rail travel through france

[frankofile]

My husband has a longstanding love affair with France. He is now suffering from Motor Neurone Disease and would dearly love a holiday in Provence. He has booked a Gite in Provence in late May, but as he does not drive it will be up to me to get us there, and it is 600 miles from Le Havre. Having recently driven 1000 miles in 5 days round Ireland, and experiencing back problems I am feeling cautious to say the least. Thinking outside the box for once I wondered if any of you helpful soles had any experience of train travel to southern France, then hiring a car. Eurostar to Paris, then a train to somewhere south and hire a car. Is it finanancially viable, and what are the pitfalls?

[mushroom25]

london to avignon by eurostar & tgv can be done with only 1 change at lille (saving a change between stations in paris).
using random may dates, there are fares og around �100-�110 still available on some trains.
have a look at http://www.raileurope.co.uk/ or http://www.bahn.de/db_uk/view/index.shtml

there's loads of useful information here http://www.seat61.com/France.htm

(of course, you can reach marseille for a fraction of the price with Ryanair...)

[Lil O'lady]

I agree that ryanair would cost much less, but the experience of seeing the couintry by rail is worth the money if you can afford it.
If you do not have strict time commitments, why not make your way down France more slowly than using Eurostar the whole way? Stop off at a couple of citiies for overnight and a look round. The beautiful thing is that the trains go straight to the city centres. You could get a look at Lyon and Avignon on your way to Aix-en-provence.
If your gite is out of the way, arrange to hire a car at the nearest main station when you get there.
The French railways are really lovely, much better than here.

[jno]

Eurostar will be going straight through to Avignon this summer, but not till July unfortunately. But you could get that far as mushroom suggests and then hire a car. Personally, I think I'd just drive more slowly and enjoy the view.

[mushroom25]

if you can't find the train fare that you want for the dates you need and you end up in your car, jno's suggestion is do-able - a journey from Le Havre to Aix is easily broken into 3 with stops at Tours (Loire) and Cahors (in the Lot, just south of the Dordogne), so you end up with around 200 miles to do on each travel day.
this hotel in Tours is quite good -
http://www.hotel-univers.fr/index_1024_en.html

[frankofile]

thanks everyone. looking at the costs of ferry, petrol, hotel stops motorway tolls etc. have decided that Eurostar and TGV to Avignon plus hire car will work out about the same cost plus a lot less stress for me. downside for me will be driving a left hand drive car for 2 weeks and lack of luggage we can take, but it saves me a 1200 mile drive, and its on my 50th birthday!!!

[frankofile]

will let you lot know how i got on on the return