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Posted on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 |
 You know how it goes, you've decide on which pretty corner of the French Riviera you want to holiday in. You've found the large, lavish villa that you and your family are going to rent for your summer holiday.
You've even invited different friends to come and visit you while you are basking in your two weeks of holiday sunshine, longer if you are lucky. Now you've just got to find the flights, not just your own flights but now you are getting emails from Auntie Beryl who lives in Edinburgh and wants to know how she can get from the Firth of Forth to the Bay of Cannes?
Finding airlines is not difficult, finding airports is not difficult and even finding a flight is not difficult but finding who flies to which airport and from where seems to be information that we are supposed to be blessed with at birth.
National air carriers are of course a natural start point but they are rarely going to be the cheapest or even the most direct option. Meanwhile trying to recall that 'easy-fly-be-boo.com' low cost airline website is not always the first thing on your mind. Especially if you don't regularly fly from Newcastle to Nice or live locally enough to Cannes to know that there is also an airport in Toulon that is closer than you think to your Saint Tropez holiday villa.
That is why you need to bookmark some useful information websites that may just make your trip to holiday heaven a fraction more divine that usual. The first step is to know where your holiday villa is and where the nearest airport is.
It might sound obvious but the French Riviera is an incredibly linear stretched out holiday destination and is dotted with more airfields and facilities than you might think. Nice International airport naturally has the largest web presence than the smaller airports in the South of France but it doesn't mean you have to rule out other options.
Cannes Mandelieu airport for instance is a small private airport that mostly caters to the business flyer and private planes but they also have helicopter transfers that may make the start of your holiday a memorable experience.
Toulon Hyéres is further along the coast to the West of Nice but it is within easy reach of Saint Tropez and has flights from Ryanair catering to the UK and Swedish market, Jetairfly for Belgium clients, Transavia for the Netherlands and Amsterdam and Air France picking up the rest of France.
These are without doubt the closest airports but it also depends on the type of holiday you are coming to the South of France for. Perhaps you are flying in, collecting a rental car and cruising through the French countryside on a tour of some of the most beautiful towns and villages that Provence has to offer?
In which case it doesn't really matter which airport you arrive in. Both Marseille and Nimes airports are within a couple of hours drive of the most famous French towns like Cannes, Antibes and Saint Tropez and have international flights from Alitalia, British Airways, Aer Lingus and Air Arabia as well as low cost airlines from Baboo, Easy Jet, Jet4you and catering for countries as far flung as Russia, Senegal, Madagascar and the Czech republic as well as the more neighbourly Spain, Germany and Corsica.
There are some great websites that can be very useful if you are flying to Nice or the South of France for the first time and want to view all the options; Kayak.co.uk may not actually sell flights but you can search by your start country to your final destination and you will get most of the options, for example Moscow to Nice or Stanstead to Nice.
Skyscanner.net is good for showing you multiple fares in order of price and you can book through the site while Jumblefly.com will show you what the budget airlines routes are between European cities. Flightmapping.com focus's on the UK and Irish flight routes but it does a good job of connecting the dots on a worldwide basis; did you know that you can fly from Durham to Nice for instance?
The airports themselves usually have a web presence and while there are plenty of disastrous, useless airport websites Nice Cote d'Azur International airport has one of the best airport websites online with relevant information on flights but also useful onward information including bus timetables, average taxis fares to a variety of destinations and train information.
Choosing the best holiday villa with the best view and the best swimming pool for the kids with enough bedrooms for all the family was just the beginning of organising your holiday and quite possibly the easiest bit, but arm yourself with the information and you'll find that you have plenty of options to choose from.
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