TRAVEL ADVICE

Most of our guests have traditionally arrived by car from either the Channel ports (Calais, Caen, etc..) or from points north of France (Belguim, Holland etc..). Depending on how far you are travelling there are other routes you may wish to consider, for example, by ferry to Santander or Bilbao, by train or, by air. Air travel to this corner of France is becoming very popular and very affordable. We've included a small section on each with a separate section of advice for those travelling by car and who are not used to travelling in France. Detailed instructions on how to get to us by car are included in the section 'Driving Directions'.

Channel crossings
Dover, Folkstone, Portsmouth, Southampton, Plymouth, everyone seems to have their favourite port. We've tried them all, we've also landed at all the French channel ports at one time or another. Unless you have good reason, the Dover-Calais route, either ferry or tunnel, is really good value if you want a fast trip down to the southern parts of France. Before we moved to France we used to live in Bristol and we always used the Channel tunnel whenever possible.

Travelling to and from France, including the baby and toddler era, the Chunnel has allows you to keep moving at a fast pace. This is a key issue, how can you minimise the impact of travelling on the children. Moving small children on and off of the Ferry, especially with a long overnight crossing, is generally traumatic.

From Calais, you are about 9 hours driving time from Sarlat, add comfort breaks on top of this.

Spanish crossings
These take you to either Santander or Bilbao and take approximately 24 hours sailing time. They are expensive but comfortable. This still leaves you with 5 to 6 hours travelling once you leave the ferry.

Air
Air travel to the Dorogne has progressed considerably in the last two years. There are more flights, more carriers, and the prices can be very reasonable.

You can fly BA or Air France, but it's expensive. The affordable options are Ryanair and Flybe. Ryanair fly into Bergerac, Carcassonne, Limoges and Rodez. Flybe offer Toulouse (from October 2003) and Bordeaux or Bergerac (from March 2004). Please note, the Flybe centre of operation for these three destinations is Bristol and NOT Stansted.

Do also check connecting flights into Stansted, for example, you can fly Cornwall - Stansted - Bergerac in the same day. Also check out which airport you are willing to arrive in at France. Bergerac might be convenient but Rodez is much cheaper.

If you are intending to travel onwards by hire-car from your airport of entry in France, it is most often cheaper to hire the car from the country of origin. That is, if you are travelling from the UK, book the hire car in the UK. Ensure that you pick up the car from the airport. In Sarlat, you will be able to arrange to pick up a hire car during the week. However at weekends the hire care shop is closed and you would have to wait until the Monday to pick up your hire-car.

Train
From the UK take the Eurostar from Waterloo to Paris