Madrid Travel Forum

Hi! We're a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 under 12) and we'll be arriving in Madrid, and trying to get to Bordeaux this summer. I'm hesitating between going with Renfe (which is long, and not that cheap) and renting a car (not cheap either because of the one-way drop fee)... Yet another option is to fly to Toulouse with easy jet (that's somewhat cheap) then take a train from toulouse to bordeaux...

Two questions:
- Are there good reductions for kids on Renfe/sncf all the way to bordeaux? I've seen 40% off for under 12 on renfe, but I'm wondering if this will be valid between irun and bordeaux as this will no longer be the spanish train network.
- Do you guys know of any low-cost car rental places that would accept one-way trips?

Thanks for any info! :)

An inexpensive alternative may be to bus from Madrid to San Sebastian. There is regular bus service from San Sebastian to Biarritz which I am sure you can easily get up to Bordeaux. I don't think it would take that much longer. It is 300 miles to Pamplona and then another bus ride to San Sebastian which takes about 45 minutes. The high speed train takes about 3 hours to Pamplona. There are also trains to Bilbao but for some reason those seem to take a lot longer. Maybe a more circuituous route? Never had any luck on low cost car rentals in Europe. Especially when you need to add room for luggage. Karl

Thanks for the info! I didn't think of taking the bus, but you're right, that's an option. The train takes about 6 hours from Madrid to Irun, I"m guessing taking busses would be much slower, but potentially more fun too! :)
Thanks,

I'd take the train, or try to get a low cost airfare somewhere.
- Rental car is going to be expensive, as the rental car will charge you for the cost of getting someone to drive your car back to Spain.
- Bus is not going to be fun, but then how someone can consider bus to be _more fun_ then a train is beyond me.
- Important: Northbound you change at Hendaye, not Irun. Don't get of to early.
- The French railways give reductions to children too. (Half price, if I'm not mistaken).
- A quick visit to the SNCF site gives me a rough estimate of a bout 70,- for an adult, and 40,- for a child, bought at the station.

To find out the best train times go to www.bahn.de.

yes if you do one way the car will be more expensive. You can have a low fly airline from Madrid you can play with this site
http://www.edreams.com/flights/bordeaux-madrid/

you can also contact the Viajes El Corte Ingles in Madrid, the dept store travel store, they can book you the train,air or car whichever is cheapest for you there. This is Spain biggest hypermarket all in one stop store.
offices in the airport of Madrid
Aeropuerto de Barajas Madrid - Terminal T4 - Local T2.27
AEROPUERTO BARAJAS T4
28040 MADRID
Tel. 91 333 71 92 . Fax 91 333 70 03

Salidas Internacionales T1
AEROPUERTO MADRID, BARAJAS
28042 MADRID
Tel. 913936845 . Fax 913936846


Then you have the train at www.RENFE.ES, it change at the Spain/FRance border, north but never done it from Madrid, i go by my own car. the bus is the same,but Eurolines does it, here is the contact info for verification
http://www.eurolines.fr/contacts/bureaux-en-france/fr-bordeaux/

hope it helps