Travelling to Charente Soleil
We are situated on the edge of a small hamlet close to the town of Mansle.
Access is easy with well made roads right to our gate.
In common with the rest of rural France, public transport is more or less non-existent. Although you can walk or cycle to the nearest village, we strongly recommend a car.
Please note - We are sorry but:
- We do NOT have facilities for camping
- We do NOT have facilities for day visitors
- We do NOT admit anyone without a prior reservation
Click on the map to see more detail. We will send complete travel directions on receipt of your booking.
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By Road
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By Air
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By Rail
View Charente Soleil in a larger map
Access by Road
We are about 10 minutes off the RN 10 dual carriageway which links to the autoroute system (A10) at Poitiers and Bordeaux.
You can use the map on the right to get directions by clicking on the place marker but we will send recommended routes on receipt of your booking and payment.
If you are traveling via the ferry ports or channel tunnel then St. Malo is about 5 hours drive, Cherbourg/ Le Havre/Caen about 6 and Calais/Boulogne about 7.
The links below will take you to a selection of ferry operators and other companies where you can research fares and timetables:
| Ferry savers - www.ferriessavers.com | Direct Ferries - www.directferries.co.uk |
| Ferrycheap - www.ferrycheap.com | Brittany Ferries - www.brittanyferries.com |
| P&O Ferries - www.poferries.com | Sea France - www.seafrance.com |
| LD Lines - www.ldlines.co.uk | Norfolk Line - www.norfolkline-ferries.co.uk |
| Condor Ferries - www.condorferries.co.uk | Irish Ferries - www.irishferries.ie |
| Celtic Link ferries - www.celticlinkferries.com/ | Eurotunnel - www.eurotunnel.com/ukcp3main |
The Charente is one of the most accessible areas of France by air from the UK and other parts of Europe.
"Low-cost" airlines operate routes from many UK and other european airports. Your holiday at Charente Soleil can be of any duration ( subject to 2 night minimum) and can start and end on any day of the week so you can take advantage of low mid-week fares.
The cost of the flight plus car hire can be no more expensive than bringing your own car and flying means that a naturist long-weekend or short break is easily feasible.
Local Airports
(with approximate driving times) are:- Limoges (1 hour) - www.aeroportlimoges.com
- Poitiers (1 hour) - www.poitiers.aeroport.fr
- La Rochelle (2 hours) - www.larochelle.aeroport.fr
- Bordeaux (2 hours) - www.bordeaux.aeroport.fr
- Bergerac (2 hours) - www.bergerac.aeroport.fr/
Airlines
Most low-cost airlines announce their summer schedule in October/November of the previous year. The routes that operated to our local airports in 2011 were as follows:
- Ryanair - Stansted, Leeds, East Midlands, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Brussels, Oslo, Porto, Bologna, Rome, Seville.
- Flybe - Southampton, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Gatwick.
- Jet2 - Leeds, Edinburgh.
- Easyjet - Luton, Gatwick, Bristol, Liverpool, Basel, Lyon, Geneva, Madrid, Milan.
Car Hire
In common with the rest of rural France, public transport is more or less non-existent so you will need to hire a car to get here from the airport. You can arrange this via your airline or the airport web sites above have a list of car-hire companies.
Angoulême is on the main Paris - Bordeaux high speed rail line. The journey time from Paris is about 2h 30m and car hire is available at the station. Angoulême is about 30 minutes drive from here.
If you live in the UK, it can also be surprisingly easy to travel by rail. Eurostar operate from London or Kent via the channel tunnel to Lille or Paris and then the TGV direct to Angoulême. Journey time from London to Angoulême can be less than 6 hours depending on the time of day.
Companies
TGV - www.tgv.com
Eurostar - www.eurostar.com
Car hire is available at the station in Angoulême from the following companies:
- ADA location - www.ada.fr
- AVIS - www.avis.fr
- Europcar - www.europcar.fr
- Hertz - www.hertz.fr
- Budget - www.budget.co.uk