Getting to Poitou-Charentes Atlantic Coast & Cognac Country
Come and discover Poitou-Charentes when vacationing in France with your family, with friends, or on a romantic escapade! Our region is easy to reach, near Brittany, adjacent to the Loire castles, Périgord and Bordeaux.
One week or even two, a weekend or 3-4 days, whatever may be your means of transportation or your budget, there are many ways of getting to Poitou-Charentes.
You may desire calm and greenery, you may be planning action-packed family holidays, perhaps you are dreaming of a romantic weekend, two in love on the seaside or some isle in the Atlantic; in any event, a one-hour flight will change your environment !
By boat
Think Freedom at your steering wheel. Think Ferry!
United Kingdom
- Brittany Ferries- Brittany Ferries
- Condor Ferries - Condor Ferries
- Norfolkline - Norfolkline
- P&O-Ferries - P&O Ferries
- LD lines - LD Lines
All offer regular links with French Channel ports just a half day’s drive from Poitou-Charentes.
Compare Ferries to France - AFerry.co.uk
By air
The two airports of the region, La Rochelle and Poitiers, offer direct flights to many of the main cities in Great Britain and Ireland.
To reach La Rochelle-Ile de Ré
United Kingdom
- From Birmingham - Flybe
- From Bristol - Easyjet
- From Edinburgh - Jet2
- From East Midlands - Ryanair
- From Leeds - Jet2
- From London Gatwick - Easyjet
- From London Stansted - Ryanair
- From Manchester - Flybe
- From Southampton - Flybe
Ireland
Belgium
- From Brussells Charleroi - Ryanair
Norway
- From Oslo - Ryanair
Portugal
- From Porto - Ryanair
France
- From Paris Orly - Airlinair
These flights are not necessarily scheduled every day of the week and all year long. Please check out the hours and periods of scheduled flights on the websites of the region’s airports.
- La Rochelle airport: www.larochelle.aeroport.fr
- Poitiers airport: www.poitiers.aeroport.fr
You can also fly to Paris and then take a TGV from the Charles-de-Gaulle Airport or Paris-Montparnasse train stations to Poitiers and other cities in the region.
By train
For travel arrangements, timetables, prices and bookings, visit www.raileurope.co.uk.
Rail Europe Ltd is the official UK distributor for SNCF – French Railways.
From Paris – Montparnasse train station: the TGV Atlantique service offers frequent runs to the high-speed train station
- Futuroscope – 1h30
- Poitiers – 1h35
- Angoulême – 2h15
- Niort – 2h15
- La Rochelle – 2h55
From Paris – Austerlitz train station: Express services provide access to the same destinations and to:
- Cognac
- Saintes
- Rochefort
- Royan
From Bordeaux:
- Angoulême - 55 minutes
- Poitiers – 1h40
Connections with Eurostar from London St-Pancras:
- via Lille-Europe to Poitiers – 3h20
- via Gare du Nord and change for Paris-Montparnasse station
By car
Whether you are travelling by car ferry and then by car or renting a car once in France so as to get wherever you want to go, you will have no trouble discovering the region along motorways and other roads - highways and byways.
Driving through Poitou-Charentes is a great way to get around the countryside, discovering each and every nook and cranny.
Poitou-Charentes by car is the most convenient way to take an insider’s tour of the region!
Distances from town to town
