Having caught the TER into Bordeaux Saint-Jean, we headed outside the station to catch one of the city’s trams. With four lines spanning the city, Bordeaux’s tram network is a great way to get around and a TBM day ticket can be purchased for €5. These tickets cover unlimited use of the trams, as well as the city’s buses and water buses and so really are a bargain.
Having had a few days to settle into our holiday accommodation and explore some of the local area, we had decided to spend a day visiting Bordeaux, the closest major city to where we were staying. Having had a nightmare drive around the city’s ring road on our way down from Bordeaux, we had chosen to travel into Bordeaux by train and so just after 0800 we were at the station waiting for the TER.
Having made our way from London to La Rochelle via Paris, we had collected our hire car and driven a couple of hours south to Le Bassin d’Archachon (or Arcachon Bay) which is around 45-minutes from Bordeaux. With a base in the village of Le Teich for just over a week, we were well placed to explore the local towns as well as the wider region.
Having enjoyed just over 24 hours exploring the French capital, it was time to continue our journey to the coast and so we headed to Gare Montparnasse, Paris’ gateway to the Atlantic coast and South-West of France. We were going to be travelling onboard an SNCF TGV in 2nd class as we made the journey from Paris to the port town of La Rochelle.
Paris’ Metro network is wide reaching across the city and its suburbs with 16 lines spanning the city along with the five lines of the RER. During our stays in the French capital I was able to take a ride on 15 of the 16 lines (annoying I know!) and took the opportunity to explore some of the Oddities of the Paris Metro.
Arriving in Paris Gare du Nord onboard Eurostar, we had just over 24 hours in the French capital to explore and see the sites before we were due to catch a TGV to La Rochelle. However before we began exploring, we needed to make our way across the city to Montparnasse to drop our luggage at our hotel.
Flights & Times 