Leaving Your Trip in DIJON

This page offers help (concrete or informational) on leaving your trip.  Topics include...

1. Where you leave your trip (see immediately below)
2. The closest airports.
3. Our “Access Packages,” designed to help you travel onwards from your trip.
4. Suggestions on how to time your ongoing travel, whether you are having us arrange it, or doing it yourself.
5. Service information regarding train travel from your trip end location.
6. Suggested post-trip visits, especially when these are not geographically obvious, but are rendered economical and convenient by direct rail connections.
7. Hopefully helpful hints for those setting up their own travel from the trip.

If you wish to arrange some or all of your travel through us, please tell us what by means of this response questionnaire, designed to collect all the information we need to be able to book your travel.


1. WHERE and WHEN Do You Leave Your Trip?

Your trip disbands in Dijon, Burgundy’s capital, on either Thursday (trips ending with the southern, “Pinot Noir Burgundy” itinerary) or Saturday (trips ending with the northern, “Chardonnay Burgundy” itinerary).  You reach Dijon in the evening, after a full day of biking and other foolishness.

If you wish to arrange your own ongoing travel (in other words, you do not want to set up any ongoing travel arrangements through us), a couple of hints regarding ongoing travel are offered at the bottom of this page.  Otherwise, look over our “Access Packages,” below.



2. The CLOSEST AIRPORTS

The closest airports are in Paris, at least in terms of travel time.  Lyon and Geneva are the same distance away, and generally cost roughly the same to reach, but travel time to each is longer.



3. Our ACCESS PACKAGES
effective March 30, 2010

Our “Access Package” includes a hotel night, breakfast the next morning (if you have time for it), and train tickets to Paris, Geneva or Lyon (the closest airport cities).  Connections to London are available at additional cost.

Base (Starting) Access Package Price:  99€, based on shared occupancy.
Shared occupancy rate is guaranteed to singles willing to share until 35 days before trip start, provided the trains are available.  After that, you may request a roommate, and we will assign one if someone else does, too.  But you must be willing to pay the single supplement if not.

To see what this means in your currency, look here: http://www.bluemarble.org/CurrencyConv.html
Availability is usually pretty good until about 35 days prior to trip start.   We try to hold allotments of space for the most common projects until then, and there is generally a discount seat open on one or another of the many trains.  Within 35 days, availability must be confirmed, and costs are more likely to be higher (some discount rail tickets may no longer be available).

Included:

• A hotel night in Dijon, based on double occupancy.  Typically, many of your past weeks’ travelling companions will also be staying over.
• Breakfast, if you have time / get up for it.
• Train tickets via high-speed train from Dijon to Paris, Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, Geneva, or Lyon.
  Tickets are not refundable or exchangeable once ordered (see below for extra cost first class and / or flexible tickets).
• Seat reservations on the TGV (high-speed train), and on any other trains which require them.
• All taxes, baggage and booking charges.
• A printed schedule / itinerary, highlighting any connections.
  
  A Blue Marble Trip Coordinator will generally be present after trips arriving from our Northern Burgundy route, and will organize an informal dinner for willing participants.

Our “Ride the Bike Train” Discount Access Package includes all the above.  You take your bike with you on the train (to Paris), and ride it to our office when you arrive, using our detailed instructions, and following cycle paths and / or quiet streets.
While not all trains on this line accept bicycles, we can arrange to reserve cycle spaces on a selection of trains spread throughout the day.  So, while you must have a certain flexibility to your schedule, the choice is not very constraining.

Access Package Price:  69 €
No upgrades available.


Options Offered at an Extra Cost (subject to availability)
Prices are in addition to the “Base” Access Package Price.  For a general discussion of train upgrades, see here.  Topics include the relative comfort of first versus second class, and different types of accommodation available on overnight trains.

• 1st class tickets to Paris:  +19€.
• Tickets to London.  Add 69€ if you are also purchasing tickets from London at the start of your trip, 109€ if not, or if you prefer a changeable ticket (in 1st cl., add 109€ or 145€; 1st class tickets include meal service).
  For travel to London via Paris, with or without stop-over, add 15€ (see “Service Information,” below).
• Daylight trains to any of the following (prices include required seat reservations):
  - Nice:  +39€ 2nd class, +59€ 1st class.
  These rates are capacity-restricted and represent substantial discounts.  Subject to availability.
  - Zurich (city or airport), or Milan:  +55€ 2nd class, +69€ 1st class.
  - Venice or Florence:  +69€ 2nd class, +85€ 1st class.
• Overnight train after a night in Dijon.
  To Nice (or elsewhere on the Côte d’Azur):  +39€.
  To Rome, Florence or Venice:  +59€.
  Couchette included.  See below for upgrade options.
• Overnight Train Upgrade from 2nd class couchette:  +24€ to “Comfort Couchette.”  Sleeping car cabins, to Italy only:  +29€ to a triple cabin, +49€ to double cabin, +109€ to a private single cabin.
• Higher fare code exchangeable and partly refundable tickets:   +22€ to points included in the Access Package (Paris, Dijon, Lyon, or CDG Airport), in either class. +35€ to other points.
  These tickets are exchangeable at any station, on a space-available basis, at any time until the train’s departure, for free if the exchange is made prior to the date of travel, or for 10€ on the date of travel.  Cost of the exchange is +10€ if you make it through us, as opposed to standing in line at the station yourself.  Tickets are refundable less 20%, provided they are turned in at a station before the train’s departure.
  
