How to Plan a Trip to Etape and TDF (case study)

Need to know How to Plan a Trip to Etape and TDF? Well look no further with this case study from my 2011 trip.

How I Plan – General Insights
I discuss my planning methodology in more detail the Cycling in France guide, so if this interests you, check it out here.

My planning for TDF and L'Etape begins when the TDF and L'Etape parcours are announced in October of each year.

First, I wait to see where the Tour will be, and when, and then look at L'Etape. Depending on the scheduling of L'Etape, I'll fly in and do L'Etape first, then watch some TDF, or vice versa.

I like to minimise driving, and so aim to fly in to an airport near L'Etape or near Le Tour.

I don't worry about accommodation at the start of the planning. My initial goals are to ascertain where I need to fly in to, and secure the flights and then accommodation for L'Etape.

The accommodation options usually reveal themselves after that.

Planning for 2011 TDF and L'Etape

L'Etape and Le Tour
As my goals usually centre around seeing some TDF and doing L'Etape, naturally I try to ensure my itinerary accommodates seeing the Tour and doing L'Etape with a minimum of driving.

In 2011, I'll be incorporating 2 weeks in Spain with my girlfriend (hi Kate!) so this affects my TDF/Etape planning a little.

The TDF schedule this year lumps most of the Pyrenees and Alpes stages at the back of the Tour; 7 climbing stages in 9 calendar days with one flat stage and one rest day.

The two L'Etapes occur at very inconvenient times (I'm still clueless as to why the ASO does not schedule Etape to be held within a few days of the Tour arriving at the Stage).

The first Etape is on July 11 on a Tour rest day, which allows ample time to get from the Alpes to the Pyrenees and back again for the TDF climbing stages, or enough time to do L'Etape, get to the Pyrenees to watch the TDF and then holiday; this is what I will be doing.

The second Etape is on July 17, just after le Tour has left the Pyrenees – making it almost impossible to see any but perhaps one Pyrenees stage (Stage 12) and do L'Etape Issoire.

I chose to do L'Etape Alpes for a few reasons:

• It's a more “epic” stage in terms of pure climbing.
• It suits my itinerary a lot better.
• Less driving required to get one spot to the other = more relaxed.

Read more about the forensic analysis I did on the L'Etape 2011 logistics in my free guide to the 2011 L'Etapes: Les Deux Alpes. Get it here as a free pdf download.

After I worked out the logistics around L'Etape and Le Tour, and determined which L'Etape was best, it was time to look at flights and accommodation.

Flights
For 2011, I'd planned on using some of my Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) points as I have loads. With FF points, you usually have to book about a year ahead; this is especially true on QF flights into Europe.

As always, I waited until October as I didn't want to book my flights in July then have lots of driving as a result of flying into an airport nowhere near where L'Etape was. I also wanted to avoid Paris, as I prefer to check it out on a different trip over a week or so.

However, as I waited until October, there were no FF seats available on the return leg; getting over was ok, but I didn't fancy getting to Hong Kong on the way home and then being stuck for a few days. However, this opened up my options, allowing me to consider other airlines like Emirates, Lufthansa/Singapore, Etihad and Malaysian.

If you want to use frequent flyer points, you HAVE to book a year ahead especially flying from Australia to Europe. This means though, that you have to pretty much either fly in to a hub – for example, Paris – then get connecting flights or drive to L'Etape/Le Tour; or, hedge your bets and fly into the general Alps (Geneva, Nice) or Pyrenees (Barcelona, Toulouse) areas and hope like hell you get lucky with TdF and L'Etape scheduling.

If you are paying with real money, you can pretty much book once you have worked out your travel itinerary. Be aware you can score good deals around October-November as well as in February/March a few months before you leave.

Baggage Allowances
Of course, your choice of airline is affected by baggage rules if you are taking your bike.

For me, and for most people not coming from the USA, your only real choices are:

• Emirates – 30kg allowance
• Singapore – 30kg allowance
• Qantas + Qantas Club 10kg extra

For me, Qantas was the only choice as it was the cheapest (by far), gave me access to the most convenient airport, gave me lounge access and allowed me to accrue enough points to fly two people to France in 2012 for free.

Looking back now, if I could book again, I'd probably go with Emirates into Nice.

If you want a comprehensive airline baggage allowance and rule guide, the information is in Cycling through France guide.

Sign up to the TdF Tips Mailing List to ensure you get access to a new TdF Tips ebook – The Airline Baggage Allowance and Route Guide (with annual updates).

Car/Hotels or Campervan
For starters, read all about how to book a campervan here.

For 2011, my trip will involve two weeks of sightseeing in Spain, so this means I don't need to think about accommodation at all; I'll be getting a campervan.

If you are staying in one place, I recommend a hotel or apartment.

For my 2011 trip, getting a campervan proved the most troublesome part of the booking.

We had two options via our travel agent (the very excellent Cycling Adventures in Melbourne, Australia) – McRent, or Avis.

I needed a smaller campervan than what I had in 2009. My travel agent, Cycling Adventures, had a tough time securing what we wanted, with the only depot having the size van we wanted being in Paris.

We had originally wanted to fly into Nice or Geneva and out of Toulouse (or out of Nice).

However, McRent did not have any depots near these cities, which by the way is shocking, as they are fairly major centres.

We did have a second provider, Avis, but Avis' rates were around double of McRent (AUD$12,000 compared to around AUD$6,000), so that was not a realistic option.

In the end, we had to compromise and fly in to Paris to get a campervan. This is a horrible tragedy I am sure you will agree!

It does involve a lot – A LOT – more driving than we wanted, but I am sure we can survive a few days in Paris.

After we booked, we discovered a few more providers, some of whom could have provided what we needed. These guys are detailed here in the post about booking a campervan.

Lessons

Although I normally recommend booking most if not all of your trip elements (flights, accommodation, transport) via an agent, in some cases it pays to break that rule. Quite often you will have access to better deals and a much bigger variety of service providers than a travel agent – this is especially true of campervans.

• If booking with FF points, book early. For more on travel hacking, fly on over to Chris Guillebeaus site and check his stuff out – he is the master travel hacker.
• Book your campervan early.
• Book flights with some flexibility, or fly somewhere close to where you want to be based or start/finish from.

So for booking, in order of difficulty, which means, in order of what is hardest to book due to limited availability:

1. Book Campervan – book pickup somewhere close to where you need to be. Make sure an airline services this city, or a city nearby.
2. Book flights.
3. Book L'Etape if you're doing it.
4. Book L'Etape accomodation.
5. If staying in hotels when the TdF or L'Etape is nearby, book accommodation too, unless you're a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants kinda guy or gal.

Further Reading

• I discuss my planning methodology in more detail the Cycling in France guide, so if this interests you, check it out here.
• Read more about the forensic analysis I did on the L'Etape 2011 logistics in my free guide to the 2011 L'Etapes: Les Deux Alpes. Get it here as a free pdf download.
• You can read how I planned my 2010 trip here.
• You can download the itinerary template that I use every year here.