There are a number of travel options available to visitors to Le Petit Bijou.

On the Western Channel Brittany Ferries (www.brittanyferries.com) offer sailings from Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth to Caen, Cherbourg, St Malo and Roscoff. L D Lines (www.ldline.co.uk) sail between Portsmouth and Le Havre offering one round trip each 24 hours.

The drive from Caen is the shortest and takes about 3 hours via Alencon and Le Mans using the A28, A11, and A85 motorways. Toll charges are about 15 euros. For a more scenic drive take the well-surfaced D307/D767 road south of Le Mans through Le Lude and Noyant to Saumur or les Rosiers-sur-Loire.

There are a number of surface operators on the short sea crossings (Dover–Calais/Boulogne/Dunkerque, Newhaven-Dieppe/Le Havre) including P & O, Seafrance, Hoverspeed, Norfolk Line, Speedferries and LD Lines, beside the rail service offered by Eurotunnel. However, the drive time from these French ports to the Loire is at least 4 hours.

For visitors not wishing to take their own vehicle, there are a number of viable alternatives.

Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) fly from Stansted to Tours and Poitiers. BA (www.britishairways.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris, Nantes, Rennes and Poitiers, and easyjet (www.easyjet.com), bmibaby (www.bmibaby.com), and flybe (www.flybe.com) all have services from regional airports to Paris, Nantes, Rennes, Cherbourg and Angers, the latter being the nearest commercial airport to Le Petit Bijou.

By train, Eurostar (www.eurostar.com) from London (St Pancras International) to Paris (Nord) takes a little over 2 hours, and then TGV from Paris (Montparnasse) direct to Saumur, Tours, Le Mans or Angers takes a further 1–2 hours.

Alternatively, by changing at Lille there are direct TGV services to Tours/St. Pierre des Corps (about 5 hours from London). Tickets from Rail Europe, Piccadilly, London, or TrainsEurope Ltd. who offer discounts, on tel. no. 01354 660222.

Car hire is available at all the airports and stations mentioned through Avis (www.avis.co.uk), Hertz (www.hertz.co.uk) and Eurocar (www.eurocar.fr).

There is a daily through coach service from London Victoria to Tours (www.eurolines.com).

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