I am taking the TGV from Charles de Gaulle to Avignon and I have two questions. <BR> <BR>1. Which station will I arrive at in Avignon? The new one or the old one? Apparently the New TGV Med only leaves from Gare de Lyon and I am not leaving from that location so I am confused as to where I will arrive. <BR>2. Need to know at which car rental agency to make my reservations based on the above response. <BR> <BR>Thank you. <BR> <BR> <BR>

Paul, <BR>I could be wrong, but my understanding is that all TGVs now arrive at the new Avignon station and the regular trains go to the old station. It is about a 10-15 min taxi ride between stations. If you have not made your reservations ahead, you may want to do so. The new TGV is so popular that it is frequently booked. We found this out the hard way! I booked our car rental at the new TGV station and then we could not get a TGV to Avignon. We took the TGV to Lyon, then transferred to a regular train and arrived at the old station. The taxi drivers are not thrilled about taking you to the new station since it is a short ride. We went through 3 of them before one agreed to take us there. Check the SNCF website and it should tell you where you which station you will be routed to. We used Auto Europe with good results.

I checked the SNCF website and no luck on station information. The only thing posted is the travel times...from Gare de Lyon 2h40min and from CDGaulle 3h20 min. That's why I am assuming that I am taking the "old" TGV rather than the new one. <BR> <BR>Thanks for your input. <BR>

My understanding is that the TGV from CDG goes to the "new" station. Is that correct? I had booked through Europcar to pick up our rental at the "old" station. Is traveling from the "new" to the "old" in walking distance? Or is a cab preferable? (I prefer to pick up the rental from the old station as we plan to pick it up the day after arrival, and the old station is in walking distance to our hotel). <BR><BR>Also, from what I can tell, the new station is called Gare TGV Courtine, and the old located at 42 Boulevard Saint Roch. Is that correct?<BR><BR>Thank you to anyone who can help.

There are TGV trains to both stations from Gare de Lyon - most go to the new station, a few to both. As far as I know, all trains from CDG go to the new station. On schedules and tickets, the old station is 'Avignon' or 'Avignon Centre' and the new is 'Avignon TGV'. I haven't seen the Courtine/St Roch names used, but the old station is on Bd St-Roch, so that sounds right. In addition to cabs, there's a bus from the TGV (new) station to downtown Avignon which meets the trains and stops a few blocks from the Avignon Centre (old) station - 10 -15 minutes is about right for time, but it's not really good walking as there are some major roads to cross and no clear walking route as far as I could tell. Hope that helps.

Thank you, Robin, that helps tremendously! I appreciate your help.<BR>Nancy

Just got back. Took the tgv from cdg and arrived at the new station in Avignon. Bon Voyage! And check out Crillon Le Brave for an awesome place to stay.

I got curious, too, although I am not going to Avignon any time soon.<BR>My curiosity led me the Deutsche Bahn web site, which I usually find to be reliable and to the SNCF site. I asked to go to Avignon Centre so I would be sure to get the arrival station. For the trains leaving CDG at 10:11, 11:24 and 14:04, the arrival station is listed as Avignon TGV on both schedulers.<BR>The train at 13:11 requires a change, but it also arrives at Avignon TGV.<BR><BR>However, there is a SCHEDULE CHANGE sometimes in mid January. So check the SNCF site (www.sncf.com) or the German site for the exact times the TGVs leave from CDG. Both sites seem to agree on their times. <BR><BR>Another suggestion is this: get non smoking, even if you have to go first class. Otherwise, you will choke.<BR>Even smokers opt out of the smoking cars!!! I have seen them go to the smoking car, take a few puffs to relieve their addiction, and then return to their seat in the non smoking section. I had to walk through a smoking car on my way to the snack bar a couple of times and I thought I was in the middle of a gas attack. I frankly don't know why half the French are not dead of lung cancer or heart disease by the time they are 55. Perhaps one of our medical participants could comment on Gallic immunity or some such thing.<BR> <BR>And Paul, just where did you look for station information? I am thinking that Avignon TGV is ok information on the identify of the arrival station. I checked both the timetable and the book and buy avenues on the SNCF site, and they both said Avignon TGV.<BR><BR>I prefer the German site because it gives you a detailed list of stops, but the French site lists the cost.<BR>So I end up consulting both.