I've read so many posts on this topic that I'm cross-eyed so please forgive me if the information is already available here. My husband and I will be staying in Lourmarin leaving on a Thursday morning to catch the TGV in Avignon to CDG for a 5:50 pm flight home. My question is, is it possible to drive from Lourmarin to Avignon, return a car, get on the TGV to CDG and be there in time for our flight? (I'm having endless problems finding the TGV train schedules as I must be punching in the wrong codes. Can someone instruct me on the correct ones?) Many thanks to all you helpful people.

Yes, you should be able to follow the plan you've outlined. Go to www.bahn.de, the German national rail site that has timetables for most of Europe. (It's viewable in English.) Enter Avignon TGV as your departure station and Aeroport Paris-Charles de Gaulle TGV as your arrival station. You'll be given the times for the direct trains to CDG and the ones that go to Gare de Lyon from where you would need to take the RER to CDG.

ttt

Use the German site to find the schedulee TimS said. I've been trying myself to buy tickets to CDG and the sncf site does not seem to be working correctly for deartures (and arrivals, I assume) from CDG. You need to enter "Airport CDG 2 TGV" but every time I do, it returns "please choose city", and allows me to choose from a pop-up window which indicates "Airport CDG 2 TGV" as the one I should choose (which is the same as I've entered). When I choose this selection, it says "please choose city" again. I've tried different brousers, and I also used the French language version - still no luck. I've tried on several different days also. It works fine if I enter "Paris" as the departure city, but I'm not leaving from Paris. I've purchased tickets to/from CDG in past years.

The rental car return place at the Avignon TGV is next to the Station - 50 yds away. It is on the "other" side of the station. After you pass through the gate to the parking complex, take a right hand turn to get to the rental offices/lots. Once you get close to the offices, stay to the right - do not take the road adjacent to the station, or you will likely get backed-up by people unloading passengers, and you will have to circle the station again to get into the correct rental return entrance. The office does not have to be open to return your car.

Stu Dudley

Thanks for your responses, Stu and Tim. I'm somewhat relieved to hear that you, Stu, are having problems with the rail site. I was beginning to think I'm a moron! But the German site is clear and easy to use. (Thanks Tim!) I've since learned that we might be better off returning the car to Aix and taking the TGV from there as it's a bit closer to where we're staying (Les Olivettes). But I will save your excellent directions to the car rental nontheless.

Try typing in "Roissy" instead of CDG and it should work (at least it just did for me when I tried it).

-Kevin

p.s.: you should have no problem leaving Lourmarin and getting to CDG for a 5:50pm flight.

I just picked up the new TGV schedule at the train station the other day, so I can quickly give you an idea of trains:

From the Aix TGV station here are your options:

7:55 AM arrives CDG 11.21 AM
9:10 AM arrives CDG 12:55

I wouldn't suggest going all the way to Avignon - Aix TGV is a shorter drive from Lourmarin

Patricia