From Puglia to South of France

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05/15/2009 - 11:06

xxxx - the first line of this post does not show in view mode xxxxWe've been living in Puglia for last 3+ years and my (aged) mother lives in the South of France. I try to go and see her at least twice a year and she tries to visit us when possible. Our problem is the convoluted travel necessary to get to the south of France. I've tried :Train - Brindisi to Rome, 4 hour wait, night sleeper (no restaurant car or other services) from Rome to Nice, Nice to Marseille, Marseille to Gruissan. Best part of two days, and on the return trip there is something like a 7 or 8 wait in Rome for the Rome to Brindisi trip.Flying : - Brindisi - Rome - Toulouse. 4 hour wait in Rome on the way out and then 6 or 7 hour wait in Rome on the way back, And a long drive from Toulouse to Gruissan.- Brindisi - Stansted - Montpellier (or Carcassonne). From Brindisi to Stansted - arriving late at night so either sleep in the airport or hotel at Stansted (expensive). Next day flight to Montpellier or Carcassonne. Currently the return journey is better with the Carcassone to Stansted flight arriving in Stansted just over 3 hours before the Stansted - Brindisi flight leaves- Brindisi - Paris (MyAir), then Paris - Montpellier (Air France). Can be acheived in a day, okay if you book early enough to get lower cost flights.Have also tried driving - about 10 to 12 hours in total, which may involve a night stop. But it's expensive So, any other suggestions?

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This is the only method you haven't mentioned, and I've no idea if this is possible - but I always love ferry journies and wondered if eg Naples to SoF is possible by sea (maybe via corsica with a bit of a stopover?) I've started researching and that makes me want to do it right now - with the added advantage of not having an A to start from or a B to get to! :)

I was thinking the same, but it seems that all ferries go via islands, not mainland Italy to mainland France.....but then I found this Not very convenient, but maybe better than nothing?

theres a flight from pescara to barcelona ... dont know prices .. ok it means getting to pescara... car i would presume and long term park it there..barcelona good trains... as far as i can remember used to live close to bezier with family in barcelona... 2 hour drive....and narbone is a lot closer to the spanish border... and it might well be that the flight from pescara goes to the airport in the north ...ie not barcelona at all... which would take about an hour if you hired a car to get back up to where you want

Girona (on the Spanish side) may be a good alternative, but I do not see anything direct from Brindisi. From Girona you will have to drive to Gruissan. Up to now, the less complicated seems to go all the way from point to point by car. Unless you could get very cheap connecting flights, which may be difficult or impossible to find.

i call girona the north barcelona airport... because that's what ryan air seems to think it is... almost as close to narbonne as barcelona i guess...certainly less traffic... anyway thats where the flight...ryan air form pescara goes to... and thinking about my initial advice...trains from Brindis to pescara are much better than rome connections... a bit like the UK north south always works better than eats west...say to rome... in fact for us in abruzzo you would be quicker walking than taking the train... anyway get a train to pescara central and the 38 bus takes about 15 minutes to the abruzzo international airport here's an airport link to get you started

I think there are now Ryanair flights from Venice Treviso to Marseilles - can you get a flight or train up to Venice then its a quick bus to Treviso? Might involve a night in Venice but there are some real hotel bargains right now and a night in Venice is never a bad thing... Am