I mentioned last week that I took a little press trip to the Dordogne (more on that coming soon!), which meant I had the opportunity to explore one of France’s smaller airports, Bordeaux-Mérignac. I was shocked to begin with to hear that I would be taking a connecting flight from Paris to Bordeaux, considering that these cities are only two hours apart by train! The airport itself was tiny, with barely more than a Brioche Dorée from which to grab a stale croissant and an espresso to go.
From Bordeaux, we drove about an hour and a half out to Bergerac, where we picked up another member of our crew. As it turns out, she had flown from London straight to Bergerac, in which there was an even smaller airport, basically a single room from which puddle jumpers brought British weekenders back and forth from their summer homes in the countryside.
I can’t begin to express how much Bergerac is out in the sticks, a fact proudly exclaimed by the locals I spoke to, who adored their tiny medieval towns where you wouldn’t spot so much as a candle in the window after midnight. It made me wonder, if they had one there, how many other airports were in France, which is famed for its eco-friendly rail system.
It’s surprisingly hard to find a definitive number. Even France’s Official Tourism Board Website merely says there are “more than 30 international and domestic airports in France,” though it only lists 20, including those serving larger cities (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice), as well as some smaller, though still notable, travel sites (Toulon, Montpellier, Biarritz, Nantes…).
The Connexion, on the other hand, counted 148 main airports in metropolitan France in 2022, but mentioned that there could be up to 500. A number of other sites list off some of the major airports, but don’t offer a total number.
All this considered, however, most people flying to France will only encounter Charles de Gaulle or Orly in Paris, or perhaps the country’s third-largest airport, in Nice. This is because, with few exceptions, taking the train in France is a far more sensible option than flying between cities—it’s almost always cheaper, for one, and the hour or so you save in transit is quickly eaten up by the time you spend in the security line. (Or, if you’re flying out of Paris, the time it takes to trek out to CDG or ORY.) Now, if you’re really going out to the far corners of the country—say, Biarritz—a quick flight might be a reasonable option, but for the eco-conscious traveler, we’ve got another suggestion… Very soon, we will be publishing a series on the returning popularity of night trains in France, which can serve as a relaxing way to see some of the Hexagon’s (rail)roads less traveled, without prompting you to worry over your carbon emissions.
