supper, a hotel night, breakfast the next morning (if you have time for it), and train tickets to Paris, Geneva or Lyon (the closest airport cities). Our London “Access Package” includes a train to London instead of Paris.

Base (Starting) Access Package Price: 109 €, 85 € with no ongoing rail tickets from Dijon
If you are a North American traveller, the $ price (US or Canadian) on your price chart applies until 35 days prior to trip departure. Otherwise euro prices are transcribed to your invoice in its currency, converted at the exchange rate of the day on which the package is requested (rounded to the nearest whole dollar). Current “mid-market” rates can be consulted from the site we use for conversion. We use the mid-market rate on the day of conversion, and add 2% to cover currency broker exchange commissions (our conversion rates are thus as good as, or better than, any you could obtain, including via your credit card, unless you are a professional currency trader).

Availability is normally guaranteed until 35 days prior to trip start (payment received by us). Within 35 days, availability must be confirmed, and costs may be slightly higher. Some extra-cost options also have higher prices if ordered w/in 35 days.

Included:

• A festive Burgundian dinner in Dijon on Friday night.
• A hotel night in Dijon, based on double occupancy. Typically, many of your past weeks’ travelling companions will also be staying over.
• Breakfast, if you have time / get up for it.
• 2nd cl. daylight train tickets via high-speed train from Dijon to Paris, Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, Geneva, or Lyon.
  Tickets are in 2nd class, not refundable or exchangeable once ordered (see below for extra cost first class or flexible tickets).
• Seat reservations on the TGV (high-speed train), and on any other trains which require them.
• A printed schedule / itinerary, highlighting any connections.

OR

• A festive Burgundian dinner in Dijon on Friday night.
• Friday overnight train to Nice (or elsewhere on the Côte d'Azur), Rome, Florence or Venice.
  Couchette included. Sleeping car upgrades are available on trains to Italy. See below for upgrade options.
• A printed schedule / itinerary, highlighting any connections.

Our “Ride the Bike Train” Discount Access Package includes all the above, but you take your bike with you on the train to Paris, and you may have to ride it to our office when you arrive there.
While not all trains on this line accept bicycles, we can arrange to reserve cycle spaces on a selection of trains spread throughout the day, or even on a train late Friday evening. So, while you must have a certain flexibility to your schedule, the choice is not very constraining.

Base (Starting) Access Package Price: 59 €
No upgrades available. A Friday evening train to Paris (no lodging or meals) is available for 19€.


Options Offered at an Extra Cost (subject to availability)
Prices are in addition to the “Base” Access Package Price. For a general discussion of train upgrades, see here. Topics include the relative comfort of first versus second class, and different types of accommodation available on overnight trains.

• 1st class tickets to Paris: 19€.
• Tickets to London. Add 69€ if you are also purchasing tickets from London at the start of your trip, 109€ if not, or if you prefer a changeable ticket (in 1st cl., add 109€ or 145€; 1st class tickets include meal service).
  For travel to London via Paris, with or without stop-over, add 15€ (see “Service Information,” below).
• Saturday daylight trains to any of the following (prices include required seat reservations):
  - Nice: 43€ 2nd class, 62€ 1st class.
  These rates represent substantial discounts, but they are often available on weekends.
  - Zurich (city or airport), or Milan: 55€ 2nd class, 69€ 1st class.
  - Venice or Florence: 69€ 2nd class, 85€ 1st class.
• Saturday overnight train to Nice (or elsewhere on the Côte d'Azur), Rome, Florence or Venice: +59 €. Couchette included. See below for upgrade options.
• Overnight Train Upgrade from 2nd class couchette: 24€ to “Comfort Couchette.” Sleeping car cabins, to Italy only: 29€ to a triple cabin, 49€ to double cabin, 109€ to a private single cabin.
• Higher fare code exchangeable or partly refundable tickets: 22€ on any route, in either class.
  These tickets are exchangeable at any station, on a space-available basis, at any time until the train’s departure, for free if the exchange is made prior to the date of travel, or for 10€ on the date of travel. Cost of either exchange is 10€ higher if you make it through us. Tickets are refundable less 20% before the train’s departure.
  
