Welcome to Living France.com

A web site dedicated to living in France from an expatriate viewpoint

Getting Here

Literally!

The web contains a mine of information on travel to and from France - what is contained here can only be a summary. We concern ourselves principally with travel to our region, the Rhône-Alpes, but the information holds largely true wherever you are headed.

By Road/Ferry.

All the eastern and central channel ports are convenient for this part of France. Journey times will vary depending on your ultimate destination, but allow at least 6 - 7 hours driving time to Lyon

Le Havre - from Portsmouth by P&O Ferries

Caen - from Portsmouth by Brittany Ferries

Dieppe - from Newhaven by Hoverspeed

Boulogne/Calais/Dunkerque - from Dover by P&O Stena and SeaFrance ferries and Hoverspeed (SeaCat and Hovercraft.)

Visit the websites for sailing times and destinations.

By Rail.

Eurostar from London Waterloo ; change either at Lille Europe or Paris. Otherwise to Channel port by train and cross as foot passenger, and take French SNCF train on arrival. Lyon Part-Dieu station is about 6 hours from Waterloo.

Visit www.sncf.com for travel information

By air.

France is well served by both national airlines and by low-cost carriers. Easyjet fly from a number of UK airports to Geneva, and from London Stansted to Lyon. Ryanair fly from London Stansted to "Lyon" - actually to St Etienne, about 1 hour west of Lyon.

Visit the websites for full timetable and destination information. www.easyjet.com and www.ryanair.com. There are a couple of things to bear in mind for travelling with low-cost airlines:

1. To get the cheapest price, BOOK EARLY and travel midweek at the less popular times. This applies to car hire too (not the midweek bit). For example, we travelled, 2 adults, 1 child (who pays full price) and a baby, with easyJet in November 2003, midweek to midweek, with a Mercedes A class for 14 days. By booking in July, the total price - Air fare, airport taxes, car hire and insurance - was about £200. With easyJet, register with their website to receive emails of offers and notifications of new season tickets coming on sale.
2. If your flight is delayed, think about why the fares are cheap: low-cost carriers work on two things - bums on seats and fast turnarounds. Their aircraft need to be in the air and with plenty of passengers on board to make money. This means that an aircraft out of service can cause knock on problems for a whole day; similarly, a delay on a morning flight can mean delays on subsequent flights for the whole day. This is a price we pay for having broken the monopoly and high fares of the national flag-carrying airlines. We have flown low-cost many times, and the majority of our flights have landed within a few minutes (either side) of timetabled time. Only once have we been delayed more than an hour, and it is more than once we have been half an hour early. So, from us, it is a big thank you to easyJet and the others - where once we paid £150 return per person to go back to the UK, the price is now nearer £45-50 return. With a family travelling that is a big difference!

By bus.

Coaches serve most of France from London; but we have never tried it so don't feel qualified to comment!