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Quinssa Travel Advice
Issoire:
For anyone looking to go to Issoire we suggest travel advice as follows:
Flights (Duncan Franklin)
To Lyon, Saint Exupery (LYS)
From Heathrow (LHR)
British Airways (www.ba.com) run three flights a day each way between Heathrow (LHR) and Lyon (LYS) with return flights costing between £111.60 and £169.60 depending on which return flight time you want.
A number of people have booked the following flights:
Flight number: BA0360
From: Heathrow (London) Terminal 4
To: Saint Exupery (Lyon) Terminal 1
Depart: 05 Aug 2006 08:40
Arrive: 05 Aug 2006 11:10
Operated by: British Airways
Flight number: BA0363
From: Saint Exupery (Lyon) Terminal 1
To: Heathrow (London) Terminal 4
Depart: 12 Aug 2006 19:20
Arrive: 12 Aug 2006 19:55
Operated by: British Airways
Lufthansa fly from LHR to Lyon via Frankfurt from £148 return (www.lufthansa.co.uk)
Air France fly from LHR to Lyon via Paris (CDG) from £165 return (www.airfrance.co.uk)
bmi fly from LHR to Lyon via Frankfurt from £188 return (on Lufthansa flights) (www.bmibaby.com)
From Stanstead
EasyJet also have a service from Stansted (STN) to Lyon (LYS) leaving at 13:35 on 5/8 and returning at 16:45 on 12/8 (www.easyjet.com) for £149.73
From London City
Luthansa fly from London City (LCY) via Frankfurt (out) and via Munich (rtn) from £155 (www.lufthansa.co.uk)
Other airlines from Heathrow and flights from Gatwick, London City and Southampton to Lyon all involve stop overs and cost many hundreds of pounds.
To Clermont Ferrand, Aulnat (CFE)
From Heathrow (LHR)
Air France have a service from Heathrow (LHR) to Clremont Ferrand (CFE) via Paris (CDG) from £215 per person (www.airfrance.co.uk)
To Saint-Etienne (EBU)
There is also an airport at Saint-Etienne (EBU) but I haven't been able to find flights to it yet
Trains (John Hartley)
By train from London Waterloo to Issoire (and back).
There are lots of options but I’ve chosen one going out on 5th August and back on 12th.
You can book online (apart from the cross Paris journey for which you will need a metro/RER/bus ticket) or go to RailEurope in Piccadilly. It’s best to book the two legs of the journey separately, rather than try to do it all through one site. Although this is possible with the SNCF site (and RailEurope), it will be a lot more expensive!
So, Eurostar first www.eurostar.com
London Waterloo to Paris (Gare du Nord).
Outbound Saturday 5/8/06, leaving at 07:37 (arrives Paris 11:23), cost £ 64.50
Inbound Saturday 12/08/06, leaving at 19:19 (arrives London 20:54) cost £29.50
So you can still buy a return journey for £94, but if you want different times, it will cost more.
Then SNCF www.sncf.com/indexe.htm The site has an English language option.
Paris (Gare de Lyon) to Issoire
Fares can be had for as little as €70.60 return on a direct service.
Outbound Saturday 5/8/06, leaving at 12:31 (arrives Issoire 16:56), cost € 35.30
Inbound Saturday 12/8/06, leaving at 12:05 (arrives Paris 16:36), cost € 35.30
You can order online and pick up your tickets at Gare de Lyon, or Gare du Nord, either at a ticket office or one of the many automated ticket machines (similar to the “FastTicket” machines in the UK). A note of caution when you’re registering to buy. Check when you register that they have your surname, not your forename, as the name on the ticket collection details. You’ll need to take the credit card with which you made the booking.
Across Paris www.ratp.fr/ The site has an English language option and street maps of start and finish areas
Metro (one change)
From Gare du Nord, take line 4 towards Porte D’Orleans and change at Chatelet onto Line 1 towards Chateau de Vincennes.
RER (direct service but less frequent than the Metro)
Take Line D heading towards Gare de Lyon
Bus (about 25 minutes)
Walk to junction of Rue La Fayette & Rue de Dunkerque, then take bus 65 towards, Gare de Lyon, Bus stop is about 3 minutes walk from station.
See you there!
Tickets, Hotels and Restaurants (Jon Forster)
Tickets
Tickets can be bought on the day – if remaining – or can be booked in advance by contacting Pascal Rudel. He runs a sports shop in Clermont. I have been advised that tickets are selling quickly.
He can be contacted as follows:-
Pascal RUDEL
RENVOI O'22
41 rue des chaussetiers 63000 CLERMONT-FERRAND
Tél / Fax : 04 73 36 91 61
e Mail : renvoi-o22@wanadoo.fr
Please make sure you mention you are with Quinssa (Harlequins Supporters) so he knows which group you are with. Pascal can reply via email in English.
The price:
One day 15 euros
Two days : 25 euros.
The children under 13 years are free (you just need an identity card)
Payment:
Cash on visiting the shop.