• Single room in Dijon, +23€.
• Additional nights in Dijon: 39€ / person double or twin, 62€ single.
  Including taxes, breakfast not included.
• Paris airport train tickets, to Charles de Gaulle or Orly from anywhere in downtown Paris. Follow this link for details. This ticket is not necessary if you are taking the one daily TGV from Dijon direct to the airport.
  

Alternate Arrangements, in lieu of our usual packages (subject to availability)
Prices are complete (in other words, they are not in addition to the “Base” Access Package Price).

• Friday evening train to Paris: 2nd class, 38€ non-modifiable (subject to availability), 55€ changeable.
  1st class: 46€ non-modifiable (subject to availability), 79€ changeable.
  

4. TIMING Your Trip

If we may influence your thinking on the topic of timing... Dijon is interesting. You will have spent two previous nights there, but not much time, unless you come in early on the day you arrive. We thus recommend spending Friday night in Dijon, and travelling onward on Saturday.

Like airplanes, trains from Dijon require reservations. If you make your arrangements through us, you must not only tell us where you wish to go, but at what time of day you wish to travel. Allow ample time to connect to a flight: the airline is not responsible for train delays, and though these are rare, they can happen. Moreover, it can take a while to get from train to check-in counter. Note that there is only one direct daily train to Charles de Gaulle airport (see “Service Information,” below). At all other times, you must travel to downtown Paris and catch the airport shuttle train from there.



5. Service Information
Schedules are approximate – exact timetables can be consulted at http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_schedules/index.htm.
Best trains are mentioned. Others are slower or have multiple connections.

• To Paris. Travel time is 90 minutes, Saturday service every 90 minutes, trains start running at 7a.
  Friday evening service is hourly, and the last Friday night train is at 9:45p.
• To Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport (direct, not via downtown Paris). One daily train, departs at 7:30a, arrives circa 9:35a.
• To Lyon. Travel time 2 hours, hourly service from 6a.
• To Geneva. Travel time is 4 hours, service every 2 hours.
• To Nice.
  - Overnight via Besançon (depart at 10p, arrive at 9a).
  - Direct daylight trains run at 9a and 4:30p. Trip time is 6'30".
  Other services exist with a connection in Lyon or Marseille: trip time is typically a bit over 7 hours.
• To Milan. 9:30a, arrive 4:30p, with one connection.
  Many other services run throughout the day, either taking an hour longer because of a poor connection, or requiring an additional connection, or both.
• To Venice or Florence.
  - Overnight, depart 11p. Or...
  - ...by daylight train at 9:30a, a 10-hour trip with two connections.
• To Zurich. 5-hour trip time, one connection. Best services at 9:30a, 2:30P and 5:30p.
• To London. Via Lille at 7:45a, ar 1p London time.
  Via Paris, frequent service throughout the day, 6 - 7 hour trip including the Paris station change.

6. Suggested POST-TRIP VISITS

Zermatt, in the Swiss Alps, followed by a ride on the “Glacier Express” or a visit to incomparable Venice. Put together a schedule, and ask us for a quote.



7. Hints on TRAVELLING INDEPENDENTLY After the Trip
Guests subscribing to an “Access Package” need not read this section.

See also “Timing Your Trip” and “Service Information,” above, as either of these may additionally help.

We gladly provide travel consulting (schedule or routing information) concerning post-trip individual travel. In particular, we have invested a great deal to become railway experts. Our service fees are reasonable: a 20€ charge for all but the most complex projects – or the most simple (for instance, only a 10€ charge applies if the service is limited to the preparation of a routine rail ticket). You will generally find them well-justified by the time they will save you in research, standing on line, overpaying for your tickets, or all three.

But, for some, this type of research is fun. So, here are some hints, intended to start off hardened “do-it-yourselfers.”

Trains. Schedules for all routes can be consulted on this web site:
http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_schedules/index.htm

Dijon is served by TGV (high-speed train) to Paris, and once a day direct to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. Main line trains also run to elsewhere in France, Switzerland, northeastern Spain, and northern Italy. Overnight sleeper trains go to the south of France, Germany, Austria, Italy....



If you wish to arrange some or all of your travel through us, please tell us what by means of this response questionnaire, designed to collect all the information we need to be able to book your travel.