Meeting Your Trip in LIBOURNE

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

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

Your trip assembles at the Libourne train station, on the afternoon of its start date (generally a Saturday), in time for the short (7-mile) cycle to St.-Emilion, our home for two nights. A first meet takes place in early afternoon (1 - 2p), and a second, for late arrivals (and by prior arrangement only), at 5:30p.

If you are arriving via an intercontinental flight, it is preferable to book a plane arriving as early as possible in Paris, as there is a 9a train from Charles de Gaulle airport to Libourne (the following train is at 1:45p). Between the two, you must go downtown to catch a train from the city center (or to another suburban station). Either is a hassle: the airport train does not run directly to the downtown station (Gare Montparnasse). While it does run to the other suburban station, who wants to sit on the métro for an hour?

We will send you details of meeting time and place with your final itinerary.

If you wish to make your own way to the trip (in other words, not to set up your travel arrangements through us), a couple of hints on getting there are offered at the bottom of this page.


2. Our ACCESS PACKAGES
as of January 1, 2008

The closest intercontinental airport is Paris. Our “Access Package” includes a TGV (high-speed train) ticket from Charles de Gaulle airport or from downtown Paris to Libourne. Friday overnight trains from Nice, Madrid, Barcelona or Lisbon are available at additional cost, if you are coming from the south.

Our London “Access Package” includes a train through from London on the trip's start date.

Base (Starting) Access Package Price: 57€.
“Ride the Bike Train” discount fare: 29€.
If you are a North American traveller, the $ price (US or Canadian) on your price chart applies until 35 days prior to trip departure, assuming that space is available in the proper fare codes on the trains. Within 35 days, 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 not guaranteed, as our packages use discount fare codes which have restricted space. If your requested train does not have the discount fare, we will attempt to propose an alternate schedule that does, as well as a price for your first choice service. Some extra-cost options also have higher prices if ordered w/in 35 days.

Included:

• 2nd cl. daylight train tickets to Libourne from Paris or Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. Tickets not refundable or exchangeable once ordered.
• Seat reservations on the TGV (high-speed train).
• A printed schedule / itinerary, highlighting any connections.
• Our “Route Sheet to the Trip,” helping you through your journey.
  
  

“Ride the Bike Train Discount”
If you are willing to take the cycle train down (depart Paris Saturday morning at 8a), tickets may be available for 29€. The cycle train adds 2 hours to the journey.


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.

• Tickets from London. Add 59€ if you are also purchasing tickets back to London, 89€ if not, or if you prefer a changeable return (in 1st cl., add 80€ or 125€; 1st class tickets include meal service). A Paris stop-over is available for an additional 15€.
• Exchangeable tickets, in a higher fare code, exchangeable locally on a space-available basis, and for a nominal fee paid directly to the railway (generally 3€), until 1 hour after your reserved train’s departure. If exchange is made after departure, it must be made at the station from which your train left. 32 €.
• First class train tickets (in lieu of 2nd class): 19€ discount rate. See above if you need these to be exchangeable.
• Paris airport train tickets, from Charles de Gaulle or Orly to Paris center. Follow this link for details.
  

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 overnight train from Nice, Madrid, Barcelona, or Lisbon, including a couchette: 79€ from Nice (discount rate of 59€ sometimes available), 109€ from Spain, 139€ from Lisbon. Upgrades are available to “Comfort Couchette” if coming from Nice, to private single and double cabin sleeping car cabins if coming from Spain or Portugal. Regular upgrade rates apply from Nice or Lisbon, but a discount (-35 %) is available if coming from Spain, and sleeper cabins are “deluxe,” including private shower and WC in each cabin.

3. TIMING Your Trip

The little Saturday afternoon bike ride can be fun, and allows you to reach St.-Emilion in time to explore. If at all possible, try to schedule your arrival in Libourne for the early (2p) meeting.

Like airplanes, trains to Libourne require reservations. You must not only tell us by which gateway you wish to arrive, but at what time of day you wish to travel. Allow ample time to connect from a flight: the railroad is not responsible for (chronically) late planes. Moreover, it can take intercontinental travellers up to 90 minutes to clear customs, immigration and baggage claim upon arrival. If you are attempting a tight connection, we suggest modifiable tickets.


4. 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.

• From downtown Paris. Travel time is 3 hours. There is a direct train at 10:50a, and a train with one connection at 2p.
  The cycle train (for the “ride the bike train” special price) departs at 8a.
  There is also a train at noon, but on a more expensive and longer route (via Bordeaux: + 20€ or so).
• From Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. Travel time is 4 hours. Trains operate at 7:30a or 9a (both with one connection), or 1:45p (direct).
  There is also a schedule that works at 9:45a. It involves taking the airport train for an hour to a southern suburb of Paris, and catching a main line train from there. Tough to do if you are on jet lag, but it helps fill a service gap.
• From Nice. Overnight service with a morning connection in Bordeaux.
• From Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon. Overnight sleeper services depart their respective cities in the evening (5p from Lisbon), with connections at the French border in the morning, and a second connection in Bordeaux.
• From London. 9:30a, with a connection in Lille or in Paris, arrive 5:30p (includes a one-hour time change, actual trip is an hour shorter).

5. Suggested PRE-TRIP VISITS

Spain, Portugal, the south of France....



6. Hints on TRAVELLING INDEPENDENTLY to 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 pre-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

Libourne is a minor stop on the Paris - Bordeaux main line (see service notes, above, for approximate schedules). Main line trains also run from across the south of France to Bordeaux, a 30-minute trip from Libourne by frequent local train. Overnight sleeper trains come from southeastern France, Spain, and Portugal (the latter two with morning connections at the Franch border).

Planes. The closest airport is Bordeaux, which offers European flights. Trains from Bordeaux to Libourne run about hourly (though on an irregular schedule), and trip time is about 30 minutes.

Ryanair serves Bergerac, Poitiers and Limoges, all less than 2 hours from Libourne by train (service roughly every 2 hours on all routes).


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.