we will be basing ourselves in avignon and will be using the bus for sidetrips. what are some villages and nearby places we can visit.

Here's one link that will get you started:

www.stdgard.com/accueil/horaires.htm

This bus company is based, I think, in Nîmes, but it offers service from Avignon to Nîmes, Pont du Gard, and Uzès. All three places would be well worth an excursion. (If I remember correctly, the bus stop for Pont du Gard is on the highway, so you'd have to walk in to the car park and interpretation centre and then the aqueduct itself, say about a kilometre of walking to see the structure.)

I know the subject of local buses from Avignon has come up here before, and I think one of the regulars, cigalechanta, has posted on the topic. You might try a search here using a phrase such as "local buses Avignon" or some such thing, because what you really need in addition to the service noted above is a service that would take you south to St-Rémy and east into the Luberon. I'm pretty sure it exists.

Anselm

The link to the local bus is

www.tcra.fr

Unfortunately in French

Another thought ... I seem to recollect seeing buses congregating across the street from the old SNCF station in downtown Avignon. (The new TGV station is in the outskirts of the city.) You could ask about local service at the Avignon tourism office, which is on the main street of downtown: rue de la République.

AA

And one more that might help ...

www.beyond.fr/travel/bus.html

AA

Here is some other info I found on transportation from Avignon.

Avignon has two train stations: Gare Avignon TGV, 4km (2.5mi) southwest in the suburb of Courtine, and central Gare Avignon Centre (42 blvd St-Roch), where local trains to/from Orange (20min), Arles (20min) and Nîmes (30min) arrive/depart. Some TGVs to/from Paris stop at Gare Avignon Centre, but TGV services such as Marseille (30min) and Nice (3.25hr) only use Gare Avignon TGV. Thanks to the TGV, you can travel from Paris to Avignon in 2.75hr. On Saturdays in summer, there's a direct Eurostar service from London to Avignon (6hr).

The bus station (04 90 82 07 35; blvd St-Roch; information window, Mon-Fri 10:15 - 13:00 & 14:00 - 18:00 ) is in the basement of the building down the ramp to the right as you exit the train station. Tickets are sold on the buses. Bus services include Aix-en-Provence (1hr), Arles (1.5hr), Carpentras (45min), Marseille (35min), Nîmes (1.25hr) and Orange (40min). Most lines operate on Sunday at reduced frequency. Long-haul bus companies Linebus (04 90 85 30 48) and Eurolines (04 90 85 27 60; www.eurolines.com) have offices at the far end of the bus platforms.

thanks especially crazy for travel for all the info. so are you basically saying that it is possible to see provence towns using a bus.

No, but you are able to see CITIES in Provence using a bus, plus the Pont du Gard. The towns, the quaint villages...no.

I agree with StCirq however it is a starting point. My first trip to Provence we decided to spend two nights in Avignon with a day trip to St. Remy, one night in Arles then we moved on to Carcassone by train where we picked up a car. We spent 8 days in the Languedoc with a vehicle. Looking back we may have done it differently but we had an enjoyable trip.

This June we are going to pick up a car in Avignon at the TGV station and spend two nights in St. Remy, one night in Cassis and 5 nights Bonnieux in the Luberon. We want to concentrate on the countryside and smaller villages that we didn't get to see on our first trip.

We were very surprised on our first visit that most everything was shut down in Arles all day on a Monday. We thought it might be a holiday but were told by our hotel owner that it was normal to be closed on Mondays. We are used to the usual siesta during lunch on our travels as well as some Sunday closures but the southern area of France adheres to this custom more so than other regions we've been to in the North. As a result, you can only plan a few activities around the scheduled closures. I believe some of the larger attractions such as the museum at the Pont du Gard stay open all day...and the Aqueduct itself is accessible all day.

You can certainly find enough in the region to keep you busy for a week. Good luck with your planning.

I wouldn't say villages, but you certainly can see towns in Provence by bus. That is mainly what a lot of those bus lines are for -- to service places that don't have trains. They stop in places of less than 20K population, for example, and I certainly would not refer to some of those as cities. St Remy for example, or Pernes-les-Fontaines, etc.

Where will you be staying in Avignon, when and for how long? I was there for three nights last summer, in July, staying quite near the Palais des Popes. I used the train extensively. The train station (the "regular" train, not the TGV)is just outside the walled city and the bus station is next door to it- albeit stinky and underground. It was not a place you would want to spend a lot of time! You could get bus schedules when you arrive, assuming you are coming in via non-TGV train. It is also quite easy to use the train for exploring the area- for example, l'Isle sur la Sorgue (a must!) took only about half an hour by train, even with a transfer to the south...be warned that Saturday service is more limited and Sundays (and holidays)can be very difficult. At the TI you can probably also find any number of tours...

Hi montrealvic,
In 2002 my sister and I visited Provence basing in Avignon. We took a nice bus day trip to Abbey in Senanque, Rousillon, and Gordes. We were in Provence for only 4 nights (3-1/2 days), so we booked the tour at the Tourist Office. We loved it. We went to Aix on our own taking the regular bus from the station. Have fun!