New Routes Review 2016 – London City (LCY) to Bergerac (EGC)
May 15, 2016, 7:48 am
#1
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New Routes Review 2016 – London City (LCY) to Bergerac (EGC)
New Routes Review 2016 – London City (LCY) to Bergerac (EGC)
This is a guide for one of BA's new routes, London City Airport to Bergerac Dordogne Périgord airport, France.
Route history
This route was inaugurated on Sunday 1 May 2016 as a seasonal service, ending Friday 30 September 2016. Services for 2017 have also been loaded into BA.com, starting 30 April. This is the first time that BA (via its franchise partner BA CityFlyer) has flown to Bergerac. The launch flight was marked (slightly) with a visit from a 2CV, story here in The Wharf.
Timetable
Current timetable (May 2016):
Flights will operate from London City to Bergerac on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays, with an extra service on Thursdays from 23 June to 1 September 2016:
Sundays:
LCY depart 17:10 BA8745
EGC arrive 19:45
EGC depart 20:25 BA8746
LCY arrive 21:00
Mondays (and Thursdays between 23 June - 1 September)
LCY depart 11:45 BA8745
EGC arrive 13:50
EGC depart 14:25 BA8746
LCY arrive 15:00
Fridays
LCY depart 09:25 BA8745
EGC arrive 12:15
EGC depart 12:55 BA8746
LCY arrive 13:45
Aircraft
You can expect either an Embraer 170, an Embraer 190 or a Saab 2000 Turbo Prop, the latter operated by Eastern. There are a few other options for BACF, but in the timetable it seems to be one of the two Embraer rigs, with the Saab on Fridays.
Seating advice
Sit on the starboard (right) side of the aircraft for the best views for arrival into EGC, and port (left) side on departure. On Embraer 190s, seats 2C and 2D are best, with copious legroom if there is no 1C and 1D, if there is then 1A and 1B are slightly better. For E170s, row 1 is slightly better than other rows but there isn't much in it. Both aircraft are better in the main cabin space wise compared to the Airbus 320 group of aircraft. Row 12 on the E190 is also good:
Miles: 462 miles on gcmap.com, BA uses 467 miles internally.
Crew: 2 flight crew; 2 cabin crew - usually a purser and a cabin crew member.
Fares
The cheapest fares I can find (when searching in May 2016) are:
These low ET fares strike me as good value for money, and from the UK there is good availability - this will get O fare bucket TPs/Avios; higher fares most certainly exist. This is not a route where it is cost effective to buy singles, the fares starting from EGC (so with a French Point of Sale) are higher than the UK, the cheapest HBO, with limited availability, is £135. You can get N class by adding about £35 each way to the O fares, this gets the higher TP/Avios amount and is potentially upgradeable to UuA. So the cheapest UuA is approx £200 return based on N Basic ticket (HBO), plus 7500 off peak to 9000 Avios peak, but it's probably not cost effective doing UuA if staying a Saturday night. Note that the case for buying Club Europe, via two airports without lounges, a short flight and limited catering, is perhaps not overwhelming. You don't get a guaranteed empty seat next to you either, but usually on LCY service single travellers do get that. To get a cheap Club Europe fare you need to spend Saturday night overseas. You can see it may not always be best to buy a single ticket...
POUG and AUP
POUGs are usually good value from LCY, however I wasn't offered one. It would normally be £69-£89 on this distance, and is a relatively cost effective way to lift a flight from 5 to 40 Tier Points. AUP are in theory available (similar price), from the customer service desk on the left of the main check in hall facing the escalator to security. You can't get AUP airside in LCY. Again I have no specific data on this.
Earning Tier Points and Avios
Reward Flight Saver
BA release at least 4 seats for RFS per flight, and at the time of writing often a great deal more availability is on offer. Each way:
Peak: 4,500 Avios + £17.50 in EuroTraveller, 9,000 Avios + £25 in Club Europe. Each way.
Off peak: 4,000 Avios + £17.50 in EuroTraveller. 7,750 Avios + £25 in Club Europe. Each way.
Routing
Precise routings will vary from day to day, but this was my LCY-EGC.
Catering
This is a Band 1 location, so only a notch above domestic catering, however LCY does do somewhat better in EuroTraveller than the LHR and LGW shorthaul equivalents, at least at the ordained meal times. The Sunday departures get a meal service in ET, as does the Friday departure from Bergerac. The Friday departure from LCY is breakfast. At other times it's the usual biscuit/crisp/nuts snack basket in ET; in CE it's brunch on Mondays and Thursday to France, and Afternoon Tea on the return to LCY. The ET non breakfast meal would look something like this (choice between salmon and falafel):
and in CE:
Yes, that's a huge piece of fish. Caesar Salmon Salad.
