Price of Accommodation

Mario there is sh*t loads of hotels in paris.

IBIS at Gard de Nord, beside the main train station is offering a room for €29 on the 13th...! I'll have some of that. :)

OK, ignore my previous post, that is the price for Gard de Nord, Bucharest.. :D

Who the flights with GF?

Sure the train out to the airport is about one third of the time to Bordeaux and then the hour before is the other third and the flight itself and taxing will be the final third. Reckon city centrie to city centre they are roughly the same time and roughly same price.

The White Cafu wrote: It takes 30 mins to get from Paris city centre to Orly. Relax in the airport with a few beers than and then fly to Bordeaux in just an hour. Most trains from Paris to Bordeaux take 3-4 hours.

I've the train booked for €19. 3h14m.

Door to door time is under four hours. I'll be leaving my accommodation in Paris 30 minutes before the train leaves and accommodation in Bordeaux is ten minutes walk from the train station. That's 3h54m total.

If I flew, I'd be allowing 45 minutes to get to the airport from where our apartment is in Paris. With check in and security, I'd want to be there an hour before departure. It's a 1h05m flight, so that's touchdown at 2h50m after leaving. It always takes about 20 minutes to get through an airport. The bus in Bordeaux takes thirty minutes to get to the train station. It's a direct bus, non stop, and that's how long it takes. Adding on the ten minute walk to the accommodation, that's a total travel time, door to door, of about 3h50m. Air fare is €47, plus add on the extra bus in Bordeaux, and the increased cost of getting to Orly in Paris as opposed to Montparnasse, makes it about €60 total, or €40 more than the train.

But yeah, taking the direct train to Bordeaux is "mad", as opposed to the sensible option of the train to Orly, plane to Bordeaux and bus into the city, which is more hassle, more changes, more stress and more cost.

Even if it is an hour quicker, so what? It's not like you're in a massive rush anyway.

@SD - Bit of advice if you don't mind.  I'm getting a train into Paris Nord and have to transfer to Montparnasse for the train to Bordeaux.  I have just an hour to make the transfer.  I assume metro is the way to go but wondering is it straightforward and is an hour long enough?  Also can I buy metro tickets in advance?

You can book the train on http://www.sncf.com/en/services/tickets-bookings

superdave on the ball as always helpful