Getting There

You can get to the gîte by air, car and ferry or rail but we strongly advise you to have a car available to you during your stay. The village is not served by public transport and without a car you would miss out on the many sights and activities available. On the other hand, the village does have shops to cater for your daily needs if you just want to stay put and relax.

By Air

The nearest airport to the gîte is at Carcassone (Carcassone-Salvaza), about 30 minutes drive, mostly on the motorway (A61). Carcassone is served by the low cost operator Ryanair from Nottingham (East Midlands), Liverpool, Stansted Airport near London, Dublin and Shannon (Ireland). A little further away (87km, 55 minutes, mostly on the A9) is Perpignan, again served by Ryanair from Stansted. FlyBe also serve Perpignan from Birmingham and Southampton. Ryanair flights from Stansted also serve Montpellier (128km, 1hr 15 min, A9 and A61). Ryanair also fly to Nîmes (175km, 1hr 39 min, A54/A9/A61) from Nottingham (East Midlands), Liverpool and Luton.

A very convenient airport for the gîte is at Toulouse (Toulouse-Blagnac, 142km, 1hr 25min, A61) which is served by Easyjet from London-Gatwick and FlyBe from Birmingham, Bristol, Southampton and Belfast City airports.

Slightly further afield is Girona airport in Spain which is easily reached by motorway (181km, 1hr 46min, A7/A9/A61) and is served by Ryanair from London-Luton, London-Stansted, Liverpool, Blackpool, Nottingham-East Midlands, Bournemouth, Glasgow-Prestwick, Dublin and Shannon.

All the above are "cut-price" operators, but "regular" airlines serve these airports also. British Midland International (BMI) serve Toulouse from Manchester and prices can be quite reasonable (e.g. return fare in May 2005 of about £120). Other major airlines fly into regional airports such as Montpellier.

Car Hire

Car hire is available at the airports in France mentioned above. We find that the Nova booking service is very good. Nova search across major companies operating out of the airport you have chosen for the cheapest rates available for the car type you have selected. So far we have not been able to beat their prices by going direct to car hire company web sites. Click here to load the Nova site into a new browser window. Nova also offer a very useful insurance policy to give you full coverage (i.e. covers the sometimes substantial "excess") for 12 months for about £50.

Ferry and car

It is about 800-900km from the channel ports to the gîte, but some visitors prefer to travel this way as they can visit many parts of France on the way. Travelling south from Paris we would suggest the A71 and A 75 to near Montpellier, then the A9/A61. The A71/A75 is a much quieter route than the A7 throuhj Dijon and Lyons, and with fewer tolls. Plus you get to use the fantastic new bridge at Millau, the highest in the world, designed by Norman Foster and built by the Eiffel Tower Company! May we suggest that you plan your route with the aid of mappy.com, an on-line route finding service which also finds accommodation on your route (b&b,chambres d'hôtel, hotels etc) some of which you can also book on line. If you are taking a ferry you should check the web site where our accommodation is advertised (Holiday Rentals) as offers on ferry tickets are available. See "Rates and Availability" for our Holiday Rentals entry).

Rail and Motorail

You can, of course, choose to travel by rail, with or without your car. The TGV (the high speed train) will take you to Nîmes, Montpellier, Perpignan and Toulouse and tickets from London can be bought on-line. Lezignan, just 10 minutes from the gîte has a railway station, routes and prices can be checked and some tickets bought on-line from French railways (SNCF).

If you wish to take your car but don't want to drive through France then you may consider Motorail which serves Toulouse and Narbonne.