How to get to Ypres

[Kathie]

I am embarking on my most exciting trip to the trenches yet. This time I am the guide and so I want it to be perfect.

In the past, for myself alone, I have flown to London (BA), waited, flown to Brussels (BA), then car to Ieper.

The drive takes me about an hour and a half I seem to remember. It is the wait at Heathrow for the connecting flight which is a drag because it means I only get in to Ypres about 14h00. Also, I then finish my trip in Rouen at St Sever Cemetery and have to pay quite a bit for leaving the car elsewhere than where I pick it up. I then happily catch a train to Paris, few days there and then back to London by BA.

I am thinking, since there was a similar thread, of now booking Air France to Paris. We would miss out on a few days in London on the way home. That is not a great worry. But the drive from Paris to Ypres? Is it really no more than two hours aas suggested? Is picking up a car easy??? It would have the advantages of not waiting over at Heathrow and perhaps be cheaper to leave car in Rouen having picked it up in France. I dont really want to drive to Cde G and then taxi into Paris.

So my questiion is - how easy and how long to drive CdeG to Ypres???? What would others do???

I might add - BA is now not much use to me since I can never get to use all my hundreds of thousands of airmiles - no seats for airmiles on any flights I want - hence the preparedness to change allegiance to air france??

Thanks

Kathie

[Le_Treport]

CDG sounds good to me. It has the benefit of being on the N of Paris, with good access to the main autoroute North. I've TomTom'd the route, and it suggests 2.5 hours. Only you would know whether you would do it faster or slower! It's a toll road note!

I would return the car to CDG (to avoid drop-off charges) then take the RER/metro into the centre - if that's your plan.

Alternatively, and I'm not sure about this, does the TGV run from CDG to, say, Lille? You could take the train to Lille, hire a car there and return to same place, then train back to Paris?????

[Martin Bennitt]

TGVs run from CDG to Lille (50 minutes) and Brussels fairly frequently. You could drive from CDG to Ypres in around three hours (it took me four a few weeks ago from Ypres to chez moi, which is west of Paris), partly because I took a wrong turn and got stuck in Armentières, which meant I hit the Lille bypass in the rush hour. The toll charges are not enormous, and assuming you hired a car with a full tank you wouldn't have to pay the steep motorway petrol prices. Have a good trip.

cheers Martin B

[Brendan Grant]

Hi there,

I just did the drive from Charles De Gaulle to Ypres...I might add it was after an eleven hour flight but wasnt a problem..i didnt time it, but it was 2 to 2.5 hrs...we stayed on the main toll highway(A1) most of the way and then turned off towards Armentiere bypassing the traffic around Lille; we just headed north through the back roads and ran right into Ypres, stopping at a few cemetaries along the way...as you may well know 130kms/hr is slow in France, so it doesnt take long...the toll was about 13 euro....the car rental office was at the 2nd terminal 2D...there are a bunch of rental offices there right next to each other..there is a free shuttle/bus to get you from terminal to terminal...we used Budget and didnt have to wait long..Europcar and Avis had longer line-ups to pick up and drop off the car...

Remember CDG is well north of Paris so you dont have to navigate near the city. I used tigercarrental.com to book the car and saved some money. Good luck on the trip! Let me know if I can help with anything else.

[Kathie]

Thank you for that detailed in formation. It certainly all sounds manageable.

We have decided we must stick to BA - the Air France flights back to SA from London are too complicated. So its a case of do we fly from Heathrow to Brussels and drive or Heathrow to Paris and drive. I will check and see how much we save in car hire by picking up and leaving car at CDG.

Thanks for help.

Kathie

[stevem49]

I am embarking on my most exciting trip to the trenches yet. This time I am the guide and so I want it to be perfect.

In the past, for myself alone, I have flown to London (BA), waited, flown to Brussels (BA), then car to Ieper.

The drive takes me about an hour and a half I seem to remember. It is the wait at Heathrow for the connecting flight which is a drag because it means I only get in to Ypres about 14h00. Also, I then finish my trip in Rouen at St Sever Cemetery and have to pay quite a bit for leaving the car elsewhere than where I pick it up. I then happily catch a train to Paris, few days there and then back to London by BA.

I am thinking, since there was a similar thread, of now booking Air France to Paris. We would miss out on a few days in London on the way home. That is not a great worry. But the drive from Paris to Ypres? Is it really no more than two hours aas suggested? Is picking up a car easy??? It would have the advantages of not waiting over at Heathrow and perhaps be cheaper to leave car in Rouen having picked it up in France. I dont really want to drive to Cde G and then taxi into Paris.

So my questiion is - how easy and how long to drive CdeG to Ypres???? What would others do???

I might add - BA is now not much use to me since I can never get to use all my hundreds of thousands of airmiles - no seats for airmiles on any flights I want - hence the preparedness to change allegiance to air france??

Thanks

Kathie

You could do Heathrow, Eurostar to Lille and Car to Ypres =- easy peasy.

stevem

[paul guthrie]

And Eurostar is a jewel!

[Kathie]

Wont it be more expensive? I have no idea what Eurostar costs but think of this:

1. Option one - return trip, considered round trip, BA - flight Johannesburg to Burssels and then Paris to Jhb. Both times via Heathrow.

2. Option two - Jhb to Heathrow, Heathrow express in to London, taxi with luggage to Waterloo (where I think Eurostar goes from) and then Paris to London return. Any idea costs??

Quickest is best so am not opposed to Eurostar becuse that way there wont be the wait and gap betweeen arrival and departure on flights.

Thanks

Kathie

[stevem49]

Wont it be more expensive? I have no idea what Eurostar costs but think of this:

1. Option one - return trip, considered round trip, BA - flight Johannesburg to Burssels and then Paris to Jhb. Both times via Heathrow.

2. Option two - Jhb to Heathrow, Heathrow express in to London, taxi with luggage to Waterloo (where I think Eurostar goes from) and then Paris to London return. Any idea costs??

Quickest is best so am not opposed to Eurostar becuse that way there wont be the wait and gap betweeen arrival and departure on flights.

Thanks

Kathie

Eurostar goes to Lille so you do not have to go via Paris. Not sure of the latest cost but try Eurostar website.

You can then hire a car in Lille or use public transport (train) from there. Most people pick a hire car up at Lille Station.

stevem

[andigger]

Kathie... I would recommend at least looking at www.autoeurope.com to see what they offer. They work with all the major rental companies - Europecar, Avis, Hertz, etc but more importantly you can see what the additional cost is if you drop the car at the airport versus the train station or other location. I also find thier web site easy to navigate and it tells you what insurance you may need and what it (versus your credit card) covers. Like I said its an option, but one I've used several times. Andy