Details of Hotels in Issoire
I have not included the hotels in Clermont Ferrand but focused on Issoire. Issoire is approximately 30 minutes from Clermont. There are regular trains which are about 5 euros each way.
I would recommend a visit to Clermont to see the Cathedral and to generally have a look around!
For tourist information on Issoire use the link below to go to the Issoire tourist information.
www.tourisme.fr/tourist-office/issoire.htm
Some of the site is in English.
Map Of Issoire
I also enclose a link to a map of Issoire
www.mappy.fr/BtoB/OfficeTourisme/FramePlanXY?x=671096&y=2060825
You can zoom in/out and print as required.
Hotels and Restaurants
There appears to be plenty of hotels but they are not that big. A list provided by the Issoire tourist group is pasted in below.
A travel group in the area had offered to book rooms at the 3 star hotel in Issoire but it is fully occupied by the Clermont team. They have now also offered to book rooms in Clermont where they have partnerships. Details are on their web site www.puydedometourisme.com, Click on ‘hotels’ under ‘hebergement’ on the left hand side of the page. You can also call them on 00 44 473 90 00 15. They are open 8h30 until 17h00 Monday to Friday. I would ask for Geraldine. She manages the office and can certainly email in English. Or you can email Geraldine on info@puydedometourisme.com. Please tell her or put in your mail that you are part of the Quinssa (Harlequins Supporters) group.
For Issoire or other hotels I would also recommend you use the www.viamichelin.com site. Its petty easy to use. Select ‘France’ from the drop down lit on the left and then key in Issoire into the ‘town’ box. There only appears to one ‘Issoire’ in France but if you want to be more certain then also enter the ‘post code’ of 63500 in the search. This means in order enter <blank>, 63500, Issoire, France. You can use the same site to see tourist sites and find a decent restaurant once you have entered the search details and ‘found’ Issoire.
I would recommend you sort hotels pretty quickly. None of the hotels in Issoire are that big and the Auvergne region can tend to ‘go on holiday’ in August with plenty of places deciding to close.
Hotel Details From the Issoire Tourist board.
I have left the descriptions in French as they are fairly clear what they mean.
Hotels in issoire.
L'OSTALOU **
9, avenue Kennedy 63500 Issoire, phone : 04.73.89.64.83, fax : 04.73.89.51.54, 9 chambres, Garage moto, accès handicapés, salon. Pets are allowed
LE TOURISME **
13 avenue de la Gare 63500 Issoire, phone : 04.73.89.23.68, fax : 04.73.89.65.28, internet : www.hoteldutourisme.com, 13 chambres, jardin. Pets are allowed
ACE HOTEL *
rue du Dr Bienfait 63500 Issoire, phone : 04 73 55 75 57, 54 chambres, Chambres climatisées, parking, ascenseur, accès handicapés, accès 24h/24
ETAP HOTEL
rue Jean Bonnet - zone du Grand Mas 63500 Issoire, phone : 08.92.68.09.36, fax : 04.73.89.41.83, 54 chambres, Chambres climatisées, parking, ascenseur, jardin, accès handicapés. Pets are allowed
LA GARE
5 av. de la Gare 63500 Issoire, phone : 04.73.89.21.86, 10 chambres, . Pets are allowed
Hotel with restaurant :
Use www.viamichelin.com (as above) and the following hotels with restaurants have been provided by the local tourist agency.
LE PARIOU ***
18 bd Kennedy 63500 Issoire, phone : 04.73.55.90.37, fax : 04.73.55.96.16, email : info@hotel-pariou.com, internet : www.hotel-pariou.com, 33 chambres, Logis de France 3 cheminées, Parking, Accès handicapés, Ascenseur, Jardin, Chambres climatisées. Pets are allowed
CAMPANILE **
ZI les listes rue Robert Schumann 63500 Issoire, phone : 04.73.89.00.27, fax : 04.73.89.95.00, 40 chambres, parking, accès handicapés, jardin. Pets are allowed
IBIS **
Rue Jean Bigot 63500 Issoire, phone : 04.73.89.60.76, fax : 04.73.89.41.83, 33 chambres, Chambres climatisées, ascenseur, parking, accès handicapés, jardin, accueil personnalisé 24h/24. Pets are allowed
LE PARC **
2 avenue de la Gare 63500 Issoire, phone : 04.73.89.23.85, fax : 04.73.89.44.76, internet : www.leparc-hotel-issoire.com, 5 chambres, Parking, garage, parc. Pets are allowed
LE COQ HARDI
68 rue du Docteur Sauvat 63500 Issoire, phone : 04.73.89.23.46, internet : www.hotellecoq.fr, 6 chambres, Garage. Pets are allowed
LE RELAIS
1 av. de la Gare 63500 Issoire, phone : 04.73.89.16.61, fax : 04.73.89.55.62, internet : www.hotel-puy-de-dome.com/issoire/lerelais, 6 chambres, . Pets are allowed
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