How to get to our holiday villa rentals in the South of France

Click here to view flight routes

Air travel to our properties for rent in the South of France, especially to the regions of the Languedoc, Provence, Côte d’Azur and even Corsica has been revolutionised by the advent of cheap “no-frills” airlines like Ryanair, Easyjet and Jet2, who have return flights to the region for as little as £30 return including airport taxes in low season.

For Western Languedoc it may even be worth considering flights to Girona in Spain, about an hour south of the border. Some airlines refer to it as “Barcelona-Girona”, (although it is closer to France than to Barcelona!).

Now our villas for rent in Béziers are even easier to get to from the UK as Ryanair now have flights from Bristol, Edinburgh, Luton and Manchester.

Here are some route examples:

Beziers

Ryanair from UK:- Bristol, Luton, Manchester and Edinburgh. Europe:- Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Dusseldorf and Bremen.

There are two Shuttle buses (navette) that meet every plane arriving, fare apprx €3 per person, more information can be found here.

One goes to Beziers Bus Station and from there a free bus takes you to the train station. (If you ask the driver he may take you direct!)

One goes to Marseillan and stops at Vias center and Agde train station along the way.

Carcassonne

Ryanair from London Stansted, East Midlands, Dublin, Cork, Liverpool, Glasgow-Prestwick, Brussels, Eindhoven, Porto

Montpellier

British Airways from London Heathrow

Ryanair  Brussels and Frankfurt

Easyjet from Gatwick and Luton

International flights from across Europe.

Nimes

Ryanair from Luton, Stansted Liverpool and Brussels

Perpignan

Ryanair from London Stansted,  Birmingham and Brussels, Air Lingus from Dublin

Marseille

Main airport for Provence. Ryanair Edinburgh, London Stansted, Manchester, Easyjet to London Gatwick, Bristol, Glasgow and Manchester and various international destinations.

Nice
Main airport for the Cote d’Azur. Large international airport, Ethiad, British Airways, Easyjet, Ryanair to name a few.

Girona (Spain)

Ryanair from, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cork, Dublin, Luton, Stansted, East Midlands, Gatwick, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, TUI from UK and Europe. JET2 from various UK destinations.

To see a comprehensive list of flights from UK airports to southern France’s airports – CLICK HERE

Flight schedules/routes may change without prior notice.

Low Fare Flights – A very useful site indeed – It compares latest airfares from the lowcost no-frills airlines from the UK (it does not have details of some full service airlines like BA and Air France). Fares are updated daily.

Cheap Flights – All airlines from all UK airports. Consider flying from your local airport to Paris then on to a local airport in South of France, or to Girona just over the border in Spain.
From the USA:
Check out Air France for through-ticket to one of the regional airports via Paris. Despite their reputation for being pricey they can be surprisingly competitive, e.g. LA to Montpellier, changing at Paris, was recently available from about $400 return.

– Or look at flights to London Gatwick (e.g. Virgin) then British Airways or Ryanair to regional airports in South of France.
Airport Parking:
Start your holiday to France by saving on your UK airport parking. Check out Flypark or UK Airport Car Parking

For Provence and Côte d’Azur take the Reims-Rhone valley route (A7 autoroute). For Central Languedoc (Occitanie) take the Massif Central Route (A75 autoroute) which is shorter and prettier than going via the Rhone valley. The A75 is free south of Clermont Ferrand and there is no longer a bottle-neck at Millau now that the viaduct at Millau has been completed.

Distances from channel ports, (and estimated driving times):

Route Planners – Estimated journey times, distances, autoroute tolls):

Michelin Guide’s website; best all-round guide; route-planner, hotels, restaurants: the lot!

Mappy route-planner and maps

Don’t assume that you will get the best deal with your airline’s car-hire partner – shop around!

Hertz
Enterprise  (was National Citer)
Avis
ADA (French) Cheaper than the big boys
Sixt – Also have very competitive prices
Auto Europe
Rentacar
Alamo

People arriving on the train to Béziers might want to know  – the office for National/Europe Car is in the terminal building, ADA and Avis are across the road.

AVIS is open Monday to Friday: 8.30-12.00 & 14.00 – 18.30 or Saturday: 8.30 – 12.00. Their number is 04 67 28 65 44

If you would like to book out of hours, go through your travel agent or contact the Nice office.

EUROPCAR is open Monday to Friday: 8.00 – 13.00 or Saturday: 8.00 – 14.00. Their number is 04 67 62 09 89

If you cannot pick up the car during office hours, you can reserve in advance with your credit card details and your driving licence details, the Terminus Hotel (opposite the station) will give you the keys when you arrive.

When dropping the car off, again if you are not able to make it during office hours, you can leave the keys at the Terminus Hotel – however this incurs a 3€ charge.

Car Hire Excess – it is expensive, a UK Company offers a daily or annual insurance policy to cover this see details at Insurance4carhire

Eurostar London to Avignon direct trains take less than 6 hours.

Eurotunnel channel tunnel rail-link.

Raileurope (TGV = “Trains à Grande Vitesse”). Less than 3 hours from Paris to Avignon! A good alternative to second-leg flights following trans-Atlantic flights. Barcelona to Perpignan now only 1hr 20min.

SNCF The French railways official website

Ferryonline Comparison website for European crossings

P&O Ferries Routes include Dover-Calais, Hull-Zeebrugge

Brittany Ferrys Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth and Cork to Brittany.

Aferry – Cheap Ferries to France

Ferry Savers – A successful Ferry Comparison website and one of the biggest ones in the ferry travel market offering something for everyone’s taste and budget.