General advice
French buses still operate, in part, on cash payments and bus drivers don’t carry a lot of change. If you arrive from outside Europe and want to obtain euros, the best way is to use your bank card in the ATM at the airport, and then buy yourself a coffee to have coins ready to pay the bus driver.
There are no toilets in buses or at tram stations so use the WC at the airport.
Verify with the bus driver you’re in the right bus.
Ganges is pronounced in a french nasal way, not like the Indian River.
The Montpellier Tram/Bus hub called “OCCITANIE” has no services, shops or cafes.
If you need to kill time, it’s better to linger in the city center near any tram stop that serves TRAM 1 (the blue tram with the white birds, every 10 minutes), direction MOSSON.
Get on that tram ca 30 minutes before your bus departure at Occitanie.
(A pleasant way to linger might be to walk from the station to Place de la Comedie (5 minutes), have a coffee there, wander through the city in the direction of the Arc de Triomph to end up at the Botanical Gardens (15/20 minutes). Around the corner from there is the tram stop called Place Albert Premier, get on tram 1, direction MOSSON, and get off at Occitanie.)
What are my transport options for getting to and from the event?
On the starting day we’ll have a mini-van ready to pick you up from Montpellier-Airport at 16:30h and Montpellier-Occitanie at 17:30h.
This service is included in the price.
However if you can’t make it at those times, we can arrange to have someone pick you up from
Montpellier Airport (cost 60€ for the pick-up), or
Nimes Airport (cost 70€).
From Nimes or Montpellier, there are buses going to our village ‘Ganges’ (journey is about a hour). They are reliable, cheap and comfortable, but they’re not frequent. If you decide to use public transport, contact us with questions at meeting[@]thackara[.]com.
But have a look at the links to the bus schedules first:
Bus schedule Montpellier Occitanie to Ganges:
Ligne 608 (direction Le Vigan, but get off at Ganges ‘Mairie’)
Bus schedule Nimes Gare to Ganges:
Ligne 140 (direction Le Vigan, but get off at Ganges ‘Mairie’)
Below follows a description of how to come independently by public transport:
From Montpellier, Gare St. Roch (train station)
In front of the station there’s a street lined with tall palm trees (and tram rails). On the right side, you’ll find your tram stop for
Tram 1, direction MOSSON.
Get off at tram hub called “Occitanie” (about 20 minutes, cost 1,60€).
At Occitanie, find the bus direction ‘Le Vigan’, ligne 608.
Get off in Ganges at the stop called “Mairie”. (about 1 hour)
It’s 5 minutes walk to us from there.
Bus schedule Montpellier Occitanie to Ganges: Ligne 608.
From Montpellier Airport
Montpellier Airport shuttle bus (called “navette”) to
Montpellier, Place de l’Europe (Cost 1,60€ – pay in cash).
Cross the tram line and get on tram 1, direction MOSSON, and
get off at tram stop “Occitanie” (about 20 minutes, cost 1,60€).
At Occitanie, find the bus direction ‘Le Vigan’, ligne 608.
get off in Ganges at the stop called “Mairie”. (about 1 hour)
It’s 5 minutes walk to us from there.
Bus schedule Montpellier Occitanie to Ganges: Ligne 608.
From Nimes Airport
Nimes Airport shuttle bus (called “navette”) to
Nimes Gare (train station and bus station).
Find the bus stop for Ligne 140 (at the far end) direction ‘Le Vigan’.
In Ganges get off at the stop called “Mairie”. ( 1h 15min)
It’s 5 minutes walk to us from there.
Bus schedule Nimes Gare to Ganges: Ligne 140
From Marseille Airport
From Marseille Airport you take a shuttle bus to the train station, get on a train to Nimes (or Montpellier), or get on a OUI-bus/BlaBlaBus to Nimes or Montpellier. From there follow instructions above.
Naturally you can also rent a car. At the airports you’ll find car rentals. Prices for a hire car start at 40€ per day depending on time of year, type- and availability of cars. (for example rentalcars.com/).
Flight Shame?
For those of you bothered by Flight Shame, there are other ways to get to us. We’ve found this inspiring article that might give you ideas.
warning: you have to have lots of time and it isn’t cheap.
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/jan/07/cargo-ship-train
Seat 61 train travel information Europe, Worldwide
https://www.seat61.com/
Slow Travel (Freighter travel, sailing ships …)
https://www.langsamreisen.de/en/
