CAN WE REACH BIARRITZ BY TRAIN?
Have a question? Ask our expert Simon Calder
Q I want to take my husband to Biarritz by train for his 84th birthday. We have both always wanted to go there but in a long life of travelling the globe, we never have. I have never booked a packaged deal before because have always been independent. Will I get a better deal if I book train and hotel or apartment together? Who does deals like this? I can only see deals with flights, not with trains.
Linda M
A Travelling from the UK to Biarritz by rail is not the easiest journey in the world. If you get Eurostar to Paris and transfer by Metro from Gare du Nord to Gare Montparnasse, you will find yourself in the worst terminus in Paris (and probably Europe) in terms of the Metro-to-train link.
Next, Biarritz railway station is a long way from town, because decades ago they closed the proper “Ville”
station and just left the one on the main line to the Spanish border. It is a long way from town.
So Biarritz is not like most towns and cities, where one of the great advantages of rail travel is getting close to the centre. Flying (to the small, modern airport) is just as easy. Indeed, I regularly fly into Biarritz and walk to the railway station from the airport.
However, if you would like to try it then let me recommend a couple of companies. The first is Railbookers, which specialises in packaging trains and hotels, which could be just what you need. But I also like Loco 2, which is probably the most switched-on rail company; were you to choose your hotel separately, then I would certainly suggest this latter option.
Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder