Knitting holidays in France is based in the Charente-Maritime in South West France. We offer our knitting guests free transfers to The Barn from Bordeaux airport or Saintes station. There are two transfers on the arrival day and departure day to tie in with as many flight arrival/departure times as possible. If your flight arrives before 10 am or departs after 5 pm please check before booking to see if you qualify for a free transfer (transfer time from Bordeaux is approximately 90 minutes and from Saintes just 20 minutes).
Note: You can find the latest information about Covid 19 and Brexit on your Government website. If you are travelling from the UK click here.
Take the train
There is a big push in France to encourage train travel as a greener option to flying. It is a longer trip but means no hanging around at the airport and allows plenty of knitting and crochet time! Many of our regular guests choose the train out of preference, here are some tips from Katherine:
You have to remember to travel light, not to overpack, because you may end up carrying your case up or down a flight of steps, buy your lunch at the station when you set out and if you can, get a seat upstairs on the double deckers from Paris to Bordeaux, the views are worth it.
Book tickets through Rail Europe, the website is easy to use and you can book the whole trip from London to Saintes station. Prices tend to increase as the cheaper seats are sold so try and book as soon as the tickets go on sale, this is usually 4 months in advance but if they are not available then you can sign up to receive an email alert as soon as they are. Try and change at Lille rather than Paris as it only involves a short walk, in Paris you will have to travel across the city from Gare du Nord to Montparnasse (but worth it for the views if you take a cab). If you go on the Metro there is quite a long walk at Montparnasse station, but it does mean no delays in traffic if your transfer time is tight.
For more information on train travel check out this website, it offers useful advice on transfers across Paris by metro and how to book a cab.
Flights from the UK and Ireland to Bordeaux
Note: If there is not a flight available on the start or end day of the holiday you have booked consider spending a night or two in Bordeaux to tie in with flights and the free transfers, it is a beautiful city and well worth exploring! Alternatively sometimes it is better to travel in the UK (look at the coach companies for a cheaper option to the train) to get the Luton or Gatwick flights so that you can take advantage of the free transfer from Bordeaux to The Barn.
Some of the flights are seasonal and may not be available for early Spring or late Autumn trips
Bordeaux
British Airways - London Heathrow, London Gatwick (this route is still available but might be changed to Heathrow)
Easyjet - Glasgow, Manchester, Belfast, London Luton, London Gatwick, Bristol
Ryanair - Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh, London Stansted, Manchester
KLM - from the North of England and Scotland with changes in Paris or Amsterdam
Long haul flights
These obviously vary depending on where you are coming from. There are some flights that fly direct to Bordeaux, alternatively we suggest you fly to Paris CDG and take the train to Saintes. Internal flights that are booked as a connecting flight from Paris to Bordeaux are also available.
Ferry
If you are happy to drive the ferry is another option. It is more cost effective if two or three guests are travelling together. Our favourite route is the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo with Brittany Ferries, it is then a drive of just over 4 hours to reach us. There are cheaper routes but these involve a much longer drive.