| Getting Here |
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Getting to Mimizan is easy. You can drive all the way, take the train, or fly and hire a car at the airport. FerriesIf you plan to drive, look at Portsmouth - St Malo on Brittany Ferries. It's expensive, but the journey from St Malo to Mimizan is quick and easy, about 400 miles on quiet motorways and dual carriageways. If you take the overnight ferry, you get a good night's sleep, arrive in St Malo at 8am, and can easily be in Mimizan by mid afternoon. For the return journey, consider Caen - Portsmouth as the last ferry leaves late at night, allowing you plenty of time to get to the port. Ask us for our Brittany Ferries discount code and get 20% discount! A more economical alternative is Dover - Calais or Boulogne, where several ferry companies compete with Eurotunnel, leading to much more competitive pricing. It's a 600 mile drive from there to Mimizan so you'll probably want to make an overnight stop. France has lots and lots of small, informal hotels where you can spend a pleasant and relaxing evening, and it's well worth taking some time to find something you like the look of. You can try Active Hotels and Formule 1, but there are many more. There are several other ferry routes. LD lines offer several routes, as do Condor, or try one of the web sites that compare ferry prices for multiple routes and operators, such as Direct Ferries. You could also consider Portsmouth or Plymouth to Santander in northern Spain on Brittany Ferries. AirThe nearest airports to Mimizan are Bordeaux and Biarritz. Both are about an hour and a quarter drive from Mimizan. Bordeaux is a little easier but there isn't much to choose. We try to keep the following table of airlines and destinations up to date but it changes frequently (last update 12th April 2010).
Note that parking at the smaller airports can be a lot cheaper than at Heathrow or Gatwick.
Car HireCar hire prices vary and it's best to shop around on the web and book in advance. Try here for Biarritz, or here for Bordeaux, or go directly to the hire companies. Bordeaux airport has Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Alamo and Budget, among others.For an airport transfer service, try Unique Holidays. TrainsMany of our guests drive one car down, while other members of the party fly. But flying isn't the only option - you can easily take the train all the way, and it makes a suprisingly pleasant change from flying. The Eurostar from London to Paris takes about two and a half hours, and the TGV from Paris to Bordeaux takes about three and a quarter hours. The Eurostar can be expensive and it's not the only option. For example, you could travel as a foot passenger from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and the TGV would get you to Bordeaux in just over 7 hours for under €100. The SNCF website will tell you the price of any train journey in France and you can book online.There's a shuttle bus (Navette) from Bordeaux airport to Bordeaux central station, which takes 45 minutes in either direction. From Bordeaux central you can get a train to Ychoux or Labouheyre - book online at SNCF . Labouheyre is about 20 minutes by road from Mimizan. Ychoux is about 30 minutes. BusesRDTL run buses around the region. Their website is absolutely dreadful, especially if you don't read French, so do ask us if you need any help. Service 13 connects Mimizan and Labouheyre station, but you need to plan carefully as there are only four buses per day and they don't run on French bank holidays! |
