Navigating Paris

If arriving from CDG and heading to Paris before Bordeaux, the RIR train is the fast train to Paris, costing €12 per ride and taking about 25 minutes to city center. Alternatively you can take the Metro into the city which is approximately 50 minutes. Metro rides are €2.50 per trip, plus a metro card. Purchase your card at any station, then load it with trips and you are good go. Apple Maps is great for navigating the Metro system. Simply put your destination into the map and choose public transportation as your mode of transportation. Maps will guide you through the stops and changes of the metro. Heads up, the doors of the Metro open and close fast, so be swift and limber on your feet. There are also a lot of stairs in and out of each station, so keep that in mind with luggage.

Trains to Bordeeaux

We took the OUIGO fast train from Paris to Bordeaux out of the Montparnasse Station which was a 2 hour trip. If taking the train from CDG, it is around 3 1/2 hours. I recommend purchasing tickets a few weeks in advance, as the price doubled when I purchased the week of. Sometimes they don’t release tickets right away, which is what is happening for the week of our wedding. So keep an eye on those if you need them.

The train station in Paris was very large and confusing to navigate. Here is what we learned: To access the trains in your particular station, navigate from the subway system to the train location within that station. Once in the train station, you will find yourself in a large rotunda with screens displaying each train and their boarding gate. The gates are not released until 30 minutes before departure, so you will need to wait in that location until they reveal the station. You could also view it from the OUIGO App, which I highly recommend downloading. Some gates are far from the rotunda, ours ended up being a 15 minute walk, much farther than we were anticipating, so give yourself more time then you think you will need to locate your train after you are inside the train station. Once you locate the gate, walk through to your train and board into your direct cabin car. If you board just any cabin on your train, you can still navigate to your cabin, but it is a pain if you have luggage.

OUIGO tickets can be hard to understand. The train number is the small number written in red listed after the words Grande Vitesse train N° (example: Grande Vitesse train N° 7660). Make sure to verify your train by its number and not just destination to avoid confusion. Your train cabin number is listed after the word voiure and your seat number is listed after the word Place (example:

voiure 7 Place 772).

Our advice, understand your ticket thoroughly and arrive EARLY to find your train. We almost missed both of our train rides on during trip.

Car Rentals in Bordeaux

If renting a car in Bordeaux the location for the rental is Bordeaux St Jean, and the car rental pick up is directly inside the station. We used a rental company named Kerry which operates under EuroCar, so if you do the same, you will follow instructions to the EuroCar Kiosk to pick up your keys. The kiosks were located on the walk out of the station and very easy to find. You’ll pick up your keys and head out the main doors to locate your car. Walk forward through the doors, past the restaurant on the right and enter the parking garage for Indigo Hotel. All rental cars are parked on their appointed deck in the Indigo Hotel Parking Garage. Don’t forget to enter the Indigo Parking Garage again in your maps when dropping off the car, this will make the drive more simple.

Public Transportation in Bordeaux

Bordeaux has a fantastic city transit system composed of tram, bus, and water taxi. Download the Transport Bordeaux Metropole App (TBM) app to purchase tickets, or purchase them at the kiosk directly each station. Tickets are €1,50 per 1 hour of transit or €5,00 per 24 hours of transit. We found Bordeaux to be extremely walkable and not too large, so we never used this on our last trip, but it is a fantastic option, and pretty much can take you wherever you would like to go.

Great Article for Bordeaux transportation

https://thebordelais.com/bordeaux-public-transport/

Jodi Bond