• Single room in Dijon, +23€.
• Additional nights in Dijon:  +40€ / person double or twin, 63€ single.
  Including taxes and booking, but not breakfast.
• Paris airport train tickets, to Charles de Gaulle or Orly from anywhere in downtown Paris.  Follow this link for details.
  This ticket is not necessary if you are taking the one daily TGV from Dijon direct to the airport.
  

Alternate Arrangements, in lieu of our usual packages (subject to availability)
Prices are complete (in other words, they are not in addition to the “Base” Access Package Price).

• Same-day evening train to Paris:  2nd class, 38€ non-modifiable, 59€ changeable.
  1st class:  46€ non-modifiable (subject to availability), 78€ changeable.
  Non-modifiable discount tickets are subject to availability, and NOT recommended at the end of a biking day, unless you are content to book a late train.
• Same-night overnight train to Nice (or elsewhere on the Côte d'Azur), Rome, Florence or Venice.
  79€ to Nice, 99€ to Italy.
  Couchette included.  Comfort Couchette upgrades available on all trains, sleeping car upgrades are available on trains to Italy. See below for upgrade options.
• Hotel in Dijon without ongoing train:  47€ / person double or twin, 71€ single.
  Including taxes, booking, and breakfast.

4. TIMING Your Trip

If we may influence your thinking on the topic of timing...  Dijon is interesting.  Indeed, it is one of France’s most beautiful cities, a former national capital (of the Duchy of Burgundy).

Moveover, travelling to Paris on the night on which your trip disbands implies keeping your eye on your watch throughout the cycling day, so to be sure that you have made it to Dijon by the time your train departs for Paris or elsewhere.  Or, conversely, buying (more expensive) changeable tickets, so that you can book the last train of the night, and move your trip forward if it turns out you are going to be able to travel earlier.

We thus recommend spending the final evening of your trip Dijon, and travelling onward by overnight train, or the next day.  At the very least, buy changeable tickets on your evening train, so that you don’t lose them because of a flat tire.

Like airplanes, trains from Dijon require reservations.  You must not only decide where you wish to go, but at what time of day you wish to travel.  Allow ample time to connect to a flight:  the airline is not responsible for train delays, and though these are rare, they can happen.  Moreover, it can take a while to get from train to check-in counter. Note that there are only two direct daily train to Charles de Gaulle airport (see “Service Information,” below).  At all other times, you must travel to downtown Paris and catch the airport shuttle train from there.



5. Service Information
Schedules are approximate – exact timetables can be consulted at
http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/triprequest.htm.
Best trains are mentioned.  Others are slower or have multiple connections.

• To Paris.  Travel time is 90 minutes.  Weekday service starts at 6:15a, and runs hourly.  Sunday service starts at 8a and runs every 90 minutes.
  Evening service is hourly, and the last evening train is at 9:30p.
• To Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport (direct, not via downtown Paris).  Two daily trains.  Morning service departs Dijon at 6:30a weekdays, 7:45a on Saturdays and Sundays.  Evening train departs at 5p.  Journey time is 1 hour 50 minutes.
• To Lyon.  Travel time 2 hours, hourly service from 5:45a weekdays, 6:45a Sundays.
• To Geneva.  Travel time is 4 hours, service every 2 hours, from 5:45a weekdays, 6:45a Sundays.
• To Nice.
  - Overnight via Besançon (depart at 10p, arrive at 9a).
  - Direct daylight trains run at 9a and 4p.  Trip time is a shade over 6 hours.
  Other services exist with a connection in Lyon or Marseille:  the train change adds an hour.
• To Milan.  Fast services at 9:45a and 2:45p, with 2 connections, 7-hour trip time.
  Many other services run throughout the day, taking two hours longer and requiring an additional connection.
  An overnight sleeper service also operates, but it is a short night:   depart 11:30p, arrive 5:30a.
• To Venice or Florence.
  - Overnight, depart 11p.  Or...
  - ...by daylight train at 9:30a, a 10-hour trip with 3 connections.
• To Zurich.  4.5-hour trip time, one connection.  Best services at 9:30a, 2:30p, 5:30p and 6:30p.
  Other services requiring an additional connection and adding 30 minutes to the trip run throughout the day.
  Add 15 minutes to any time to reach Zurich Airport.  The first Friday morning train (8a) gets to Zurich airport at 1:15p.  The first Sunday morning train (9:30a) arrives at 2:30p.
• To London.  Via Lille at 6:30a weekdays, 7:45a Sundays, 5p daily, journey time circa 6 hours.
  Via Paris, frequent service throughout the day, 6 - 7 hour trip including the Paris station change.