Bergerac Airport facilities
Yes there is a television crew on top of the Air Traffic Centre. This wasn't the launch flight, but it still made the local news. This is an airport with an average of 9 commercial (passenger and cargo) flights a day.
Landside:
As commented in the thread linked below, one unique feature of Bergerac airport is that while other airports have bureaux de change, restaurants, chemists, EGC has an estate agent (real estate broker) built into the terminal, which seems to be cliché fulfillment, given that Bergerac is often considered a semi-detached region of Middle England. There is an ATM (outside, by the estate agent), a café in the old airport building, with views on to the apron, toilets, vending machines, tourist information and Herz plus Europcar car hire desks in a separate building to the left of Arrivals. Avis and Sixt have a compound a mile away but can meet passengers at the airport.
Airside:
There is very little airside. Seating, free wifi (quite fast), water and snack vending machines - coin operated, toilets. I didn't see many power points.
Fast-track:
There is a fast track facility for security, which seems wholly pointless. In this photo, the only other person present is the cleaner. There is also priority boarding announced, but it's quite a hike from the gate to the parked aircraft so it's survival of the fittest - the photo below was taken about half way along.
EGC transport logistics
The airport is only 3 miles from Bergerac town centre, but it isn't served by public transport. The nearest bus stop on an irregular town service is over a mile away. So you probably need a a taxi, which will cost around 15-20€ to the town centre. And there aren't many taxis either so I would therefore suggest prebooking. My driver was Patrick Promis, +33 6 81 86 16 75 mobile/text, [email protected] - he strikes me as reliable, safe and friendly.
Lounge
Completely lounge-less route! No lounges at either airport, of any description, BA or otherwise.
Weekend potential:
Excellent weekend potential, so one can travel on a Thursday (high season) or Friday, depart on a Sunday or Monday, thereby allowing several good meals and a good explore of the town. The town isn't really big enough to support a week long visit, but a weekend is ideal. Note the point below about Sunday afternoons and Mondays being very quiet. There are only 3 medium sized hotels, all independently owned, in the town centre, the brand name hotels aren't present, though there is a Campanile and and Ibis Budget on the outlying main roads into the Begerac. That's a bit like the town generally, there aren't many brand name stores in town, but plenty of family run shops. There are also a handful of bed and breakfast and small hotel options. The Hotel de Bordeaux is part of the Inter-Hotel booking co-operative:
It is nearly next door to the Hotel de France:
Slightly further back is Hotel Europ
In deciding which of these to go for, they all seem to be much of a muchness, though Tripadvisor ranks them in this order: Bordeaux/Europ/France, however I think they are all quite close to each other. All three are within 5 to 10 minutes easy walk of all parts of the town centre, though the town is on a slight slope towards the river. Europ is in a quieter area at the back of Notre Dame church, whereas Bordeaux and France are on a main road, closer to the centre. France looks the more swish and has more balcony rooms. Europ is older but is clean and tidy with larger bedrooms, Bordeaux has also been refurbished recently so lies in between. All three have outdoor swimming pools, and offer bed and breakfast terms.
Back to back and cheap fares potential:
Unfortunately there is no Online or App Check-in on the EGC-LCY sector (no problem for LCY-EGC). This means that back to backs are risky due to the difficulty in getting a boarding pass in advance. This is a shame since there aren't many back to back options in France, and this would potentially be a good one, if leveraging any French promotional pricing. You still have to go through passports (twice) and security, but that would be do-able so long as you were one of the first off the aircraft - at the moment passport checks in France are quite thorough. Arrivals is in its own mini building, clearly added quite recently, you have to leave that building airside, head rightwards, past the estate agent and into the main building, the ATC building is in the middle.
Four things to do in Bergerac
Bergerac is a pleasant town by the river Dordogne, home to around 28,000 souls. It has a lot of family run stores, and given the tourist trade, a lot of bars and restaurants. Residents find that restaurant prices are a bit on the high side by local standards, many therefore eat out of the town centre. The town makes some play of its somewhat shaky connection with the writer Cyrano de Bergerac - it's entirely possible that he never set foot in the town.
