Getting to and from river (or barge) trips is one of the more challenging aspects of travel. First, we prefer air travel with the most convenient connections. Second, we prefer to travel in comfort. To that end, we’ve written often about how to get the best business class fares.
The major airline hubs where river cruises often begin or end – Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Budapest – usually pose no problem, other than finding good-value airfares. Other destinations – Lyon, Arles, Bordeaux, Basel – pose challenges because they typically require connections through the major hubs.
How do you get to Sete? That’s a question I’ve been asked multiple times since announcing that I’ll be repeating my favorite barge trip next year.
Known as the Venice of Languedoc, Sete is a beautiful seaside resort that will serve as the start of our seven-day journey to Arles. One reader suggested getting to Sete by flying into Marseille. Indeed, from Marseille, there are direct trains that will get you to Sete in less than three hours.
There are better options, however. One is to fly into Paris and travel by direct train in less than four hours from Paris Gare De Lyon. Getting to Paris from North America typically requires fewer plane changes, if any, than flying into Marseille, so there’s no navigating and waiting around in airports like Charles de Gaulle for the continued journey to Marseille, where you arrive, sleepy-eyed, to board a train to Sete.
I would prefer to overnight in Paris, enjoy an afternoon stroll and dinner, then take an afternoon train to Sete the next day. You could then overnight in Sete before boarding our barge or you could arrive the day of embarkation, which starts at 6 p.m. Sete’s train station is a 5-minute taxi ride from the Quai d’Alger, where Anne-Marie is docked in the photo above.
A equally appealing option is to fly into Barcelona and take the direct train from Barcelona Sants to Sete in less than three hours. As with Paris, you could also overnight in Barcelona before departing for Sete.
Trains are often faster (and cheaper) than flights for travel within Europe. The key is to travel direct if you have more luggage than you can easily handle. Changing trains on often tight timelines can be challenging with large suitcases in tow.
No matter where your river cruise begins or ends, when planning your river cruise, pull out a map of Europe and look for major cities within a few hours train journey.
For my Dream Cruise, which begins October 2, booking air was fairly straightforward. We needed only to get ourselves to Amsterdam and back from Zurich. Through diligent searching online, I managed to find business class air for less than $2,600 per person.
While getting there can be challenging, once on board your river cruise, your next set of decisions will be which excursions to experience. In her story below, Britton outlines excursions from Rüdesheim, a charming city that bookends the beautiful Rhine Gorge. Rüdesheim joins a stellar lineup of destinations along the Rhine and Moselle rivers that we’ll visit during my October Dream Cruise.
There’s still time to join Britton and me on this October and experience some of Rüdesheim’s excursions with us. You’ll find more info about that trip here.
Thanks for being a part of our River Cruise Advisor community. – Ralph Grizzle (and Britton Frost)
P.S. If you’d like to learn how the Rhine Gorge became popular for river cruising back in the 1800s, check out our story Steamboats On The Rhine).
