nancythenice

Please pardon the resubmission of this question - I neglected to add the "France" tag the first time.
I have the option of spending about 5 hours in Avignon on a Saturday afternoon, before taking the 6:45pm TGV train to CDG for my flight home the next day. I will be dropped off by my tour group at the train station (probably the TGV, although they might take me closer to town) around noon. I could take an earlier train - but that would mean getting to CDG earlier only to spend the evening in the airport hotel. Of course, exploring Avignon sounds better! But I have to figure out something to do with my luggage. I found prior posts indicating there are no luggage storage facilities at the Avignon TGV station although there are lockers at the central station. (snf website confirms this.) I also found recommendations to ask a hotel if they would store it - and offer to pay a fee. The ideal situation would be to find someplace very near the TGV station to store it - and then take the shuttle in to town. Alternatively, I guess I could look for a place near where the shuttle drops off. What do you think? Does this really seem doable? I am reluctant to buy a ticket on the late train unless I feel pretty confident about the luggage issue. Is this going to be too much hassle for 5 hours in Avignon?

adrienne

You can always send a message to the editors and ask them to add the country tag. No need to repost. Don't forget to look at both your threads for responses.

Christina

There aren't any hotels right at the train station, anyway. I don't know why a hotel would do that, they aren't scrimping for a few bucks from people off the street. There are some modern chain hotels in a nearby area, of course, the TGV station is outside the city and on a major highway and near a business area. But there isn't any easy way for you to do that, anyway, you can't be walking to those hotels, so you'd have to take a taxi and go hotel to hotel with your luggage begging while the meter ran. If you went into Avignon, again, you are going to wander the streets with your luggage asking hotels to keep it for you? Can you imagine how many people off the street might ask hotels to keep stuff for them? Avignon is a major tourist destination with lots of folks making day trips.

The TGV station is in an industrial park all by itself, there isn't anything right next to it. There are some car rental companies there, of course, but they aren't going to do that for you.

I think it is doable if you go into the central train station by taxi or bus and use those lockers, and then do the reverse. I think it might be worth four hours in Avignon if the alternative is to do nothing for that time. If the altnerative is just to go to CDG earlier and get an earlier flight, that's what I would do. I wouldn't have the energy for all that stuff with luggage at the end of a trip.

If I were you, I'd take the taxi or shuttle bus into the main station and leave it there in the lockers (or get your friends to drop you off there, although that may be a hassle for them as it is in town). They either are dropping you off at the central train station or the TGV, there isn't any way it would work to drop you off on the highway somewhere.

MNsnowflake

I would take the bus into Avignon from the TGV station and check bags there. Buses run fairly frequently. You should be able to see quite a lot in the 5 hours. The Palais des Papes and Pont d'Avignon are in the northern part of the city -- you can walk from station to the Palais in probably 20 minutes or so. I would start my sightseeing there and work my way back toward the station over the 5 hours, allowing enough time to get the bus (or a taxi) back to the TGV station. The tourist office is straight along on Cours Jean Jaures from the train station and on your way to Palais des Papes (right hand side as you're walking away from the station).