6. Suggested POST-TRIP VISITS

Zermatt, a beautiful resort village high in the Swiss Alps, on the flanks of the Matterhorn.  Glacier skiing, mountain hikes, and evenings of fondue or rosti....perhaps followed by our Glacier Experience, a trip on the “Glacier Express” narrow gauge train, along the spine of the Alps.

After our trips in southern (“Pinot Noir”) Burgundy, we offer a special package for a 2-day visit to Zermatt.

Cost as an add-on to the regular Dijon Access Package (above) is 229€ per person, based on double occupancy.

Included:

• Train tickets from Dijon to Zermatt, including the Alpine cog railway that climbs the mountain to the resort.
  Tickets are in 2nd class, not refundable or exchangeable once ordered (see below for extra cost 1st class or flexible tickets). Departure is at 9:30a, though later trains are available if you prefer.  Journey time is 5.5 hours.
• Seat reservations on trains which require them.
• A printed schedule / itinerary, highlighting connections.
• One Blue Marble dinner in Zermatt (the other of the two nights is independent).
• Two hotel nights in Zermatt, based on double occupancy (guaranteed to singles willing to share, until 35 days before your trip’s departure).
• Two buffet breakfasts.
• The services of a Blue Marble coordinator in Zermatt.
• Ongoing train tickets to Geneva (city center or airport), Zurich (city center or airport), or Milan (city center, or to Gallarate for bus shuttle to Malpensa airport).
  Tickets to alternate destinations, such as Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, Munich... are available at additional cost.
• Any booking and / or baggage charges, taxes, etc.
  In other words, no extra surprise “fees.”
  

Offered at Additional Cost:

• Single room in Zermatt:  84€.
  Single rooms with shared (hall) bath are available for an additional charge of only 28€: please tell us if this is what you prefer.
• 1st class train tickets:  58€ per person for both trips.
  1st class upgrade is not valid on cog railway from Visp up to Zermatt, if that is your final destination. The ticket on the cog railway can be upgraded on board, if desired (circa 20 Swiss francs).
• Add-on Glacier Experience, a trip on the famous “Glacier Express” narrow gauge train, which follows the spine of the Alps over the Furka pass.  A package price of 139€ / person double occupancy, or 169€ single includes...
  - ...a ride in the “Glacier Express” all-1st class panoramic car to Disentis, an Alpine resort at the headwaters of the Rhine...
  - ...a hotel night in Disentis...
  - ...breakfast the next morning if you have time / get up for it....
  - ...an ongoing train to Zurich City Center or to Zurich airport (3-hour trip, service from 5:45a).
  Ongoing travel from Disentis is available to other points at additional cost.

7. Hints on TRAVELLING INDEPENDENTLY After the Trip
Guests subscribing to an “Access Package” need not read this section.

See also “Timing Your Trip” and “Service Information,” above, as either of these may additionally help.

We gladly provide travel consulting (schedule or routing information) concerning post-trip individual travel.  In particular, we have invested a great deal to become railway experts.  Our service fees are reasonable:  a 20€ charge for all but the most complex projects – or the most simple (for instance, only a 10€ charge applies if the service is limited to the preparation of a routine rail ticket).  You will generally find them well-justified by the time they will save you in research, standing on line, overpaying for your tickets, or all three.

But, for some, this type of research is fun.  So, here are some hints, intended to start off hardened “do-it-yourselfers.”

Trains. Schedules for all routes can be consulted on this web site:
http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/triprequest.htm

Dijon is served by TGV (high-speed train) to Paris, and once a day direct to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport.  Main line trains also run to elsewhere in France, Switzerland, northeastern Spain, and northern Italy.  Overnight sleeper trains go to the south of France, Germany, Austria, Italy....



If you wish to arrange some or all of your travel through us, please tell us what by means of this response questionnaire, designed to collect all the information we need to be able to book your travel.