Cardiff to Quimperlé

[mrmartin]

Travelling to Quimperlé in France in summer. Struggling for options here.

Best option I can find is fly from Bristol to Nantes and rent a car.

Otherwise, Cardiff to London, London to Paris and Paris to Quimprle, but seems like very limited services - one a day? Or getting the train from Nantes but again seems like 2 trains a day on this route which are unlikely to match flight times (or involve a huge wait).

I don't mind stopping over somewhere on the way for a day or two if it's a good place, but ideally not on both legs.

I'm really not keen on driving (especially abroad) so would like to avoid it. Happy to do a couple of hours on a coach, but not some mega journey on them if possible.

 

[rvdborgt]

SNCF have not yet released their summer timetable. IIRC they should do that on 9 March. Currently, timetables until 22 May have been released and can be booked.

 

[Flandrian]

I'm finding that I am unable to book a TGV reservation for April 29 - any idea why that might be?

 

[stuu]

Train to Portsmouth or Plymouth. Overnight ferry to St Malo, train to Rennes, train to Quimperlé?

 

[30907]

Train to Portsmouth or Plymouth. Overnight ferry to St Malo, train to Rennes, train to Quimperlé?

Or Plymouth-Roscoff, which is quite close to Quimperle though it's bus followed by 3 regional trains
However, St Malo is probably the most civilised option.

 

[mrmartin]

Train to Portsmouth or Plymouth. Overnight ferry to St Malo, train to Rennes, train to Quimperlé?

Ferry is really expensive. >£400 for 2 passengers with a cabin return. I might consider it for one leg though.

 

[stuu]

Ferry is really expensive. >£400 for 2 passengers with a cabin return. I might consider it for one leg though.

Ouch! Easyjet to Nantes then

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

There are more TGVs Paris to Lorient (including OUIGO), but the local service Lorient to Quimperlé is decidely thin and in typical SNCF fashion connects only on certain days!
The summer timetable in Brittany is usually enhanced, especially during July and August.

 

[Gloster]

The local timetables until 5 July are on the TER Bretagne website. A personal opinion is that the timetable will be similar in July and August, but there might be a bit of thinning in the rush hours and maybe one or two extras in the middle of the day.

 

[endecotp]

Just for completeness… consider Poole-Cherbourg and Poole-St Malo via the Channel Islands. If you’ve never been to Jersey, maybe this is a good oportunity?

 

[nwales58]

Paris can be avoided too, even if using the tunnel (Montparnasse is not everyone's idea of fun) if you split over 2 days.

There are two Lille Europe-Rennes through TGVs although these are slow, from the interconnexion they have to meander slowly over to Massy TGV.

If you stop for the night in Lille you get to Quimperlé in the afternoon. Or connect into the 1742 from Lille and spend the night in Rennes.

If there is more than one of you or you are travelling around when you get there, Pass Breizhgo 2 or 7 day may save a bit of money (not on TGV/Ouigo obviously) from Rennes onwards, single price for 1-5 people.

Summer dates - you are aware of the 'Grand départs' chaos days, best avoided?

 

[DeverseSam]

British Airways maybe will do summer flights to Quimper.

 

[Austriantrain]

There are two Lille Europe-Rennes through TGVs although these are slow,

I would not call 3h45 for more than 550 km „slow“. It’s the same journey time as with a change (including metro) in Paris, and a car ride would take 6 hours.

 

[DeverseSam]

I would not call 3h45 for more than 550 km „slow“. It’s the same journey time as with a change (including metro) in Paris, and a car ride would take 6 hours.

It’s a mere 1h28 from Montparnasse to Rennes so 3h45 seems slow in comparison!

 

[Myb]

If I was in your situation I would fly easyJet Bristol to Nantes (three flights per week in the summer), then a train from Nantes to Quimperlé (three or four per day except on Sundays). Nantes is a nice place to visit for a stopover.

On Thursdays it can be done in one day, on Mondays and Saturdays a night in Nantes is necessary.

• Mondays
  • easyJet BRS 1525 - NTE 1735
  • night in Nantes
  • Train Nantes - Quimperlé 0649 - 0900 or 1118 - 1330
• Thursdays
  • easyJet BRS 1120 - NTE 1330
  • Shuttle bus to Nantes station (20 minutes)
  • Train Nantes - Quimperlé 1648 - 1901
• Saturdays
  • easyJet BRS 1905 - NTE 2115
  • night in Nantes
  • Train Nantes - Rennes 1005 - 1121
  • Train Rennes - Quimperlé 1135 - 1324

For the return journey:

• Mondays
  • Train Quimperlé - Nantes 1229 - 1446
  • Shuttle bus to the airport (20 minutes)
  • easyJet NTE - BRS 1805 - 1820
• Thursdays
  • Train Quimperlé - Nantes 0601 - 0816
  • breakfast in Nantes then shuttle bus to the airport (20 minutes)
  • easyJet NTE - BRS 1400 - 1415
• Saturdays
  • Train Quimperlé - Nantes 1303 - 1504
  • Shuttle bus to the airport (20 minutes)
  • easyJet NTE - BRS 2145 - 2200

Train times for the summer are not published yet but shouldn't change hugely except perhaps if there is engineering works.