Travelling to the Pyrenees Orientales

The Pyrenees Orientales is one of the most southern parts of France and sits right on the French border into Spain. So it goes without saying that it is a fair distance from the UK or other north European countries.

The main airports in France that serve the Pyrenees Orientales department and the Occitanie region of Southern France are Toulouse, Carcassonne, Perpignan, and Béziers. Also being on the Spanish border it is not out of the question to consider Girona or even Barcelona. All these airports are near enough to make them feasible options and it is a great way to add even more interest to your holiday.

The region is well served by a number of low cost and main airlines. So to make it a little easier for you to decide what routes to take and which airlines you can use, there is a list of who flies into the airports and where they fly from in the UK and other countries in northern Europe. Love them or hate them RyanAir is probably the most prevalent.

There are also some useful websites for checking flight availability and costs with the budget airlines.

This is a list of the main South of France airports, where they connect to in the UK and the budget airlines that serve those routes, British Airways also has flights to France in this region so where that is an option we have included the information. For travel advice to this region you will find this list really useful as it is effectively your flights listing for France. The drive times listed are the approximate times to get to Domaine de Cazes from the airport.

The list does change over time so there may be occasions that a route listed is no longer available. Every effort will be made to keep the information current but if you do find that a route is no longer available then try using some of the other online resources such as Skyscanner.co.uk to look for flights.

Don’t forget that there are a lot of locations in the UK and the rest of Europe that fly into either Girona or Barcelona, they are only 1 or 2 hours away respectively and again you can use various online resources to check the availability and prices for flights.

Flying to the Pyrenees Orientales

It is worth mentioning that for our gite in Laroque des Alberes, the nearest airport is Perpignan. Perpignan airport sits right at the side of the main A9 autoroute that runs down from Montpellier to the Spanish border.

If you exit the motor way at Le Boulou and head towards Argeles sur Mer & Port Vendres, you cannot fail to spot the Laroque des Alberes exit, just after St Genis de Fontaines.

The whole trip from the airport to Laroque des Alberes using the motorway should not take more than 30 minutes. So this really is a convenient option especially if you have young children asking ‘are we nearly there yet’.

Perpignan Airport (30 min drive)		Carcassonne Airport (2 hour drive)
London Stansted	Ryanair	East Midlands	Ryanair
Birmingham	Ryanair	Manchester	Ryanair
Paris	Transavia	London Stansted	Ryanair
Brussels S. Charleroi	Ryanair	Edinburgh	Ryanair
		Dublin	Ryanair
		Brussels S. Charleroi	Ryanair

Montpellier Airport (1 hour 55mins)		Beziers Airport (1 hour 30mins)
London Gatwick	EasyJet	Edinburgh	Ryanair
London Luton	EasyJet	Manchester	Ryanair
Amsterdam	KLM	London Luton	Ryanair
Rotterdam	Transavia	London Stansted	Ryanair
		Paris Beauvais	Ryanair
		Stockholm Arlanda	Ryanair

Girona Airport (1 hour 20mins)		Barcelona Airport (2 hours 15mins)
London	Ryanair	Birmingham	Vueling & BA
Manchester	Jet2 & Tui	Liverpool	Ryanair & Easyjet
Newcastle	Jet2	Manchester	Ryanair & Easyjet
Bournemouth	Ryanair	London	Ryanair, Vueling & Easyjet
Leeds	Ryanair	Bristol	Easyjet
Bristol	Ryanair & Jet2	East Midlands	Ryanair
Birmingham	Tui	Edinburgh	Ryanair
Doncaster	Tui	Glasgow	Ryanair
East Midlands	Jet2

Driving

There are a number of mandatory items required for driving in France, the AA travel kit illustrated provides all the mandatory items required for France, including spare light bulbs, and a first aid kit which is only a recommended item for France but a mandatory item if you ever want to drive in Austria.

It also now includes the mandatory French breathalyser kit and a First Aid Kit which is required if you decide to visit Austria on your trip. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

There are a number of channel ferries operating out of Dover providing options to dock at Calais, Boulogne or Dunkerque but you can also take an alternative route if that is your preference, use the form below to get cost comparisons and crossing times for all ferries to France.

If you prefer to go directly to a ferry service, my strong recommendation is DFDS, I have always found them to be very competitive on price and generally the cheapest when crossing the channel. The Dover to Dunkerque option is quite good as not only do you get to cash in on their very competitive pricing, but when you dock in Dunkerque and join the motorway heading south, the long first section down to just south of Lille is toll free, giving you a further saving on your travel costs. All you need to do is click on the banner to find out the prices for your trip, happy holidays.

If you don’t want to use a ferry then the other main alternative is to take the channel tunnel which you can book online at Eurotunnel

Route Planning

The Michelin Guide is a useful point of reference for establishing recommended routes and associated costs for using the route options, the web site can be found at viamichelin.com For convenience we have included a table of driving time and distances from the available ferry ports to Laroque des Alberes. But if you register with the site and enter you car details they will actually calculate the cost of the trip for you. Very useful if you are trying to work out whether to drive or fly.

Port	Distance to Laroque des Alberes	Driving Time
Dunkerque	1163km	11h15
Calais	1165km	11h00
Boulogne	1132km	10h50
Dieppe	1018km	10h07
Le Havre	1020km	10h00
Caen	985km	10h28
Cherbourg	1108km	11h50
St Malo	984km	09h45
Roscoff	1120km	11h17

Circumventing Paris

For a relatively easy route around Paris the following 2 options will get you either side of Paris without too much trouble when you are travelling North to South or visa versa..

Going South approaching on the A1 past Charles de Gaulle airport:

Generally it is best to follow the signs to Bordeaux, this is clearly sign posted as soon as you hit Paris and will take you down the A3, A86, A6 then onto the A10 which is the route South to Orleans and the best way for travelling to Toulouse.

Going North approaching Paris on the A10:

Going North it is the reverse but as you approach Paris use Lille as your general guide. This route takes you around the external periphique to the east of Paris which is motorway all the way and tends to keep moving at all times, absence of accidents permitting.

There are many other options available, but for a speedy transition past Paris we have always found this to be one of the best routes.

Stopover Information

There are a number of lovely places to stop over on your way to Laroque des Alberes. Orleans is about mid way between the channel ports and Languedoc Roussillon and is a convenient place to stay over for the night, other options are Paris, which although it is not that far south is a very interesting and vibrant place to visit, also Chateauroux, Limoges or Brive-la-Gaillarde could all be considered, they are all stop over’s that are further south than Orleans, Brive-la-Gaillarde being the furthest south. You can find hotels, B&B’s or gites to suit your needs at any of these locations or elsewhere in France.

Travelling by Rail

Rail travel in France is comfortable and efficient. There was a Motorail service but since 2020 it has been taken out of service and is no longer available.

You can visit the French rail operators http://www.tgv.com to explore other options for rail travel.

An alternative service for finding train travel within France is Trainline (also available as an app).