Buses to and from Pau Airport (PUF)

Pau Airport is one of the important airports in south-western France, and serves the city of Pau as well as many other towns in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department. It is located just 10km, or 6.2 miles from Pau, and is quite nearby the cities of Tarbes and Lourdes. The airport is officially named as the Pau-Pyrénées Airport, and can also be referred to as the Pau-Béarn Airport, as Pau used to be the capital of the Béarn region. It has the official airport code of PUF, and handles around 650,000 passengers per annum. Pau buses are available for arriving and departing passengers, for travelling to and from convenient locations in the city of Pau. Buses are often considered to be a good form of transport from airport locations.

The airport consists of one fairly large and modern terminal building which is equipped to handle approximately 1 million passengers a year. Each day, it is common for between 2,500 and 3,000 passengers to pass through the building. It has an arrival and departure area, spread over two levels. The arrival hall is on the ground floor, and the boarding lounges are located on the upper level. Facilities of the airport include a restaurant, snack-bar, shops and a variety of other services, such as WiFi connections, payphones and ATMs. Arriving passengers taking the Pau Airport bus can proceed to the exit of the terminal building after collecting their baggage, and the bus stop is found just to the right-hand side. There are also taxis available in the taxi rank, but the bus services are much more affordable, and are preferred by many passengers.

The Pau Airport Buses

The Pau-Pyrénées Airport has an excellent bus service which is operated by the company of Idelis. The buses are frequently available from the airport, leaving approximately every hour, from 07:40 to 19:40. The tickets for the bus service can be purchased directly from the bus driver, and will cost approximately one Euro. The Idelis shuttle buses travel from Pau Airport to the Pau train station, and stop along the way at the Avenue de l’Europe, the University and the ‘Pôle Bosquet’ central bus hub. The journey will take approximately half an hour, depending on traffic conditions and the number of passengers using the service. The shuttle bus of the airport does not operate on Sundays or on French public holidays.

Once in the city and at the Gare de Pau, many train connections are available to various parts of the country. It is located on the high-speed line between Paris and Tarbes, and the TGV Atlantique takes passengers to the Montparnasse Railway station in Paris. Regional TER services are available as well to nearer towns. The airport bus takes passengers to the main bus station of the city as well, and from here there are plenty of further bus services covering the city of Pau, and to other further locations. There are twelve main lines, labelled 4 to 23, which represent the additional service of Temporis, that have buses available every twenty to sixty minutes. The lines 12, 13 and 14 serve amenities of the city, but do not pass through the city centre. There is also a free shuttle bus running every seven minutes in the streets of downtown, known as Coxitis, and Libertis is the service to contact for transport of disabled passengers. It is a reserved service for holders of the Libertis card, which can be issued on a temporary or permanent basis. The contact number to call is 05 59 14 15 16, Monday to Friday between 08:00 and 17:00.

The single ticket purchased from the bus driver is valid for one hour after it has been stamped, and can therefore be used on further bus services from the bus station in the city. Tickets may also be purchased in booklets of ten, which is usually cheaper than buying ten single tickets. Always remember to stamp your ticket in the machines available on board the buses, as regular checks are carried out by officials, and a fine could be issued if you are caught without a ticket, or with a ticket that is not correctly stamped.

Passengers who need to reach the airport for a departure flight can travel by bus as well. The Idelis airport shuttles are available from the Pau Train Station, and depart every hour, similar to those at the airport. However, the first bus from the train station leaves at 06:33, and the last bus leaves the station at 19:50. On Sundays and on public holidays, passengers will need to travel to the airport by taxi, as there are no bus services.

From the airport, passengers can travel to the nearby cities of Tarbes and Lourdes as well. The shuttle service is available from Transports Lacoste, and requires a reservation. From this company, it is also possible to hire minibuses for eight people and coaches for between nineteen and twenty-seven people. They are, however, more expensive than the local public buses. An email address which can be used for further enquiries is transport.lacoste@wanadoo.fr.

The Pau buses can be contacted at 05 59 14 15 16, and online further information is available at http://www.reseau-idelis.com. Disabled passengers are recommended to contact the airport (+33 (0) 5 59 33 33 00) for further information, or to contact Idelis in order to determine the best option for public transport.