1) La Maison des Vins de Bergerac: This is in a central spot between the town centre and the river. It's part museum, part shop - it is run by a collective of local wine producers. There's no pressure to buy anything, and there are no
2) Bergerac Tobacco Museum: Begerac was the centre of the French tobacco growing area, and this museum, in a beautiful patrician townhouse, tells the story. It also has a few rooms describing the history of the town.
3) Food and drink: See next post, my hotel manager recommended le Vin'quatre, l'Imparfait (where I ate) and the Basque restaurant, l'Euskadi.
4) Hire a car and explore the area: Bergerac isn't actually teeming with old buildings, it has suffered from wars, sieges and poor quality construction work so though there are some "maison colombage" – traditional half-timbered houses as shown in the photo above - the reality is that many of the towns and villages nearby are more picturesque. Monpazier, 25 miles south east of Bergerac, is a "bastide", fortified town built in a grid around a central square, and remains largely untouched since its construction in the 13th Century.
Note, that in common with many French provincial towns, while Sunday morning is an active shopping period, Sunday afternoon and most of Monday is fairly dead. You will be able to eat, drink and buy bread, but beyond that the place is not very lively. There is a Casino supermarket in 20 rue Belzunce at the back of Notre Dame church which is open Mondays, and a Spar nearby in 32 rue des Frères Prêcheurs which is open extended hours.
Interesting features
The airport is also known as Bergerac Roumanière airport. Postal code for the airport and Bergerac is 24100 (useful for map searches on French websites).
From the BACF news leaflet:
Other links
Discover Bergerac on BA.com, and unusually informative.
http://bergerac-tourisme.com/
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ay-2016-a.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...rness-inv.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...lborg-aal.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...hafen-fdh.html
This is a guide for one of BA's new routes, London City Airport to Bergerac Dordogne Périgord airport, France.
Route history
This route was inaugurated on Sunday 1 May 2016 as a seasonal service, ending Friday 30 September 2016. Services for 2017 have also been loaded into BA.com, starting 30 April. This is the first time that BA (via its franchise partner BA CityFlyer) has flown to Bergerac. The launch flight was marked (slightly) with a visit from a 2CV, story here in The Wharf.
Timetable
Current timetable (May 2016):
Flights will operate from London City to Bergerac on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays, with an extra service on Thursdays from 23 June to 1 September 2016:
Sundays:
LCY depart 17:10 BA8745
EGC arrive 19:45
EGC depart 20:25 BA8746
LCY arrive 21:00
Mondays (and Thursdays between 23 June - 1 September)
LCY depart 11:45 BA8745
EGC arrive 13:50
EGC depart 14:25 BA8746
LCY arrive 15:00
Fridays
LCY depart 09:25 BA8745
EGC arrive 12:15
EGC depart 12:55 BA8746
LCY arrive 13:45
Aircraft
You can expect either an Embraer 170, an Embraer 190 or a Saab 2000 Turbo Prop, the latter operated by Eastern. There are a few other options for BACF, but in the timetable it seems to be one of the two Embraer rigs, with the Saab on Fridays.
Seating advice
Sit on the starboard (right) side of the aircraft for the best views for arrival into EGC, and port (left) side on departure. On Embraer 190s, seats 2C and 2D are best, with copious legroom if there is no 1C and 1D, if there is then 1A and 1B are slightly better. For E170s, row 1 is slightly better than other rows but there isn't much in it. Both aircraft are better in the main cabin space wise compared to the Airbus 320 group of aircraft. Row 12 on the E190 is also good:
Miles: 462 miles on gcmap.com, BA uses 467 miles internally.
Crew: 2 flight crew; 2 cabin crew - usually a purser and a cabin crew member.
Fares
The cheapest fares I can find (when searching in May 2016) are:
These low ET fares strike me as good value for money, and from the UK there is good availability - this will get O fare bucket TPs/Avios; higher fares most certainly exist. This is not a route where it is cost effective to buy singles, the fares starting from EGC (so with a French Point of Sale) are higher than the UK, the cheapest HBO, with limited availability, is £135. You can get N class by adding about £35 each way to the O fares, this gets the higher TP/Avios amount and is potentially upgradeable to UuA. So the cheapest UuA is approx £200 return based on N Basic ticket (HBO), plus 7500 off peak to 9000 Avios peak, but it's probably not cost effective doing UuA if staying a Saturday night. Note that the case for buying Club Europe, via two airports without lounges, a short flight and limited catering, is perhaps not overwhelming. You don't get a guaranteed empty seat next to you either, but usually on LCY service single travellers do get that. To get a cheap Club Europe fare you need to spend Saturday night overseas. You can see it may not always be best to buy a single ticket...
POUG and AUP
POUGs are usually good value from LCY, however I wasn't offered one. It would normally be £69-£89 on this distance, and is a relatively cost effective way to lift a flight from 5 to 40 Tier Points. AUP are in theory available (similar price), from the customer service desk on the left of the main check in hall facing the escalator to security. You can't get AUP airside in LCY. Again I have no specific data on this.
Earning Tier Points and Avios
Reward Flight Saver
BA release at least 4 seats for RFS per flight, and at the time of writing often a great deal more availability is on offer. Each way:
Peak: 4,500 Avios + £17.50 in EuroTraveller, 9,000 Avios + £25 in Club Europe. Each way.
Off peak: 4,000 Avios + £17.50 in EuroTraveller. 7,750 Avios + £25 in Club Europe. Each way.
Routing
Precise routings will vary from day to day, but this was my LCY-EGC.
Catering
This is a Band 1 location, so only a notch above domestic catering, however LCY does do somewhat better in EuroTraveller than the LHR and LGW shorthaul equivalents, at least at the ordained meal times. The Sunday departures get a meal service in ET, as does the Friday departure from Bergerac. The Friday departure from LCY is breakfast. At other times it's the usual biscuit/crisp/nuts snack basket in ET; in CE it's brunch on Mondays and Thursday to France, and Afternoon Tea on the return to LCY. The ET non breakfast meal would look something like this (choice between salmon and falafel):
and in CE:
Yes, that's a huge piece of fish. Caesar Salmon Salad.
Bergerac Airport facilities
Yes there is a television crew on top of the Air Traffic Centre. This wasn't the launch flight, but it still made the local news. This is an airport with an average of 9 commercial (passenger and cargo) flights a day.
Landside:
As commented in the thread linked below, one unique feature of Bergerac airport is that while other airports have bureaux de change, restaurants, chemists, EGC has an estate agent (real estate broker) built into the terminal, which seems to be cliché fulfillment, given that Bergerac is often considered a semi-detached region of Middle England. There is an ATM (outside, by the estate agent), a café in the old airport building, with views on to the apron, toilets, vending machines, tourist information and Herz plus Europcar car hire desks in a separate building to the left of Arrivals. Avis and Sixt have a compound a mile away but can meet passengers at the airport.
Airside:
There is very little airside. Seating, free wifi (quite fast), water and snack vending machines - coin operated, toilets. I didn't see many power points.
Fast-track:
There is a fast track facility for security, which seems wholly pointless. In this photo, the only other person present is the cleaner. There is also priority boarding announced, but it's quite a hike from the gate to the parked aircraft so it's survival of the fittest - the photo below was taken about half way along.
EGC transport logistics
The airport is only 3 miles from Bergerac town centre, but it isn't served by public transport. The nearest bus stop on an irregular town service is over a mile away. So you probably need a a taxi, which will cost around 15-20€ to the town centre. And there aren't many taxis either so I would therefore suggest prebooking. My driver was Patrick Promis, +33 6 81 86 16 75 mobile/text, [email protected] - he strikes me as reliable, safe and friendly.
Lounge
Completely lounge-less route! No lounges at either airport, of any description, BA or otherwise.
Weekend potential:
Excellent weekend potential, so one can travel on a Thursday (high season) or Friday, depart on a Sunday or Monday, thereby allowing several good meals and a good explore of the town. The town isn't really big enough to support a week long visit, but a weekend is ideal. Note the point below about Sunday afternoons and Mondays being very quiet. There are only 3 medium sized hotels, all independently owned, in the town centre, the brand name hotels aren't present, though there is a Campanile and and Ibis Budget on the outlying main roads into the Begerac. That's a bit like the town generally, there aren't many brand name stores in town, but plenty of family run shops. There are also a handful of bed and breakfast and small hotel options. The Hotel de Bordeaux is part of the Inter-Hotel booking co-operative:
It is nearly next door to the Hotel de France:
Slightly further back is Hotel Europ
In deciding which of these to go for, they all seem to be much of a muchness, though Tripadvisor ranks them in this order: Bordeaux/Europ/France, however I think they are all quite close to each other. All three are within 5 to 10 minutes easy walk of all parts of the town centre, though the town is on a slight slope towards the river. Europ is in a quieter area at the back of Notre Dame church, whereas Bordeaux and France are on a main road, closer to the centre. France looks the more swish and has more balcony rooms. Europ is older but is clean and tidy with larger bedrooms, Bordeaux has also been refurbished recently so lies in between. All three have outdoor swimming pools, and offer bed and breakfast terms.
Back to back and cheap fares potential:
Unfortunately there is no Online or App Check-in on the EGC-LCY sector (no problem for LCY-EGC). This means that back to backs are risky due to the difficulty in getting a boarding pass in advance. This is a shame since there aren't many back to back options in France, and this would potentially be a good one, if leveraging any French promotional pricing. You still have to go through passports (twice) and security, but that would be do-able so long as you were one of the first off the aircraft - at the moment passport checks in France are quite thorough. Arrivals is in its own mini building, clearly added quite recently, you have to leave that building airside, head rightwards, past the estate agent and into the main building, the ATC building is in the middle.
Four things to do in Bergerac
Bergerac is a pleasant town by the river Dordogne, home to around 28,000 souls. It has a lot of family run stores, and given the tourist trade, a lot of bars and restaurants. Residents find that restaurant prices are a bit on the high side by local standards, many therefore eat out of the town centre. The town makes some play of its somewhat shaky connection with the writer Cyrano de Bergerac - it's entirely possible that he never set foot in the town.
1) La Maison des Vins de Bergerac: This is in a central spot between the town centre and the river. It's part museum, part shop - it is run by a collective of local wine producers. There's no pressure to buy anything, and there are no
2) Bergerac Tobacco Museum: Begerac was the centre of the French tobacco growing area, and this museum, in a beautiful patrician townhouse, tells the story. It also has a few rooms describing the history of the town.
3) Food and drink: See next post, my hotel manager recommended le Vin'quatre, l'Imparfait (where I ate) and the Basque restaurant, l'Euskadi.
4) Hire a car and explore the area: Bergerac isn't actually teeming with old buildings, it has suffered from wars, sieges and poor quality construction work so though there are some "maison colombage" – traditional half-timbered houses as shown in the photo above - the reality is that many of the towns and villages nearby are more picturesque. Monpazier, 25 miles south east of Bergerac, is a "bastide", fortified town built in a grid around a central square, and remains largely untouched since its construction in the 13th Century.
Note, that in common with many French provincial towns, while Sunday morning is an active shopping period, Sunday afternoon and most of Monday is fairly dead. You will be able to eat, drink and buy bread, but beyond that the place is not very lively. There is a Casino supermarket in 20 rue Belzunce at the back of Notre Dame church which is open Mondays, and a Spar nearby in 32 rue des Frères Prêcheurs which is open extended hours.
Interesting features
The airport is also known as Bergerac Roumanière airport. Postal code for the airport and Bergerac is 24100 (useful for map searches on French websites).
From the BACF news leaflet:
Other links
Discover Bergerac on BA.com, and unusually informative.
http://bergerac-tourisme.com/
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ay-2016-a.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...rness-inv.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...lborg-aal.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...hafen-fdh.html
May 15, 2016, 7:49 am
#2
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,830
A trip to Bergerac, May 2016
My own trip to Bergerac was when the weather in London was glorious, and in Bergerac rather less so. As a regular flyer from LCY it's tricky to point out the special features of flying from there, but it is certainly worth trying if haven't been through City Airport before. On the down side it is a small, cramped airport, with limited facilities. On the up side, it is fairly efficient and there is no real harm in arriving 40 minutes before departure. The views from the airport, particularly on landing, can be magnificent. But as is well known, this this is an airport with no short haul lounge, and fast track security only at peak times. Other FTers will appreciate from the screen above that I had to walk past the sign which indicated the way to the Club World lounge!
There were 38 passengers on my service from LCY, 31 on the return, which is quite respectable for a new service on an Embraer. Once we had arrived into EGC, we walked from the aircraft into a very basic but modern steel barn-like building, where the passport controls and baggage collection were in place. They didn't have the scanners working there, so the 2 passport agents were typing up every name and passport numbers individually, which took rather longer than expected. Within a few metres I was outside the airport, and facing the airport carpark. A solitary taxi rolled in, he asked if I had pre-booked, which I hadn't. It turned out he had just dropped a fare at the airport and wasn't expecting to collect anyone, hence my comment in the post above to arrange in advance. I was at my hotel within 10 minutes, and about 20 minutes after landing.
The town itself is charming and inviting. It is very walkable, everywhere seems to be within 5 or 10 minutes. It has a tight web of little streets and passageways in a largely car free central area, starting at Notre Dame church, leading through cobbled streets down the the Dordogne river. The streets are well filled with small shops and cafés, with plenty of restaurants. There are larger shops on the wider roads that surround the central area.
The highlight of my short visit was a meal at l'Imparfait restaurant, which is one of the more expensive restaurants in town. I turned up without a reservation, the restaurant was about two thirds full at 20:30 hrs on a Sunday. This is the menu:
And the fish and chips starter "mieux qu'à Green Park". I did ask what that meant, and they said it was a very well known fish and chip restaurant in London, I feel someone else will need to explain this to me.
Pluma Pork - a special cut of pork, here sous vide but often pan fried, popular in Spain, pluma means feather in Spanish.
Baba dessert, note the orange cognac liqueur syringe on the side.
And though 39€ (it came to 49€ with coffee and a large bottle of sparkling water) is not super cheap by any means, I certainly felt I had very good value for money.
For the return, I turned up over an hour before departure to get some time to take photos, but it really is a small airport, there is no need to turn up before then. There was no Online Check-in or App check-in option for the return, but it's possible this will change over time. The boarding pass was a bit unusual, as well as being status free, though probably not much of an issue for the other airlines that use EGC, viz. Ryanair, Transavia and Flybe:
So a good time in Bergerac. If you have also visited the area, feel free to add your own comments and suggestions to help other visitors.
My own trip to Bergerac was when the weather in London was glorious, and in Bergerac rather less so. As a regular flyer from LCY it's tricky to point out the special features of flying from there, but it is certainly worth trying if haven't been through City Airport before. On the down side it is a small, cramped airport, with limited facilities. On the up side, it is fairly efficient and there is no real harm in arriving 40 minutes before departure. The views from the airport, particularly on landing, can be magnificent. But as is well known, this this is an airport with no short haul lounge, and fast track security only at peak times. Other FTers will appreciate from the screen above that I had to walk past the sign which indicated the way to the Club World lounge!
There were 38 passengers on my service from LCY, 31 on the return, which is quite respectable for a new service on an Embraer. Once we had arrived into EGC, we walked from the aircraft into a very basic but modern steel barn-like building, where the passport controls and baggage collection were in place. They didn't have the scanners working there, so the 2 passport agents were typing up every name and passport numbers individually, which took rather longer than expected. Within a few metres I was outside the airport, and facing the airport carpark. A solitary taxi rolled in, he asked if I had pre-booked, which I hadn't. It turned out he had just dropped a fare at the airport and wasn't expecting to collect anyone, hence my comment in the post above to arrange in advance. I was at my hotel within 10 minutes, and about 20 minutes after landing.
The town itself is charming and inviting. It is very walkable, everywhere seems to be within 5 or 10 minutes. It has a tight web of little streets and passageways in a largely car free central area, starting at Notre Dame church, leading through cobbled streets down the the Dordogne river. The streets are well filled with small shops and cafés, with plenty of restaurants. There are larger shops on the wider roads that surround the central area.
The highlight of my short visit was a meal at l'Imparfait restaurant, which is one of the more expensive restaurants in town. I turned up without a reservation, the restaurant was about two thirds full at 20:30 hrs on a Sunday. This is the menu:
And the fish and chips starter "mieux qu'à Green Park". I did ask what that meant, and they said it was a very well known fish and chip restaurant in London, I feel someone else will need to explain this to me.
Pluma Pork - a special cut of pork, here sous vide but often pan fried, popular in Spain, pluma means feather in Spanish.
Baba dessert, note the orange cognac liqueur syringe on the side.
And though 39€ (it came to 49€ with coffee and a large bottle of sparkling water) is not super cheap by any means, I certainly felt I had very good value for money.
For the return, I turned up over an hour before departure to get some time to take photos, but it really is a small airport, there is no need to turn up before then. There was no Online Check-in or App check-in option for the return, but it's possible this will change over time. The boarding pass was a bit unusual, as well as being status free, though probably not much of an issue for the other airlines that use EGC, viz. Ryanair, Transavia and Flybe:
So a good time in Bergerac. If you have also visited the area, feel free to add your own comments and suggestions to help other visitors.
Last edited by corporate-wage-slave; May 15, 2016 at 7:59 am